Week 1 - International HRM & MNC strategy

Question 1

What are the three distinct levels of analysis for IHRM?

Answer 1

• global (& regional)
• national
• local (or organisational)

IHRM cannot be separated by the inter-relationships between the processes of globalisation, national business systems and company operation

Question 2

When did IHRM develop as a concept?

Answer 2

• followed the emergence of HRM in the 1980s
• intially focused heavily on the use of expatriates by MNCs
• late 1980s saw the rise of SHRM: which advocates the prominent role of HRM in business strategy

Question 3

What do Boxall and Purcell (2003) argue about human capabilities?

Answer 3

Appropriate human capabilities are strategic to the success of every firm

Question 4

What are the 3 critical elements for firm viability?

Answer 4

CAPABLE PEOPLE
- skilled and motivated managers and workers

APPROPRIATE BUSINESS GOALS
- achievable objectives

RELEVANT NON-HUMAN RESOURCES

• properties
• tech
• stocks of materials

Question 5

What are the 4 different types of MNC business strategy?

Answer 5

INTERNATIONAL
- sub-contracting (some cross border activity)

MULTI-DOMESTIC
- subsidiaries operate independently in each country

GLOBAL
- the whole word is one market (high centralisation and product standardisation)

TRANSNATIONAL
- thinking globally, acting locally

Question 6

Draw a diagram illustrating the MNC dilemma between integration and local responsiveness

Answer 6

Look at flash card

Question 7

Outline the features of the Coca-Cola case study

Answer 7

Look at notes

Question 8

Define what ethnocentrism is

Answer 8

International operations managed using/replicating home-country standards (most likely used by global companies)

Question 9

Define what poly-centrism and regio-centrism are

Answer 9

Increased salience of host-country cultures and practices

Question 10

Define what geo-centrism is

Answer 10

Importance of developing global networks and adopting a transnational strategy

Question 11

What is IHRM strategy?

Answer 11

• creation and implementation of IHR practices that help achieve an MNC’s business strategy
• similar to business strategy, the formulation of IHRM strategy is shaped by the ‘integration v differentiation’ dilemma
• MNC choices range between centralised control and subsidiary autonomy

Question 12

What is an ethnocentric MNC? Aligning IHRM and MNC strategy

Answer 12

Centralised IHRM (copying parent company practices)

Question 13

What is a poly-centric MNC? Aligning IHRM and MNC strategy

Answer 13

Decentralised IHRM and more subsidiary autonomy

Question 14

What is a geo-centric MNC? Aligning IHRM and MNC strategy

Answer 14

IHRM borrows best practices from around the world

Question 15

What are the challenges of IHRM?

Answer 15

• cross-cultural communication and diversity (global, national and local)
• global knowledge management
• local and global sustainability (social, economic, environmental)

Question 16

What are the three questions comparative HRM tries to address?

Answer 16

1) Can HRM in different contexts be conducted in similar ways or does it have to adapt to respective circumstances?
2) What are the factors accounting for the contextual differences in HRM?
3) How do similarities and differences across different contexts develop over time?

Question 17

Can HRM in different contexts be conducted in similar ways or does it have to adapt to respective circumstances?

Answer 17

Best practice
- no need to ‘re-invent the wheel’: don’t need to spend money and use resources)

• creation of an internal labour market: trained on the same standards
• easier control and monitoring
• ethics, fairness and equity

BUT
- issues of culture and legislation: can be very diverse, even within companies

• hence ‘best fit’: understanding what is contextually unique and why

Question 18

What are the factors accounting for contextual differences in HRM?

Answer 18

CULTURE AND INSTITUTIONS

• national culture is reflected in the differences in the way people are managed and HRM is conducted
• culture is difficult to define and measure, while national cultures do not always coincide with national boundaries
• company operation is shaped by coercive (e.g. TUs and the government), mimetic (imitation of strategies & practices of successful competitors) and normative (e.g. the impact of professional bodies and employer associations) institutional forces
• these forces require HRM to be legitimate for influential stakeholders in each context

Question 19

How do similarities and differences across different contexts develop over time?

Answer 19

CONVERGENCE - DIVERGENCE

• an emerging global model of HRM?
• the role of MNCs is a mix of bringing in new practices, adapting to local ones and developing hybrid forms
• convergence, divergence or stasis (where nothing happens) with global regions or selected groups of countries?
• some similarity in trends in HRM configuration and practices but no final convergence
• convergence in trends but divergence in outcomes

Question 20

Outline the cross-national comparisons of HRM at board level

Answer 20

More prominent in Sweden, Spain, France and Japan

Less likely in Germany, UK and Australia

Question 21

Outline the cross-national comparisons of the role of line managers vs HRM department

Answer 21

Italy and UK more likely to prioritise the HR when compared to Denmark