ABSTRACT
The expatriation or localization of management of foreign subsidiaries of multinational
companies (MNCs) has been the subject of ongoing research in international business
since at least the mid-1970s. Such research is pertinent, as firms need to determine what
expatriate staffing levels are appropriate for their subsidies, given the cost of selecting,
training and maintaining expatriate managers, as well as the cost of expatriate failure.
Available studies have probed the issue in various ways, but are yet to yield consensus
about the factors that determine the choice by MNCs to dispatch expatriate managers to
subsidiary firms or depend on locally recruited senior staff.
