論文Intercultural Business Communication
Challenges:
A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota
Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt
Sara Hashem Abdelmoniem Ahmed ABDELLATIF

Introduction
As the world continues to globalize, the flow of people, ideas, and money
became quicker. Multinational and global projects are established easier, andcompanies can expand their business beyond national borders easier than
before. Working with people from various cultural backgrounds have become
more common from which new challenges arise. Diversity in the workplace has
many benefits, such as enriching work output and performance by providing
different perspectives and opinions. However, it can also be challenging in many
ways. The language barrier, different mindsets, work styles, work conditions,systems , a nd cu lt u ra l backg rou nds a re va r ious rea sons for d i f ferent
interpretations and expectations in the workplace.
The Toyota Way and Kaizen are regarded as global cultural phenomena as
the popularity of Toyota continues to rise. The Japanese automobile giant isfamous for incorporating Kaizen into its business practice, making the conceptof Kaizen more linked to the business. However, its impact can be seen beyond
the business sphere and involves different forms in people’s lives.
As opposed to the previous research, this paper focuses on Kaizen andcommunication in international business from a cultural perspective. This study
highlights the communication challenges that emerge from cultural differences
when recontextualizing Kaizen in Egypt. The analyses of previous studies andfieldwork investigations were used to monitor and document the current
situation in Egypt. This paper is a culture in business research and is a baselinethat aims to show how to achieve cross-cultural competence in Toyota Motor
Engineering Egypt (TMEE) and Kaizen Center in Egypt. The author used
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論文

qualitative methods with a combination of literature analysis of Kaizen, crosscultural competence research, and analysis of open-ended interviews. The
participants were Egyptian and Japanese staff who engage with Kaizen in
Egypt. The author interviewed 29 individuals and conducted in-depth, extended
narrative interviews representing the main actors in Egyptian-Japaneserelations and engaged with Kaizen in Egypt during 2017-2021. The participants
were selected to show the genera l indicators of intercultura l business
communications challenges between Egyptians and Japanese. Starting withJapan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan External Trade
Organization (JETRO’s) Egypt offices and Kaizen Center, the snowball method
was used to select the rest of the participants. The sample covered bothgenders, both nationalities, and high-ranking officials. Participants from different
age groups, entities, and positions were also represented (such as administrative,
managerial, and government officials) to firmly illustrate the situation in Egypt1
as shown in table 1.
Table 1. Breakdown of Participants by Organization
Organization

Total

Managerial

Senior

Entry

Male

Female

TMEE

5

3

1

1

4

1

Egyptian Japanese
4

1

JICA

4

1

1

2

2

2

1

3

JETRO

3

1

2

0

2

1

2

1

KAIZEN

4

2

2

0

3

1

3

1

Toyota JPN

4

1

1

2

2

2

0

4

Toyota Mus.

1

1

0

0

1

0

0

1

MOIC

3

1

1

1

2

1

3

0

EJBC

1

1

0

0

1

0

1

0

ECS

2

2

0

0

2

0

2

0

Ex. JICA

2

1

1

0

2

0

1

1

Total

29

14

9

6

21

8

17

12

Source: Author’s fieldwork in Egypt and Japan, 2017-2021

The interview questions included the participants’ personal profile, work
responsibilities, experience, and insights (the pros and cons) of working with theJapanese, the challenges they face, and how they deal with them based on theirlong-trusted experience working with the Japanese. The interviews covered the1Some participants requested to omit all their personal and workplace data due to thefear of losing their positions or causing trouble.

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Intercultural Business Communication Challenges: A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt

following institutions: Kaizen Center, Egypt Commercial Services (ECS), in the
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry (MTI), Ministry of International
Cooperation (MOIC), JICA’s Egypt Office, JETRO’s Egypt Office, Egypt Japan
Business Council (EJBC), Ex-JICA Experts, Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt(TM EE), Toyota Motor Corporation Tokyo Head Office, Toyota Tsusho
Corporation Nagoya headquarter, and Toyota Commemorative Museum of
Industry and Technology.

