Minggu, 18 September 2011

Sustaining International Business Operations


There sre staffing issues that internationalizing firm confront that are either not present in a domestic environment or are complicated by the international context in which these activities take place.
Ethnocentric
few foreign subsidiaries have any autonomy and strategic decisions are made at headquarters. key positions in domestic and foreign operations are held by headquarters’ personnel. subsidiaries are managed by staff from the home country (PCNs). There are reason for pursuing an ethnocentric staffing policy:
·         A perceived lack of qualified HCNs
·         The need to maintain good communication, coordination and control liks with corporate headquarter
 An etnocentric policy, however has a number of disadvantages
·         Its limits the promotion opportunities of HCNs, which may lead to reduced productivity and increased turnover among of that group.
·         The adaptation of expatriate managers to host countries of ten Take long time, during which PCNS often make mistake and poor decisions.
·         When PCN and HCN compensation packages are compered, often considerable income gap.
·         Many expatriates a key Overseas position
Polycentrism
                subsidiary is treated as a distinct national entity with decision‑making autonomy subsidiaries are managed by local nationals (HCNs) HCNs are seldom promoted to positions at headquarters PCNs are rarely transferred to foreign subsidiary operations.
The main advantages of polycentric policy:
·       1.   Employing HCN eliminates language barries.
·       2.   Employment of HCN allow a multinational company to take a lower profile in sencitive political situation.
·       3.   Employment of HCNs is less expensive.
·        4.  Gives continuety to the management of foreign subsidiaries.
The main disadvantages of polycentric policy:
·         1. Bridging the gap between HCN  subsidiary manager and PCN manager at corporate headquarter.
·        2.  Career path of HCN and PCN manager.


                Geocentrism
                a global approach to its operations, recognizing that each part (subsidiaries and headquarters) makes a unique contribution. worldwide integrated business; nationality is ignored in favor of ability.
Advantages of Egocentrism
          develops international executive teams and  internal pools of labor
          overcomes federation drawback
          supports cooperation and resource sharing across units
Disadvantages of Geocentrism
          host governments may utilize immigration controls in order to force HCN employment
          companies required to provide extensive documentation
          increased training and relocation costs
          compensation structure with standardized international base pay
          large numbers of PCNs, TCNs, and HCNs need to be sent abroad
          requires longer lead time and centralized control of the staffing process

                Regiocentrism
                reflects the geographic strategy and structure of the MNE. it utilizes a wider pool of managers but in a limited way. staff may move outside their countries but only within the particular geographic region. regional managers may not be promoted to headquarters positions but enjoy a degree of regional autonomy
Advantages of Regiocentrism
          interaction between executives
          sensitivity to local conditions (staffed by HCNs)
          way to gradually move from a purely ethnocentric or polycentric approach to a geocentric approach
Disadvantages of Regiocentrism
          can produce federalism at a regional rather than a country basis
          improves career prospects at the national levels
                A Philosophy  Towards Staffing
                The internal and external contingencies facing an internationalizing MNE influence its staffing practices are managerial attitude that reflect to social environment, the strategic importance of degree of culture differences, local government requirements, foreign market, maturity of operation, the approach to policy on excecutive nationality tebds to reflect organizational needs.
Summaries the advantages and disadvantages o using three categories of staff PCNs, HCNs, TCNs
Transferring Staff for International Business Activities
HRM consequences of these approaches  and the broader implications in term of:
1.       Reasons for International Assignments
          position filling
the organzation has a need and depending on the type of position and the level involved will either employ someone locally or transfer a suitable candidate.
          management development
staff can be moved into other perts of the organization for training and development purposes and to assist in the develoment of common corporate values. For this reason,we see headquarter staff transferred to subsidiry operation or subsidiary staff transfering into the parent operation or to other subsidiary operation.
          organization development
here strategic objectives of the operation come in to play: the need for control, the tranfer of knowladge, competence, procedures, and practice intovarius location and exploit global market opportunities.

2. Types of International Assignments
          Short term : take up to three months, usually for troubleshooting, project supervision, or a stopgap measure
          Extended : up to one year, may involve similar activities as that for short term assignments
          Long term (traditional expatriate assignment): traditional expatriate assignment varying from one to five years, involving a clearly defined role in the receiving operation
Differences Between Traditional & Short-term Assignments
Within these three broad categories, its posible to find what are termed Non-standard International Assignments:
·         a. Commuter
special arrangements where the person concerned commutes from the home country on a weekly or bi weekly basis to the place of work in other contry.
·       b.   Rotational
employee commute for set period followed by in home country
·         c. Contractual
specific skills employees hired for 6 to 12 months on specific projects
d. Virtual  
employee manages international responsibilities from home country base. Relies on communications technologies such as telephone, email or video conferences. frequent visits to the host country
Advantages
          overcoming high costs of international assignments
          fills shortage of mobile staff prepared to accept longer term postings
Disadvantages
          stress resulting from intensive travel commitments
          role conflict, dual allegiance, and identification issues
          interpersonal and work relationships

3.       the role of an expatriate
·         Agent of Direct Control
subsidiary compliance through direct supervision, enables strategic objectives for local operations to be achieved
          Agent of Socialization
the transfer of shared values and beliefs; related to the use of corporate culture as an informal control mechanism
assist in knowledge sharing and competence transfer, and adoption of common work practices
          Network Builders
develop social capital: fostering interpersonal linkages   that can be used for informal control and communication purposes
          Boundary Spanners
collect host country information and act as representatives of their firms in the host country
can influence agents
bridge internal and external organizational contexts
          Language Nodes
many MNEs operate through language standardization – or corporate language, usually English.
employees competent in other languages may be the person in which other country representatives preferred to conduct queries from the MNE.
4.       The Role of Non-Expatriates
          travel internationally yet do not relocate to another country
          a large proportion of their role involves constant international visits to foreign markets, subsidiary units, international projects
Stress Factors
          the international component of their work is performed within the context of their ‘normal’ duties.       a high level of stress involved for those whose job responsibilities contain a large proportion of international business travel
          home and family
          work arrangements
          travel logistics
          health concerns
          host culture issues
The Role of Inpatriates
          international assignments of HCNs or TCNs from a foreign location to the MNE headquarters
          “linking pins” between the different organizational units




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