Nissan’s organizational culture (company culture) promotes behaviors and decisions that meet the needs of stakeholders, especially customers, employees, and the natural environment. The resulting business condition is that this corporate culture functions in building competitive advantages for managing tough rivalry in the automotive industry. Nissan’s business culture strengthens human resources against the effects of competition with Tesla, Toyota, General Motors, Ford, BMW, and other automakers. These competitors also have effective organizational cultures that support their automotive business goals. Nissan ensures that its company culture accounts for industry trends and facilitates human resource development necessary for long-term business competitiveness.
Emphasis on stakeholders means that Nissan’s culture and related core values promote a social environment and workplace behaviors that strive for excellence in a holistic way. This organizational culture also directly relates to the goals of Nissan’s mission and vision, which aim for superior value and mobility empowerment for customers’ benefit. Thus, the automaker’s work culture gives importance to customers, workers, and other stakeholders valued in its underlying mission and vision.
Traits of Nissan’s Organizational Culture
Nissan’s culture involves the application of core values and the company’s commitment to stakeholders. The company calls this cultural approach, the “Nissan Way.” The traits of this company culture influence the business organization in reaching its goals and developing its competitive advantages in the automotive industry. The principles of Nissan’s organizational culture are:
- Always think of the customer
- Show facts, face reality
- Be accountable, act proactively
- Think outside the box
- Respect others, respect society
Always think of the customer. The main objective of this trait of Nissan’s company culture is to have a comprehensive understanding of customers and their needs. Specifically, the company focuses on the transportation and mobility needs of customers. Through this cultural trait, Nissan employees are motivated to develop solutions that satisfy the needs of target customers. The ideas and knowledge generated with the help of this organizational culture are used as inputs for improving the automobile business, such as in designing cars and in improving product development processes. Nissan’s marketing mix (4P) and its related strategies and tactics reflect this cultural trait. For example, the company’s promotional tactics frequently focus on customers’ mobility needs and expectations.
Show facts, face reality. Nissan’s work culture encourages communication and discussions that involve facts. The company highlights the importance of factual information and objectivity in making decisions to improve the automotive business. For example, Nissan’s corporate culture values using market-based data and puts less value on speculations about automotive industry conditions. Data on external factors and industry trends are used extensively to develop business strategies that work and support automotive business growth.
Be accountable, act proactively. Accountability is integrated into Nissan’s organizational culture with the objective of promoting proactive behaviors among employees. For example, in terms of accountability, the company motivates its workers to take ownership of their actions, thereby limiting the occurrence of bad decisions and their effects on others in the workplace. Through this trait of its organizational culture, the automaker expects its employees to proactively take initiative instead of waiting for others to do what needs to be done. The divisions, departments, groups, and teams in Nissan’s corporate structure (business structure) facilitate accountability and related actions for proactive solutions that support this work culture.
Think outside the box. Nissan’s culture motivates employees to keep an open mind for new ideas that can improve the work environment, the business organization, and its products. Automotive innovation is one of the primary results of this organizational culture. For example, by thinking outside the box, Nissan employees develop better designs for cars and trucks with high success rates in the global market. Thinking outside the box also enhances organizational resilience against adverse changes in the business and the automotive industry. Thus, this business culture supports the innovation goals for product development and differentiation in Nissan’s competitive strategies and growth strategies.
Respect others, respect society. Respect integrated into Nissan’s company culture focuses on achieving a fair approach to resolving issues and challenges in automotive business. For example, the company considers all aspects and stakeholders in decision-making processes to achieve holistic and comprehensive solutions to problems encountered in the organization and in the automotive market and industry. The emphasis on respect in this company culture enables human resources and a social environment that support Nissan’s CSR and ESG strategy for sustainability and stakeholder interests. Corporate citizenship and its strengthening of the company’s automotive brand are supported through this corporate culture.
Business Implications of Nissan’s Culture
Nissan’s organizational culture supports business goals for long-term growth and competitiveness despite challenges in the market involving other large automakers. The cultural traits focusing on accountability and facts encourage workplace effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity that support the high-performance objectives of Nissan’s operations management. Also, the company’s work culture and core values develop human resource motivation for innovation, which is a critical success factor in automotive business. Competencies resulting from innovation reinforce Nissan’s competitive advantages, leading to improved business outcomes and potential for long-term success in the automotive industry.
References
- Băbeanu, S. A. (2024). Future Challenges of Implementing Innovative Business Model in the Automotive Industry. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence (Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 518-532).
- Dyer, C. (2023). The Power of Company Culture: How any business can build a culture that improves productivity, performance and profits. Kogan Page Publishers.
- Nissan Motor Corporation – Life at Nissan.
- Nissan Motor Corporation – Our Company – Nissan’s Beginnings.
- Nissan Motor Corporation – Our Company – Purpose and DNA.
- Zhang, W., Zeng, X., Liang, H., Xue, Y., & Cao, X. (2023). Understanding how organizational culture affects innovation performance: A management context perspective. Sustainability, 15(8), 6644.