Chapter 20*

Question 1

HR Management

Answer 1

designs a structure to RETAIN the best people, and the company functions with high productivity

Question 2

Expatriates

Answer 2

leave their own country to live and work in another:
- home country nationals
- Third-country nationals

Question 3

Trends in expatriate assignments

Answer 3

• most expatriate assignments are short term lasting less than a year
• more assignments are going to younger and older workers than in the past
• the number of female expatriates, third-country nationals, and reverse expatriates is rising

Question 4

Ethnocentric

Answer 4

fill key management positions with home-country nationals

Question 5

Polycentric

Answer 5

use host-country nationals to manage local subsidiaries

Question 6

Geocentric

Answer 6

seek the best people for key jobs throughout the organization, regardless of nationality

Question 7

Expatriate selection

Answer 7

screening executives to find those with the greatest inclination and highest potential for foreign assignment

Question 8

Expatriate failure

Answer 8

a manager’s premature return home due to poor performance

Question 9

Repatriation

Answer 9

the process of reintegrating the expatriate into the home country upon completion of the foreign assignment

Question 10

Balance sheet approach

Answer 10

equalizes purchasing power across countries so expatriates have the same living standard in their foreign posting that they had at home

Question 11

International Human Resource Management (IHRM)

Answer 11

is an umbrella terms that refers to overseeing all things related to managing employees in the MNE

Question 12

IHRM is more difficult for the MNE than its domestic counterpart due to

Answer 12

• environmental differences
• strategic contingencies
• organizational challenges

Question 13

HRM policies that support the MNE’s strategy

Answer 13

generate high productivity and competitive advantage

Question 14

MNEs use expatriates for various reasons, including

Answer 14

• filling a skills gap in the local market
• transferring competencies
• integrating decision-making perspectives
• coordinating strategic activities
• developing leaders

Question 15

An executive perspective

Answer 15

directs attention to the managerial activities that run IB operations

Question 16

Classifying a foreign assignment, in terms of the executive’s relative nationality, uses a range of terms, including

Answer 16

• expatriate
• home(parent)-country national
• third-country national
• inpatriate
• transpatriate
• repatriate

Question 17

Commuter assignment

Answer 17

posts an expatriate for a shorter span, 1-3 years, with returns home at regular intervals

Question 18

Short-term expatriate assignments

Answer 18

such as commuters and flexpatriates, are more common today than a decade ago, Steadily, gig expats joins the club

Question 19

Changing markets, growing cost consciousness, and evolving strategies

Answer 19

rest notions of who is an expatriate - now we see growing interest in the young, the old, and the restless

Question 20

Reverse expats

Answer 20

spend a predetermined amount of time at the company’s home country operations before running emerging market operations

Question 21

Escalating cost concerns spur MNEs

Answer 21

to emphasize commuter posts in lieu of longer-term international expatriate assignments

Question 22

Ethnocentrism

Answer 22

is the conviction that one’s preferred policies and procedures are the superior way to manage anyone, anywhere

Question 23

The ethnocentric framework

Answer 23

fills key management positions with home-country nationals

Question 24

The ethnocentric staffing framework

Answer 24

is vulnerable to problems arising from workplace, legal-political, and misreads and misfits tensions

Question 25

The polycentric staffing framework

Answer 25

looks to host-country nationals to manage local activities

Question 26

Using host-country managers

Answer 26

boosts local motivation and moral. Still, likely costs include gaps with global operations due to problems of autonomy and allegiance

Question 27

The regiocentric staffing framework

Answer 27

fills expat slots with executives that have the corresponding regional outlook and orientation and typically reside in the region

Question 28

The geocentric framework

Answer 28

posts the most-qualified executives, regardless of nationality, to expatriate slots, regardless of location

Question 29

The geocentric staffing framework

Answer 29

is vulnerable to problems arising from professional and logistic tensions

Question 30

Technical competency and operational expertise

Answer 30

are key determinants of executives posted to an expatriate slot

Question 31

Orientation, both self and other, helps expats

Answer 31

• manage ambiguity, uncertainty, and risk
• resolve physical, emotional and social stress
• support effective communication
• enhances interpersonal interactions

Question 32

Resourcefulness refers to a person’s potential for

Answer 32

• self-maintenance
• situational flexibility
• interpreting the immediate environment
• developing productive workplace relationships

Question 33

Executives in foreign subsidiaries

Answer 33

usually assume a broader range of leadership roles than counterparts running similar-size home-country operations

Question 34

A global mindset

Answer 34

helps expatriates see opportunities, not threats and complexities

Question 35

Preparation programs

Answer 35

transfer practical information about the host country as well as improve the expat’s cultural readiness

Question 36

Culture shock

Answer 36

is the anxiety and disorientation experienced when one moves into an unfamiliar culture

Question 37

Key to successfully transitioning to a foreign assignment, beyond workplace adjustments

Answer 37

is mastering the new ways of the 3 S’s - schooling, shopping, and socializing

Question 38

Variations of the balance sheet approach to expatriate compensation include

Answer 38

• home-based method
• headquarters-based method
• host-based method
• global market method

Question 39

“Keeping employees whole”

Answer 39

requires IHRM nullify those features of an international assignment that negatively affect an expatriate’s standard of living

Question 40

Expatriate compensation packages

Answer 40

can include various payments, allowances, provisions, and reimbursements

Question 41

IHRM tailors allowances to help an expatriate offset the difficulties of

Answer 41

• different standards of living
• replicating preferred housing
• supporting a trailing spouse
• extraordinary safety or security hardships

Question 42

MNE’s struggle to equalize pay

Answer 42

for the same type of job that is done by different people in different countries

Question 43

Repatriation

Answer 43

• can trigger work, financial, and social adjustment challenges
• find the right job for the returning executive to avoid frustrations

Question 44

Reverse culture shock

Answer 44

occurs when one experiences anxiety upon returning to one’s own culture

Question 45

Navigating repatriation requires

Answer 45

a keen sense of its positive and negative aspects - before departure, while abroad, and especially before transitioning home

Question 46

The improving sophistication of expatriate selection processes

Answer 46

has reduced the rate of expatriate failure

Question 47

Expatriate failure is

Answer 47

operationally costly, professionally detrimental, and personally stressful