Think international manager,think male: Why are women not selected for international management assignments?

Studies of women in international management originating primarily from North America consistently highlight the lack of women in such positions. This trend continues despite the need for growing numbers of expatriates. Explanations for this phenomenon have centered on women's personal characteristics, home/family circumstances, organizational support, and host country nationals' attitudes. This study examines the status of women in international management from a United Kingdom (UK) perspective. A key finding arising from the study is the critical influence of selection systems for international assignments where the predominant use of closed, informal selection processes for international assignments was seen to create unintended gender bias in recruitment. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Women and international assignments: the impact of supervisor-subordinate relationships

During the past two decades, more and more organizations have been going global, and, as a result, more and more employees are being sent on international assignments. For the most part, though, the percentage of females being sent on these assignments is much lower than the percentage of males. Several recent studies have suggested that the supervisor-subordinate relationship might be a critical determinant of who gets selected for expatriate assignments. To explore this issue in some detail, the leader-member exchange (LMX) model is used to examine the link between supervisor-subordinate relationships and selection for international assignments. Strategies that female employees can use to improve their chances of being sent on international assignments are also suggested.     

The internationalization of Japanese business: Different approaches,similar problems

In staffing their overseas operations, Japanese firms generally maintain a view that prime positions should be held by the home-country personnel. Having thus decided not to follow the European or American pattern of overseas operations, Japanese firms continue to rely very heavily on their own managerial resources to run fast-expanding operations abroad. However, contrary to a general impression that Japanese managers are adept at working in foreign environments, our study of Japanese subsidiaries in Hong Kong points out that the success rate of their expatriate assignments is not necessarily as high as the figures widely reported by studies conducted elsewhere. This article will attempt to determine the causes of problems related to managerial assignments abroad by examining the practices employed by Japanese firms in the selection and training of managers for overseas assignments.     

Why are women left at home: are they unwilling to go on international assignments?

Increasing numbers of women may be climbing the corporate ladder, but when it comes to sending managers on overseas assignments, women are staying home. Is it that women are not interested in international careers, that for some reason companies are reluctant to send women abroad, or that women in foreign countries experience prejudice that prevents them from being effective on their jobs? Our results, based on an extensive survey of female expatriates and their supervisors, indicate that the key may lie in the significantly different views the women and their supervisors hold on the women’s interest in pursuing international assignments and in their expectations concerning the prejudice they are likely to encounter. In short, these parties typically do not openly discuss the issues surrounding this important management decision. In addition to presenting the results of our survey, this article discusses strategies to encourage companies to consider women for international assignments and that women can use to increase their chances of being considered. It also presents suggestions for future research.     

Foreign assignment for female German managers

Foreign assignments are considered as an important instrument of management development from German companies. Professional expertise in foreign markets and cultures is becoming an increasingly important factor in advancement. It is significant that in the past only male managers have been given the chance for a foreign assignment. Consequently female German managers very seldomly have international working experience. An empirical research study in 13 German multinational companies investigated the role of German women as expatriate managers from the perspectives of personnel managers. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Changing patterns of global staffing in the multinational enterprise: Challenges to the conventional expatriate assignment and emerging alternatives

We argue that many MNCs continue to underestimate the complexities involved in global staffing and that organisations and academics must take a more strategic view of staffing arrangements in an international context. We suggest that the context for the management and handling of the international assignment has altered significantly, leading in some quarters to a fundamental reassessment of the contribution of, and prospects for, the international assignment as conventionally understood. We explore a variety of supply side issues, cost issues, demand side issues and career issues as triggers to this reassessment. Alongside the conventional expatriate assignment, we point to the emergence of a portfolio of alternatives to the traditional international assignment including short-term assignments, commuter assignments, international business travel and virtual assignments. In the context of these developments, we argue that a standardised approach to international assignments is untenable and that it is essential to develop HR policies and procedures that reflect differences in the various forms of emerging alternative international assignments and their associated complexities. Here recruitment and selection, training, reward, and occupational health and safety issues and implications are all explored.     

