International Business and Human Resources

The provided text consists of a list of references to academic articles and research papers related to international business and human resources. The sources cover various aspects of global management, including staffing, expatriate spouse adjustment, localization typologies, public policy in international investment law, and employee perceptions of tribal self-sufficiency and philanthropy. The summary also includes relevant keywords such as 'expatriate employment', 'global HRM', 'staffing for success', 'tribal casino employee perceptions', and 'transition of overseas qualified nurses and midwives'.

International Growth Plan1
VIRTUAL GAMING LTD INTERNATIONAL GROWTH PLAN
Name:
Institution:
Course:
Tutor:
Date:

International Growth Plan2
Introduction
International investment is the process by which business organizations transfer their
operations into foreign nations either to increase production at lower cost or market their
products (Nurtniun 2016, p. 47). Companies go global with expansion as the basic reason.
Virtual Gaming Ltd is an international software development company founded in the early
1990s. The company has its headquarters in the South West of England. The company has grown
tremendously and currently employs over 200 employees, with male staffs being the majority of
the population. The company’s objective to venture into the international markets such as
Eastern Europe and North Africa is feared to fail. The management claims of different
international challenges such as recent high rate of expatriate that often leads to failures of
growing international companies (Yang 2014, p. 27). The worry is resulting from the fear of
losing the best employees who might find it difficult in working in the foreign countries or
failing to find the best qualified personals in the foreign countries to spearhead the company’s
mission of quality provision. Therefore, the paper focuses the resourcing strategy developed by
the HR specialist to enable the Virtual Gaming Ltd Company to realize their international growth
plan
Business organization’s powers are always determined by the percentage of the market
control, whether locally or internationally (Sadler 2017, p. 78). The organizations that grow
globally tend to thrive from the accessibility of wider global market that sees quick and large
revenue collection, however, a good number international companies tend to fail due to
numerous reasons; such as stiff competition, political factors, socio-cultural, environmental
factors and many others (Yang 2014). Such companies that fear failing tend to post expatriates
and hire international employees, a process that requires proper global human resource strategy.

International Growth Plan3
Virtual Gaming limited faces fears of going international that are brought about by the high rate
of expertise failure as reported by international business reports, and having just a few
employees who a number of them have expressed their fear of working away from home, the
company is on the verge of losing the best.
Investment Strategies
Different International market entry strategies determine the success and stability of the
international organizations, and the strategies are into two categories, which are the non- equity
and equity mode. Non-equity mainly consists of export and contractual agreements while on the
other hand, equity mode comprises joint venture and fully own the subsidiaries ( de Souza et
al.,2017). Therefore, Virtual Gaming Ltd will successfully venture into the Eastern Europe,
Northern Africa and other parts of the world through either of the following international market
entry strategies:
Direct investment- Direct investment is an arrangement that allows the international firms
to produce units in the foreign market directly. It is the most common approach by most of the
organizations since there is a 100% ownership; though direct investors tend to face numerous
challenges (Domeinguez et al., 2018, p.100). The main two ways of direct investment, are direct
acquisition and development of own facilities, a process known as Greenfield direct investment.
Greenfield investment tends to be more expensive than direct acquisition; caused by the high
cost of establishment. The choice of investment adopted by Virtual Gaming Ltd depends on the
availability of capital to be invested in the foreign country.
Franchising strategy-Franchising is an arrangement whereby one business organizations
grants another the rights to use the name, trademark to produce and sell goods and services under

International Growth Plan4
specific specifications (de Souza et al., 2017). The program offers broader advantages such as
low political risk, low cost of initial investment, availability of expansions in other regions of the
world and integrated managerial capabilities. With such benefits, franchising strategy offers a
better entry option for the Virtual Gaming Ltd, in venturing into the global market, especially in
the regions that are politically affected, such as countries in Northern part of Africa.
Foreign joint venture-The foreign joint venture will allow the international companies to
have equity position and management voice in the foreign firms such as Itransition, Apriorit and
many others in Eastern Europe. Such partnership between host-and the home country firms
always results into creation of a third firm that will give the Virtual Gaming Ltd a proper way of
recruiting and managing the operations of the business.
International staffing
The staffing in the international companies is always vital and challenging event to a
great number of companies, as many are faced with the inadequate number of suitable and
qualified personnel, inadequate management, and coordination process in the host
country(Perozzi et al., 2016). There are four different staffing practices and categories for the
international company: polycentric, geo-centric, ethno-centric, and region-centric (Ge & Xu
2016, p.28). The multinational companies can opt to recruit from the host country, or from the
parent country or the foreign subsidiary country. Virtual Gaming Ltd, having about 200
employee face difficulty in launching into the international market as part of the team is not with
the idea of going to work in the foreign countries. This cause more dilemmas even fearing in
losing the best employees, acquiring new staffs that will ensure the quality of the company both
in the United States and the foreign countries.