Background of the Toyota Way and Kaizen
As Toyota has evolved to an international company with many offices
worldwide2 , the Toyota Way and Kaizen are being re-produced as popular
culture beyond Japanese borders and merge into new cultures. These attracted
researchers to study Toyota and Kaizen from different perspectives other thanbusiness and management systems. These included TPS, TPM, TQM, 5S 3applications inside factories, and product lines. Others such as culture, history,
a nd com mu n ic at ion p er sp ect ive s , wh ich a f fect p e ople’s m i ndset a ndcommunication, were also studied (Toyota Way, Kaizen, Toyota culture, Toyota
philosophy).4
Inside Japan, Toyota is more than a big name in the business industry and isviewed as a success story. Toyota began as a producer for the textile industry,later turning to the automobile industry in which they contributed to Japan’s
economic growth. Since the beginning, Toyota has been hands- on in its
employees’ lives, families, and private activities. Even before supermarkets were
popular in Japan, Toyota provided cooperatives for its employees’ daily needs.
234170+ countries and regions around the world, and 67 manufacturing companies. Source:
Toyota in the world, https://www.toyotauk.com/about-toyota/toyota-in-the-world.html
TPS: Toyota Production System. TPM: Total Production Maintenance. TQM: Toyota
Quality Control.
5S: seiri（整理）, seiton（整 頓）, seisō（清掃）, seiketsu（清潔）, and shitsuke（躾）, andtranslated as “sort”, “set in order”, “shine”, “standardize”, and “sustain”
Difference between Toyota Way and Toyota Culture/Philosophy: Toyota Culture/philosophy includes a set of Toyota’s values and principles, and one of its pillars is
Toyota Way 2001. According to Toyota Global website, “Toyota was established 28th ofAugust 1937. Their main philosophy is divided into Guiding Principles at Toyota, Toyota
Way 2001, The Toyota Code of Conduct, Toyota Global Vision. The main overview of
Toyota philosophy is to “Seek Harmony between People, Society and the Global
Environment, and Sustainable Development of Society through Manufacturing”

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論文This influenced the life of Toyota City, along with its social and culturalactivities, restaurants, local stores, schools’ activities, and events were adjusted
to Toyota’s Calendar. These illustrated the meaning of “Toyotism” and themeaning of living in Toyota’s world in Japan. 5
Expanding beyond borders and specifically into the United States, there wasa need to keep a record of t he Toyot a Way a nd i nt ro duce it to a newenvironment while ensuring it was followed. This gave birth to the “Toyota Way
2001” when it was introduced to the American staff working for the company. It
was not a simple transfer process in which the Toyota Way and culture evolvedin a different style than the original Japanese style. A hybrid culture was born,which was not purely American nor Japanese, nonetheless effective at work andproduces results.6 This showed how the methods and meanings of concepts aretaking different routes and forms when they are implemented in new culturesor environments.
Toyota’s success became a phenomenon reaching the point that comic books
introduce the Toyota Way in order to organize workplaces and houses toimprove or “Kaizen” your general performance.7 These comics used Toyota’s
fame and success to attract readers who wanted to obtain Toyota’s high-levelstandards or aim to improve their work and life in general. The non-businessToyota books revealed that Kaizen and 5S are not just systems, but it can also
be work orders and steps. Once individuals accept it, it changes their way of
thinking, attitude, and perspectives. There were also changes not only in theindividua l ’s workplace but a lso in t heir persona l life a nd surrou nding
communities. 8
On the other hand, the Kaizen concept is one of the most famous concepts inJapanese business culture. It is often linked to Toyota’s name, although it is nota Toyot a - made concept . Thoug h “ K a i zen” a s a Japa nese word mea ns“Improvement,” it was described in different contexts and research areas. From
5

6
7
8

鶴本，西山，and 松宮，トヨティズムを生きる―名古屋発カルチュラルスタディーズ . (Kaori
Tsurumoto, Tetsuo Nishiyama, and Asahi Matsumiya. Living Toyotism-Cultural Studies
from Nagoya. Serika Shobo)
Liker, Hoseus, and Organizations, Toyota Culture.
亀山，漫画で分かる トヨタの片づけ方．(Kameyama Satoshi. Understanding Toyota’s wayof organizing “Original” OJT Solutions “Manga”)
山田 and 大野，途上国の産業人材育成：SDGs 時代の知識と技能 . (Yamada Shoko, and Ohno
Izumi. Industrial human resource development in developing countries: Knowledge andskills in the SDGs era)

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Intercultural Business Communication Challenges: A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt

history and social movements’ perspectives, Kaizen first appeared in “Life
Improvement Movements” or the Japanese term “ 生活改善運動 － Seikatsu
Kaizen Undou.” Kaizen started in Japan around the 1930s9 when the Japanese
government began a campaign to improve the Okinawan’s life. The campaign
was not technically related to industrial Kaizen, but it was able to improve the
Okinawan people’s life.10
The Kaizen concept as we know it in business and industries today was not
originally a Japanese-made concept. It was adapted and adjusted to the Japanesemanagement system from the United States as a quality control method in thepost WW2 period.11 After customization and modification, the method’s namebecame Kaizen and re-exported again. Masaaki’s book “Kaizen: The Key toJapan’s competitive success”12 introduced it in its new form to western culture
as a “cont inuous improvement” pract ice t hat involves ever yone in t heworkplace.13 Moreover, Brunet defined Kaizen as “pervasive and continual
activities, outside the contributor’s explicit contractual roles, to identify andachieve outcomes he believes contribute to the organizational goals.”14

