Toyota in Valenciennes, France: cultural communication and the fate of the YarisClaude Boulle, former official of the Ministry of Labor and current vice president of administration at the Toyota Onnaing manufacturing plant , silently sat at a desk among a group of executives in a collective, open workspace. Despite having worked for several years at the Toyota Onnaing car factory on the outskirts of Valenciennes, France, Boulle felt uncomfortable at his desk; he wasn't yet used to the Japanese style of shared workspace. He missed his private office. Sitting amid the clamor and din of a half-dozen executives, Boulle began to daydream. The first Yaris, the company's most popular and successful model, rolled off the production lines less than three years ago. Today, its plant produces more than 200,000 cars a year. Restless, he got up and headed to the company canteen for a late breakfast. Along the way, he passed several young French employees dressed in blue and white jackets bearing the company logo: intersecting double ovals that formed a sleek, modern "T." Below the logo, the jackets were personalized with the employees' names. In the canteen, Boulle had dinner with some of the floor workers who had just returned from the morning exercises. He hadn't thought it possible. Toyota had managed to build a world-class, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility capable of producing 16,500 units per month using the Toyota Way1, a comprehensive philosophy consisting of 14 management principles for successful automotive manufacturing. Since Toyota had established the Valenciennes plant only a few years ago, Boulle was skeptical that a Japanese business environment and management style were applicable in a French environment. He had good reason… the cultures were so different… Mixed feelings still existed in the workplace and in the executive office, but the Japanese prepared long before arriving. Corporate offices in Tokyo had long ago studied the likely French reaction to the Toyota Way.2 After sending executives to live and study in France, as well as French Canada, the company felt ready to choose a site. Today, Toyota Onnaing was still not free from cultural misunderstandings, but the Yaris retained its market share in Europe. Boulle wondered, however, how long the success would last and whether Toyota could weather a longer storm. He returned to his desk, gathered employee evaluation sheets, and prepared for a board meeting with plant president Hiroaki Watanabe and the CGT, a French union. A week earlier, several recently fired employees had filed a formal complaint against management, alleging workplace harassment3. Toyota claimed that workers were belligerently absent and regularly arrived for their shifts into their thirties.