Global staffing is a crucial factor for the success of the overseas operations of multinational corporations (MNCs). Not only does it provide opportunity for staff growth and advancement, but it facilitates knowledge transfer and ensures the people in the top positions have experience across the firm. The movement of individuals and their ability to work around the world can be limited by national-level policies relating to work permits, movement of professionals, and mutual recognition of educational qualification and experience.
Associate Professor Gloria Ge from the Department of Business Strategy and Innovation recently joined with colleagues, Naoki Ando and Daniel Ding to examine the contextual and organisational factors that affect the localisation of subsidiary staffing in the overseas operations of Japanese multinational companies.
Using panel data containing more than 15,000 observations of Japanese overseas subsidiaries the study found that the cultural distance between the home country and the host country has a significant impact on the localisation of subsidiary staffing.
In addition, the strategic importance of subsidiaries, as well as the local market orientation and business experiences in the host country, but not research and development intensity of Japanese parent firms, have a significant impact on the localisation of foreign subsidiary staffing.
They discuss the theoretical and practical implications of their findings in their article titled “Factors affecting subsidiary staffing of Japanese multinationals: a panel data analysis” published at the Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources.