Kaizen in International Context
Shimada Go stressed the importance of discussing Kaizen not as a Japaneseconcept but as a concept related to industrial policy and engineering so it would
9

10

11
12

13
14

中村，近代沖縄と生活改善運動の射程：1930 年代の事例を中心に．(Nakamura Saki.“Modern
Okinawa and the range of the life improvement movement: Focusing on the cases of the
1930s.”)Tomiyama’s book "Memories of the Battlefield" talks about changes in Okinawan society
and points out that the Japanese government has started a” Seikatsu Kaizen/life
improvement campaign” in Okinawa during the 1930s. The Gov. began the campaign toimprove Okinawan people’s lives, and it was involved in every detail of Okinawans’ daily
life. Starting with the policies taken in Okinawa and extended to Okinawa’s language,
clothes, habits, etc.
Ohno et al., Introducing Kaizen in Africa. In GRIPS Development Forum (Vol. 1, No. 1,
Pp. 1-8).
Kaizen as defined by Masaaki: “[A] means of continuing improvement in personal life,
home life, social life, and working life. In the workplace, Kaizen means continuing
improvement involving everyone - managers and workers alike. The kaizen businessstrategy involves everyone in an organization working together to make improvement
without large capital investments.”
Ibid
Brunet and New, Kaizen in Japan: An Empirical Study.

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論文

not affect its international dissemination.15 However, linking Kaizen to Japan canhelp in promoting it, especially in developing countries. Aside from thecorporate support as an approach for Kaizen to extend internationally, Kaizen
has another international context in Japan International Cooperation Agency( J ICA)’s projects . J ICA introduces Ka izen through dif ferent technica lcooperation projects in developing countries to transfer the Japanese know-how
and develop industrial policies. The aim was to introduce Kaizen to improveindustrial policies but took a different path in developing countries. Kaizen wasapplied in the health sector, vocational education, educational systems, and evenlo c a l g over n me nt t r a i n i ng . S h i m a d a G o a l s o e mph a s i z e d t h at whe n
implementing Kaizen, it is essential to consider each case or country’s conditions(historical, traditional, and cultural background) to have a successful process.16
In February 2006, the Productivity and Quality Improvement Center(PQIC)
in Egypt, also known as Kaizen Center, officially began its activities. The PQIC
was established from the collaboration agreement between the Ministry ofForeign Trade and Industry (MTI) and JICA to share the Japanese know-how.
It is one of the technical centers under the technological development sector in
Egypt’s MTI. The Egyptian MTI established Kaizen Center to strengthen
Egyptian factories’ quality and production systems in the Egyptian Industrial
Modernization Program framework. Their responsibilities include improving thequality culture and activities in the country for both production and services
sectors to meet international standards through their services, such asindustrial training courses and consultation.17 During the early stages ofpreparing the national staff, JICA dispatched long and short-term JapaneseNational experts to Egypt while also conducting training courses in Toyota in
15 Till TICAD 2013, when PM ABE Mentioned about Kaizen and its importance, Kaizen
was not focused on in the international research area. However, it faced many
oppositions within JICA and from WB. The controversy started when the WB statedthat it deviates from the Washington Consensus. W.C. states that the government should
not intervene in the market and control it through putting policies that direct it. Yet,
Kaizen attracted more researcher in/outside Japan, as it is important in managing
Human Capital, which affects economic growth. Source: 島田，特集：国際開発におけるカイゼン研究の到達点と今後の課題―学際的アプローチからの政策的インプリケーションの検討― (Shimada Go.“Special Feature: Achievements and Future Challenges of Kaizen
Research in International Development-Examination of Policy Implications from anInterdisciplinary Approach-.”)16 Ibid
17 Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry, Kaizen Center’s official brochure

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Intercultural Business Communication Challenges: A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt

Japan to train the Kaizen Center’s national team. The staff were able to put
into practice what they studied about the Toyota Production System, such as“Just In Time”, Kaizen, 5S, Total Quality Control, and many more. Aside fromthe Kaizen Center project, JICA’s Kaizen schemes are also applied in the healthsector. 1 8 Moreover, Eg y pt ia n resea rchers a re st udy i ng t he process of

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implementing it in governmental departments19 and in the education sector20 in
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Egypt.
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Kaizen in Egypt³-XVW,Q7LPH´.DL]HQ67RWDO4XDOLW\&RQWURODQGPDQ\PRUH$VLGHIURPWKH.DL]HQ&HQWHU

