Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-s): Business Trip - The Canary Islands

The Canary Islands

今年、最後の記事は「キャナリー諸島」。ヨーロッパの避寒地でのセミナー。ちょっと羨ましい。

来年は、1月7日から続きを掲載します。では、少し早いですが、良いお年を。See you next year!

Off the coast of Morocco to the west are the Canary Islands. Those islands are part of Spain, and that is the place Columbus stopped on his way to discover America. There are several islands, but two main islands, Grand Canaria and Tenerefe. The economy evolves around tourism for northern Europeans wanting to get out of the cold and to get in some relaxing sunshine.

I gave several seminars there, as the Canary Islands had no European restrictions in terms of imports and safety/emission regulations. Unfortunately, only Spanish is spoken there except around the tourist areas in the south of both of those two islands. Much like Hawaii, the people are very relaxed and casual and not as industrious as their northern colleagues.

< Sales Training with a beautiful German lady who was fluent in Spanish, March 1988 >

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-r): Business Trip - Egypt

Egypt

一度行ったら忘れられない国、ブランド重視の国民性
Egypt is one of those countries that you never forget if you go there. Isuzu Motors and General Motors had a vehicle assembly joint venture there, which serviced about eight dealers. One of the dealers, Monsour Chevrolet, dominated the market and probably still does today. The same vehicle was sold under the Isuzu name, Chevrolet name and Bedford name. The Egyptians are very loyal to brands, dealers and individuals. Therefore, the name and contact are more important than the product itself.
I stayed at the Minna House Hotel outside of Cairo in Giza, right at the foot of the pyramids. That is the famous hotel that the Americans and British planned the African campaign in World War II. I jogged around the pyramids every morning before going to work. I will never forget it.

< Minna House Hotel, Giza Egypt, December 1987 >





The history there can be traced back 7,000 years, before any known religion. The country of Egypt can be traced back 5,000 years. Needless to say, just wandering around those ruins and structures makes your mind run wild with fascination as to life way back then.

< Outside the Egyptian Museum, Cairo >


< The Sphinx, Giza Egypt >


アッパー・エジプト、ロウアー・エジプトとは？
Egypt is a country that lives off of one river, the Nile. The country gets very little rain and all life surrounds the Nile. One interesting thing about Egypt is they talk in terms of “Upper Egypt” and “Lower Egypt”. Upper is not north. It is south. Lower is not south. It is north. The reason being is that the Nile flows into Egypt from Sudan in the south and empties into the Mediterranean Sea. I was to travel to Egypt quite a few times over the years.

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-q): Business Trip - UAE (United Arab Emirates)

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

In 1987, I gave sales training in the UAE (United Arab Emirates). I had provided training in the big Middle East countries of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait but nowhere else. Well, the smaller countries like Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and the UAE itself wanted training.

Dubai had, and probably still has, the best living standard in the Middle East, and Isuzu Motors, along with most companies from the west, have regional offices there. We had seminars for the region there, and people were coming in from all over the Middle East. We set up four seminars, two basic sales seminars, one seminar specifically for selling heavy trucks and sales management for the managers in the region. It was a mixed group and a very enjoyable two weeks in Dubai. I was so used to packing my bag and moving every 4-5 days that it was nice to stay in the same place and let the participants come to me. That was the first of many seminars in Dubai. In recent times, Dubai has become quite a boom town and has developed a tourist business.

< Sales Management and Role Playing in Dubai, UAE July 1987 >




< Frisby, Fernandez, Mohadeem and other managers, Dubai, UAE July 1987 >


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先日、ロンさんは六本木のアメリカンクラブでインタビューを受け、それがYoutubeにアップされました。

タイトルは「BRIDGING THE GAP」ですが、内容はまさしくこのブログのタイトル「Ron's Personal Jourbey」です。

以下は、ロンさんからのメールです。

Subject: Fwd: RON HERE AND NOW

I was interviewed at the Tokyo American Club, which was posted on YouTube.

Many of you know my background, but here is me now. Talked about growing up, coming to Japan, and what I'm involved in right now.