Beyond Paternalism: Cross-cultural Perspectives on the Functioning of a Mexican Production Plant

Expatriate managers of international businesses in emerging countries often struggle to mobilize their workforces. They sometimes perceive profound cultural differences as a barrier to the progress of their organizations. Some international businesses may adopt a paternalistic attitude toward their employees; but this questionable strategy brings mixed results. Are there ways out of paternalism for international businesses in emerging areas? This paper examines the diverging views held by foreign managers and local personnel of a foreign-owned production plant in Mexico, which managed to mobilize its workforce by building a strong sense of community, allowing a certain form of collective control to replace the paternalistic model, with its bonds of personal allegiance. Contrasting perspectives between Mexican and foreign employees show that intercultural misunderstandings, rather than the peculiarities of the local culture, are the greatest challenge to cooperation.     

Career management issues for flexpatriate international staff

This article reports findings from an in‐depth study of a small number of European men and women that identifies organizational activities and their own initiatives to successfully manage their international careers within the context of their personal and family lives. In contrast to prior studies that have focused on issues for expatriate international work assignments, this study focused on flexpatriates—the frequent flyers of international work. The results indicated that, with minimal human resource management (HRM) assistance, flexpatriates were proactive and self‐managing in dealing with career issues and the family and personal demands linked to their flexpatriate lifestyles. Similar career issues were evident for men and women, but the impact of home life seemed more significant for women, and the implications of this for HRM are explored. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Role of Systematic International Market Selection on Small Firms' Export Performance

This article hypothesizes that, on average, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that use a systematic methodology in selecting foreign target markets (what we call systematic market selection) perform better than SMEs using an ad hoc international market selection methodology. Using a sample of Greek exporting firms, we found that systematic international market selection is a significant determinant of export performance, even when controlling for decision-maker and firm-specific characteristics previous studies found to be related to export success. Implications for managers, trade promotion agencies, and future research are discussed.     

Designing Training Interventions: Human or Technical Skills Training?

Training is seen as the key instrument in the implementation of Human Resource Management policies and practices in both the private and public sector. The choice of the type of training, focused on human or technical skills, is crucial in designing the training process. This field study investigates the personal and occupational characteristics of 444 public managers, candidates for human and technical skills training. A classification model is proposed which allows the selection and weighting of the candidate trainees' personal and occupational differences in order to participate in one of the two types of training. By means of the stepwise logistic regression method, gender, age, education, attitudes towards training, managerial level and job tenure have been identified as the significant variables associated with type of training.     

Cultural intelligence as a predictor of expatriate adjustment and performance in Malaysia

This research tests the linkage between cultural intelligence, expatriate adjustment to the host country's environment and expatriate performance while on international assignments. The investigation is carried out with data from 134 expatriates based in multinational corporations in Malaysia. The results highlight a direct influence of expatriates’ cultural intelligence on general, interaction and work adjustments. The improved adjustments consequently have positive effects on both the expatriates’ task and contextual performance. The research findings have implications for both international human resource management (IHRM) researchers and managers.     

Challenges in the education of the contemporary U.S. international manager

Failure rates of 30% for U.S. expatriate international managers relative to less than 10% for comparable Japanese and European international managers represent substantial costs to individuals, corporations, and U.S. global economic interests. The authors provide a profile of successful expatriate international managers and recommend four changes: (1) inclusion of international management development as a strategic U.S. corporate issue for global success; (2) alteration of current U.S. corporate selection procedures; (3) expanded implementation of rigorous leading edge international training programs; and (4) a renewed U.S. corporate-academic-government collaborative partnership to enhance international competitiveness.     

Of bears, bumble-bees, and spiders: the role of expatriates in controlling foreign subsidiaries

This article investigates the role of expatriate managers in multinational companies. We discuss three key organizational functions of expatriation: position filling, management development, and organization development. In the last function, organization development, international transfers are used as an informal coordination and control strategy through socialization and the building of informal communication networks. The article explores this role of international transfers in greater detail, but also discusses a more formal way in which expatriates can control subsidiaries. The following metaphors for these different control functions of expatriation are introduced: “bear” (formal direct control), “bumble-bee” (socialization), and “spider” (informal communication). A large-scale mail survey offers empirical evidence for the bear, bumble-bee and spider roles and shows under which circumstances they are most effective. Being aware of the different control functions of expatriation and the circumstances under which they are most effective can help managers to use expatriate assignments as a more strategic tool.     

