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International Business

notes 1. Inability of spouse to adjust.
2. Manager’s inability to adjust.

3. Other family problems.
4. Manager’s personal or emotional maturity.
5. Inability to cope with larger overseas responsibilities.
!

Caution Expatriate managers must consider the cultural dimensions of the host country.
Managers of European firms gave only one reason consistently to explain expatriate failure: the
inability of the manager’s spouse to adjust to a new environment. For the Japanese firms, the
reasons for failure were:
1. Inability to cope with larger overseas responsibilities.
2. Difficulties with new environment.

3. Personal or emotional problems.
4. Lack of technical competence.
5. Inability of spouse to adjust.
Figure 12.4 shows the model of the life cycle of an expatriate assignment which involves a process
of determining the need for an expatriate assignment, selecting the candidates, pre assignments
training, departure, post arrival orientation and training crisis and adjustment or crisis and
failure, reassignment abroad or repatriation and adjustment.
figure 12.4: the expatriate assignment life cycle

Source: Cynthia D Fisher, et al, Human Resource Management, Houghton Miffin, Co., 1997, p.781.

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