EXPATRIATE FAILURE

Expatriate Failure in Multinational Enterprises

Expatriate Failure in Multinational Enterprises

Introduction

The main purpose of this paper is to make an analysis on the causes and consequences of expatriate failure in multinational enterprises. The paper discusses the rate that how many organizations reduced the potential for expatriate failure. Different multinational corporations have experienced the international crises. The main reasons behind these crises faced by the multinational organizations are the premature return of expatriates which have been experienced due to the failed assignments and the poor retention of the returned expatriates which have been faced due to the failed repatriation. Different multinational organizations are making their hard efforts for the purpose of decreasing the direct and indirect costs which is inherent with the expatriate failure. The multinational incorporations are trying their best to enhance their abilities for managing their expatriates within the international assignments. Thus, this paper is a complete analysis of the main causes and consequences of expatriate failure experienced by the multinational organizations.

Discussion

It is very crucial and important for the multinational organizations that they should have the proper understanding of the expatriate failure. This understanding is helpful for the multinational organizations for the purpose of devising the suitable ways of decreasing it so that they could not be adversely affected by it. It is necessary for the multinational organizations that they should have the proper understanding of the ways through which they can minimize all the risks in their lines of business so that they can perform in an effective manner and gain the competitive edge in the global market. Among these different risks, one of the most important risks faced by the multinational organizations is the expatriate failures. It is necessary for the multinational organizations that they should adopt all the possible measures in order to avoid this risk and remain in the competitive market (Dastmalchian, 2001, p. 532). However, it is necessary for the multinationals that in order to avoid the risk of expatriate failures they should first have the clear overview of the expatriate failures in the deep context.

Expatriate failure is defined as any posting of the human resource that either ends before the maturity time or the senior management ends it by considering it as an ineffective. According to the different researches conducted in this regard, there are high rates of expatriate failures and they vary from 10% to 50%. The expatriate failure risk is very high in the developing countries such as South East Asia as compared to the advanced nations (McMillan, 2006, p. 23).

Causes of Expatriate Failures

There are different causes and the consequences of expatriate failure in the multinational organizations. Lack of adequate and valid selection procedures and lack of pre-departure preparations (e.g., culture and language training) has been identified as one of the reasons for such high failure rates. Generally, researchers have attempted to address the problems of high turnover and ineffective performance through refining selection procedures and training; and naturally, the importance of appropriate selection procedures to ensure expatriate success ...