Factors Maximizing Expatriate Success

International Management, Part 2
Assignment
On
International Management
(Word Count from chapter 1 to chapter 4 =1842)
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3
Chapter 01 Introduction 4
Chapter 02 Evidence about Expatriate Failure and Factors Maximizing Expatriate
Success 5
Chapter 03 Factors Contributing to the Notion of a Globalized Economy 9
Chapter 04 Conclusion 13
References .......................................................................................................................13
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International Management, Part 2
Executive Summary
In this competitive world, the competition is increasing gradually and so businesses are also
applying new strategies to go forward from others and trying to be the better version of
themselves. Many companies are becoming multinational companies with the expansion of their
businesses. In the expansion process, there come new challenges and new adaptation
requirements for both the company and the employees. To train the employees and to help them
adapting to the global environment of business, multinational companies (MNCs) often assign
international assignment to their employees and send them to other branches across the country.
Many time expatriate failure occurs. Factors like: cultural adjustment, family issues, stress,
emotional breakdown, physical breakdown and more play role behind expatriate failure. To get
expatriate success factors like emotional intelligence, stress tolerance, managerial skill, proper
training etc. factors should be considered by the MNCs.
A globalized economy is the integrated economic activities of the whole world taking place
among countries. Containerization, increasing number of global brands and companies,
application of advanced technology, FDI and M&A, communication and IT etc. are some factors
that have contributed to the notion of a globalized economy. Many ethical issues emerge with the
globalized economy concept. To mitigate the issues, corporations, governments and other related
parties have developed policies and agreements. Many global brands like, Coca-Cola, Walmart,
Sony Enterprise etc. have already started some ethical practices which are mentionable and other
companies must follow these type of ethic code.
Chapter: 01 Introduction
International management is the management of business operations in an organization serving
markets and operating in more than one country (Grundy, 2014). With the application of
management theories and proper management strategies, it needs skills and thought process to
successfully manage such business. MNCs take new challenges and send their employees on
international assignment to skill them up and male them company’s greatest assets to achieve
company’s goal ultimately. Sometimes, these assignments become great success and sometimes
fail.
MNCs get benefited from a globalized economy much. Some of the benefits include:
accessibility to new markets, cheaper labor costs, cost minimization through FDIs and M&A s,
tax benefits etc.
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International Management, Part 2
Chapter: 02
Evidence about Expatriate Failure and
FactorsMaximizing Expatriate Success
Generally, Expatriate refers to a person who resides in a country leaving his motherland for work
reasons. This residing period is often temporarily and depends on the completion of the assigned
tasks given to him. Sometimes, the assignee prematurely return to his country and sometimes his
performance level become so low his company faces a huge loss. So, there a question arises,
“Why does the expatriate prematurely return to his own country and why does his performance
level become low? In MNCs, it is called “Expatriate Failure”.
2.01 Evidence about Expatriate Failure:
There are many factors to be considered as the core reasons of expatriate failure. After discussing
these factors, we can get a clear picture of why this “expatriate failure” happens.
These factors are given below:
 Cultural Issues
 Family Adjustment Issues
 Increased Responsibility
 Immature Emotional Acts
 Disconnection from Friends and Family
 Homesickness
 Insufficient Training (Training for cross-cultural
communication, mental preparation, adaptation to new
environment)
 Inadequate Local Support
 Bad Selection by HR Team
These factors be it the cultural issues or inadequate local support and family adjustment issues,
directly or indirectly affects the performance of the assignee or create mental pressure and
depression which leads to expatriate failure.
Of all the factors, cultural issue is a special factor that plays important role in the expatriate
failure. Culture varies from country to country. In a country, having beer and alcohol openly may
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International Management, Part 2
seem normal whereas in another country it may not be supported in the religious context. For an
assignee, the new environment of workplace and cultural differences may seem difficult to adapt
and this often causes premature return of the assignee. Here if we give an example: an American
who has been sent to Asia for an international assignment may find it unusual and sometime
unprofessional if some staffs don’t show up for 2-3 days or after discussing all the issues and
agreeing someone spend hours in talking. He may face difficulties in the social context as
well.As a result, it leads to expatriate failure.
In Figure: 01, Dr. Yang (cited in Slideshare by StudsPlanet.com (2013)) has shown a
comparative picture of expatriate failure rates in US MNCs, European MNCs and Japanese
MNCs.
Figure: 01 Expatriate Failure Rates of US, Japanese and European MNCs
In Figure: 02, Dr. Yang (cited in San Francisco State University Online Library, IHRM, Chapter
4) also shown a chart describing the cultural adjustment. The chart is given below:
4