The Fred Bailey1 Case of Going to Japan! With offices in nine countries worldwide, Kline & Associates is a rather large multinational consulting firm. With the opening of a new location in Tokyo, Fred Bailey found 1 This case is based on the following article: Black, J. S. (1996). Fred bailey: An innocent abroad. In M.E. Mendenhall, G.R. Oddou, & G. K. Stahl (Eds.), Readings and cases in international human resource management. (4th ed., pp. 163-170). New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly 2011, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp.40-52 41 himself assigned to a three-year assignment as the director of Kline & Associates Tokyo office. It was just six months ago when Fred arrived in Japan with his wife and two children excited about the assignment. Now he is confused as to how things turned around so abruptly. He is debating whether he should return home or persuade his wife to stay and finish out the assignment (Black, 1996, p. 163). Of course, research demonstrates that expatriates who are returning home tend to face an uncertain future and stressful challenges (Alvarado, Antoine, Cinquetti, Fernandez, Najair, Scagliotti, and Mujtaba, 2010). As such, repatriation training and program can help in this transition. Before arriving in Tokyo seven months ago, Fred Bailey had just successfully finished a major project with his team when he went to lunch with the managing partner, Dave Steiner, of the main office in Boston. The meeting was about a huge promotion and career move that would take Freds career with Kline to the next level if completed successfully; he would become a partner in the firm. Half a year into his assignment, Fred knew he could not go back on the offer as it would be the death of his career with Kline. However, his wife, Jenny, made it clear that she hated being in Japan. She strongly believed that Fred and the company had oversold the country and how well they would be taken care of, and didnt like the fact that Fred was never home due to 80+ hour work weeks. After just six months, Jenny had given Fred an ultimatum: either they return home together or she would go home alone. This was a tough decision as Fred had to decide what was more important, his family or his career (Black, pp. 163-164). Fred and Jenny started dating only a week after they met during their senior year in college and eventually got married. Jenny was born into a well to do family in Connecticut and majored in fashion merchandising as she had an interest and talent for fashion. Fred, the oldest of six children, came from a not so wealthy family and was the first to go to college. Although they struggled financially to put him through school, Fred was determined to take advantage of his opportunity and make his parents proud. Before and after the couple got married, they expressed their feelings about careers and family. Freds goals were to get his masters of business administration degree after a few years of work. Jenny wanted to be a buyer for a major store and have her own shop. They both wanted children and thought it would be best to start a family once Fred graduated from college. Everything was going as planned until Fred got the offer to go to Japan (Black, p. 164). The Offer Upon his completion at Harvard, Fred joined Kline and was put on the San Francisco team. After four years of successful projects at Kline, the managing partner at Kline, Dave Steiner, offered him a big promotion that came with a career opportunity to be partner if he triumphs in a three-year overseas assignment as director of the new Tokyo office. That office had a strategic importance for the company because it served major US clients operations in Japan. George Woodward, the previous assignee only lasted a year and then was transferred to the UK office because of his mixed reputation. Since he left the position suddenly, Fred was rushed to accept the assignment, convince his wife, and be ready to move in a matter of three weeks (Black, p. 165). When Fred went home to reveal the wonderful news to his wife, he was shocked at her less than excited response. Jenny thought the move to Japan would be difficult on the kids as they would have to live and go to school in a foreign country. In addition, she was not enthusiastic about not be able to open her own clothing store as planned. However, Fred assured Journal of Business Studies Quarterly 2011, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp.40-52 42 her that the offer was too good to turn down and the companys overseas package would make the living conditions in Japan great. The company offered to pay all expenses such as travel, relocation, housing, children schooling, private transportation with driver, and a cost of living adjustment, and compensation that would double Freds annual income. At the end, Fred spent only two days to consider and told Mr. Steiner that he would accept the assignment. This was a big decision for Fred and his family (Black, p. 165). Preparing for the Move With the whole process of making the transition from Boston to Japan and getting someone situated to take over Freds current position, Fred and the family had little time to really research and learn much about Japan. Due to the fact that much of the logistics was being handled by Kline internally, some of Baileys things were misplaced in wrong locations and to make matters worse, they were offered a small living arrangement that could not hold or fit many of their belongings (Black, p. 166). Once in Tokyo, after a few days of just settling in, Fred was back to work at the new Tokyo office. His first line of business was to conduct a general meeting with all his employees. During the meeting, all the Japanese staff sat together and all the American staff sat together, but this was not recognized by Fred. He just introduced himself and presented his business plan and asked a group of Americans their opinion about it and he got a mixture of opinions. On the other hand, Fred could not get much of a response from the Japanese group and they just made sucking sounds when he asked for specific information. Surprised at the reaction he got and aware that he was not getting far with the meeting, Fred thanked everyone for coming and closed out the meeting. At home, his wife had her own problems of not being able to buy certain goods without paying four times the amount back home and not having anyone to talk to since Fred worked long hours. Things were really getting to her by now and she did not know what to do (Black, p. 166). Preoccupied with thinking about his meeting with a potential Japanese client, Fred could not pay attention to his wifes concerns. Freds first meeting with a significant prospective client was not effective as he thought it would be. He used the American way to try to get a deal with the prospect, but it did not work. He went straight to the point and did not try to establish a relationship with the prospect before trying to get a deal. On top of that, he was trying to rush a decision from the Japanese side without giving them time to consider the offer. After five months of negotiations, Fred could not obtain the response he was looking for from the client. To help develop a report on the client so the proposal can be reevaluated and adjusted where necessary, Fred and Ralph Webster, a senior American associate, involved a Japanese research associate, Tashiro Watanabe, who would take the lead on the report since he understood the Japanese language and culture (Black, p. 167). Although this move was to create a better position for Fred with the client, the relationship between Fred and Tashiro was one with no effective communication and understanding. With word that the report was not completed, Fred was frustrated because he did not know why Tashiro never said anything. With the disconnection between the groups over the unfinished report, everything was left unfinished, and they were uncomfortable with each other and things got worse from thereafter. These incidents on top of others that Fred was too tired to remember just made him discouraged and he felt like he was doing business with people from another planet (Black, p.168). Journal of Business Studies Quarterly 2011, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp.40-52 43 At the beginning, Jenny was determined to make the move to Japan and it would be filled with adventure. However, it did not take long before her experience in Japan became one filled with equal frustration as Freds. She was tired of not fitting in and not being able to read or understand the language. After a matter of months, with all the frustration built up inside on top of the incidents and challenges that came with the move, Jenny was more eager than ever before to leave Japan for good. On top of that, Jenny felt like they did not owe the company anything as she believed that Kline had misled them to think that this assignment was similar to the one Fred took in San Francisco for two years; however, it was far from it and now she was ready to give Fred an ultimatum: either they leave together or she leaves alone (Black, pp. 168-169). Fred reflected back on the past seven months of his assignment and wondered why everything was about to collapse. He wanted to know what had gone wrong. Thoughts ran through his head as to how he could resolve his problem. Should he contact his boss and discuss his situation? Should he return home with his wife and children? Or could he try to fix the problem so he can finish out the assignment and return back home to the United States? Base on this case to answer this question: If Fred could turn back time, what would Fred have done for a successful dispatch