On this week’s episode of The Auto Ethnographer, host John Stech is joined by Dr. Susanne Lehmann, Managing Director of Volkswagen Group Malaysia. During the conversation they “visit” Malaysia, Mexico, China, and the United States and discuss how each location’s culture required different work styles.

Dr. Lehmann studied economic sciences and later earned her PhD in global automotive supply chains. Alongside she studied the impact of culture on the workplace, a topic that would serve her well on her journey.

Her first stop on her career was Volkswagen de México in a logistics role. After adapting to a culture vastly different from her own German upbringing, she would later have a second stint in Mexico as the Senior Director of Production for the Volkswagen brand in North America.

She later moved halfway around the planet to participate in the early days of expanding automotive manufacturing in China. She recounts stories from these days in the early 2000s and then juxtaposes them to a second stint she did in China in 2021-2023 as Senior Director of Logistics for a 1.6 million vehicle operation. The lightning speed of China’s auto sector development is a key part of the conversation.

Susanne also spent time in North America, as a member of the ramp-up team in Volkswagen’s new Chattanooga, Tennessee production facility. Here, employee individualism required significantly different management tools than in the collectivist cultures of China and Mexico.

Her current assignment as Managing Director of Volkswagen Group’s Malaysian operation added an addition dimension beyond culture. For the first time she was also responsible for the more qualitative topics of Sales & Marketing, Customer Service, and the dealer network. She discusses how she has worked to master this area during a career previously focused on logistics and manufacturing.

During the conversation, Susanne shares fascinating insights on how she navigated cultures and the challenges they presented in each assignment.

For more information on The Auto Ethnographer please visit the homepage at https://www.auto-ethnographer.com

In this week's episode of The Auto Ethnographer podcast, host John Stech speaks with Andreas Schlegel on working in Germany, the United States, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. Andreas recounts his journey through a number of premium and performance brands including Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Aston Martin, Lotus Motorcars, and Volvo. He even did a stint with F1 team Williams Racing.

Growing up in the Stuttgart, Germany area, Andreas started his career with Mercedes-Benz in their Nachwuchsgruppe management trainee program. This took him to the US and South Africa for early intercultural work experience.

Andreas then found an opportunity with Porsche where he focused on dealer network management as well as directly supporting the company's Head of Sales & Marketing during an exciting growth period for the brand - the first-generation Cayenne was in the pipeline at the time.

His time at Porsche was then parlayed into several roles at Aston Martin including APAC Region Sales as well as leading the companies Dealer Network efforts. He would leave but later return to Aston Martin in the role of Global Marketing Director.

As Lotus Motorcars set about to reinvent itself with a slew of new products, Andreas joined the team as Director of Marketing. He would be the one to organize the introduction of five new Lotus concepts at the Paris Motorshow in 2010.

Shortly afterwards, Volvo cars would also set out on a path of reinvention. Andreas moved to Sweden to help guide the company's global dealer network strategy, a sweeping effort to modernize hundreds of dealers around the globe.

Perhaps most exciting, he joined the team at Williams Racing to build a heritage business, retrofitting and refurbishing old Williams F1 cars for well-heeled customers. This brought him to the heart of one of the most storied F1 teams on the circuit.

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The Auto Ethnographer, John Stech, has a conversation with Jorge Mussi, the General Manager of Aftersales and the Customer Services Division at Toyota do Brasil about his journey from his native Brazil to Sweden and the United States and back to Brazil. He tells his story that begins with Volvo and is currently evolving at Toyota.

Jorge’s automotive journey started with Volvo Truck & Bus in the early 1990s. For his love of cars, he moved over to Volvo’s passenger car division where he experienced several historical shifts of Brazilian trade policy regarding car imports. He recounts how this impacted the company and how Brazilian and Swedish management styles worked together in these challenging periods.

Taking an opportunity to live and work in Sweden at Volvo’s headquarters, he relocated to Gothenburg, eventually becoming a Swedish citizen. Jorge discusses how he had to adapt to local culture, even learning proficient Swedish after only four months. He discusses the Swedish decision-making process and how it actually takes place.

Jorge returned to Brazil as Volvo Car Brazil’s Director of Aftersales and Head of Government Affairs. He realized his advantages in running these operations having learned the inner workings of the headquarters in Sweden.

Another opportunity lay around the corner as Jorge joined Volvo Car Americas team in the United States as Director of Aftersales and Customer Services overseeing over 20 markets in Latin America, plus Canada. Here he was faced with the many nuanced differences across Latin American countries. They have one common language (or do they?) but many different cultural attributes.

Upon his return to Brazil, Jorge joined Toyota do Brasil during a restructuring and realignment of the company’s strategy. However, it was his first time working within a Japanese management philosophy. He discusses how he learned and adapted to this new style of business.

https://www.toyota.com.br/

For more information on The Auto Ethnographer please visit the homepage at https://www.auto-ethnographer.com