Hope you enjoy it.

https://youtu.be/crg8mWW6ciw?si=fR5GGXaiHEMhmXZn

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-p): Business Trip - The Ivory Coast

The Ivory Coast

フランスの植民地だった象牙海岸。現在のコートジボワール。1987年のアフリカの旅です。

The Ivory Coast is the first West African country I had ever been to. I gave a basic sales seminar there. The country was not as poor as you may think at that time. It has a lot of water and can grow a great deal of tropical crops. Also, it has minerals and other raw materials, which are mainly exported to Europe.

It is one of the original French territories, and the official language is French. In that region, most of the countries use French as the official language. Nigeria and Cameroon are half English and half French depending on the region of the country.

< Sales Training in the Ivory Coast in French, June 1987 >





****************************************************************************************************************************************************
先日、ロンさんは六本木のアメリカンクラブでインタビューを受け、それがYoutubeにアップされました。

タイトルは「BRIDGING THE GAP」ですが、内容はまさしくこのブログのタイトル「Ron's Personal Jourbey」です。

以下は、ロンさんからのメールです。

Subject: Fwd: RON HERE AND NOW

I was interviewed at the Tokyo American Club, which was posted on YouTube.

Many of you know my background, but here is me now. Talked about growing up, coming to Japan, and what I'm involved in right now.

Hope you enjoy it.

https://youtu.be/crg8mWW6ciw?si=fR5GGXaiHEMhmXZn

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (速報):ロンさん、Youtubeで語る＠東京アメリカンクラブ

先日、ロンさんは六本木のアメリカンクラブでインタビューを受け、それがYoutubeにアップされました。

タイトルは「BRIDGING THE GAP」ですが、内容はまさしくこのブログのタイトル「Ron's Personal Jourbey」です。

以下は、ロンさんからのメールです。

Subject: Fwd: RON HERE AND NOW

I was interviewed at the Tokyo American Club, which was posted on YouTube.

Many of you know my background, but here is me now. Talked about growing up, coming to Japan, and what I'm involved in right now.

Hope you enjoy it.

https://youtu.be/crg8mWW6ciw?si=fR5GGXaiHEMhmXZn

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-o): Business Trip - Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

To finish that first trip to Latin America, I returned to Puerto Rico to give a seminar to the local Isuzu distributor and its dealers on dealership sales management. At that time there was a quota on Japanese vehicles going into the United States, but vehicles could be supplied unrestricted to all US territories, like Puerto Rico. So, Puerto Rican dealers were ordering vehicles from their Japanese supplier and reselling them to dealers in the United States with a profit margin. This is very common among dealers that need a particular vehicle in a hurry to satisfy a customer who is willing to pay a little be more. They are called dealer-to-dealer agreements.

Well, with the quota, dealers in Puerto Rico were making a killing on reselling into the United States. They bought 10,000 units from just Isuzu at the time of that trip. So, my training was more a thank you note to the dealers than actual dealer development. Simply speaking, I was very serious about sales management and how to develop a strong sales force, and over half the group was there to party. Unfortunately, even my interpreter wanted to join in with the party. Right in the middle of my presentation, the interpreter said to just speak to the English speakers and don’t worry about the rest. I felt terrible about the people who just sat there and couldn’t understand a word I was saying. It was in a casino hotel with a lot of guests from the Eastern part of the US on vacation. So, the atmosphere was all fun and little work. All in all, most of the people were fascinated with the concepts I presented, and the seminar was a success. I should say it was a success for them, but not for me. I guess I expected too much.

< Puerto Rico Sales Training, February 1986 >

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-ｎ): Business Trip - Venezuela

1987年、中南米、カリブ海諸国を巡るロンさん。
日本ではNTT株が売りがされ、マイケル・ジャクソンが来日。
バブル真っただ中でした。

Venezuela

From Panama I went to Caracas, Venezuela. Venezuela has built its economy around oil. It is an oil producer and exporter. Unlike its neighbor, Colombia, its population is much lower and has a higher educational level. It does tend to live above its means though, and when the price of oil goes down, so do the Venezuelan economy and it’s Bolivar (their currency). Unlike other nations in the region, the cars are very large and luxurious. Caracas is a city like the shape of an octopus with many winding valleys going away from the center of the city. It is very close to the equator, so the climate is very mild year around.

