Interview

Our Jobs and Careers
at the Planning Function

Partnerships and Projects Department

K.I.

Assistant Manager

Mid-career recruitment in 2017

My career

At a major manufacturer I joined as a new graduate, I worked in B-to-B sales to domestic and overseas customers, followed by business development and corporate planning. I participated in several projects, including investments in new businesses and management restructuring of core businesses, and gained a wide range of work experience. When the projects came to an end, I decided that I wanted to further experience working with partner companies to create value, so I moved to Nissan with an interest in a job that would enable me to promote collaboration in alliances in the automotive industry. I was assigned to Partnerships and Projects Department of the Corporate Strategy and Business Development Division, which is in charge of alliance operations with alliance companies, and then to the Program Director's Office, which handles automotive OEM, before returning to my current division in 2022.

You are in the business of promoting collaboration with partner companies

Nissan optimizes development resources and production capacity through numerous collaborations with alliance partners. In addition to joint development of vehicle platforms, engines, and other powertrains, we sometimes supply each other's vehicles themselves. Partnerships and Projects Department, of which I am a member, takes the lead in cooperation with related internal departments and negotiates detailed terms and conditions for each project, such as roles and responsibilities with alliance companies and how to hold expenses. It is important to ensure that the project is beneficial not only to Nissan but also to both companies.
However, since different companies are collaborating with each other, there are bound to be conflicts of interest. At times, we may be asked to plan by management, and our role is to gather the information necessary for decision-making and present options. Also, while the content of the contract will change as negotiations proceed, it is important for Nissan to firmly establish the important points and proceed with the negotiations firmly.

What is your important things when it comes to work?

In this job, we are involved with many departments, and since each department has a different role and different goals, we sometimes clash with each other. Although things do not always go as planned, each person has his or her own role to play, and because a project is only possible when everyone works together, no person is indispensable.
What I value when interacting with people in the course of my work is to have respect for the other person. I do not take a one-sided approach, but rather put myself in the other person's shoes, consider what the bottleneck is, and work together to find a solution. Alliances may sound like a large scale and spectacular job, but there is also a lot of down-to-earth work. Even so, I feel that the real thrill of working in the Partnerships and Projects Department is being involved with many people inside and outside the company and working together toward one direction despite the mixture of different values. In particular, diversity is one of Nissan's strengths, so there are many opportunities to come into contact with ways of thinking that Japanese people do not have, which is another appealing aspect.

VISION

Collaboration with alliance partners is an important initiative that enables us to do what we could not accomplish alone by bringing together our mutual strengths and sometimes creating something greater. The automotive industry is in a period of great change. To lead that transformation, increasingly flexible strategies are required, and I feel that collaboration will continue to be an important framework. Through this work, I feel that my communication and coordination skills have been greatly nurtured as I engage in negotiations with various people inside and outside the company. Each time I have been involved in a number of projects, I have been required to learn technical terms and new knowledge, and I have tried to be flexible and absorb what I do not know. I would like to continue to learn new things flexibly.
When choosing a company, I recommend that you focus not only on the company you want to work for, but also on the range of options available to you to gain experience after you join the company. If a company allows you to gain experience for a while after you join and then challenge yourself with other tasks, you can build your career while working at one place for a long time. The wide variety of departments and job descriptions at Nissan also offers you the opportunity for diverse experiences.