ABSTRACT
A meaningful analysis and informative discussion of the topic must recognise the importance of culture in management. A comparative study of recruitment and selection practices in Japanese and German multinational corporations will have to be based on the effects of culture on these two aspects of expatriate management. Regarding their personal and organisational characteristics, the Japanese and German respondents were similar in most respects, with little difference in some features. To name a few important characteristics: in both cases the larger percentage of respondents belonged to firms in the industrial sector, for example, electrical and mechanical. Recruitment in the questionnaires was defined and interpreted as the activity carried out initially in order to take up or fill a job abroad. The stronger tendency and the greater extent to which their recruitment was planned is compatible with the greater importance of individual needs in the German culture.
