Staffing architecture for expatriate assignments to support subsidiary cooperation

The purpose of this article is to develop a theory-based explanation of expatriate staffing system (architecture) supporting subsidiary cooperation in multinational organizations. First, an overview of the factors driving the need for this system to provide a rationale for the use of role theory in the development of four specific expatriate role categories in different assignments is presented. Second, we examine how the associated issues of expatriate dependability and competence are related to this categorization. Third, we outline how the design of appropriate expatriate staffing architecture can help resolve specific conflicting issues in subsidiary cooperation. In conclusion, we discuss specific implications of the proposed framework. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[1]  O. Shenkar,et al.  INSTITUTIONAL DISTANCE AND THE MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE , 2002 .

[2]  Michael G. Harvey,et al.  The emergence of the pluralism construct and the inpatriation process , 2001 .

[3]  Annette L. Ranft,et al.  Organizational Learning About New International Markets: Exploring the Internal Transfer of Local Market Knowledge , 2000 .

[4]  Sharon O'donnell,et al.  MANAGING FOREIGN SUBSIDIARIES: AGENTS OF HEADQUARTERS, OR AN INTERDEPENDENT NETWORK? , 2000 .

[5]  Anil K. Gupta,et al.  Knowledge flows within multinational corporations , 2000 .

[6]  H. Paul.  Creating a global mindset , 2000 .

[7]  K. Starkey,et al.  In search of the changing role of the corporate human resource function in the international firm , 2000 .

[8]  Sharon Leiba-O'sullivan,et al.  The Distinction between Stable and Dynamic Cross-cultural Competencies: Implications for Expatriate Trainability , 1999 .

[9]  Michael G. Harvey,et al.  The impact of emerging markets on staffing the global organization:: A knowledge-based view , 1999 .

[10]  Ananda Mukherji,et al.  Global managers: developing a mindset for global competitiveness 1 1 A version of this paper was pre , 1999 .

[11]  O. Williamson.  Public and Private Bureaucracies: A Transaction Cost Economics Perspective , 1999 .

[12]  Simon Rodan,et al.  Strategic Management Journal Research Notes and Communications Resource Recombinations in the Firm: Knowledge Structures and the Potential for Schumpeterian Innovation , 2022 .

[13]  A. G. Kefalas,et al.  Think globally, act locally , 1998 .

[14]  J. Birkinshaw,et al.  Multinational Subsidiary Evolution: Capability and Charter Change in Foreign-Owned Subsidiary Companies , 1998 .

[15]  Steven M. Maser.  Constitutions as Relational Contracts: Explaining Procedural Safeguards in Municipal Charters , 1998 .

[16]  Johngseok Bae,et al.  Overt Employment Discrimination by Multinational Firms: Cultural and Economic Influences in a Developing Country , 1998 .

[17]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  Time pacing: competing in markets that won't stand still. , 1998, Harvard business review.

[18]  Charles C. Snow,et al.  When Groups Consist of Multiple Nationalities: Towards a New Understanding of the Implications , 1998 .

[19]  J. Slocum.  Unlearning to Learn , 1997 .

[20]  R. Grant.  Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm,” Strategic Management Journal (17), pp. , 1996 .

[21]  Michael G. Harvey.  The selection of managers for foreign assignments: A planning perspective , 1996 .

[22]  David Lei,et al.  Dynamic Core Competences through Meta-Learning and Strategic Context , 1996 .

[23]  M. Gordon,et al.  PUBLICATION RECORDS AND TENURE DECISIONS IN THE FIELD OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1996 .

[24]  J. Birkinshaw,et al.  Configurations of Strategy and Structure in Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations , 1995 .

[25]  Hassan Bakhtari.  Cultural Effects on Management Style , 1995 .

[26]  Anne-Wil Harzing,et al.  The persistent myth of high expatriate failure rates , 1995 .

[27]  Anil K. Gupta,et al.  Organizing for knowledge flows within MNCs , 1994 .

[28]  George S. Yip,et al.  Exploiting globalization potential: U.S. and japanese strategies , 1994 .

[29]  P. Callero.  From role-playing to role-using: understanding role as resource , 1994 .

[30]  Joseph T. Mahoney,et al.  The choice of organizational form: Vertical financial ownership versus other methods of vertical integration , 1992 .

[31]  J.-C. Spender,et al.  Limits to learning from the west: How western management advice may prove limited in Eastern Europe , 1992 .

[32]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology , 1992 .

[33]  O. Williamson.  / STRATEGIZING, ECONOMIZING, AND ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION , 1991 .

[34]  Anil K. Gupta,et al.  Knowledge Flows and the Structure of Control Within Multinational Corporations , 1991 .

[35]  Robert R. Faulkner,et al.  Role as Resource in the Hollywood Film Industry , 1991, American Journal of Sociology.

[36]  Nakiye Avdan Boyacıgiller,et al.  The Role of Expatriates in the Management of Interdependence Complexity and Risk in Multinational Corporations , 1990 .

[37]  I. Nonaka.  Redundant, Overlapping Organization: A Japanese Approach to Managing the Innovation Process , 1990 .

[38]  S. Kobrin.  Expatriate reduction and strategic control in American multinational corporations , 1988 .

[39]  A. Laurent.  The cross-cultural puzzle of international human resource management , 1986 .

[40]  R. Grant,et al.  Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration , 2022 .

[41]  P. Callero,et al.  Role as Resource for Action in Public Service , 2002 .

[42]  David P. Lepak,et al.  The Human Resource Architecture: Toward a Theory of Human Capital Allocation and Development , 1999 .

[43]  J. Stewart Black,et al.  Globalizing people through international assignments , 1999 .

[44]  Hal B. Gregersen,et al.  Developing Leaders for the Global Frontier , 1998 .

[45]  Andrew C. Inkpen,et al.  Japanese firms and the decline of the Japanese expatriate , 1998 .

[46]  J. Selmer.  Expatriation: corporate policy, personal intentions and international adjustment , 1998 .

[47]  S. Winter.  Knowledge and Competence as Strategic Assets , 1987 .