Sharp Corporation – “It's not for everyone”

Pros

Broaden experience into hardware. International business and travel experience. Good educational opportunities. Smart employees. Regular updates on group activities. Good experience with agile development for most part.

Cons

Flat organization. Limited promotion opportunities. Communications issues. Difficulty getting products understood and approved in Japan. Slow product life cycle for software. Customer contact very limited. Good ideas rarely make it past the presentation stage to Japan. Company as a provider of hardware, does not as a whole, understand software process and market. US subsidiary wishes to control Sharp Labs.

Advice to Senior Management

Figure out how to improve communications between US sales subsidiary, Sharp Labs and Japan HQ.