Who has responsibility for this situation? What is the nature of various stakeholders’ responsibilities? Headquarters’ HR? Japan HR? Fred Bailey? Jennifer Bailey? Dave Steiner, company managing partner? Management development? Fred Bailey: An Innocent Abroad A Case Study in Cross-Cultural Management (US/Japan)

Stewart Black Fred gazed out the window of his twenty-fourth-floor office at the tranquil beauty of the Imperial Palace amidst the hustle and bustle of downtown Tokyo. It had been only six months since Fred Bailey had arrived with his wife and two children for this three-year assignment as the director of Kline & Associates’ Tokyo office. Kline & Associates was a large multinational consulting firm with offices in 19 countries worldwide. Fred was now trying to decide if he should simply pack up and tell the home office that he was coming home or if he should try to somehow convince his wife and himself that they should stay and finish the assignment. Given how excited they all were about the assignment to begin with, it was a mystery to Fred how things had gotten to this point. As he watched the swans glide across the water in the moat that surrounds the Imperial Palace, Fred reflected on the past seven months.