Interview with a financial director of the USA subsidiary of the Clarins group, Mr Steeven Mallet

Résumé du document

For this assessment, I decided to interview Mr Steeven Mallet, the financial director of the American subsidiary of Clarins Group, situated in Miami.

As part of our course, our classmates were supposed to go to study in New York but I have never been there before. So I thought that it could be a good idea to learn more about the American culture by interviewing a French expatriate in the USA.

Steeven Mallet aged 26, is a Frenchman with a Jewish origin. He has been studying in Paris in the ISG Business school. At the end of his scholarship, he was integrated into the Clarins group in France and the following year, he had been expatriated to Miami. He has been living and working there for three years. Mr Mallet travels a lot and he often comes back to Paris to see his family and friends. During one of his visits back home, I was able to interview him .

Before the interview, I had conducted some brief research about the group where he works for in order to better organize my questions. Group Clarins is a French company created in 1954 by Jacques Courtin-Clarins. The group is known especially for its treatment methods using plant-based products. However, in 1991, Clarins began to diversify by launching his first make-up collection. This strategy continued into the fragrance sector with the launch of "Angel" by Thierry Mugler in 1992 and the acquisition of "Azzaro" Perfumes in 1995. Today, it is an international group with 20 subsidiaries around the world and a wild chain of 19000 shops. Their cosmetic products are distributed in more than 120 countries and the group employs nearly 6000 people. The brand is the leader in luxury skin care market in France and in Europe.

Before detailing my appointment with Mr Mallet, I wanted to know the values that the firm wants to convey. According to the Clarin's website, the three main values that the group would like to convey are: Listening, Innovation that lasts and Respect. Moreover, the group is looking for highly competent people and they seem to accord a strong importance by imparting practical training in the company. Hence, the internal promotions are usually privileged. I was intrigued and I wanted to check how employees perceive these principles.

Extraits

[...] ) and the managing of the multinational team in order to create the harmony inside the group. Mr Mallet gave me plenty information about the management of the private context. But in spite of my numerous questions to try my interviewee to tell me more about management of the multicultural team such as: Do you have an official language inside the company? What differences did you noticed between management of the 90% French team (that was the case in Paris) and the management of the multicultural team? [...]

[...] These concepts can help leaders and organizations such as Clarins to prepare to cross cultural boundaries, better understand those with whom they desire to communicate and conduct business. [...]

[...] According to Mr Mallet he was chosen for three reasons: he had already a multicultural experience (he is trilingual), he was young and single and the most important thing that he showed the real desire to be expatriated abroad. To make sure that Miami as well as the American team will suite to Mr Mallet, Clarins group at first time send him there for a short period. During our interview Mr Mallet showed his strong attachment for his family and friends who live in Paris. And according to him his company did picked up this aspect of his cultural personality too and they adapted his position so he can regularly comeback to Paris for work. [...]

[...] So what are these values that make a French so . French? So I asked Mr Mallet to give me some examples of differences that he has noticed between two cultures and I was really surprised by the number of funny stories he wanted to tell me Examples of cultural differences The five dimensions Hofstede uses to distinguish between national cultures are: Power distance, which measures the organizational style of the society. Individualism/Collectivism which shows the connections that exist inside the group. [...]

[...] Interview analysis: personal and analytical levels To begin the analysis it is important to clearly define the culture. There are many definitions to this large concept. The theory of ‘Iceberg' developed by Mr Selfridge and Sokolik is widely known. This theory divides the culture in two levels: visible and invisible. It means that culture consists not only of easily perceptible characteristics such as food, wearing, art works or language but it consists mostly of ideas, beliefs, taboos and symbols which are more difficult to learn. [...]