ToyotaMotor(TMEE)SURMHFW-,&$¶V.DL]HQEngineering
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implemented in Egypt. More specifically, on the country’s Kaizen Center and
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are the pioneers in implementing Kaizen and Toyota Way in
Egypt.
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Kaizenin Egypt
Kaizen in Egypt
They outsourced the Arab American Vehicle (AAV) factory production line,

Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt (TMEE)
Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt (TMEE)

18 “In the new Egyptian Constitution which was amended in January 2014, health andwelfarehave been listed high on the agenda. It has been clearly mentioned in the
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Constitutionthat at least 3% of the GDP shall be spent on the health sector. The
government has developed a white paper to guide health policy and strategic direction,
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which states strengthening efforts towards universal health coverage (UHC), expanding
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International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has supported the health sector in Egypt
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through projects such as grant aid and technical cooperation
projects
to the Cairo
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University Specialized Pediatrics Hospital, a technical cooperation project for nursing
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vehicles.
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2016,
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JICA in quality improvement of healthcare services through 5S-Kaizen-TQM approach,
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UHC, and improvement of pre-hospital 8+&careH[SDQGLQJKHDOWKLQVXUDQFHFRYHUDJHLPSURYLQJWKH
services. In response to such requests, in
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December
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relatedto thehealth3HGLDWULFV+RVSLWDODWHFKQLFDOFRRSHUDWLRQSURMHFWIRUQXUVLQJPDQDJHPHQWDQGVFKRROKHDOWKDQGJUDQWDLGSURMHFW3HGLDWULFV+RVSLWDODWHFKQLFDOFRRSHUDWLRQSURMHFWIRUQXUVLQJPDQDJHPHQWDQGVFKRROKHDOWKDQGJUDQWDLGSURMHFWIRUSURFXUHPHQWRIDPEXODQFHYHKLFOHV,QWRWKH(J\SWLDQJRYHUQPHQWUHTXHVWHGWHFKQLFDODVVLVWDQFHWR
sector.”. Source: JICA report on Health Sector Cooperation Planning Survey in Arab
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Republicof Egypt,
Final
Report,March.
2017.http://open_jicareport.jica.go.jp/-,&$LQTXDOLW\LPSURYHPHQWRIKHDOWKFDUHVHUYLFHVWKURXJK6.DL]HQ740DSSURDFK8+&DQGLPSURYHPHQWRI
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19 Ahmed, Requirements for the success of Kaizen Japanese strategy for continuous
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improvement in government institutions Applying to the telecommunications sector in
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which is a state-owned factory in a partnership with Americans. The TMEE isalso a multicultural workplace, where various work styles, such as private,public, Egyptian, Japanese, and American styles, are used.
The participants from the TMEE gave their insights, and a senior Egyptian
pa rt icipa nt ment ioned t hat work ing wit h t he Japa nese was benef icia lprofessionally and personally. The Japanese work style that cared about details
helped him in different aspects such as time management, organizing files, andgood documentation. The participant stated that:“I learned many things working here. On a personal level, I tend to forgetthings, and I was working on fixing this. I learned from them how toorganize my life and easily memorize the things I need to do. In Toyota,
they reorganized my brain. On the professional level: time management;
to h ave all work on excel and matrixes to be more precise... It wa s
impressive to make a daily schedule for a year. To me, that was a miracle.”
However, some challenges were encountered due to miscommunication and lackof understanding of each other’s traditions and cultural backgrounds. In Toyota
Japan, the author observed that the participants had stronger feelings ofbelonging and pride to be part of Toyota, contributing to Japan’s economic
progress. Thus, they are proud and thankful to be part of Toyota. A participant
mentioned that:“I think the best change was in my personality. Learning Toyota’s culture
and working in Toyota every day gives me confidence...Toyota had a senseof national duty, and after I joined it, I felt I contributed to the national
economy. All employees have the mind of national duty. It gives you themotive and makes you feel you are part of something big and feel proud.”On the other hand, in the TMEE, the Egyptian staff did not have a strong
feeling of belonging, in addition to the distrust of their Japanese managers. One
reason was they didn’t have the same training as their Japanese peers in Japan,
in which a TMEE’s Egyptian participant expressed that “they do not invest inus”. Another reason, as stated by an Egyptian manager is about “not listening
to them and looking down on them”. The participant compared them to
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Intercultural Business Communication Challenges: A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt

