跨国人力资源管理文献综述

Literature Review of International Human Resource Management

Subject: Transnational Management

Class: 093

Student Number: 296602205

Chinese Name: Hou Yunan

English Name: Helen

The Essay to: Maggie Xie

Total W ords: 1485

Date: May 23, 2012

●Introduction

Pucik et al. (1993) have indicated that MNC’s human resource management (HRM) plays crucial role in acquiring and enhancing organizational competences for the firm. Prior studies have also confirmed the important role of MNC’s HRM in enhancing organizational performance (Lee and van Witteloostuijn, 1998; Brown, 1999; Grossman, 2000; LeBlanc et al., 2000; Dzinkowski, 2000). Existing studies, however, have not paid sufficient attention to how HRM may offer specific advantages to compete in the international arena (Lee and van Witteloostuijn, 1998; Brown, 1999; Grossman, 2000; LeBlanc et al., 2000; Dzinkowski, 2000). As such, a first aim of the study is to investigate the influence of human capital management on a firm’s global competiveness, and to focus on identifying critical HRM practices that contributes to a firm’s success in the global market. For the above purpose, we further introduce the construct of international human capital management (IHCM). IHCM has been referred to as HR practices that facilitate the development and exploitation of a firm’s international human capital, the human capital that enables a firm to compete in the global markets. To this end, we intend to identify the key components of IHCM that contribute to a firm’s global co mpetiveness.

●International Human Resource Management

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are of particular importance to international comparative management research (Fenton-O’Creevy and Gooderham, 2003) because of their increasingly important role in the global economy (Porter, 1986; Prahalad and Doz, 1987; Rosenzweig and Singh, 1991). The effectiveness of human resource management (HRM) has been seen as the key to the success of MNCs in the 21st century (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1994, 1995; Pucik, 1992). The ability to effectively transfer HRM practices which have been proven efficient at parent companies to MNCs’ overseas subsidiaries is a key characteristic of the successful MNC (Nohria and Ghoshal, 1997) and “a matter of considerable practical importance fo r managers in MNCs” (Fenton-O’Creevy and Gooderham, 2003, p. 2). This transferability can also form a kind of special competitive capability for an MNC that may be difficult

for competitors to imitate (Flood et al., 2003).

Human capital is essential for the execution of flexible strategies in global market. It consists of collective knowledge, skills, abilities, expertise, experiences, competency, or capability of employees within a firm that are valuable and unique, and should be kept out of reach of other companies.

As significant growth has been experienced in developing economies, a challenge for multinational companies (MNCs) is how to effectively manage and enable human capital to compete successfully in the global market.

International human capital management and global competiveness.

From the perspective of resource-based theory, firms with higher levels of human capital tend to be more efficient in utilizing the knowledge they acquire and sustainably compete in the international arena (Schuler and Rogovsky, 1998). Superior human capital serves as an enduring resource associated with better firm performance (Grossman, 2000; Carpenter et al., 2001; Bontis and Fitz-Enz, 2002; Fulmer et al., 2003). A study on US MNCs has demonstrated that CEOs with international assignment experience are critical human capital for MNCs; such human capital creates value for the firms when it is bundled with other organizational resources and capabilities. Accordingly, IHCM practices might contribute to a firm’s global co mpetiveness by enhancing a firm’s human capital. Fulmer et al. (2003), for instance, have suggested that companies that emphasize positive employee relations related to human capital management tend to enjoy not only more positive workforce attitudes, but also better performance than their counterparts in the broad market. Literature has also revealed that human capital enhances a firm’s global initiatives in various ways (Madsen et al., 2003). In the MNC setting, a parent company often decentralize respons ibilities to local business units for stimulating subsidiaries’ initiatives, while trying to maintain normative integration by centralizing the frameworks and processes guiding local selection and development. It is IHCM that holds common value, clear standards and process to be embraced by employees. Not only does IHCM enable a company to unify geographically and culturally diverse employees and guide their daily decision making, it also inspires higher level of