International Career Management Case: Catskill Roads

1. International Career ManagementCase: Catskill Roads Prof. Ruth V. Aguilera College of Business & ILIR University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana November 1st, 2006

2. Definitions of International Assignments Expatriates- Managers from headquarters sent abroad Inpatriates - Host country managers sent to headquarters Transpatriates - Managers from different countries sent to any other country International assignments do not come cheap: on average, expatriates cost a company two or three times what they would cost in equivalent positions back home.

3. Business Strategy & Nature of Global Assignments Adler (2002), p. 260

4. Mood Time in new culture Cross-Cultural Entry Culture Shock - the frustration and confusion that results from being bombarded by too many new and uninterpretable cues, p. 263.

5. Cross-Cultural Entry (cont.) • Stress - caused by change and manifested by • psychological responses such as anxiety and impatience • physiological responses such as headaches • Managing stress through • stability zones • stress management mechanisms

6. Cross-Cultural Entry (cont.) • Adjustment - after 3 to 6 months in new culture • problem solving • decisions made under uncertainty • tendency to blame others • finding reliable information • role of the spouse … SEE VIDEO! • Patience and creativity remain essential. • Effective global managers “know that they don’t know.”

7. Home Country Reentry and Professional Reentry • Many firms often underestimate this stage and do not have explicit repatriation mechanisms. • “Returnees come back neither to the world they left nor to the world they are anticipating” (p. 272). • Problems: • organizational cultural shock • effectiveness • xenophobic response • use of learned skills

8. Reentry Transition Strategies Oriented toward home country Proactive Returnees Re-socialized Returnees Alienated Returnees Oriented toward foreign country Adler (2002), p. 280

9. Transition Strategies • Managing reentry through: • Communication: keep in touch with home office. • Extent of validation: recognizing and valuing global experiences. • Underutilized Global Managers • Anemic returns on their expat investments.

10. Coaching Women for Global Managerial Success In 2000, 13% of expats are women (10% married). In 2005, 21 % women expats. (WSJ 2001). Myths: • Global experience is not that important. • Given my family commitments, I cannot take a global assignment. • For global managers, being a woman is a disadvantage. • Certain cultures make it impossible for woman executives to succeed. • Public is public, and private is private: To be taken seriously, a woman executive must hide her role as a wife and mother/grandmother 

11. How to measure expat failure? • Return home early • Finish assignment but don’t perform as well as expected • (many) leave their companies within a year of repatriation Most common reason for failure: • Partner dissatisfaction

12. US Multinationals Inability of spouse to adjust Manager’s inability to adjust Other family problems Manager’s personal or emotional maturity Inability to cope with larger overseas responsibilities Japanese Firms Inability to cope with larger overseas responsibilities Difficulties with the new environment Personal or emotional problems Lack of technical competence Inability of spouse to adjust Reasons for Expatriate Failureby Tung, California Management Review European Firms – Only one consistent reason: Inability of manager’s spouse to adapt to new environment

13. Reasons Young Managers Would Accept International Assignments Percent of MBAs citing reason (N 1129): • Cross-cultural experience and personal growth • Job • Money • Career Advancement • Good Location • Satisfying Life • Spouse and Family • Short Term; Other

14. Reasons Young Managers Would Reject International Assignments Percent of MBAs citing reason (N 1129): • Location • Job and Career • Spouse and Family • Money • Unpleasant Life Abroad • Disruption of Home Country Life 6 Contract Too Long; Other

15. The Right Way to Manage ExpatsBlack & Gregersen (1999) Harvard Business Review Three General Practices from successful companies: 1. When they send people abroad, the goal is not just to put out fires. Once expats have doused the flames, they are expected to generate new knowledge for the organization or to acquire skills that will help them become leaders.

16. The Right Way to Manage Expats 2. They assign overseas posts to people whose technical skills are matched or exceeded by their cross-cultural skills. 3. They recognize that repatriation is a time of upheaval for most expats, and they use a variety of programs to help their people readjust.

17. Hofstede’s Model • Differences across countries in work-related values. • Sampled over 100,000 IBM employees across 40 countries. • Four dimensions: • POWER DISTANCE • INDIVIDUALISM VERSUS COLLECTIVISM • UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE • MASCULINITY VERSUS FEMININITY

18. Power distance: • Focuses on how a society deals with the fact that people are unequal in physical and intellectual capabilities. • High power distance cultures are countries that let inequalities grow over time into inequalities of power and wealth (e.g. China). Low power distance cultures are societies that tried to play down such inequalities as much as possible (e.g. Denmark).

19. Individualism vs. Collectivism: • Focuses on the relationship btw the individual and his or her fellows. • In individualistic societies, the ties btw individuals were loose and individual achievement and freedom were highly valued (e.g. U.S. & Australia). In collectivist societies, the ties btw individuals were tight and the collective interests is above the individual interest (e.g. China, Japan, Turkey, Indonesia)

20. Uncertainty Avoidance: • Measures the extent to which different cultures accept ambiguous situations and tolerate uncertainty. • High uncertainty avoidance cultures place a premium on job security, internal career patterns, retirement benefits, and so on. They also have a strong need for rules and regulations; managers are expected to issue clear instructions, and subordinate initiatives are tightly controlled (e.g. Japan, France, Spain). Lower uncertainty avoidance cultures are characterized by greater readiness to take risks and less emotional resistance to change (Sweden).

21. Masculinity vs. Femininity: • Looked at the relationship between gender and work roles. • In masculine cultures, sex roles are sharply differentiated and traditional “masculine values,” such as achievement and the effective exercise of power (e.g. Hungary, Iraq, Venezuela). In feminine cultures, sex roles are less sharply distinguished, and little differentiation is made btw men and women in the same job (e.g. Finland, Netherlands).

22. Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences

23. Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences

24. Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences

25. Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences

26. Individualism/Collectivism Collective PAK TAI CHI TUR BRA ARG JAP IND SPA FIN ISR FRA NZL CAN DEN ITA BEL GBR USA AUL Individual Small Large Power Distance

27. Catskills Roads • Issues: - Argentina, - Mexico, - New Jersey - Job changes