By Ou Zicheng (IMBA Student Assistant)

May 18th 2012 marked the first Nissan-Tsinghua lecture series organized by Nissan and Tsinghua-MIT International MBA Program. The first lecture was delivered by Takemi Enshu, Manager of Alliance CEO Office of Nissan and hosted by Professor Steven White of Tsinghua SEM who teaches courses including Management of Global Enterprises. They had an inspiring discussion on the Renault-Nissan Alliance strategic partnership with nearly 100 students from both Tsinghua-MIT International MBA Program and Department of Automotive Engineering of Tsinghua University.

Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault S.A. and Nissan Motor is a member of Tsinghua SEM Advisory Board. He is the very person who proposed the Nissan-Tsinghua lecture series and suggested the topics and speakers. The second and third lectures of the Nissan-Tsinghua series are to be held in September and October this year.

Mr. Enshu first reviewed the historical course of Renault-Nissan Alliance since 1999, by presenting data such as sales units and equity constituents. Then he introduced the Alliance’s goal, outcome, decision-making layer and decision-making process. “Every month we hold a meeting to discuss and reach a mutual understanding on the alliance issues.”

Professor Steven White, whose main research interest is management of global enterprise, then had an inspiring discussion with Enshu, about the decision-making process and the influence of the innovative Renault-Nissan Alliance. During the discussion, they talked about how to respect and deal with the feelings of employees in each company, which should relates to cultural rather than financial or technical factors. Enshu also mentioned the changes that the Alliance had brought about. “The first thing that has changed is the management style. Now we are moving forward the direction of quick decision and quick action. The second one is transparency. Once we made decision, we directly translate it to inform every employee. The last one is language fit. Everything is translated from Japanese to English, from email, meeting record to presentation slides.

Throughout the lecture, Takemi Enshu continually emphasized on the pivotal roles of mutual trust and respect. “We are facing challenges every day. These challenges come from the difference between us, Renault and Nissan. We must acknowledge the differences and respect them.” In the Q&A session, IMBA students put forward a lot questions such as qualities of a CEO and how to avoid alliance failure.

Core members organizing the event

Tsinghua SEM Advisory Board is made up of elite business leaders, visionary government officials and renowned scholars from internationally renowned businesses and academic institutions, such as Former Chinese Premier ZHU Rongji, Henry Paulson (US Secretary of the Treasury and former CEO of Goldman Sachs), Lord John Browne (former CEO of BP) and Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart. Tsinghua-MIT International MBA program is a collaborative program between Tsinghua SEM and MIT Sloan School of Management. Tsinghua-MIT IMBA students have received innumerable opportunities to interact with first-class enterprises and institutions through the invaluable platform that Tsinghua SEM Advisory Board has established.