How to retain local senior managers in international joint ventures: The effects of alliance relationship characteristics

How can international joint ventures keep their local senior managers from quitting? Drawing on international business literature, social exchange theory, and social integration theory, this study examines how the characteristics of an alliance relationship affect local senior managers' turnover intentions. The findings from 139 ventures in China show that decision-making participation and social integration help retain local senior managers. However, the effects of participation and social integration decrease with high levels of foreign ownership control. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

International Market Selection

Abstract

In the international market selection literature, selecting new markets is often largely understood as an information-processing problem. The notion is that managers require extensive market information to reduce decision-making complexity. We argue, however, that managerial cognition is more central to international market selection processes, since recognition and evaluation of strategic stimuli strongly affect the way this process is approached and executed. Market environments are not unambiguous realities, but abstractions that are given meaning through processes of selection, identification and screening. To select among international markets, managers impose mental maps to acknowledge market opportunities and threats. On this basis we propose a model for mapping managerial decision-making, based on the so-called means-end theory.     

Managerial characteristics and entrepreneurial internationalization: A study of Tunisian SMEs

Growing internationalization has sparked increasing interest in any factor which could strengthen a firm’s ability to develop a long-term competitive edge. One of the main factors which determine a firm’s international behavior is the characteristics of its management team. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the relationship between the management team’s characteristics and factors which favor a company’s development by examining the causal effects of managerial characteristics on innovative behavior of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking international market expansion. The conceptual model and its hypotheses are tested through an empirical study of a multi-industry sample of Tunisian SMEs. To our knowledge, this present study is the first to include Islamic ethics as a determining factor on managers’ behaviors as their companies enter the international market. Obtained by structural equation modeling technique, the key findings of this research show that personality traits, mental ability, and social networks of managers have a direct impact on a firm’s behavior as it enters the international context. Results also show that Islamic ethics seem to favor a creative context for innovative ideas in both local and foreign markets. Given the importance of the results analyzed, it could be suggested that Islamic ethics in organizations be implemented as a part of the education system in all Islamic societies.     

Exploring the missing point of view in international advertising management: local managers in global advertising agencies

In the decades-long debates about whether standardised or adapted strategies are better for global brands, and whether centralised or decentralised international communications planning is more effective, little attention has been given to the perspective of local managers in the subsidiaries of global agencies. This paper reports on the experiences and opinions of account managers and creative directors in Korean subsidiaries, with regard to the international advertising policies of their agencies and clients. The authors find less centralisation than prior research has reported and yet more negative experiences with standardised global advertising. Creativity is a key consideration for the Korean managers, especially for products, be they consumer or industrial, that have universal demand. The perspective of subsidiary managers in multinational corporations should be considered in the advertising planning process in order to avoid conflict which could decrease the effectiveness of global campaigns.     

The importance of ethics to job performance: An empirical investigation of managers' perceptions

This study probed a crucial assumption underlying much of the ethics theory and research: do managers perceive ethical behavior to be an important personal job requirement? A large sample of managers from a cross-section of industries and job functions indicated that, compared to other job duties, certain ethical behaviors were moderate to somewhat major parts of their jobs. Some noteworthy differences by industry, organization size, tenure and job function were also found. These findings underscore the importance of ethics for business education. They also have implications for manager selection, training, and development by organizations.     

Administration of Questionnaires for Collecting Quantitative Data in International Marketing Research

This paper discusses the various methods of questionnaire administration for collecting quantitative survey data in international marketing research. The general characteristics of telephone, computer assisted telephone, in-home personal, mall intercept, computer administered CRT interviews, mail, and mail panels are examined. The applicability of these methods for conducting marketing research in North America, Europe, newly industrialized countries, and developing countries is evaluated. Some guidlines for the selection of appropriate methods for conducting international marketing research are provided. The paper concludes with some additional observations on the administration of survey questionnaires in an international context.     

The Significance of Foreign Language Skills for Initial Entry Positions in International Firms

The critical selection criterion used in most U.S. firms during the process of expatriate selection is "the technical competence" of the candidate. In the case of "international track," initial entry positions, however, the evidence gathered in this study indicates that foreign language skills are as important as technical competence in the selection process. This is primarily because of the perceived value of language skills in facilitating communication and "acculturation" in overseas markets. It also reflects recruiter perceptions that many business school graduates do not possess high levels of specific technical competency, which results in other selection criteria, such as candidates' personal characteristics and language skills, being given greater weight.