Page 241 - DMGT545_INTERNATIONAL_BUSINESS

International Business

notes self assessment

9. ................... are citizens of one country who are working in another country.
10. With an ................... policy, the expatriates are all home-country nationals who are
transferred abroad.
11. With a ................... approach, the expatriates need not be home-country nationals; the firm
does not base transfer decisions on nationality.
12. ................... refers to the ability to develop long-lasting friendships with host-country
nationals.

13. Willingness to communicate refers to the expatriate’s willingness to use the host-country
language.
14. ................... is the ability to understand why people of other countries behave the way they
do; that is, the ability to empathize.
15. Although, language fluency helps, an ................... need not be fluent to show willingness to
communicate.



Case Study molex makes Global Hr

olex, a 70-year-old manufacturer of electronic components based in Chicago, is
the world’s second largest manufacturer of electronic components. The company
Mestablished an international division to coordinate exporting in 1967, opened its
first overseas plant in Japan in 1970 and a second in Ireland in 1971. From that base, Molex
has evolved into a global business that generated about 61 percent of its $ 1.84 billion in
revenues outside of the United States. The company operates some 50 manufacturing plants
in 21 countries and employs more than 16,000 people worldwide, only one-third of who
are located in the United States. Molex’s competitive advantage is based on a strategy that
emphasizes a combination of low costs, excellent customer service, and mass production of
standardized products that are sold globally. Manufacturing sites are located in countries
where cost conditions are favorable and major customers are close. Since the 1970s, a key
goal of Molex has been to build a truly global company that is at home wherever in the
world it operates and that proactively shares valuable knowledge across operations in
different countries. The human resources function of Molex has always played a central
role in meeting this goal.
As Molex grew rapidly overseas, the human resource management (HRM) function made
sure that every new unit did the same basic things. Each new entity had to have an employee
manual with policies and practices in writing, new employee-orientation programmes,
salary administration with a consistent grading system, written job descriptions, written
promotion and grievance procedures, standard performance appraisal systems that
were written, and so on. Beyond these things, however, Molex views HRM as the most
localized of functions. Different legal systems, particularly with regard to employment
law, different compensation norms, different cultural attitudes to work, different norms
regarding vacation, and so on-all imply that policies and programs must be customized to
the conditions prevailing in a country. To make sure this occurs, Molex’s policy is to hire
experienced HRM professionals from other companies in the same country in which it has
operations. The idea is to hire people who know the language, have credibility, know the
law, and know how to recruit in that country.
Contd...

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