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The particular focus of this paper is female expatriates in Europe, which is a relatively under‐researched area. A total of 50 senior female expatriate managers were interviewed, representing a wide range of industry and service sectors. The aims of the paper are to highlight a number of critical factors which are necessary for successful female expatriate assignments. The results of the study show that female expatriates are disadvantaged in their careers because of the lack of organizational support which is readily available to their male counterparts. This lack of organizational support, together with the invisible barriers which constitute the glass ceiling, explain the relative scarcity of female expatriate managers.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the management development (MD) programme in the Ghanaian mining industry. A legal requirement aimed at equipping national managers for eventual takeover of the management of industry from expatriates, the programme is analysed to ascertain the willingness to implement and the state of implementation by multinational companies operation in the industry.

The study employs critical discourse analysis (CDA), a problem-identification and problem-solving analytical tool to identify any obstacles suppressing the implementation and possible ways past the obstacles. Data for analysis were collected from 26 national managers from industry who were interviewed to gather views and expectations on their development.

Key findings include domination and hegemonic dynamics of expatriates through sustained power over the control of the MD process, CDA’s emancipatory power succeeds in identifying unrealised possibilities for tackling the MD problem for a social change (development of national managers) in industry, and non-implementation of the MD programme contributed by expatriates, the government of Ghana, and senior national managers.

The programme has the potential of developing national managers for eventual takeover from expatriates, but requires implementing the law to the latter, including denying foreign subsidiaries mining lease if they fail to provide the adhere to localisation plans.

The paper extends literature on management of Western multinational subsidiaries in developing countries, revealing power and control over human resource practices, and MD in their foreign subsidiaries. It also contributes to literature on suppression of indigenous employees by other indigenous employees (the “colonised elites”), contrary to what is expected from indigenous people towards the development of their colleagues.

This paper seeks to fill the research gap created by predominately Anglo‐Saxon large‐scale surveys and comparative studies by providing insights of Japanese organizational behavior through the eyes of Nordic (Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) expatriates.

The empirical material of this paper is based on 30 semi‐structured interviews collected in Japan in 2002 and 2004.

The interviews indicate that verticality and collectivism have a prominent influence on Japanese organizational behavior. The prominent theme of verticality deviates from several Anglo‐Saxon studies focusing on collectivism.

Similarity between interviewer and interviewees in terms of gender, nationality, and race could influence research findings. Future studies should incorporate both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

Interviews show that it is important for expatriate managers to create synergic relations with local middle managers who are strategically located between the higher and lower organizational echelons.

This is the first paper to provide an empirical account of Japanese organizational behavior from the Nordic perspective. Due to the distinctive features of Nordic management, the studies conducted by Anglo‐Saxon researchers might not provide accurate insights for Nordic expatriates.

South Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs) have developed rapidly since the late 1950s. This chapter investigates South Korean MNEs’ talent management, more specifically international recruitment and selection policies and practices in their Chinese operations.

Using the snowball method through Chinese and Korean networks we recruited ten Korean MNEs to participate in this research. We conducted semi-structured interviews with key individuals within the organisations.

It reveals that South Korean MNEs tend to adopt the polycentric approach or a mixed approach of being polycentric and ethnocentric to international staffing, with the number of expatriates reducing gradually over time. South Korean MNEs adopt ‘one-way selection’ in recruiting and selecting expatriates and localise recruitment procedures and selection criteria for host-country nationals.

South Korean MNEs have paid inadequate attention to: firstly, expatriates’ career development; and secondly, personal and family issues emerging from expatriation and repatriation. This study highlights these issues.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide library managers with information about what to expect if they are considering a post in another country. It challenges a suggestion that a senior manager's major value is their local network. Rather, the skills, experience, culture and attitude, as well as networks, can contribute to a successful career in another country. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an example of an Australian expatriate senior library manager who took up a post in the United Kingdom. It draws upon literature on cultural differences and knowledge transfer across international borders. Findings – The paper provides an example of a successful transfer of management knowledge to a new country, highlighting actions taken to form a new management team. Also provides practical advice on personal and social matters that have to be addressed for the relocation to be successful. Practical implications – Leadership, good management, and an awareness of, and sensitivity to, cultural differences are required for a successful transfer of management knowledge. At a senior level, it is not so much about expertise in librarianship, but management and leadership that are important. Originality/value – The paper provides a positive example of an expatriate senior library manager moving to a new country. It will be of interest to anyone contemplating an international professional relocation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which the geographical distance between headquarters and subsidiaries moderates the relationship between cultural intelligence and the knowledge transfer process.

