ABSTRACT
In today’s highly competitive global business environment, multinational companies
recognize that effective management of human resources is critical for gaining a
competitive advantage. This competitive necessity has increased attention to human
resources issues, such as fostering a global corporate culture, developing global leaders,
sourcing and staffing talent around the world, and the like. Consistent with these strategic
human resources issues, many organizations relocate their key employees to other
countries on globed assignments to enhance their leaders’ cross-cultural competences, fill
staffing needs in subsidiaries, manage projects, transfer knowledge and corporate culture,
or work on multinational teams. Global assignments are considered highly developmental
for managers and are frequently used as a part of a leadership development strategy
within international firms.