International Growth Plan5
Expatriate
Expatriate failure is defined as the failure of an employee to achieve the expected
performance that causes more damage to the organization (Blake 2017, p.99). Recent business
reports show that about 10 to 20 of the United States expatriates had a premature return, while
about 33% of the individuals that stayed had poor performance. Such reports have cast fear
among the VGL leaders. There are several reasons for expatriate failures, which are: the lack of
cross-cultural adjustment, dissatisfaction with international modification, poor expatriate
selection, increased responsibility, work stress, language inability, and many others.
During the global expatriate disposal, knowledge about foreign country recruitment
policies and culture are essential aspects of the success of a business. To foster the business
culture of quality, expat employees must always be available in the international markets, to
oversee the launching of the home company’s objectives (Okeja 2017, p.69). The process of
dispatching expatriate from the home countries is always expensive as compared to the process
of selecting experts from the foreign countries. Virtual Gaming Ltd can avoid and minimize the
expatriate failure through having proper international resource human management policies that
will govern the selection and posting of existing employees into the foreign country.
Expatriate selection
The selection process of the expatriate should be based on the availability of managerial,
interpersonal, and technical skills that are essential for the international assignments. Other
factors include motivational state, family situations, language skills, and job factors. The
expatriate should also be selected by the motivational state since such individuals tend to have a

International Growth Plan6
firm belief in the company’s mission and urge to succeed in their career, hence will reduce the
chance of expertise failure(Blake 2017, p.102). Most of the employees in the list of selection are
mostly in the supervisory position, and when posted in the Eastern Europe countries they become
the respective Country managers. The new positions need an emotionally mature individual that
is capable of meeting government officials and other potential customers and making decisions
that will shape the organization’s success (Gupta et al., 2012, p.28).
The family situations dictate the willingness of a spouse of an expatriate to live abroad.
For the individuals who are married, the company must assure them of family protection and
compensation in case something happens to them, such as loss of life in the chaotic places such
as North Africa, the company’s considerations should go to those couples that are stable, and the
spouses are supportive (van Erp et al., 2011). The expatriate will be motivated to work harder
when the family is stable than those individuals whose spouse keep on trailing on them, creating
worry and despair. Therefore, it will be very advantageous to the company to choose more
males expatriates, as women tend to face more challenges in the foreign countries than men.
However much masculinity has a deep root in our societies, Virtual Gaming Ltd, should embrace
at least the few female individuals with the company to take up the mantle of leadership, within
the home and foreign countries.
Pre-departure preparation
After the selection of the best expatriates, there should be proper preparation of the
expatriates for the designated job in the foreign country to ensure the success of the mission. The
preparation entails career counseling, cross-cultural adjustment, language adjustment, and many
others (Vatidani et al., 2014). For example, the cultural aspects in the United States tend to differ

International Growth Plan7
from Northern Africa, whereby most of the countries contain nomad’s pastoralist who are always
fighting among themselves. Therefore, it would be useful for the chosen expatriate to have full
knowledge of the foreign language and way of living to enable mutual interaction with the
community. The expatriate should also know that trying to influence the culture of the foreign
staffs to conform to the culture of the home country will results in rejection by the international
crews hence secure an opportunity of failing.
The management must not also try to forcefully or coerce the unwilling employees to
work in the foreign countries as this will automatically call for expertise failure. In many cases,
forced employees tend to acquire work-stress since they fail to balance their life and work
(Gupta et al., 2012 ,p.29). The imbalance will eventually lower the productivity rate, work
quality of an employee, and eventually result in expatriate failure.
Keeping good communication with the home company
Continuous and effective communication between the home company and the foreign
company ensures that the company’s culture is standardized. The feedback on the recruits also
helps the organization to determine the strength and weakness of the international company,
thereby offering possible support (Martex & Chen 2013). For example, it might be difficult for
the expatriate to acquire favorable host recruits or may be faced with much violence among the
host community that will eventually hinder his /her performance.
Employee Retention
Employees are the basis of every organization, thus retaining high profile employees is v
critical to business continuity, and most so to the companies that have a globalization agenda
(Chuan et al., 2017, p.87). The international venture requires good number of the best employees