< Venezuela Sales Training, February 1987 >

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-m): Business Trip - Costa Rica & Panama

コスタリカ、安全で豊か、教育の行き届いた国
Costa Rica, on the other hand, is very safe and more prosperous. Its population is similar to the United States in that most of the population is from European decent, although mostly Spain and southern Europe. Like the United States, most of the local Indian population had been killed or melted into the European population. The country has a very strong Spanish feel about it. The number one industry is tourism. It has very famous tropical rain forests around the country. Also, there is a population of retired North Americans there, enjoying the warm weather, lower cost and friendly people. Furthermore, on both coasts bananas are produced. The Costa Ricans are considered the most educated in Central America having good education and medical facilities.

< First Costa Rica Sales Seminar >



パナマはこの地域の物流センター
Panama is a service and distribution center for the region. It does have shrimp, bananas and other products, but distribution is the main foreign exchange earner. Not only do ships going through the canal earn money, but also in Colon, on the Atlantic side, there is a large product distribution center, which supplies products to all of South America. The Panamanians are considered rather less industrious than other Central Americans and getting things achieved is more difficult. I don’t know if that is because of adverse influence from North America or simply because of the activities of the canal. It very much follows what has happened to many island nations, which have continually been conquered throughout their histories. The general population expects someone else to take charge and uncomfortable with local management. The largest city of course is Panama City on the Pacific Ocean with Colon the second largest city.

The local currency is the US Dollar, so they never worry about getting foreign exchange to buy imported goods. Panama’s using the US Dollar has influenced other countries in the region to do the same thing and when I traveled there that first time Ecuador just had switched as well.

< Panama Sales Training, January 1987 >

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-ｌ): Business Trip - Latin America & the Caribbean

昨日、久しぶりにRonさんと調布で飲み会、大変、お元気でした。

それにしても今から40年近く前に日本企業のために世界中を飛び回っていたとはすごい。

私はIBMの中でフラストレーションを貯めている時期でした。

さて、今週からはラテンアメリカとカリブ諸国の旅。

Latin America & the Caribbean

8週間の旅に
With the success throughout Southeast Asia and Turkey the word was starting to get around. As I mentioned earlier, Isuzu had a joint venture with General Motors to distribute to the smaller, non-assembly plant countries of the world IMODC (Isuzu Motors Overseas Distribution Corporation). In that company were three consultants from General Motors and one active member of its board. One consultant was to cover the Middle East and was stationed in Dubai, UAE, one to cover Africa and was stationed Abidjan, Ivory Coast and one covering Latin America in Puerto Rico.

Well, the General Motors consultant to Latin America got interested in all the training work I was doing and asked if I could set up training in Spanish for his region. That led to not only doing training in three of his countries (Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama) but one General Motor’s plant country (Venezuela) and one Isuzu territory (Puerto Rico). I was on the road for eight weeks, the longest business trip I ever took and ever will take. I was exhausted at the end of that trip.

The trip started in Puerto Rico where the liaison office was. We finished the Spanish training manual there, and I explained anything in the manual, which was difficult to translate. Then, the interpreter, the General Motors consultant and I set out to do the training. First was Guatemala, then Costa Rica and finally for IMODC was Panama.

農業国ガテマラ
I found all of the little countries very different. Guatemala has a very large local Indian population, about 75% of the people. It is an agricultural country with bananas and coffee. Also, there is tourism with famous Maya ruins and the Spanish city of Antiqua. Antiqua was a major Spanish city for the continent when Spain colonized the region. Unfortunately, Guatemala was a poor country with crime and political unrest. All in all though, the people are very warm and friendly.

< Guatemala, El Salvador, GM Latin America Managers >


< Guatemala Training >

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-k): Business Trip - Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

アフリカや中近東の旅はロンさんに強烈な印象を与えたようで、先週と言い、今週と言い、今までとは、文字数が異なりますね。

At the end of 1986, I was asked to give sales training in Jeddah and then Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Jeddah is the main business center of the country. It is also the gateway to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

My work there was quite uneventful except for one dinner I went to with one of the salesmen. After traveling to many developing countries I grew accustomed to taking care of my health regarding poor quality food, water and dangerous areas. This salesman was a Bedouin (Arab families that live in the dessert) from Yemen originally but then made his home in Jeddah. His English was poor, but I knew he wanted to take me out to dinner to a very traditional local restaurant.

