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In an era when expatriates are increasingly used as strategic conduits for developing capabilities in local business units, we identify what and how host-country nationals in a developing economy learn from self-initiated expatriates whose assignments focus on organizational capacity development objectives.

Semi-structured interviews with 23 Vietnamese host-country nationals rendered a sample of 138 learning episodes for qualitative content analysis. Respondents were employed in Vietnamese government and non-government organizations and worked closely with multiple self-initiated expatriates in a variety of professional contexts.

Host-country nationals develop a broad array of primarily “soft” capabilities. This learning is typically informal and vicarious in nature. While learning tends to arise incidentally through day-to-day activities, host-country nationals facilitate this by structuring their formal and informal interactions with expatriates to maximize their learning potential.

While the study's exploratory design and specific context limit the transferability of our results, analysis of a sample of specific learning episodes allowed us to map “hotspots” of particular activities and contexts in which certain learning outcomes transpired.

Our results put into sharp focus the overlooked roles of expatriates as models (to be observed), mentors (to be consulted) and collaborators (to be partnered with) who can catalyse valued learning opportunities for local colleagues.

We provide a comprehensive account of the nature and extent of informal learning that host-country nationals accumulate during interactions with expatriates, and so contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the experiences of host-country nationals in international business.

The authors report a field study examining the perceptions of Kenyan host-country stakeholders toward activities of Chinese businesses in their country, and the consequences of this on the legitimacy that they bestow on pertinent entities.

Interviews and observations across an eight-week period of field research revealed generally negative attitudes toward Chinese businesses, with issues pertinent to moral legitimacy prominent, notably, perceptions of corrupt practices, environmental neglect and profit expatriation.

The authors also find evidence that these negative attitudes spilled over to contaminate Kenyans’ perceptions of their own government, which respondents associated closely with the activities of Chinese entities.

The authors extend understanding of legitimacy theory and the implications of foreign business activity by highlighting that businesses may be mistaken to believe that their international business activities are politically neutral, and while host governments may believe that the economic benefits arising from attracting foreign business activity can buttress their legitimacy, the perceived activities of these businesses, in the absence of supporting institutional frameworks, may render this counterproductive.

Using job demands-resources (JD-R) theory as a conceptual apparatus, the purpose of this paper is to report an empirical exploration of the experiences of host-country national (HCN) employees when their organization hosts an expatriate assignment.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 Vietnamese HCNs who had vast experience hosting multiple self-initiated expatriates with organizational development objectives.

The study reveals previously hidden costs associated with locals’ support for expatriates, including a range of extra-role demands and more complex and stressful interpersonal interactions. These demands exceeded the current intercultural capabilities of many respondents, and while offset to some extent by their positive pre-arrival attitudes and culture-specific knowledge, led to sometimes counterproductive coping responses such as withdrawal behaviors.

The study extends the JD-R framework by explicating which demands and resources are pertinent to HCNs, and how these activate particular coping strategies. The cultural context of Vietnam, as both a setting for the workplace interactions and imbued in the values and assumptions of respondents, limits the study’s transferability.

The findings provide guideposts for organizations in ways to offset HCNs’ hindrance demands (e.g. matching demands to current capabilities) and to encourage the use of productive coping strategies via, for instance, anticipating and mitigating potential challenges.

The study’s insights go some way toward articulating more fully the richness and complexity of HCNs’ experiences, and a more rounded perspective of the costs and benefits inherent in international work assignments.

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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a conceptual model that integrates multi-disciplinary research in relation to crisis management, and to consider its application for international human resource managers in preventing and managing the evacuation of expatriate staff during crises.

The paper critically reviews and distils research into crisis and evacuation management, and examines its relevance to a generic framework of international human resource roles. The paper evaluates this body of literature and suggests potential research avenues from an international human resource perspective.

The review reveals a dearth of research on emergency evacuation of expatriates from a human resources perspective. The paper articulates a framework that delineates what role human resource managers could, or should, play during crisis preparation and response. This framework aims to establish a basic “roadmap” for use by practitioners and researchers.

Focusing on the human (rather than business) implications of crises, the paper links crisis management literature to the role of international human resource managers in supporting the health, safety, and security of international assignees during crises. A framework is presented which enables managers to map their current (and potential) contributions to preventing and managing expatriate evacuation. From this, several avenues of future research are drawn.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the features of the decision-making processes used by self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) when considering an international assignment. It does this by examining expatriates’ decision processes through the lens of prominent theories of consumer decision making.

An abductive, exploratory research design was employed, based on in-depth qualitative case studies of nine SIEs.

In general, the expatriates in the study tended to deploy high-involvement decision-making processes. Rational decision models drawing on multiple high-quality information sources were common, especially for expatriates with career-oriented motivations and no prior experience in the target country. Three types of expatriates are distilled: “career building” (high involvement, career oriented, compensatory decision model), “risk minimizing” (high/medium involvement, non-compensatory decision model), and “emotionally driven” (low involvement, affective decision model).

While research into expatriates’ motivations is plentiful, this is the first study to examine the decision-making processes that define the way in which these motivations are enacted. Its originality stems from combining two previously unrelated strands of research (consumer decision making and expatriation). The resulting tentative typology of decision-making approaches provides a platform for organisations seeking to better target talent recruitment, and for researchers seeking to further examine the decision processes of SIEs.

Objective – To examine whether local area pharmacy market structure influences contract terms between prescription drug plans (PDPs) and pharmacies under Part D.

Data – Data were collected and compiled from four sources: a national mail survey to independent pharmacies, National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) Pharmacy database, 2000 U.S. Census data, and 2006 Economic Census data.

Results – Reimbursements varied substantially across pharmacies. Reimbursement for 20mg Lipitor (30 tablets) ranged from $62.40 to $154.80, and for 10mg Lisinopril (30 tablets), it ranged from $1.05 to $18. For brand-name drug Lipitor, local area pharmacy ownership concentration had a consistent positive effect on pharmacy bargaining power across model specifications (estimates between 0.084 and 0.097), while local area per capita income had a consistent negative effect on pharmacy bargaining power across specifications(−0.149 to −0.153). Few statistically significant relationships were found for generic drug Lisinopril.

Conclusion – Significant variation exists in PDP reimbursement and pharmacy bargaining power with PDPs. Pharmacy bargaining power is negatively related to the competition level and the income level in the area. These relationships are stronger for brand name than for generics. As contract offers tend to be non-negotiable, variation in reimbursements and pharmacy bargaining power reflect differences in initial insurer contract offerings. Such observations fit Rubinstein's subgame perfect equilibrium model.

Implication – Our results suggest pharmacies at the most risk of closing due to low reimbursements are in areas with many competing pharmacies. This implies that closures related to Part D changes will have limited effect on Medicare beneficiaries’ access to pharmacies.