ABSTRACT
Research on international human resource management (HRM) consists of two distinct albeit related strands, one examining differences in HRM across different countries, the other focusing on how multinational corporations (MNCs) manage their human resources worldwide.1 While most parts of this book (chapters 2-12) consist of analyses of HRM in individual Southeast Asian and Pacific Rim countries, and one chapter (chapter 14) highlights the main challenges facing HRM in the Asia-Pacific region, the focus of this chapter is on the transfer of HRM practices to MNC affiliates in Asia-Pacific. As MNCs employ a significant part of the labor force in many countries in Asia-Pacific, the management of employees in foreign-owned firms constitutes an important part of the HRM systems found in these countries. Furthermore, MNCs may through transfer of policies and practices to their overseas units, contribute to the spread of new HRM systems in domestic firms.