時には食事も冒険！？
It was a lamb restaurant, but I was very worried about it being clean and the food fresh. He assured me the meat was very fresh and clean and many foreign people go there. As we approached the restaurant, I noticed a long line of barbeque pits in front. The salesmen took me through a hallway of the restaurant with the kitchen on the right and the dining rooms on the left to the back yard where there was a herd of sheep fenced in. I didn’t think anything of it at the time.

Then, we went into one of the dining rooms. The room had no furniture at all, only wall-to-wall carpet. In various corners of the carpet people were sitting on the floor eating off of newspapers. We found a corner and sat on the floor, and the waiter laid down a newspaper in front of us and took our order. We ordered their popular barbequed lamb and soft drinks. Our drinks came quickly but he said it would take time for the lamb, as preparations were not ready yet. We did not mind; as my training seminar was finished, and all I had to do was go back to the hotel, pack for the next day’s travel to Riyadh.

お祈りの時間
As I relaxed chimes went off to signal that it was prayer time. I did not notice it, but my friend did. He excused himself and went over to a corner to do his prayers.

Shortly after he came back, we heard very loud animal screams. I asked what all the noise was about. He said they were preparing the lamb for cooking! Yes, they were slaughtering the lamb in the next room. He was right. It was fresh.

写真があれば良かったのに
After about a half an hour, the waiter came in with a bowl of rice, which he poured on the newspaper. Then, a dish of the lamb came. It was laid on top of the rice. Sitting around the newspaper with the food on it, we ate with our hands. Our hands got so oily that we were afraid to touch anything except the food until the meal was finished. Then we washed our hand.

That is the life of a Saudi Bedouin family on the weekend. They go out into the dessert in the evening with their family and the sheep tagging along. They pitch tents, start a barbeque, have a meal, camp for the night and return to the city the next day before it gets too hot.

From Jeddah I went to Riyadh, the capital of the country. It is right in the middle of nowhere. The main business center in the country is Jeddah on the Red Sea. Jeddah is the gateway to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and that region is overrun with Muslim people on pilgrimage every year coming from all over the world. That is not the case in Riyadh. In terms of wealth, Saudi Arabia is the big boy in the Middle East. It has massive resources of oil and natural gas and a very low population to support.


A camel trail outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-j): Business Trip - Tanzania

Tanzania

Ronさん、ついにアフリカへ。実際にビジネスをしているのはインド人、パキスタン人などだそうです。
In 1986, I was asked to give a sales seminar by the general manager of the dealership in Tanzania. Like most of Eastern Africa, people from the sub-continent, like India, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea or Sri Lanka administer the businesses in the country and many services. The general manager at that time was a Sikh from Bombay. He was on contract to work there and asked me if I could help him develop the sales staff. I traveled around the country visiting their sales and service branches as well as toured one of their game parks.

Training in Tanzania


Most people are on foot in Tanzania



Along with India and Indonesia, Tanzania is one of the poorest countries I have ever been to. It does have a few export products, and there is tourism with their game parks, but Tanzania has nowhere the quality of the game parks as Kenya to their north or South Africa do. They literally cannot buy anything outside of their country without getting financial assistants or AID. The country has no real social infrastructure, and subsistence living is the norm.

