Global integration without expatriates

T he litera tu re on international human resource management (IHIThl) has emphasised the cribcal role of expatria tes for the first-stage and further development of the internationalisation process of corporations (Kobrin, 1988; Brewster, 1989). This occurs either because the process is based on the transfer of resources and capabilities to other markets (Penrose, 1959) with many of these competencies embedded in domestic human resources (Pucik, 1992; Teece, 1982)1 or because of the \'ery nature of the process, \\'hich forces the corporation te) de\'elop a cadre of international managers to perform coordinabon and control functions (Edstrom and Galbraith, 1977). The main roles of expatria te" in multinational corporations, as highlighted by Brewster (1989), are establishing foreign operations; enhancing company and country reputation and image; management developml'nt; coordination and control; and clwerage for the lack of local talent. Other authors have ,ldded that the particular roles of expatria tes will depend on the international strategy of the corporation (Edstrom and Lorange, 1984; Schuler et al, 1993). International strategies can be divided into three main types: domes tic, multidomestic, and global. The domestic firm cxpands its market to include other countries, but retains production facilities within domestic borders. The multidomestic firm has operations in many countries, each serung ItS own market; its ability resides in responding to local market needs. The global firm opera tes on a global scale in order to achieve economies of scale and to spread development costs over a larger area. A very deterministic approach is assumed, according to vvhich there i" a correspondence between different types of international strategy and HR staffing policies. Thus, while a multidomestic firm fills subsidiary positions with local managers (making use of expatriates mainly if there is lack of local talent), a domestic firm uses expatriates from headquarters, whose main role will be to control operations. Finally, a global firm develops a geocentric approach to staffing, according to which subsidiary and headquarter's positions are filled on the basis of skills and abilities rather than nationality (Perlmutter, 1969). Howe\'er, the recent literature on international management has adopted a 'process approach' (Prahalad and Betti", 1986; Hamel and Prahalad, 1989; Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989), in which internationalisJtion and international competition are seen as cognitive processes or mental constructs shared by the 'dominant logic'2 of the organisation. This new approach entails a non deterministic view in relation to environment, strategy and staffing. The defenders of this \'ision reject the existence of an objective environment that exists independently of organisation~. lnstead, companies constantly act on the environment through their directors, and intl'rpret and attribute meaning to their actions (Weick, 1979). Strategies are not formulated b) rational decision-makers based on an objective analysis of the em'ironment, but rather by managers that rely on their own mental pictures of the wor/d, providing them with a vehicle for socially constructing reality (Salancik and Pfeffer, 1978). Similar/v, this dominant logic wil! also shape the direction of international staffing