Search results

Organizations put significant resources toward the management of global assignments; however, few realize the full benefits that these experiences provide in terms of the development of future leaders. This chapter presents three principles for directing global assignment strategies to maximize effectiveness and supports those principles with research among a sample of leaders at a global organization. First, effective global assignments are powerful sources of leader development and can be implemented to maximize this outcome. Second, assignments differ in their developmental value with some assignments providing significantly more value than others. Third, individuals differ in their ability to perform on assignment. Finally, implications of the research findings and principles for global talent management strategy are discussed.

To investigate the impact of knowledge-intensive FDI in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry, this study analyzes the activity of foreign MNEs operating in this context by exploring their innovative background, the organizational arrangements they use for local knowledge creation and the performance of their local innovative processes. Based on the analysis of the universe of USPTO pharmaceutical patents applied for between 1975 and 2010 and granted to foreign assignees utilizing the work of Chinese inventors, our results show that, while the presence of foreign MNEs in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry entails a strong potential for positive externalities that could enhance the performance of the local innovation system, such externalities do not completely materialize yet, likely because of local actors’ limited absorptive capacity.

We review 25 years of research on expatriate experiences concentrating on expatriate adjustment as a central construct, and relying on a general stressor-stress-strain framework. First, we consider who expatriates are, why their experiences differ from domestic employees, and what adjustment is. Conceptualizing (mal)adjustment in terms of stress, we next review the stressors and strains associated with it. Consolidating the wide range of antecedents (anticipatory and in-country) that have been studied to date, we note major patterns of effects and their implications for how HR managers can facilitate adjustment. Although relatively less research has focused on the consequences of adjustment, enough evidence exists to establish a bottom-line impact of poor adjustment on performance. To stimulate future efforts to understand the experiences of expatriates, we discuss the challenges and opportunities of continuing down this road of research.

Social network theory and analytic tools have been increasingly used to examine the interaction between science and technology. Recently, researchers have paid attention to the role of publishing inventors, that is, individuals bridging the collaborative networks between authors (co-authorship network) and inventors (co-invention network). Building on this research, we study how publishing inventors’ structural position in the joint co-authorship and co-invention network affects the quality of the inventions to which they contribute. Specifically, we identify publishing inventors who play a pivotal role in holding the two networks together: their removal not only increases the network fragmentation but also disconnects the joint co-authorship and co-invention network. We define these publishing inventors as cutpoints and find them to contribute to inventions of greater quality. We situate the analysis within the context of the emerging field of nanotechnology. The theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed.

Purpose –– This chapter examines theories and models that could be used to explain female expatriate participation with a view to identifying the most promising theoretical lenses for future research. It takes as its basis, issues, evidence and explanations from both ‘women in management’ and ‘women expatriates’ literature to identify four main theoretical domains: family issues, assignee characteristics, host and home country norms, and institutional factors. Key theories and models within each of these four domains are highlighted and discussed and their potential contribution to understanding and explaining female expatriation evaluated.

Methodology/approach –– A Delphi study and advanced library database search were used to generate data for conceptual analysis.

Findings –– The most promising explanations of women's low expatriate participation are identified as being linked to occupational gender stereotyping and sex roles in employment, women's reduced social capital and patriarchal attitudes towards their identity and homemaker roles. These are reinforced by institutional isomorphic behaviour through which organisations mimic each other's human resource practices.

Research limitations/implications –– The research drew upon English language sources only in data collection and analysis.

Practical implications –– Scrutiny of organisational policies and practices applied to expatriate assignments is required to increase gender diversity in expatriation.

Social implications –– Further research using theoretical underpinning is required both to understand gender diversity within corporate international mobility and to prevent women's current low representation from continuing in future.

Originality/value of chapter –– There is little evidence to date of an accepted theoretical framework to test hypotheses relating to women's low expatriate participation. This chapter addresses this gap, identifying potentially helpful theoretical lenses for future female expatriate research.

Purpose –– This chapter shows the connection between the reality of intercultural communication training and its importance to the development of intercultural communication competence, symbolised by the Rainbow Model of Intercultural Communication Competence.

Methodology/approach –– 405 useable questionnaires (response rate=19.4%) were used from 56 German MNEs in a convenience sample of companies in the high-tech industry that are suppliers for the automotive, aviation, optical and chemical industry.

Findings –– German MNCs provide traditional intercultural communication training sparingly to expatriates, but with adjustments depending on the target country. Only 41% of training recipients deemed the training helpful for their mission. Non-traditional training methods are administered more consistently.

