Episode #53: David Wouters, ex Corporate Liaison Manager, Coca-Cola Japan

David Wouters is the President of InterSearch Japan, an executive search and human resources consultancy company, and the former Corporate Liaison Manager of Coca-Cola Japan. Mr. Wouters first arrived in Japan in 1969 to work for Coca-Cola as the Marketing Manager after working in the US and Southeast Asia for a number of years.

Mr. Wouters developed a Coke systemized training program in Japan to train employees on both the American and Japanese side to be able to better sell and market the product in Japan. In comparing Japanese and American way of sales and marketing, Mr. Wouters points out the Japanese are more relationship based whereas the US had a rigourous system and specific set of objectives. In order to join these two different cultures, Mr. Wouters encouraged open communication by having many meetings and looking at case studies. Mr. Wouters explains: “I found the best way to teach a program like that was [to] find out what they wanted and get to their thinking and then utilize their thinking with the other side’s thinking through meetings, organizations, sales programs that we developed.” He also later brought in the independent bottling companies to the meetings as well to ensure Coca-Cola and the bottlers worked well together. Mr. Wouters adds: “We had to make it a join effort. Wasn’t easy at the time [but eventually] I got a lot of cooperation from both sides because they both wanted to be strong.” During Mr. Wouter’s time, Coca-Cola also began a recruiting program that hired young Japanese graduates who had studied overseas by visiting universities. Out of the pool of these graduates, one eventually became the company president.

As part of forming good relations between diverse range of employees, Mr. Wouters also encouraged playing leisure activities together, such as golfing. He claims: “if you make the people that are working with you happy, that's one of the secrets of training. If you strictly authorize or direct, you're going to have a problem. I had to make both sides want to work together and sports to me was one of the activities that work best.” After playing golf, Mr. Wouters recalls having a drink and then holding serious meetings on marketing and sales. Mr. Wouters emphasizes the importance of getting cooperation and getting people to understand what results and benefits the project will bring to them. He adds: “you had to do it in a way that was appreciated. It's the same thing in life. You have to gain appreciation by the way you act or react with other peoples and their situations.” Since the training programs were successful, the US asked Mr. Wouters to replicate it in Atlanta. Mr. Wouters then went to graduate school at New York University’s Stern School of Business and eventually resigned from Coca-cola in 1976. After establishing his own company, InterSearch Japan, Mr. Wouters was asked by Coke to join them again in 2019 .

On advice to new foreign leaders in Japan, Mr. Wouters highlights understanding the culture and people to be key. Secondly, he advises leaders to work together with your team in order to lead them, and choose to work with people who work with each other on a “pro-positive” manner. Thirdly, Mr. Wouters emphasizes the value of being receptive which he finds brings people closer. He explains: “get involved with them, not above them…If you are with them, they have more tendency to be with you.”