International Growth Plan8
to be dispatched to the new foreign countries since their jobs include the creation, distribution,
and application of the knowledge in the foreign country (Ponting et al., 2016). The move has
been well received by part of the employees while some fear from working away from home,
these differences is very risky for the company as it may lose the best talents who don’t want to
be posted in the international countries. It is paramount that the company find a way of retaining
the best talents as it pursues the global objectives, therefore, as the HR specialist, the company
must adapt to the following strategies.
Retention by motivation-It is apparent that most of the employees that may opt to leave
the company fear the family and work-life balance in the international workplaces. The
management of the Virtual Gaming Ltd must engage the employees to increase the retention,
through effective communication that will expel away their fears ( Enroth et al.,2017,p.210). The
administration must tell the employees that going global will not only benefit the company but
also offer them the opportunity to enhance their careers and also offer them the chance to
transverse across the world.
The employees also get motivated to improve on their performance or forget about the
quitting thoughts through making them feel valuable to the company, a move which is
achievable through various methods. Methods such as recognizing the best software developers,
the best marketers and rewarding them with incentives such as job promotion use of cash
payouts and so on. Salaries can also be increased to the individuals that have accepted to be
posted in the foreign market, a move that will attract the attention of many employees; however,
this should not be an opportunity to victimize individuals that are still reluctant to take up the
opportunity in the foreign countries.

International Growth Plan9
Retention by training-The Virtual Gaming Company must also embrace the coaching and
feedback process, within the employees in the United States and those in foreign countries. The
process of coaching ensures that all employees are updated to the current technological
standards, to ensure that the quality of the products and services offered are standardized across
the global market. The training can be done through both online and traditional methods
spearhead by the leaders, and the best-skilled employees in the company, as this will also ensure
the maintenance of the company’s culture (Albrecht et al., 2014,p.69). Both formal and informal
feedback must also be frequent from all the workplace in the foreign countries to ensure that the
newly posted are in alignment with the company’s goals.
Staff Recruitment in Foreign Country
Foreign operations always tend to be more expensive in terms of recruitment and staffing
process. Therefore, many organizations always prefer to employee local workforce in those
countries rather than dispatching from the mother country since the cost of living is lower than
the latter (Se Ok 2016, p.29).
It is essential for the company to have proper knowledge of the foreign labor before
starting the recruitment process of the international employees. The experience helps in deriving
the maximum value of the new local employees and also helps in reducing legal tussles with
recruitment marketing agencies (da Silva et al., 2017, p.20). In Eastern Europe, it will be easier
to acquire local employees than northern Africa, a fact attributed to the difference in the level of
technology, knowledge, and experience. Different foreign countries have different cultures and
languages, and therefore, the management of the company will have to look up for various

International Growth Plan10
native-cross cultural trainers on African culture to train on various aspects such body language,
facial gestures, and many others.
During the overseas recruitment, traditional recruitment methods are more preferred over
the online approach for the company since the former will offer the hiring team to determine
physically the level of software knowledge of the applicants, an attribute that is more difficult to
gauge in an online interview. The selected international manager must be an individual that have
the following traits: the ability to identify own and other cultures in the foreign country, the
ability to portray the nonjudgmental personality, the ability to have negotiation skills and the
sense of humor.
The company can also acquire new able staffs through the job board and staffing agencies
in the Eastern Europe and Northern Africa respectively. Various national job boards have staff
listings that will provide the company with easy time in doing the recruiting of new international
staffs (Ge & Xu 2016, p.27). As much as the local talent tends to be much behind of the
company’s expectation regarding knowledge and experience, the local talent offers the best
knowledge on the marketing, culture, government regulations, common communication styles,
and languages that when adequately hired. This will provide the best and stable local business
and personal networks that eventually help the development of the foreign investment.
Conclusion
Multinational companies tend to face high rate of expatriate’s failure and international
staffing problems that are always costly , therefore require analyzed entry strategies such as
direct investment, joint venture, and franchising. Proper expatriate selection, pre-departure
preparedness, and constant communication tend to eliminate the percentage of failing. It is

International Growth Plan11
apparent that proper retention strategies are critical to any organization and especially the
technical ones that are intending to go global. It is upon the human resource management
together with the leadership to foster an environment that motivates and stimulates employees to
have the company’s objectives at heart through various motivating practices such as proper
work-life balance, making employees feel valued, training, and coaching and many others.
Employee recruitment in the foreign countries at times get challenging especially when
the locals are not well versed with the required knowledge and skills, hence forcing such
companies to have their experienced staffs relocated to those areas, a move that is very
expensive. However, these international companies can easily acquire appropriate staffs through
the international job boards and then offer them enough training to conform to the company’s
culture. In essence, no specific solution is settled as the best in the global staffing; it only
requires the understanding of the organization’s objectives, pros, and cons for each of the hiring
options and the Human Resource Management makes the best choice.

