Bericht. Automotive Lighting, Penang, Malaysia. 2. Praxissemester SS 2003

Transcription

1 Bericht Automotive Lighting, Penang, Malaysia 2. Praxissemester SS 2003 Özgür Dogan WIW

2 The Benefits of the Internship The Goals I set myself in the beginning In the beginning of my placement I set myself goals, which I wanted to achieve in the best possible way. Setting goals for a placement in an unknown country inside an unfamiliar department with new tasks was difficult. Therefore I used more general goals, which were hard to focus on specifically. Still I believe I increased my skills in most of the more general topics the goals were describing. In general, the goals I set myself in the beginning are: Be productive and efficient within a multinational organization Get a deeper understanding of the Asian (working) culture Evaluate and experience the opportunities of an European in Asia Increase my interpersonal skills Prove myself able to react on new and unorthodox tasks when they appear during work time Increase my knowledge on Asia and its structures and behaviors Extent of how the placement met my goals As mentioned before, the goals I set myself in the beginning of the placement are of a more general nature and it was hard to focus on an individual goal in particular. Still I handled it to gain more experience in various fields, which can be connected to the several tasks. In the following I want to describe the extent of how the placement met my goals. -2-

3 Be productive and efficient within a multinational company As a goal, this statement was hard to realize. Of course it is possible to be productive and efficient within the company, which should anyway be the overall target of all employees. I believe I became quite productive and efficient after I got used to my new environment and learned who is responsible for which tasks and can give me the demanded information. During the placement I had the status of a regular employee, which also contained responsibilities for accurate and fast work. But the difficult part to fulfill within this statement is the efficiency and productivity within a multinational company. Of course Automotive Lighting Malaysia Sdn Bhd has customers and suppliers worldwide and inside of a fixed framework of subsidiaries they are relatively independent in their decisions. Therefore the subsidiary ALMA is part of a multinational company. Nevertheless the problem about being productive and efficient in a multinational matter of speaking is that most operations below the top management remain locally or internationally within one dimension. So most of my work remain at ALMA, with exception of the Suzuki project, which I directly sent to Japan. Get a deeper understanding of the Asian (working) culture After working six months within ALMA I can say that I got enough impressions about the Malaysian business/working culture. But I don t want to generalize my experiences by taking them as typical Asian attitudes. During my half year stay in South East Asia, where I visited several countries, I have learned that all of the countries differ from each other in a wider degree than European countries would do. Therefore I believe it s hard to say that I got a deeper understanding of the Asian (working) culture in general. -3-

4 But I got to know the Malaysian business culture, which was quite different to the attitudes I experienced inside German offices. The direct benefit I can name is that I could cope with this different attempt of doing business and therefore believe that I can also work in other Asian countries with unknown attitudes towards business. This is for me an important experience because I still plan to continue my working career in South-East Asia on a long-term. Evaluate and experience the opportunities of a European in Asia During my placement I had many opportunities to talk to European expatriates within my company and of others. These talks have given me the impression that working in South-East Asia can be prosperous and interesting when you can cope with the environment. But it can also be a hard time when you are used to European standards and are not willing to change. The persons who like to work in Asia and the ones who want to go back as fast as possible are counterbalanced. Of course there are many opportunities for a European in Asia in doing business as well as private life. In business the economies of the ASEAN nations are recovering from the financial crisis and demand is growing again. Many European companies are entering the ASEAN market as one of the future markets. Moreover China still remains as the sleeping giant, which will awaken soon when they have to deregulate due to the pressure of the WTO entry. For private life Asia offers plenty of interesting experiences every day. The option to travel is comparable cheap and each country is a world of its own. Daily life is getting more exciting. But I also could experience the negative sides of living in Asia. Family and friends are left behind and even the seasons are taken away (in Malaysia). After a while you can alienate from European values and at the time of your return will find it hard to get used again to it. -4-

5 On thing is clear, after leaving your own culture for a longer time, you will change yourself personally and after return, see things differently and wonder about habits of earlier days. For me I believe I placed a decision though the time in Malaysia. I still want to experience more, which means I want to go back when I have the opportunity. Increase my interpersonal skills Before I started the placement I never got the chance to practice my theoretically learned interpersonal skills in business life. That s why I was anxious to use learned techniques in communication with my colleagues, when I needed information of them. Unfortunately the learned skills more or less suited only the Western hemisphere while I had to adjust and modify. In this case I learned how to adjust myself to a new environment that didn t fit into learned stereotypes. Every person is an individual and has to be handled separately when both sides should come out a conversation satisfied. Nevertheless I believe after some difficulties in the beginning I handled this task quite well and I will use these experiences in further work life. Prove myself able to react on new and unorthodox tasks when they appear during work time This goal is hard to realize when you work in a company where standardization of forms and procedures are practiced. Still there were a couple of changes after the Joint Venture, which occurred in new (and not so unorthodox) tasks. Most of the time it was my job to understand new forms and work through them by using guidelines. Sometimes I had even to adjust documents, so that their usage would be more efficient. -5-

6 In general I can say that I finished every task given to me in satisfaction of the person in charge. The level of unorthodoxy was various but low, still most of the tasks where new to me and sometimes even to the department. Nevertheless Purchase and Project Management became finally to a routine, except of when important deadlines had to be met. Then I had to prove myself able to react on spontaneous and urgent tasks when they appear during work time, a more proper target for the next time. Increase my knowledge on Asia and its structures and behaviors The placement in Malaysia deepened this knowledge and extended it further. First I could experience the working atmosphere in an Asian company as mentioned before. But due to my research project I had also extensively to analyze the Asian automotive market. By using earlier learned knowledge about culture and politics I could draw a clear picture about a specific element of Asian life. In general I can say that my knowledge about Asia, its structures and behaviors was further deepen during the time in Malaysia. There is still an immense part of unknown outside, but the motivation to learn is as fresh as in the beginning. -6-

7 Final Comments Conclusion The projects assigned to me were demanding and challenging. Therefore I was able to gain much knowledge in the business environment. Besides, the experience of living and working in an Asian country, especially in one of the currently fasted-crowing regions of the world, cannot be overestimated. Moreover, the way my colleagues accepted me as a member of the team and the very positive feedback I received during my time in Penang was highly motivating to me. -7-

8 Eindrücke aus dem Büro: -8-

9 Vortrag an einer malaysischen Schule: -9-

10 Geschäftsreise zu Automotive Lighting Japan: -10-

11 Abendveranstaltung mit Lieferanten Supplier Award -: -11-

12 Weitere Eindrücke: -12-

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