Management & Organization Consulting
GCI supports companies facing stalled growth, unclear decision-making, or challenges in managing overseas subsidiaries and post-acquisition integration. We examine business direction alongside roles, authority and operating processes, then help define responsibilities, management forums and practical actions. Support can combine diagnosis, organization and governance design, and hands-on implementation, with scope and deliverables agreed before work begins.
Overseas subsidiary reports may arrive without a clear view of local constraints. We examine the business and operating conditions, bring issues into management discussions and define what the local team and headquarters can decide.
We connect functions, staffing, individual career considerations and the sequence of integration. The aim is an operating structure that people can use, rather than a new set of rules that remains separate from daily work.
Depending on the assignment, support can include interviews, analysis, role and authority design, management forums, business processes, HR systems and project coordination. Research, diagnosis and implementation are scoped and priced explicitly.
We connect people and organizational improvements with business performance. You can engage us for the specific areas you need.
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| theme | Examples of support |
|---|---|
| Global talent management | Define global talent policies; design compensation, grading and performance evaluation systems; design and conduct selection, recruitment and interviews; provide follow-up during the engagement and run the project management office (PMO). |
| Governance of subsidiaries and overseas bases | Help appointed directors and seconded executives fulfil their roles; design regular check-in meetings, investigate local conditions, propose improvements and report to the headquarters board. |
| PMI (post-merger integration) | Review the workforce portfolio and policies for employees transferring with the business and surplus staff; support the integration of HR systems and design the post-integration organization. |
| Improving employee engagement | Examine the relevant departments or talent pools through employee interviews and analysis; propose improvements to division heads, implement actions and review progress at agreed intervals. |
| Organizational design and change management | Review the organizational structure, redefine roles and authority, plan communication to support change and involve key people. |
| Strengthening managers and leaders | Help individual managers improve how they work, clarify management standards and provide practical support for conversations with team members, linked to development programmes. |
| A sounding board for business leaders | Act as a sounding board for decisions about the organization and its people, and develop options for internal improvement from an external perspective. |
| Improving business performance and management indicators | Link organizational issues to business performance and track improvement actions using KPIs. We can also discuss human capital reporting. |
| AI adoption and business process redesign (BPR) | Improve productivity by planning and introducing AI tools and redesigning business processes, incorporating these approaches into the relevant support. |
APPROACH
Our approach extends beyond delivering recommendations to implementation and improvement in the workplace.
01 / IN PRACTICE
As a sounding board for executives and directors, we work through decisions about people and organizations. We discuss issues that can be difficult to raise internally—such as whom to appoint or how to rebuild a department—with a candid external perspective.
02 / IN PRACTICE
Figures show what has happened; the state of the organization can reveal what may happen next. Through employee interviews and fact-finding, we identify key people, areas under strain and the reasons people leave.
03 / IN PRACTICE
We carry measures through and assess them against outcome indicators. Above all, the aim is an operation that continues without GCI. We document procedures, decision criteria and templates so they become internal assets.
GCI / RESPONSIBILITY
We organize the issues and evidence for decisions, help design the growth direction and operating structure, and support implementation and operational improvement within the agreed scope.
The engagement lead is responsible for important judgments and quality checks, combining practitioners and external specialists according to the expertise required.
We support your decisions about investment, business direction and hiring by organizing the evidence. We agree roles, responsibilities and information-sharing boundaries with collaborators, and connect the work through implementation.
Client examples
Client example 01 · Manufacturing
Overseas subsidiary; approximately 200 local employees.
Management could see the reported figures but not the underlying local issues.
Client example 02 · Services / post-acquisition integration
Post-acquisition integration; approximately 600 employees company-wide.
Duplicated functions and uncertain staffing decisions were holding back integration.
Client example 03 · IT
Target department; approximately 80 employees.
Averages from an employee survey did not explain continued turnover.
Client example 04 · Japanese energy company
Growth plans needed clearer functions and responsibilities.
Case Study · Illustrative scenario
An illustrative scenario showing what we would examine when asked to recruit an overseas sales leader, and what would change the decision.
This Case Study uses a fictional consultation scenario. It is not a client engagement.
A company is considering hiring an overseas sales leader. Before assuming that weak sales reflect a shortage of people, we examine the market, offering, customers, and the relationship between headquarters and the local operation.
We review pricing authority, approvals and the supply structure. If the local leader cannot make the decisions needed to move a deal forward, changing the hiring requirements alone will leave the underlying issue unresolved.
We compare external recruitment, internal appointment with outside support, and collaboration with a local partner. The company chooses an option based on budget, authority and feasibility; GCI organizes the evidence and operating design.
We define roles, meetings and management routines for the chosen approach, agree who will take over each decision, and review how the arrangements work in practice.
Connect the business assumptions with the conditions for execution.
The memo is adapted to the issue and agreed scope. It is not a standard deliverable or a guarantee of results.
Our process
The approach is tailored to the issue and agreed scope. The deliverables below are examples, combined to fit the engagement rather than offered as a fixed standard package.
Issues, assumptions and open questions
Which assumptions about markets, customers or profitability have changed?