International Growth Plan12
References
Albrecht, A, Dilchert, S, Deller, J, & Paulus, F 2014, 'Openness in Cross-Cultural Work Settings:
A Multicountry Study of Expatriates', Journal Of Personality Assessment, 96, 1, pp. 64-75.
Beerepoot, N, & Roodheuvel, I 2016, 'Internationalization strategies of emerging market-based
multinationals: integration of Indian ICT-ITES companies on the Dutch service outsourcing
market', European Planning Studies, 24, 7, pp. 1374-1391.
Blake, G 2017, 'The Expatriate', Literary Review, 60, 3, pp. 89-102.
Chuan, L, Christina Yu-Ping, W, Chen-Yu, W, & Jaw, B 2017, 'The Role Of Human Capital
Management in Organizational Competitiveness', Social Behavior & Personality: An
International Journal, 45, 1, pp. 81-92.
da Silva, R, Santos Salazar, V, & de Moraes, W 2017, 'Internationalization process and complex
adaptive systems', Internext: Revista Electrônica De Negócios Internacionais Da ESPM, 12, 3,
pp. 61-76.
de Souza Aguiar, H, Roberto Luppe, M, & de Souza Nascimento, P 2017, 'Brazilian franchisor:
Entry and operation of internationalized franchise', Internext: Revista Electrônica De Negócios
Internacionais Da ESPM, 12, 3, pp. 16-30.
Domínguez, B, Gómez, J, & Maícas, J 2018, 'Does distance matter in explaining international
expansion? Evidence from the global mobile telecommunications industry', Universia Business
Review, 57, pp. 92-143.

International Growth Plan13
Eneroth, M, Gustafsson Sendén, M, Schenck Gustafsson, K, Wall, M, & Fridner, A 2017,
'Threats or violence from patients was associated with turnover intention among foreign-born
GPs – a comparison of four workplace factors associated with attitudes of wanting to quit one’s
job as a GP', Scandinavian Journal Of Primary Health Care, 35, 2, pp. 208-213.
Ge, Y, & Xu, B 2016, 'Dynamic Staffing and Rescheduling in Software Project Management: A
Hybrid Approach', Plos ONE, 11, 6, pp. 1-28.
Gupta, R, Banerjee, P, & Gaur, J 2012, 'A Key Challenge in Global HRM: Adding New Insights
to Existing Expatriate Spouse Adjustment Models', Qualitative Report, 17, 44, pp. 1-30.
Martek, I, & Chen, C 2013, 'Localization Typologies Evident among Foreign Enterprises Active
in the Chinese Construction Market', Journal Of Construction Engineering & Management, 139,
10, p. -1.
Nartnirun, J 2016, 'Public Policy in International Investment Law: The Confluence of the Three
Unruly Horses', Texas International Law Journal, 51, 1, pp. 45-117.
Okeja, U 2017, 'The moral challenge of expatriate employment in developing countries', Nordic
Journal of Applied Ethics / Etikk i praksis, 11,2, pp. 65-77.
Perozzi, B, Seifert, T, & Al-Sharif, M 2016, 'Staffing for Success', New Directions For Higher
Education, 2016, 175, pp. 93-102.
Ponting, S, Ponting, J, & Spilde, K 2016, 'Identifying Opportunities to Inform and Inspire: Tribal
Casino Employee Perceptions of Tribal Self Sufficiency and Philanthropy', UNLV Gaming
Research & Review Journal, 20, 2, pp. 85-103.

International Growth Plan14
Sadleir, C 2017, 'Gorton and the Re-Making of Political Tradition in Foreign Investment Policy',
Australian Journal Of Politics & History, 63, 1, pp. 78-92.
Se Ok, O 2016, 'The transition of overseas qualified nurses and midwives into the Australian
healthcare workforce', Australian Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 34, 2, pp. 27-36.
Vahdani, B, Mousavi, S, & Ebrahimnejad, S 2014, 'Soft computing-based preference selection
index method for human resource management', Journal Of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, 26, 1,
pp. 393-403.
van Erp, K, Giebels, E, van der Zee, K, & van Duijn, M 2011, 'Let it be: expatriate couples'
adjustment and the upside of avoiding conflicts', Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 24, 5, pp. 539-560.
Yang, R 2014, 'Going Global', Chinese Education & Society, 47, 1, pp. 27-43.