Sumitomo Corporation

Australia

Summit Fleet Leasing & Management

* Job :: Assistant General Manager
Management of Sales, Finance, IT, and Operations

Please tell us about your company, Summit Fleet Leasing & Management.: It is an automobile leasing company. We manage 5,000 passenger and commercial automobiles, and lease them mainly to corporations. As a Assistant General Manager, I am responsible for the management of the Sales, Finance, IT, and Risk Management teams. The economic recession since last year has adversely impacted our customers and we are continuously pursuing ways to secure high profits in this business environment. Our business provides constant challenges every day, but we think this also means that there are always opportunities for success.

We took a family holiday to Japan in 2008. The building behind us is the Imperial Palace.

How do you feel working for a Japanese company?: Although it has been only a short time since I joined this company in March 2009, I have worked in the automobile leasing industry for more than 25 years. Compared with the Australian and U.S. leasing companies I had worked for before, I was impressed by the high transparency of the management of this company. We are given guidance and instructions from Sumitomo Corporation Management on the strategic direction of the company – such as Medium-term management plan, focus 10. However their basic stance is to encourage us to think together about, and discuss interactively, the management of our business, and this makes us feel that we are a part of the team. There are occasions when I feel the company may be slightly conservative, but this is understandable when the current business environment is considered.

We were very impressed with the size and structure of temples in Japan.

You are wearing a shirt with the Summit logo. Do you wear this kind of shirt every day?: That is right. Not just me, but 95% of the employees wear some type of uniform with the company logo. The types of uniforms include not only this shirt, but also a jumper, blazer, women’s blouse and skirt, and various others. By wearing this clothing, we can serve our customers with a sense of pride as a member of the company. This clothing is actually very popular, and some competitors have begun to follow our example and make their own uniforms available to their staff. (Note by the writer: Except for the company logo, the shirt that David was wearing looked like a usual business shirt, and it can be worn with a tie and jacket for any business occasion.)

How do you spend your holidays? How do you spend time with your family?: I have two daughters and try to spend weekends together with the family as much as possible. We go to the beaches in summer, and go snow skiing in winter. We also go camping for a few days from time to time. We set up a tent near a forest, and have a good time with a barbecue together. It is also usual in Australia to invite our friends and their families to a party in our backyard to have fun with a barbecue. We also traveled around Japan at the beginning of 2009, visiting Tokyo Disneyland and Kyoto, and enjoyed skiing in Hokkaido. My family was very pleased.