Practical implications –– The Rainbow Model of Intercultural Communication Competence should guide the implementation of customised intercultural communication training efforts.

Social implications –– Assisting expatriates in their development of intercultural communication competence via intercultural communication training fulfils the social responsibility of multinational enterprises.

Originality/value of chapter –– This chapter provides guidance to human resource specialists in the international arena to design and implement customisable intercultural communication training programmes for expatriates.

This chapter will discuss the extent to which existing models on expatriate functions within the international business literature, still effectively capture the roles currently performed by expatriate managers. It analyse the Edstrom and Galbraith (1977) typology and present a conceptual framework on the roles currently performed by expatriate managers within MNCs. To do this, it will draw inspiration from the resource-based view (Barney, 1991; Peng, M. W. (2001). The resource-based view and international business. Journal of Management, 27, 803–829. Wernerfelt, 1984), and the organisation capability view (Grant, 1996). Following several propositions about managers’ key functions within MNCs, challenges of creating an all-encompassing framework on expatriate functions, and suggestions for future research and theoretical development will be identified.

This chapter will present a conceptual framework on expatriate functions.

Four decades since Edstrom and Galbraith’s seminal work, international developments have continued to impress upon the way MNCs organise and manage their worldwide activities. Yet, as the business environment progresses, theoretical models examining how international development impact the functions undertaken by expatriate managers within MNCs individuals are still relatively scarce. Hence, this chapter aims to contribute to the theoretical advancement in the area of expatriate functions by highlighting possible changes and expansion of expatriate managers within the current global business context.

In this chapter, we examine the development of a technology path in the nanotube (NT) field – one of the most well-developed areas of nanotechnology. Although early developments suggested that there were equally viable pathways related to the development of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and others made with organic molecules and polymers, carbon-based technologies became valorized. We show how the carbon science path developed and try to unpack how it happened. We argue that it was not due to the inherent efficiency or applications of CNTs, but to sociopolitical dynamics. Even though much intellectual property research focuses on patent-level analysis, we underscore the importance of patent categories as key cognitive elements that organize the different knowledge domains within the world of NT patenting. We show that interlinkages between patent categories are crucial to the formation and development of a particular technology path. In unpacking the selection of the carbon science path, we highlight the key role played by a cadre of star scientists and the political neglect of alternative pathways as the field herded toward the CNT path.

Recent development shows increasing international trade and across-borders investment as well as growing bilateral and multilateral free-trade agreement among the Asian countries. This is resulting in more and more Asian (and global) organizations facing increasingly culturally diverse groups to manage and to deal with. Hence, it indicates the need for systematic development of intercultural competence and sensitivity for Asian leaders. This study attempts to apply an indigenous approach to deal with the underdeveloped systematic knowledge for non-Western societies and the lack of practices to develop global Asian leaders. A series of 110 interviews with Chinese, Indonesian, and Singaporean international assignees and their local coworkers was conducted in China and Indonesia. More than half of the interviewees were business leaders and senior executives, while the others were mostly at mid-management levels. All interviews were recorded and fully transcribed in their original languages. Grounded Theory analysis was applied to analyze the interview data, supported by the computer-based QDA software Atlas.ti. Our result suggests that Asians are both neighbors and strangers. In spite of our closer physical proximity, many Asians are less prepared to interact with each other than with Westerners. As the number of Asian expats working within Asia grows, there is a need for more applied research to help prepare companies and individuals to overcome the challenges and capitalize on the potential of intra-Asia collaboration.

The chapter aims to analyze an innovative intervention in the context of public housing in Italy. Over the past decade, in Italy, neighborhoods with a high concentration of public housing have increasingly become spaces of exclusion, where conflicts are rife, due to a multiplicity of factors (e.g., immigration, social deprivation, ageing, health problems). In particular, because of the global economic crisis and the impoverishment of Italian families, competition and quarrels between lower middle-class natives and migrants have been exacerbated, undermining the recent fragile pattern of social cohesion. However, housing and urban policies are still residual, especially in the political agenda of mid-sized towns, which witness an ungoverned urban growth not always accompanied by a concurrent complete recognition of citizenship. Moreover, policies tackling rising social tension to reduce or prevent it are lacking. Nonetheless, at a local level, some more dynamic municipalities are starting to promote original initiatives also thanks to the sharing of the best national and international practices. In particular we wish to focus on the social mediation processes implemented to prevent conflict and promote sustainable cohabitation, improving relationships between neighbors and fostering empowerment and participation. In this perspective, the chapter explores a two-year project of social mediation for households living in public housing which has been developed in the Marche region.