ABSTRACT
The days of the global marketplace are here. Global alliances are
proliferating and according to John Naisbitt in his 1994 book
Global Paradox, small businesses are better able to achieve suc-
cess in the global economy because they are nimbler. Few large
organizations appear able to achieve a truly global culture in
which local businesses achieve a high level of global integration.
Typically, part of the problem is that the focus of senior man-
agement is on understanding the key elements of the business
strategy which they believe will make the organization successful
in the global marketplace. Executives tend to forget that their
organization must be capable of adapting to changing circum-
stances, which means managing and developing people who can
adapt and deliver the business results. Yet potentially, develop-
ing the international expertise of staff and deploying talent
appropriately is an effective way of growing the business.
Equally, the lack of an effective multi-cultural HR strategy can
potentially undermine the organization’s ability to achieve those
results. Chris Brewster, Professor of European HRM at
Cranfield School of Management, who has conducted research
into many international organizations, points out that