Germans based on his previous work experience:“Germans are more open-minded. They let you add if they can see it will
improve the results. Japanese, no; they don’t allow it. They have a specificr o l e m o d e l t h e y m u s t f o l l o w ... G e r m a n s d o n’ t h a v e a l i m i t i ncommunication. They give you all the information you need and teachyou. Japanese don’t always provide the information. Sometimes they tell
you this is enough for you to do the work...Japanese are a bit arrogant,look down on you, “we understand better, or whatever you did, we arehere to give you work and supervise you, and our brand is all over theworld, and it is the best.”
An extreme case of miscommunication problems in the TMEE concerns asenior Japanese Engineer’s attitude in the TMEE, which caused crucial
problems among the TMEE, AAV, and local suppliers in Egypt. All local
suppliers submitted an official claim to the Cars’ Manufacturing’s Union in
Egypt against the senior Japanese engineer, who was also unprofessional anddisrespectful according to Egyptian standards. Because of this, Toyota’s Japan
headquarters decided to recall the engineer back to Japan as cited by the
TMEE’s senior engineer participant. The participant further stressed:“He was always shouting and angry. Always saying “crazy, Baka.” Not
only with us (TMEE) but with the managers of AAV as well...He had a
bad attitude with everyone, even with local suppliers. They even submitted
an official claim/complaint to the Cars’ Manufacturing’s Union in Egypt,and they sent him a strict warning. Most probably, this had a direct link toremove him from TMEE.”
Two more Egyptian managers left work for TMEE and moved to other German
companies in Egypt. Although in the TMEE, the Egyptian team-members
appreciated working for Toyota, admired many features in the Japanese work
style, and acknowledged the various lessons they learned from the Japanese
team. However, they did not have a strong feeling of belonging compared to
Toyota Japan team. There were different reasons that TMEE’s members
ment ioned . Mo st ly it wa s not related to t he system but related to
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communication.
Eighteen percent of the participants feels that the Japanese management
doesn’t trust them or appreciate them (figure 1). They also faced problems interms of communication and instruction (18%). This can be because of thelanguage barrier or vague explanations by the Japanese team. The lack offlexibility and adaptation to the surroundings from the Japanese side also
caused problems for the Egyptians (23%). The participants further mentionedthat the Japanese work style does not respect their personal life, which theyalso mentioned that communication and attitude were easier with the Germans.
This scenario prompted them to consider leaving Toyota when a better
opportunity arises.

18％

23％

18％
23％
18％
Figure 1. TMEE’s comments percentage among Egyptian participants
Source: Author’s fieldwork investigation, in TMEE, AAV’s Factory, Cairo, Egypt 2017-2020

Kaizen Center and JICA
In Egypt’s JICA office and Kaizen Center, Egyptians, and Japanese work
together but their understanding and way of practicing Toyota Way and Kaizen
were different. A Japanese senior staff from JICA strongly believed that theEgyptians’ and Japanese’ historical and geographical backgrounds affect theirculture, way of thinking, and performance. Such a core difference between thetwo nations appears in some characteristics. For instance, Japanese people areprocedures-oriented and very systematic, while Egyptians are results-oriented
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Intercultural Business Communication Challenges: A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt

and more f lexible. The Japanese tend to use fewer explanations, and an
Egyptian tend to add many details. The staff further stated that:“Geographically speaking, we are entirely different in the far east, on an
isolated island, but Egypt is in the Center of Africa, Europe, and Asia.
And history also is different. Egypt’s history is dynamic people come andgo, but in Japan’s history is relatively calmer. This different environment.
Japanese generally like to plan, but we were trying to do the best on theplan we made you know previously. Still, Egyptian people, of course,
understand the importance of the plan, but there are always changes.
Something happens from the outside. So, they cannot stick to the plan. My
impression is that Egyptian people are more f lexible in dealing withsudden changes, which is one of the big differences.”
The opinion above is explained academically and is known as Edward T. Hall’s
high context and low context culture model. Edward T. Hall’s concept of highcontext cultures (HCC) people don’t need direct verbal communication anddepend on understanding what is between the lines through the context. On theother hand, low context cultures (LCC) having clear verbal communication anddetailed information are essential. 21 Conversely, Edward T. Hall set Japaneseand Arab cultures as high context cultures (Table 2), leaving the assumptionthat communication might be more accessible among them though the
Egyptians and Japanese’ communication are not going without challenges.