A sample of 103 senior expatriate managers working in Croatia from several European and non-European countries was used to test the hypotheses. Data were collected using questionnaires, while the methodology employed to test the relationship between the variables was partial least square. Furthermore, interaction-moderation effect was utilized to test the impact of geographical distance and, for testing control variables, partial least square multigroup analysis was used.

Cultural intelligence plays a significant role in the knowledge transfer process performance. However, geographical distance has the power to moderate this relationship based on the direction of knowledge transfer. In conventional knowledge transfer, geographical distance has no significant impact. On the contrary, data have shown that, in reverse knowledge transfer, geographical distance has a moderately relevant effect. The authors supposed that these findings could be connected to the specific location of the knowledge produced by subsidiaries.

Multinational companies should take into consideration that the further away a subsidiary is from the headquarters, and the varying difference between cultures, cannot be completely mitigated by the ability of the manager to deal with cultural differences, namely cultural intelligence. Thus, multinational companies need to allocate resources to facilitate the knowledge transfer between subsidiaries.

The present study stresses the importance of cultural intelligence in the knowledge transfer process, opening up a new stream of research inside these two areas of research.

The focus of this paper is on the senior female international managerial career move in Europe. The study assesses an exclusively senior sample of 50 female managers who have made at least one international career move. It has taken as its starting point the unique perspectives and experiences of these senior female international managers. From their different perspectives and experiences, different assumptions about women in international management and female life‐style choices are arrived at. This study of senior females in international management makes a theoretical contribution to the analysis of gender and international human resource management, and to wider debates within the contemporary women in management and career theory literatures. The aims of the study were to develop an understanding of the senior female international career move in a European context in order to more fully understand both the covert and overt barriers that may limit women’s international career opportunities.

With limited intracultural ethical research in evidence this paper contributes to the theoretical discussion of expatriate ethical acculturation. Of particular interest to this study are the ethical attitudes of subcultural groups, particularly managers, who because of overseas assignment or immigration, are operating outside their usual national location. Research was undertaken to investigate whether ethical divergence or convergence, through acculturation, exists with ex patriate managers, and over what time period. Two locations, Hong Kong and Canada, were chosen for comparative study and the results indicated an interesting dichotomy. Ethical convergence, the adopting of host country ethical values, is evident with Hong Kong Chinese expatriate managers in Canada but did not occur with North American expatriates in Hong Kong. For the expatriate Chinese manager the research findings indicate that Hong Kong Chinese managers now residing in Canada develop a unique set of ethical attitudes that are significantly different from those of local managers in Hong Kong yet also significantly different from the attitudes held by local Canadian managers. A subtle form of ethical convergence is occurring. No significant relationship was found between ethical acculturation and the length of time being an expatriate Hong Kong Chinese manager in Canada except on two issues. For these issues the longer the time spent in Canada the greater the rise in ethical attitudes. A heterogeneous group of expatriate managers in Hong Kong was also evaluated and while predicate similarities existed between expatriates from China and Macau, statistically significant differences in ethical perceptions were found between the general population of expatriate managers (i.e. American, Australasian, British etc.,) and local Hong Kong Chinese managers.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors needed for the development of global human resources for leadership assignments in foreign subsidiaries. The paper aims to find an answer to enhance expatriate mission accomplishment rate at subsidiaries abroad.

This study examines the development of global human resources. In-depth face-to-face interviews were employed to collect data from eight senior HR managers in three financial institutions in Taiwan, while data from 28 expatriates in the overseas subsidiaries were obtained from asynchronous e-mail interviews. Conventional content analysis was used to code categories directly from the data.

The results of the study revealed that organizational policies do not focus on developing global human resources. To portray a global image, the focus is on staffing overseas subsidiaries with foreigners and Taiwanese that can speak English. Development to prepare staff for expatriation is limited to pre-departure training that focused mainly on language and cultural awareness training. However, organizational support during expatriation and repatriation is important. Expatriates view security briefing crucial and familiarization visit helps them to decide whether or not to accept expatriation. Organizational policies favor those that were not expatriated in terms of career progression deter managers from accepting international assignments.

It highlights some best practices in developing global human resources taking into consideration the herd mentality and social perspective. Social support, social learning and social capital are instrumental in developing global human resources as these hasten cultural adjustment.

Examines the underlying assumptions that companies make about the role of women in international management. Based on numerous studies, explodes some of the traditional myths about women expatriates: that they do not want to be international managers and that foreign prejudice against women renders them ineffective. However, another myth – that companies hesitate to send women abroad – is found to be true. Competitive advantage in transnationals can only come from a combination of an increased representation of women and a recognition of differences as complementary. Recommendations are given to companies and to future women expatriates.