Introduction to Expatriate

INTRODUCTIONThe era of globalization has reinstated the importance of the human resources management (HRM) in playing a significant role to help business organizations achieving a global core competency. Given the importance, there have been voluminous studies and researches conducted in the area of international human resource management (IHRM). Those studies were conducted mainly to understand the human resource practices in an international context and how it can affect the organizations.

Despite the subject has attracted a lot of interest for the past few years, there is still much room for better understanding of successful HRM practices in an international context (Mendenhall and Oddou, 1991; Dowling et. al., 1994). One of the most common and important parts of IHRM literature relates to expatriation (Suutari and Brewster, 2001). There have been a lot of studies done in the area, which include the recruitment and selection criteria (Lanier, 1979; Tung, 1981, 1982; Zeira and Banai, 1984), the adjustment issues (Black and Stephen, 1989; Black et. al., 1991; Brewster, 1993; Suutari and Brewster, 1998), Training (Tung, 1982; Black and Mendenhall, 1990; Brewster, 1991; Suutari and Brewster, 1998) and Repatriation (Harvey, 1989; Grehersen, 1995; Pickard and Brewster, 1995) among others.

The area of expatriation is very crucial, especially for all the organizations that operate internationally. The successful implementation of international and global strategies depends on getting the right people with the right skills, at right time, which typically requires the movement of people across the border (Adler and Bartholomew, 1992; Porter, 1990). Since organizations with international business operations need a work force that is available for international assignments, international firms regard it as a strategic imperative to try to develop internationally mobile expatriates, especially expatriate managers (Downes and Thomas, 1997; Shackleton and Newell, 1997;

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