Exam 15: International Human Resources Management

Some of the advantages of using home-country nationals for overseas managerial assignments are that the talent is already available within the organization and that the organization can have greater control.

Learning how people think and act in their relations with others is a part of cultural training that prepares employees for working internationally.

Only 20 percent of people globally are covered by any sort of social insurance programs.

A Canadian firm with fully autonomous operating units in Korea, Spain, and Sweden would be classified as a multinational corporation.

Individuals working internationally need to know as much as possible about all of the following host-country characteristics EXCEPT which one?

In appraising the performance of an employee on an international assignment, many appraisers resort to using criteria that are easy to measure rather than criteria that capture all responsibilities.

Which of the following is associated with cultural conditioning?

Scenario 15.1 From 2008, ForEx Inc. has shifted some of its operations to China and Malaysia, where production costs are considerably lower compared to Canada. Since then, 35 managers have been sent to those countries either on short- or long-term assignments to head up operations, conduct training and development, or just to oversee specific projects. Of the 35 managers only 5 were women, even though women make up 40 percent of the management team. Expatriates on long- term assignments are given financial incentives to offset any qualitative differences between the costs of living in the two locations. -Refer to Scenario 15.1. All of the following represent important information that they will need to know and understand EXCEPT which one?

Expressions such as "tabling a subject" and "it is inconvenient" may have meanings in other cultures that are very different from their North American meanings.

What is NOT one of the attributes of successful global managers that Levi Strauss identified?

In using the balance-sheet approach to compensating expatriate managers, the term "incentive premiums" refers to which of the following concepts?

What is the key purpose of the balance-sheet approach to compensating expatriate managers?

A global corporation has fully autonomous units operating in multiple countries.

If you were concerned about maximizing your career benefits with a foreign assignment, which question would be the most important to ask?

What are the primary differences among international, multinational, global, and transnational corporations?

Scenario 15.1 From 2008, ForEx Inc. has shifted some of its operations to China and Malaysia, where production costs are considerably lower compared to Canada. Since then, 35 managers have been sent to those countries either on short- or long-term assignments to head up operations, conduct training and development, or just to oversee specific projects. Of the 35 managers only 5 were women, even though women make up 40 percent of the management team. Expatriates on long- term assignments are given financial incentives to offset any qualitative differences between the costs of living in the two locations. -Refer to Scenario 15.1. Based on material in the text, which of the following would be an inaccurate assumption by ForEx for its women expatriates?

Scenario 15.2 Coffee Emporium has been one of Canada's premium coffee shops for decades. Recently, the company has been losing market share to giant multinational corporations such as McDonald's, which has now moved into the coffee business with its signature McCafe. Coffee Emporium recognizes that the only way to stay relevant and competitive is to expand its business across international borders and capitalize on its brand recognition and loyalty. The company wants to start off in the United States (US)and the United Kingdom (UK), where the cultures are somewhat similar to Canada's. Coffee Emporium will now be adapting its existing products for overseas markets without changing much else about its normal operations. -Refer to Scenario 15.2. If Coffee Emporium expands its business across the United States to begin with, what type of corporation would it become?

Cultural environments differ across the world. What does this imply for business firms?

If Canadian company Bombardier transferred Karl Hammer, a native German, away from his assignment in Bonn, Germany, to a new assignment in Paris, France, Karl would then be considered which of the following?

What is a current trend among multinational corporations when setting compensation levels for host-country managers?