105: Nikolaus Boltze, Country Representative, Thyssenkrupp Japan

Nikolaus Boltze is currently the country representative for
Thyssenkrupp in Japan. Mr. Boltze first came to Japan in 1972 as
a child, while his father was working with the German embassy and
was posted to Japan. He attended the German school which was at
that time in Ōmori and since that time he has a certain soft spot
for Japan. They returned to Japan in the early 80’s and he
finished his graduation from high school at the German School in
Japan. He returned to Germany for his University in Engineering
and military service.


 


When Mr. Boltze was applying for jobs after university, he came
across a Japanese company starting its operations in Europe
called Daifuku. The job description listed a variety of
initatives, from setting up an office, finding additional staff,
reaching out first to new customers in Germany, transferring the
products, which had an excellent Japanese design, but make them
fit for the European market and so on. This role got him excited
as a young engineer without any previous experience as it was
much more than just designing the rear back wheel for a Mercedes
Benz, which would be the typical start position for a young
engineer. He stayed in this role for 5 years and then later took
a position at an automotive supplier called Bayer based out
Stuttgart and they were looking for a Project Manager. He took
this role and spent a year developing a strategy for entering the
Japanese market based in Stuttgart. He presented this to the
board, and they came back to him and asked him if he was willing
to implement his own strategy and go work from Japan. So, he
returned to Japan and started looking for an office and a
secretary to start Bayer’s work in Japan. He was in this role for
about 6 years until 2005.


 


Mr. Boltze says they have not been too successful in hiring new
graduates in Japan. Typically, new graduates in Japan are focused
on working for Japanese firms and they also may have some family
pressure to work for well-known Japanese companies.  They
feel they have better success with mid-career employees who have
returned to Japan after working in the US, Europe, or Southeast
Asia and they don’t feel well suited to the Japanese environment.
Mr. Boltze says that female engineers are another of their hiring
strengths. Hiring female engineers has been good for the company
because a lot of the time women feel more comfortable and less
restricted at a global company rather than a Japanese one, Mr.
Boltze also says they don’t discriminate based on gender so women
may feel more at ease at Thyssenkrupp. Another segment of people
they hire are people from other Asian countries such as Korea,
Taiwan or Malaysia who have a degree from Japan and are rather
well versed with the culture but for work, they may prefer to
work for an international firm.


 


Advice that Mr. Boltze would give to someone new to Japan who is
not familiar with the culture would be to understand that Japan
is a G7 nation and if you are bringing a novel idea or a new way
of doing something, chances are there may already be a Japanese
way or a local firm doing this, and it is harder to penetrate
that. Ensuring that firms understand that Japan is a unique
island nation and there is likely a local way of doing the thing
that you are wanting to do in Japan is beneficial. Learning
Japanese isn’t going to hurt but on the other side communication
is very important. Japanese as a language is vague and not very
precise and sometimes communicating in German or English can be
more direct, setting clear goals and giving directions to staff
may be more beneficial in German or English.