21 Hall, Beyond Culture.

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Table 2. HCC and LCC’s differences according to Hall’s Model
Aspects

HCC

LCC

Context

Explicit communication

Implicit communication

Information flow

Easy information flow

Hard access to information

Strong connection. Long term

Shallow/weak connection. shortterm

Polychronic (P-Time)22

Monochronic (M-Time)23

Spatial/personal space public
and workplace

High density/closeness accepted

It can be irritating in public

Order/rank/hierarchy Sound

Strict/highly respected

Flexible/Can be skipped

Work ethics/loyalty/sense of
belonging

Very strong

Flexible and open

Relations (social andprofessional network)
Time system

Workflow

Process-oriented

Result-oriented

ExamplesJapanese, Arab, Mediterranean

Americans, Germans, Swiss,
Scandinavians, and othernorthern Europeans

Source: E.T. Hall

A Japanese staff from JICA’s office in Egypt, who is in charge of Kaizen’s
projects in the health sector, believed that even with cultural and mindset
differences, which may cause some resistance, they could still achieve significant
results if the management is solid, cooperative, and committed. In Tanta Public
Hospital, the management applied 5S and Kaizen project and turned Kaizen to
be the culture of the whole workplace. The staff mentioned:“In the health sector, there was resistance from the doctors and nurses
because they were already busy with daily work and didn’t want to havea ddit io n al wo rk...b ut th ey ch an ge d th eir min d a f t er th ey s aw th e
improvement and the results...As I said, JICA has tried applying Kaizen
in many countries in Asia and Africa. Still, actually the best excellent
practice we saw in such a short time was Tanta hospital. Even comparedto other countries in Asia and Africa, Tant a is really sur prisingly
achieving great success... It worked because of the director, the hospital’shead. In the beginning, it was because of his commitment. But now, 5S isthe culture of the hospital. Even if he leaves, maybe it will remain”

22 “P-Time: being involved in many things at once”Hall and Hall, Hidden Differences.
23 “M-Time: Paying attention and doing only one thing at time” Ibid

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Intercultural Business Communication Challenges: A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt

Even though Opinions differ in JICA’s Egypt office, they followed the same
approach in introducing Kaizen and Toyota Way to improve or develop thequality of work or service. In some projects, it evolves to be a culture. Although
Kaizen’s primary approach is a “bottom-up approach” that gives the workers
more ownership and responsibility24 , the Top-down approach might be more
effective in developing countries as it is challenging to find a system thatprovides all necessary information and data circulated. Thus, government andmanagers must take serious measures. 25 On the other hand, at the Kaizen
Center in Egypt’s MTI, the way they understand, and practiced Kaizen evolved
remarkably. After establishing Kaizen Center in 2006, the center became a hub
to spread Kaizen’s culture in various industrial and business consultation
sectors within Egypt and among African countries (figure 2). Not only that the
Kaizen Center staff applied Kaizen and other Toyota systems as policies or tools
to develop the industrial field, but they also educated workers and changed their
way of thinking. A Kaizen Center senior Egyptian staff mentioned:“Even the word Kaizen that we are using is not technical as much it isrelated to the way you think and change the mindset. For example, the 5S;
is like cleaning your apartment, getting rid of things you don’t use,organizing the place, and doing this every day as a habit. You have tofollow a specific cleaning routine and maintenance schedule to keep themachine in good condition at work. We are supposed to reach each level
step by step, and then it becomes a lifestyle.”
Two points were unique about the Kaizen Center: First, it evolved to be acenter that teaches Kaizen as a way of thinking to change workers’ mindset,
and not only the system and actions, which they believe will positively impact
their performance. Second, the Kaizen Center’s staff stressed the core conceptof Kaizen as “an accumulative continuous development,” as Kaizen’s Center
24 島田，“特集：国際開発におけるカイゼン研究の到達点と 今後の課題 ―学際的アプロー
チ か ら の 政 策 的 イ ン プ リ ケ ー シ ョ ン の 検 討 ―．(Shimada Go.“Special Feature:
Achievements and Future Challenges of Kaizen Research in International DevelopmentExamination of Policy Implications from an Interdisciplinary Approach-.”)
25 山田 and 大野，途上国の産業人材育成：SDGs 時代の知識と技能 . (Yamada Shoko, and Ohno
Izumi. Industrial human resource development in developing countries: Knowledge andskills in the SDGs era.)

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Egyptian engineer expressed it. They believed it was a way of thinking and aphilosophy of life.
The Kaizen Center designs training courses, make assessments, and evaluate
factories and universities as part of their consultation to the public and private
sectors. JICA has strict rules to cooperate mostly with government sectors, andnot with the private sector. Since the Kaizen Center works with both private
and government sectors as part of Egypt’s MTI, this makes the center more
flexible in changing or adjusting their materials for each industry separately(figure 2).

