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International Human Resource Management.

Master in Management, MBA.

This case is based upon a real Latin-American multinational company operating in France. The character called Anne, Human Resources Director of the French subsidiary, has to implement an organizational project, while at the same time managing local constraints. She also deals with the internal employee survey on working conditions. Through this case study, students will analyze international human resources issues in a company that has offices in different locations and therefore has to deal with different cultural and legal constraints. It tackles questions of employee satisfaction, working conditions and internal communication. It deals with the specific role of the Human Resources (HR) Director of a multinational company’s foreign subsidiary, who has to comply with headquarters’ instructions concerning the implementation of organizational projects and also abide by local laws and regulations.

“The Paradox of Development” case has four main learning objectives: It illustrates some well-known cultural values frameworks, such as Hall and Hall’s (1990), Hofstede’s (1991), Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s (1998) and the GLOBE study’s (House et al., 2004) in a concrete way. It teaches students how to deal with the particular issues and constraints of multinationals when operating abroad, especially when the company’s headquarters are located in a developing country while the subsidiaries are in a developed country. And it helps them better understand the role of an HR Director in such a context. It illustrates the shift from standardization–localization debate [global integration – local adaptation dilemma, Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989); Prahalad and Doz (1987)] towards the choice of HR practices among three options, not two: standardization towards headquarters’ practices, standardization towards global best practices and localization (Pudelko and Harzing, 2007, 2008). It tackles the issues of employee satisfaction and working conditions in an international context where employees have different cultural values.

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CSS 6: Human Resource Management

Some scholars state that multinational enterprises (MNEs) from developing markets manage their subsidiaries in a different way than MNEs from developed markets because the former have to overcome the liability of their country of origin. To analyze this question through the lens of human resource management (HRM), we study the case of a BRIC MNE's subsidiary in France.

We adopted an exploratory and descriptive single case study research design. We used multiple data sources: interviews, internal company documents, academic publications, and media sources.

The results show that the BRIC MNE subsidiary standardizes its HRM practices towards global best practices to compete successfully with MNEs from developed markets. Furthermore, the subsidiary's origin that was considered as a shortcoming in the past is an advantage at present time. Finally, according to the interviewed managers, French subsidiary must overcome a country of origin liability in that it has to change the way that it may be perceived in terms of the issues linked to France's labor relations system.

MNEs originating from developing markets should consider their origin as an advantage: they may be perceived as dynamic, growing, and aspiring to be the best. Another implication concerns the use of global best practices that may facilitate the global coordination of MNEs.

This paper contributes to the literature on the HRM practices of MNEs from developing markets operating in developed markets.

This paper aims to investigate the importance of networking for Italian and French small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Brazil. Business opportunities in Brazil have attracted a significant amount of interest in recent years. The country is moving towards market orientation, and it has recently experienced higher growth rates. Furthermore, upcoming events, such as the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, are attracting a significant amount of attention given the emergence of potential business opportunities in several sectors. Nevertheless, European companies wishing to enter the Brazilian market should address several constraints, including high barriers to entry, an extensive bureaucracy and a culture quite different from those in Europe. In this context, networking seems to be vital for success.

The data were gathered through a survey undertaken between June and August 2012. After the questionnaire was prepared, each company either received and responded to the questionnaire by e-mail or participated in a telephone interview. The questionnaire included multiple choice questions, most of which used a 5-point Likert scale. Some open-ended questions were included to collect insights from respondents. Representatives of 21 Italian and 24 French SMEs agreed to participate in the survey. Respondents were typically company presidents, chief executive officers or export department managers with experience in the Brazilian market.

The results highlight the importance of social networks for the SMEs interviewed. The establishment of social networks is pivotal for successful business activities in Brazil, as they can help entrants decipher and understand how society and business work. In Brazil, social networks are built through a path-dependent process that requires time, patience and perseverance, as well as an ability to overcome liabilities of sameness. In this regard, a networking process that encompasses specific activities linked to the peculiarities of Brazil is essential, even if it seems to be a second-best solution, as in the case of the QWERTY keyboard. This process, which is the main characteristic of social networking in Brazil, necessitates not only the use of the Internet and information and communications technologies but also face-to-face contacts for building reputation, legitimacy and trust.

This paper extends the extant literature by investigating the importance of networking for Italian and French SMEs in Brazil. Brazil serves as an interesting and useful case that can deepen our knowledge about this aspect of international business. As highlighted by Jack et al. (2008) and Ruzzier et al. (2006), the knowledge and understanding of the networking process still suffers from several limitations despite the increased attention paid to this phenomenon.