Question

Suppose that a large U.S. firm is looking for American candidates to fill managerial positions for its international subsidiaries. The company currently has positions opened in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Mexico, and South Korea. a) Select ONE country from the list above. b) What selection criteria would you use to find the ideal candidate for your selected country? (Describe at least two criteria). c) What international assignment preparation method would you recommend for your selected country? (Describe at least two with concrete examples, cf. p. 395-396).

Answer 1

Answer a:

China - We have selected China as one country from the list above.

Answer b:

Following selection criteria we would use to find the ideal candidate for China country as below

• Suitable Attitude to adjust and lead in China culture and environment – We would like to review the attitude of the candidate such that he is suitable to the china culture and environment and can easily dilute with the China employee at the organization. He need to have the attitude to change himself as and when needed for the business requirements.
• Technical competent to influence China employees - the candidate need to be technically sound so that he can understand the technical problem of the employees and can make value adding contribution in the technical decisions for the business.

Answer c:

Below international assignment preparation method we would recommend for our China country as below

• Short term work assignment at China: This is the perfect approach for developing the candidate for China operations is by assigning the short term assignment of 6month to 12month project, so that he will be at China for the short duration and he will understand the China market, employee, culture and environment. Thus he will get developed by this short term exposure at China business location.

• Manager @ America for China base business operations : The candidate can be working from America, but he can head the China business operations. Thus the China business owner or functional owner will report into this candidate, so that the candidate will get into the China exposure and he will get trained and will become capable over a period of 1-2 years of time to understand China, employee, culture and work environment.