Figure 2. The Kaizen Center’s Activities and Services
Source: Kaizen Center’s Press release presentation. Author’s collected data in fieldwork, MTI,
Cairo, Egypt 2020

Importance of Adaptation and Customization of Kaizen
The adaptation and customization of Kaizen, Japanese systems, and concepts
by Egypt’s Kaizen Center made it easier to disseminate the Japanese know-how
and make it more acceptable by Egyptian individuals and organizations. The
Kaizen Center is considered a realistic example of how the Kaizen concept
globalized and evolved during the transition process. They modified or“Egyptianized” the Japanese ways and re-created them to be more acceptable
and compatible with the Egyptians’ needs, conditions, traditions, and mindset.
These elements must be considered when taking business or concepts into newenvironments. Otherwise, resistance and opposition might interfere withworkflow and cause failure. As Johnson 26 argued, this is common in similar
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Intercultural Business Communication Challenges: A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt

cases, where there is a lack of cross-cultural competence and when teammembers or counterparts cannot effectively interact in another culture.
In some cases, the headquarters’ attempts to enforce their ways on local staff
and overseas managers while ignoring the local culture’s different circumstancesand events may result to failure. Achieving cross-cultural competence, wellknowledge, comprehensive understanding, and good communication arenecessary to be acknowledged in international business. The lack of crosscultural competence and how it affects the communication and mutual
understanding between overseas managers and local partners impacts businessand investments. Moreover, it can cause “loss of opportunities, reduced
productivity, damaged relations”. 27
According to Johnson, Lenartowicz, and Apud28 , there are three factors thatare essential to achieve cross-cultural competence. These are “attitude, skills,
and knowledge”. All three are paramount factors to achieve cross-culturalcompetence that can be learned quickly through Cross-Cultural Training(CCT). 29 This was reflected on other research about Kaizen’s which emphasizes
the inclusion of local circumstances and culture when working on international
cooperation projects. These grant effective results and sustainable development.
In a study about Kaizen in Ethiopia by Koume 30 , when JICA introduced
Kaizen, the Ethiopian government entirely adopted it, and the collaboration
didn’t end in developing industrial policy only. The Ethiopian side applied Kaizen
in the health sector, vocational training, preschool, school education system, andgraduate schools. They embedded Kaizen into the people’s mindset. Thus, theimpact expanded to people’s life and social communities and didn’t stop at work
performance and economic indicators. 31
26 Johnson, Lenartowicz, and Apud,“Cross-Cultural Competence in International Business:
Toward a Definition and a Model,”2006.
27 Storti, “The Art of Crossing Borders.”
28 Johnson, Lenartowicz, and Apud, “Cross-Cultural Competence in International Business:
Toward a Definition and a Model,” 2006.
29 Black and Mendenhall defined CCT as cited by Johnson, Lenartowicz, and Apud “Crosscultural training enables the individual to learn both the workplace diversity literaturein content and skills that will facilitate effective cross-cultural interaction by reducing
misunderstandings and inappropriate behaviors.”
30 山田 and 大野，途上国の産業人材育成：SDGs 時代の知識と技能 ．(Yamada Shoko, andOhno Izumi. Industrial human resource development in developing countries: Knowledge
and skills in the SDGs era.)
31 Ibid

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In Egypt’s case, the leading players in the Egyptian-Japanese relations
mentioned that they faced challenges in communication with their counterpartsor team members (94% Egyptians and 83% Japanese). The more experiences
the participants had working with Japanese or Egyptians, the more they
understood the cultural differences and dealt with them. However, there are norecords documenting these communication challenges patterns among
Egyptians and Japanese. That is why new members take more time to grasp it,
especially on the Egyptian side. And time, effort, and opportunities are wasted
during the trials and errors process as there is no cultural map or guideline.

Conclusion and further research suggestions:This paper illustrated the forms of Kaizen application areas in Egypt and thekind of cultural and communication challenges that Egyptian staff encounteredduring the dissemination of Kaizen and Toyota Way in Kaizen Center and
TMEE in Egypt. There were interesting differences and unexpected similarities.
The research points to four key findings: First, there is a growing interest in
Kaizen among researchers and the Egyptian government in Egypt. Egyptian
researchers see it as a flexible concept to develop in different sectors such as
education, health, management, and the industry sectors. However, somechallenges slow the processes and put Egypt behind other countries, eventhough the country pioneered Kaizen in Africa. These challenges are divided
into system-related and communication/culture-related challenges.
Regarding the system, Egypt is a developing country that faces various
challenges, either internally struggling with corruption32 or with conflicts on its
borders. That impacts the disclosure of any information for the public and thegovernment’s sensitivity. As mentioned by a high Egyptian official in MTI, “It is
the intelligence’s complex. (Intelligence Agency’s complex) no one should know
anything about us.” The political situation and revolutions also frequently cause
sudden changes in circumstances, laws, regulations, and procedures, which don’t
help establish a solid documentation system. Regarding communication, thelanguage barrier serves as a problem as both sides use mainly English tocommunicate, which is not the native language of both nationalities. The non32 Corruption Perceptions Index- Egypt’s 2020 Rank:117/180 and its 2020 Source: 33/100
Source https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/egypt Access May 21st, 2021

