Yazaki Corporation "Yazaki's Approach to Developing Global leaders - A Case Study in Valuing Employees"2018/10/30

・Representative: Representative Director and Chairman, Mr. Yasuhiko Yazaki
　　　　　　　　　Representative Director and President, Mr. Shinji Yazaki

・Capital: 3.1915 billion yen
・Business Activities: Development; manufacture and sale of automotive instruments,
　wire harnesses and other products
・No. of employees: Japan: 20,195; Overseas: 265,605; Total: 285,800
　(Including unconsolidated subsidiaries and affiliates)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　*Accurate as of June 20, 2017 No talk on Yazaki’s approach to human resource development would be complete without mentioning our “belief” towards valuing employee growth.

For example, Yazaki has a culture of providing any employee with the opportunity to learn something new when they have a desire to do so. This belief stems from the company’s founder, Mr. Sadami Yazaki.Mr. Sadami Yazaki and his family lived in extreme poverty throughout his childhood.While having a love for studying, Mr. Sadami Yazaki abandoned on his dream of pursuing further studies to become an apprentice at the age of 15.The desire to study never left him however, even after joining the work force.

This passion for study still seeps through the company even today.For example, employees with the desire to study overseas for an MBA will have the full support of the company behind them, including assistance in covering the required tuition fees and rent.
“What’s the point?”, “That’s a waste of money.” A new human resource development proposal raised by the HRD is not going to be met with such flat condemnation. Even if the effectiveness of such measures and other details come under the microscope, this is intended at pushing the plan forward towards its eventual implementation. There is a real sense that the belief of the company’s founder in “valuing employee growth” and “supporting further learning” has firmly taken root within the company’s culture.

One can get a sense of this steadfast belief being spread not only within the Japanese headquarters, but worldwide as well.The HRD team is currently implementing training at subsidiaries across Asia with a focus on ingraining a sense of the Yazaki Group management philosophy.


Sanno University was involved from the planning stage, providing invaluable support for holding the Asian site manager training program.
“Standardizing site manager knowledge” was brought to the fore as the most pressing issue covered in repeated discussions on the matter.
Position requirements for the plant manager and president at overseas sites are not necessarily consistent with equivalent positions in Japan within our human resource management system.For this reason, while transfer employees receiving the necessary training in business management under the new human resource management system introduced in 2014 posed no problem, it became apparent that there were real issues with groups of employees that were transferred out with insufficient knowledge and skills outside of one’s field of specialty having not had the opportunity to receive the training.
For example, while an employee in a production department may be an expert in terms of production, they do not necessarily have the sufficient knowledge and skills as a manager to be able to effectively allocate management resource and develop business strategies.
We aimed to leverage this training to cover for areas in which such transfer employees were lacking while maintaining a solid grasp on their specific needs in light of these circumstances. This training is held once every 18 months or so, and is attended by site managers from all Asian sites.The training program has been held three times now.

In light of the importance of human resource development in promoting the further assignment of local employees in important roles, the first event focused on “human resource management”.This program had participants think on the type of human resource management required to produce results while maintaining a solid grasp on the entire human resource development process - from hiring to resignation - including employee hiring, training, placement, and performance evaluation.
The second and subsequent programs are based around issues and concerns confronting individual site managers based on survey responses received from attendees.As a result, participants were able to gain a better understanding of the “financial knowledge required to put strategies into action” - an area of particular interest to many attendees.Following an inspection tour of Vietnam conducted in February 2017 with Mr. Matsuo, a researcher at Sanno University responsible for implementing the training, we set “management accounting for local subsidiaries” as the theme for the third event in consideration of the current circumstances and future issues.

The preparation time available from when someone is selected as a site manager to when they transfer out is extremely short, and I feel the system used to select site managers needs to undergo further review.

As the Human Resources Development Department, we hope to prioritize a deeper involvement with each participant in the training that goes beyond that of simply acting as a training administrator, one that better takes into account the concerns and needs of trainees regarding the training. Since 1977 Yazaki has held annual “Yazaki Summer Camps” for children of employees both in Japan and abroad.
This event not only provides the children with an opportunity for new discoveries and experiences, but also helps foster an appreciation for the environment and instills in them a deeper mutual understanding of other cultures through international exchanges.This summer camp has now continued for 40 years, and is attended by a total of over 15,000 camp participants both in Japan and abroad.

Now in its 23rd year, the “Yazaki Corporate Culture Training” is a human resource development program that sends employees from overseas Group companies to Japan to promote an understanding of the corporate culture at Yazaki while also teaching them about the Japanese language and culture.Over 200 employees have completed this training program.

Participants in this program immerse themselves in the local environment during their year-long stay in Japan, before going on to act as a pipeline bridging the gap between Japan and their own country upon their return.

Looking ahead, we hope to promote further avenues for human resource development through these activities in an aim to become a truly global company in the future. I was given the opportunity to present a lecture on the outlook and knowledge required of leaders at overseas sites at the site manager training.
While most people there exhibited the utmost professionalism towards production management and work improvements, I feel the training made many aware of the need for improvements through partial optimization measures introduced from an overall optimization perspective based on what they learned on the human resource management and financial strategies required for management.