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A survey of 16 female entrepreneurs in Singapore, by interview or questionnaire, to establish their present characteristics and changes over the last two decades was conducted. They were found to be better educated than the general population of women, concentrated in the service sector, to own small or medium‐sized businesses, and to be moving into high growth industries in disproportionately high numbers. Fewer women than previously are family business helpers and inheritance of a business is also less important.

Managers working for multinational companies need to be culturally sensitive, as do those responsible for training methods and materials in different cultural settings. The issues associated with the effectiveness of applying training and development techniques and processes across different cultures are focused on, specifically: the need for human resource development professionals to be sensitive of cultural factors in different nationalities in their training activities; the need for cross‐cultural training for managers; and the impact of cultural factors on the processes in training and development.

A number of studies conducted in the 1970s observed that males and females differed in their job attribute preferences. This study revisited the issue of gender differences in attribute preferences. Final‐year undergraduates (n= 270) were asked to rate 17 job attributes in terms of how important each was to them in choosing a job/employer. Results indicated that the effect of gender on job attribute preferences was generally weak. Other variables such as age, ethnicity, professional training area, and prior work experience also did not have a significant impact on undergraduates′ preferences.

With globalization and accompanying expatriation becoming a reality for developed countries, including those that have recently arrived in Southeast Asia, this study explored the effects of family and personal characteristics on Singaporeans’ willingness to accept an expat assignment.

Data were collected from a random sample of 191 managers and engineers across a number of organizations in Singapore.

The results indicated that the perception of a negative influence on family members has a negative impact on Singapore engineers and managers intention to accept an international assignment. Further, both need for achievement and perseverance personal characteristics had a positive impact on intention for an international assignment.

The study findings suggest how international human resource manager can provide help to expatriates and their family in dealing with family issues related to expatriation.

This study explores the impact of differential family structures on income and career satisfaction of managers in Singapore. A total of 225 managers who were MBA graduates from the three local universities were surveyed. Results of this study support Devanna’s (1988) assertions that marriage and children have positive effects on men’s career success. Family structures have significant effect on income but not career satisfaction of men. The satisfaction is derived from the higher income earned. Furthermore, significant results are shown between married and single women on level of income but insignificant on career satisfaction.

Posits that the regionalization and globalization of companies in the Asia Pacific region is forcing human resource managers and general managers to rethink and reconsider their systems of management. A survey of human resource management (HRM) practices and policies in Singapore was conducted recently. The purpose is to enable managers, faced with the increasing regionalization of firms, to understand better the role of HR development. Reports on the results of that survey which pertain to some of the current thinking and policies of companies based in Singapore. Through this study, a better understanding of the emerging issues impacting on HRM practices and policies in Singapore is established. States that this information is useful for formal strategic planning, leading to improved organizational performance.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of organizational culture and human resource management (HRM) effectiveness on financial performance of a sample of Singapore‐based companies involved in mergers and acquisition activities.

The study used the method of content analysis to collect information on cultural values and HRM effectiveness, using Kabanoff's content analysis dictionary. Culture profiles were then assigned to organizations in the sample following the results from cluster analysis. Various financial ratios were used to measure organizational performance. Finally, regression analysis was performed to test various hypotheses.

The key finding of the study is that organizations with either elite or leader value profile, when complemented by human resource effectiveness, had a better financial performance as compared to organizations with meritocratic or collegial value profiles. It thus follows that, to achieve better financial results by undertaking merger and acquisition activities organizations need to have elite or leadership value profile.

This study makes a contribution to the literature by producing new empirical evidence to bear on the effect of organizational culture and human resource effectiveness on financial performance of merging acquiring organizations from a newly industrialized Asian country.

Study used 357 Singaporean managers to document their availability for international assignments and their international aspiration. To understand factors that affect their international aspiration, we investigated the impact of family, career, culture and host country factors and personal entrepreneurial characteristics on mangers’ international aspiration and willingness to accept international assignment. Overall, results show that family, spouse and children and personal characteristics influence both the degree of willingness travel and determinants of managers’ attitude toward international assignments. Career and attitudes of spouses will likely have a significant impact on managers’ willingness to accept international assignments. Prior cross‐cultural international experience and personal entrepreneurial characteristics are also important factors that influence managers’ willingness to accept international assignments. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.

Career Orientations in Women Volume 44 No. 9 of Human Relations includes an article by Millicent E. Poole, Janice Langan‐Fox and Mary Omodel entitled “Career Orientations in Women from Rural and Urban Backgrounds.”