A memo separating confirmed assumptions, unverified conditions and the next decisions.
Agree whether to examine business direction or the conditions for execution in more depth.
Compare business direction with how the operation works in practice.
Share the desired change and constraints, and choose the scope to examine.
Options and the conditions for execution
Which combination of customers, value proposition and economics offers an opportunity for growth?
A comparison of options and the conditions needed to carry them out.
Clarify the preferred option and the conditions for deciding against it.
Compare markets, customers, value, pricing, sales approaches and economics, then organize the resources and operating structure required.
Choose an option based on investment, authority and feasibility.
Roles and decision rights, people plan and operating formats
Who decides what, and who is responsible for each part of the work?
A roles and decision-rights matrix, people plan and operating formats.
Confirm the budget and people needed for execution.
Design roles, authority, people plans, management meetings and indicators.
Appoint the responsible people and establish decision-making rules.
Issue log, operating procedures and improvements
Does the design work in day-to-day operations?
An issue log, operating procedures and improvement actions.
Adapt the approach so the team can sustain it in practice.
Help launch the operation with the specialists needed and identify where work is getting stuck.
Make the company’s decisions and carry out day-to-day work.
Handover plan and review
Who will continue running the operation after the engagement?
A handover plan and review.
Confirm the team’s ability to make decisions independently and identify remaining issues.
Transfer procedures and the criteria used to make decisions to those taking over.
Appoint the operating owner and choose the indicators to continue monitoring.
APPROACH & SCOPE
At the outset, we agree what should change and how. We define organizational indicators, such as engagement, turnover and the development of leaders, alongside the contribution to business KPIs, and review them monthly or quarterly.
Yes. A common arrangement is for another firm to lead strategy while GCI handles implementation related to the organization and its people. We clarify the allocation of responsibilities and work together.
We ask for one person to act as the point of contact, but this does not need to be a dedicated role. If internal capacity is limited, we can also design an arrangement in which GCI provides project coordination.
You can contact us even before you can clearly describe the issue. In the initial conversation, we discuss the challenge and how support could proceed. For diagnostic work involving research, analysis and reporting, we propose the scope, deliverables and fees and begin once these are agreed.
WHY GCI
The engagement lead is responsible for important judgments and quality checks, combining practitioners and external specialists according to the expertise required.
We adapt global management methods so they work in Japanese business settings, rather than introducing systems that remain disconnected from daily operations.
We design hiring, development and the use of people’s capabilities together, addressing the gaps that can leave a new hire unable to contribute or training unable to change practice.
Our experience covers both foreign companies entering Japan and Japanese companies expanding globally, providing the expertise to bridge the two.
We go beyond system design to employee interviews and improvements in individual roles, acting as management’s eyes and ears on the ground.
We document procedures and decision criteria, aiming for an operation that works without GCI and avoids creating dependence.
People & practice
CEO| Management, Business & Organizational Transformation Partner
Chief Strategy Officer
Languages & scope
Questions before you start
Support can include employee interviews, practical improvement work with individual managers and recommendations to division heads. We also aim to leave the processes and knowledge needed for your team to continue the work internally. We agree the scope and allocation of responsibilities before proceeding.
These depend on the scope and frequency of involvement. After the diagnostic, you can decide whether to proceed to implementation support. In the initial conversation, we discuss your issue and the approach. Any diagnostic involving research, analysis or a report begins after the scope, deliverables and fees have been proposed and agreed.
Yes. Cross-border talent and global organizations connecting Japan with other markets are a core area of our work. Support is available in Japanese and English, with local visits where needed.
We begin work after entering into a confidentiality agreement. Individual comments gathered in employee interviews are organized for reporting so that the speaker cannot be identified.
In the initial consultation, we discuss your challenges and how support could proceed. For diagnostic work involving research, analysis and reporting, we propose the scope, deliverables and fees and begin once these are agreed.
Reports arrive, but management cannot see what is happening on the ground. Reporting from appointed executives is limited, making it difficult to decide what action to take.
Friction between HR systems and staffing arrangements remains unresolved, and the expected synergies have not materialized. Decisions about employees transferring with the business and surplus staff are still outstanding.
Overseas hiring and assignments are handled case by case. Without a consistent approach to grades, employment conditions and evaluation, decisions remain ad hoc.
Survey scores are available, but the causes are unclear. Teams describe themselves as busy, while turnover continues.
Strong individual contributors lack a clear approach to management. Development is unstructured and promotions are handled inconsistently.
Organisational and people decisions can be difficult to discuss internally. An external partner provides a setting for frank discussion.
Domestic growth, expansion into overseas markets, and the Japanese operations of overseas companies. Identify changes in the customer and competitive environment and compare opportunities to address them.
List the value to be provided, price, sales method, investment and profit assumptions, and organize the options to prioritize and the conditions for abandoning them.
We design roles, decision-making authority, staffing, budgets and day-to-day operations around the agreed direction, and review them during implementation.
CORPORATE INSIGHTS
Practical perspectives on people and organizational challenges.
Start a conversation
Tell us what you want to change and what is getting in the way. We will clarify the support, responsibilities and next step together.
