January 01, 2010 New Year’s Greetings and 2009 in Review from Japan Intercultural Consulting

Dear Clients and Friends:

Happy New Year!  2009 was another busy year for Japan Intercultural Consulting, and here’s some news about what we’ve been doing.

Expanding our human resource consulting

In the current difficult economic environment, more and more of our clients are requesting assistance on matters related to the effective management of human resource issues. Recent projects include consultation on performance evaluation system redesign, development of job descriptions, compensation system overhaul including establishment of a new salary grade system, and assessments to gauge the overall effectiveness of a firm’s human resource management approach. In our Europe Branch we have also added a new subscription-based HR outsourcing service.

Increasingly global scope

The needs of our clients continue to pull us toward work of an ever-increasing global scope. For example, our Japan Branch has seen a flood of popularity for its courses on Indian culture, and we have expanded our team of excellent Indian facilitators. Also our Japan Branch has been supporting a Japanese company’s new petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia, providing training on cultural issues to Japanese staff who will assigned or visit there. The head of our Japan Branch Misako Onoda has been spearheading these activities to help Japanese multinationals develop staff to be effective in an increasingly global world. Here in North America, we are seeing increasing demand for courses on Latin American cultures, and for firms with diverse workforces we offer multi-cultural courses that examine a range of cultures at once. We are planning further global-related initiatives and will be sharing more information shortly.

Reaching out through social networking

As a way to better keep in touch with our clients, we have established company presences on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and the Japanese site Mixi. Visit our site japanintercultural.com and click on the buttons at the left hand side of each page to connect with us through one of these means. We have also started a new blog, which can be accessed through our website as well. Be sure to check these for news about my latest books (am currently working on several!) and the new webinar series we will be launching soon.

We very much appreciate everyone’s support and enthusiasm for our work during this past year, and look forward to serving you in 2010. Best wishes for a happy holiday season, and prayers for Peace on Earth.

Rochelle Kopp
Managing Principal, Japan Intercultural Consulting
January 1, 2010

Japan Intercultural Consulting is an international training and consulting firm focused on Japanese business. We help clients increase profitability and employee engagement through improved communication and working relationships in multicultural environments. By working with us, our clients are better able to achieve their business goals. japanintercultural.com