ABSTRACT
Successful expatriate programs are increasingly vital to fulfilling corporations’ global business strategies. Expatriate assignments are developed to expand business in new international markets, to strengthen leadership capabilities cross-culturally and to transfer both technical knowledge and corporate culture. As a result, there is much at stake in the success of expatriate assignments and the costs associated with failed expatriate assignments can be enormous. The high costs associated with failed expatriate assignments and the role of spousal and family adjustment in such failures are well documented. In addition to the services already offered to expatriates and their families, international companies could greatly benefit from offering couples coaching as an available service throughout the life cycle of an expatriate assignment. A couple’s coaching relationship, if made available and requested by the expatriate employee, can assist an expatriate couple in promoting the healthy and satisfactory adjustment of their whole family in a foreign country. Such a service, coaching for expatriate couples, represents a sound investment in the success of expatriate assignments and, ultimately, in the corporation’s business enterprises internationally.
