Managing talent across national borders: the

challenges faced by an international retail group

M. Boussebaa and G. Morgan

studied the problems that a
British retailer faced after
acquisition over a French
retailer, when the British tried
to deploy a common Talent
Management system across
both countries.
 What are the underlying causes
of this failure?
Due to differences in
Education System
(Grandes coles vs.
Practical experience )
Training Methods
Reward
Culture
How to manage Talent: Need to
adopt
Convening power
Culture Difference
Organizational structure:
Centralization Vs. Decentralization

Hiring and managing Employees

Training and development
Individual development
Career Development
Organizational development
 Talent management of
western MNCs in China :
Balancing global
integration and local
responsiveness
 China will need over 75,000 qualified
managers in the next ten to fifteen years.
However, only 5000 are currently available
on the labor market
How do western MNCs
in China identify, develop
and retain talented
employees?
Why The need of Talent Management
For MNCs?
Resources based Perspective

Shortage of Qualified Employees

Psychologicalcontract of employers and

employees are changing
Talent Management Research
Steams
Talent management as collection of typical HRM
practices

Talented employees as valuable goods

Concentration on the job flow of employees

within an organization

The identification of key positions that have a

significant impact on a companys competitive
advantage
Talent Management
How do western MNCs identify, and
retain talented employees?

Do institutional and/or cultural

influences lead to the adaptation of talent
management
Practice?
 COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN,
LOCALIZATION, OR
DOMINANCE EFFECT? AN
EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION
OF HRM PRACTICES IN
FOREIGN SUBSIDIARIES
 Contributions

The convergence
vs. divergence The standardization
debate vs. localization
debate
Testing the extent to which HRM practices
in subsidiaries are characterized by

Dominance
effect
Localization

Country of
origin
 Class discussion

Will ever growing MNCs and globalization

practices diminish the localization of HRM
practices?

What do we perceive as best practices?

 Conclusions

Dominance effect assumes particular

important
 Hybridization: striking a
balance between adoption and
adaptation of human
resource management
practices in French
multinational corporations
and their Tunisian subsidiaries
 Best
Practices Contingency
Approach
 Need to strike a
balance between
globalization and
localization

Hybridization:
Shaped by
Institutional and
organizational
context

Influenced by
diffusion and
adaptation
 Role of institutional duality
Relational context
Institutional context
Transfer implies
Contextualization
Re contextualization
A Generic Hybridization Process
Hybridization in Emerging Economies
Institutional factors play lesser role than
cultural factors. Why?

Key cultural factors limiting flow of HRM

practices:
Emotional Relationships
Interpersonal Traits