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Intercultural Business Communication Challenges: A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt

verba l commu nicat ion cha llenges related to t he lack of cross - cultura lcompetence also impacted the work environment and caused losses in theworkplace worse than the system’s obstacles.
Second, communication isn’t necessarily more accessible among HCC’s people,
as shown in Egypt and Japan’s case. Both tend to interpret the speech and try
to f i nd t he mea n i ng beh i nd spoken words , wh ich may cause moremisunderstanding. Moreover, most Egyptian participants’ comments on
Japanese were similar to LCC’s opinions on Japanese (vage and not clear).
Third, it is essential to have solid record-keeping and documentation forinternational business and projects, especially to solve communication-related
challenges. It is crucial to have a guideline that works as a cultural map to
guide people and reduce miscommunication as stepping on some cultural taboos
proved to cause losses in business, opportunities, and relations.
Fourth, in a developing country like Egypt, the top-down approach is more
effective. Thus, the Egyptian government needs to take collective action andinclude all related parties in a joint project. To get more accurate indicators on
the situation in Egypt, the project should include Egyptian and Japanese
governments, business councils, Public-Private-Partnership (PPP), and opinions
on different projects.
Business people who work with other cultures should be knowledgeable about
their counterpart’s culture and surrounding conditions. This knowledge will
grant them better mutual understanding, respect, and good communication.
T h i s h ig h l ig ht s t h e i mp o r t a n c e o f i n c lu d i n g t h e l o c a l c u lt u r e s a n dcontextualizing them in future business operations and management research.
Monitoring and documenting how business culture expands will facilitate thework process and promote international cooperation. Such serious endeavors
will positively impact projects’ output, sustainability, and even local societies. In
addition, it will raise awareness, facilitate better communication in business andinternational cooperation, and achieve significant results.

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論文

Abstract

Intercultural Business Communication
Challenges:
A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota
Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt
Sara Hashem Abdelmoniem Ahmed ABDELLATIFAs the world continues to globalize, the flow of people, ideas, and money
comes quickly - and multinational and global companies are established easier.
Working with people from various backgrounds has become more common yet
can be challenging due to differences in cultural backgrounds, traditions,systems, and work styles. Investigating Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt(TMEE) and Kaizen Center in Egypt showed some core differences in working
styles, cultures, and communication. The lack of understanding of thosedifferences and miscommunication has negatively affected the workflow andwork environment in some cases.
Unlike previous research which studied Kaizen from an industrial perspective,
this paper focuses on Kaizen and communication in international business froma cultural perspective, specifically on the Kaizen Center and TMEE. Tracking
t he c h a l le ng e s a nd c l a r i f y i ng t he c u lt u r a l d i f fe re nc e s e x pl a i n s t hecommunication challenges and patterns that emerge when recontextualizing
Kaizen in Egypt. This paper is a baseline research that aims to show how toachieve cross-cultural competence in TMEE and Kaizen Center in Egypt.
The paper consists of a combination of literature analysis on Kaizen, crosscultural competence, and international business communication-related research.
On the other hand, the primary data was drawn from qualitative open-ended
interviews conducted with Egyptian and Japanese participants who are engaged
with Kaizen in Egypt.
This paper illustrated the forms of Kaizen applications in Egypt as well as
the cultural and communication challenges during the dissemination of Kaizen
and Toyota Way in Kaizen Center and TMEE in Egypt. The study discovered
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Intercultural Business Communication Challenges: A case study of Kaizen Center and Toyota Motor Engineering Egypt in Egypt

both interesting differences and unexpected similarities. There were four key
findings: first, there is a growing interest about Kaizen among researchers andthe government in Egypt. Egyptian researchers see it as a flexible concept todevelop in different sectors such as education, health, management, and industry.
Second, some challenges slow the processes and put Egypt behind othercountries though the country pioneered Kaizen in Africa. Those challenges are
divided into system-related and communication or culture-related challenges.
Third, it is essential to have a solid record-keeping and documentation forinternationa l businesses a nd projects to tackle communication-related
challenges. These can guide people and reduce miscommunication and steppingon some cultural taboos prove to cause losses in business, opportunities, andrelations. Fourth, in a developing country like Egypt, the top-down approach ismore effective. Thus, the Egyptian government needs to take collective action
and include all related parties in a joint project. To get more accurate indicatorson the situation in Egypt, the project should consist of representatives from theEgyptian and Japanese governments, business councils, Public-PrivatePartnership (PPP), and opinions on different projects.
Keywords: intercultural business communication, cultures interaction, Kaizen,cross-cultural competence, JICA, business cultures.

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