Mikumi National Park, Tanzania, October 1986




Throughout the country most of the people live in the cities, but there is a famous nomadic tribe that still is active in the countryside and travels to where there is water and moves with the seasons. They live off the blood of their goats. On a rare occasion, they will kill a goat and have a feast. With their ability to live off their animals without killing them, they have become quite wealthy and in recent times some have moved into cities and become very successful. Other than those few, the Masai are wild and uncivilized. I took a picture of three of them going down the road in the car at high speeds. Who knows, they might have thrown one of their spears at me.
槍は当たらなかったみたいですね。

Elephants in the game park


The Masai nomadic people in Tanzania, Kenya & Ethiopia

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-i): Business Trip - West Malaysia

West Malaysia Sales Management

In July 1986, I gave my first sales management seminar. The dealership sales manager is the head of the sales department. His function is to build the entire sales force in the dealership. He hires, trains and supervises his sales staff’s daily activities. I have found this seminar my most enjoyable, and I will talk about it later. Like Turkey, Malaysia is a country that was one of my greatest success stories, and I traveled there repeatedly over the years.

West Malaysia (ACM)

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-h): Business Trip - Stopover in Germany

Stopover in Germany

本当かな？でも、こういうこともなくちゃね。
From Turkey, I was to go to West Malaysia, but they did not want me to come too soon. So, believe it or not, for six days I just goofed around in Germany where I was to transfer planes.

I took a boat tour down the Rein River looking at castles and viewing the wine country of Germany. On the boat I met a German man who spent most of his life living in Colorado in the United States and two Japanese girls who could not speak English.

So, linguistically we were set for the day. The German man spoke German and English, and I speak English and Japanese, so the four of us could communicate on about anything, as we toured along.

Our day started in the morning and went right into the night. As the evening set in the German man decided he wanted to make a pass at one of the Japanese girls, and I was the interpreter. I had a hell of a time explaining that one.

All in all it was one of my most memorable trips. On top of that, I was paid full time for staying in a 5-star hotel the whole time.

In the evening on one of those six nights, I went to the bar and watch the final of the soccer World Cup. It was between Germany and Argentina. As you can imagine, I could hardly root for Argentina, sitting in the middle of the German Heartland. It was a wonderful experience.

< On the German Rein River touring castle and the wine country >

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-g): Business Trip - Turkey

Turkey training

Two months after the Middle East trip, in June, 1986 I gave my first seminar in Turkey.

I learned they had very old person-to-person sales techniques. There was very little product presentation or feature explanation.

With my presentation and contests among the salesmen, I was able to create a complete new selling step for them which greatly made negotiating easier.

It was a booming success, and I received an open door to provide seminars there anytime I had material I thought would be helpful.

< Turkey Sales Training, June 1987 >


< Yes, he is trying to kiss me. >

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (9-f): Business Trip - Kuwait

Kuwait

Ronさんの最初の中近東への旅。GMCからもトレーニングのリクエスト。
From Turkey on my way back to Japan I traveled to Kuwait to give a seminar to the General Motors GMC dealer there. That was my first time to the Middle East, and it was before the ’91 Gulf War. Here again, the General Motors consultant to the Middle East wanted training for his dealers too.

中近東の地域内のコンフリクト。
The Middle East is a region as you know, but each country has its own character. In those days, there are the oil/natural gas rich countries with low populations, the oil/natural gas rich countries with large populations, the countries with a small amount of oil, the countries with little oil but an educated labor force, etc. That is still pretty true today I would guess, but the conflicts in the region make everything very complicated.

クエートは多数の国から労働者やセールスパーソンを受入れ。
Well, Kuwait is in the first group, an oil/natural gas rich, and low population country. They import labor for almost everything. In an automotive dealership, the service technicians were usually from Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and The Philippines. The sales people were usually from Palestine (or Israel/Jordan/Lebanon or whatever you want to call them), Egypt, Sudan, India or Pakistan. I have no idea why, but I am very comfortable training the Palestinian’s or Egyptian’s in that region. They seem to be the most interested in expanding their skills and knowledge.

母国を離れて仕事をするということ。
I have a strong feeling that anyone who leaves his home country to make a better life in a different country is very special and not completely like his average countryman. For some strange reason, the Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, Palestinian, Indian, Korean and Egyptian have been able to be successful anywhere they go. Well, the people I train are those very special people, and I’ve enjoyed training them. I guess it is because I am one of them, being an American living outside of the United States over half my life. I left my country at the age of 28 years old and have not returned to live up to this writing.

< Sales Training Group, Kuwait, April 1986 > 　　　　　


< Salesman-customer role playing. >





＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞


Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。