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International Business
Geringer, McNett, Minor, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 14
21 Instructor’s Manual – Module 14 | Geringer, McNett, Minor, Ball © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education.
4. Why might an international company encounter challenges in trying to establish a
linkage between the international human resource approaches it uses and its competitive
strategy? How might these challenges be managed successfully?
5. Why has there been an increasing use of third-country nationals in the foreign
operations of ICs? Do you think this trend will continue? Why or why not?
6. International companies often encounter performance problems with expatriation,
where problems arise due to issues associated with the expatriate’s family. What advice
7. What are some of the quality-of-life issues that employees should consider before
taking their families abroad as part of an expatriate experience?
International Business
Geringer, McNett, Minor, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 14
8. Why are expatriate employees frequently paid more than their colleagues at
equivalent job levels in the home office? Do you think this premium is justified?
9. Suppose you are the CEO of an American multinational. On your staff and in the U.S.
operating divisions of your company are several bright, able, dedicated female executives.
They are also ambitious, and in your company, international experience is a must before an
executive can hope to get into top management. An opening comes up for the position of
executive vice president in the company’s Middle East subsidiary, headquartered in Saudi
Arabia. One of the women on your staff applies for the position, and she is well qualified for
the job, better than anyone else in the company. Would you give her the position? What are
the arguments pro and con?
10. Using the company example in question 9, suppose another position becomes
available, this one as treasurer of the Japanese subsidiary. The chief financial officer of the
company’s California division applies for this job. She has performed to everyone’s
satisfaction, and she seems thoroughly qualified to become the treasurer in Japan. In addition,
she speaks and writes Japanese. She is the daughter of a Japanese mother and an American
father, and they encouraged her to become fluent in both English and Japanese. Would you
give her the job? Why or why not?
International Business
Geringer, McNett, Minor, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 14
MINICASE: Jayden White: Should He Accept an Expat Assignment to China?
1. If you were a good friend of Jayden White, what recommendation would you give
regarding whether he should accept the international assignment that has been offered to
him?
International Business
Geringer, McNett, Minor, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 14
24 Instructor’s Manual – Module 14 | Geringer, McNett, Minor, Ball © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education.
BONUS ACTIVITIES (additional resources not in the text)
This section provides you with support of your course above and beyond what’s found in the
text. We have developed these resources to support your course, to support your traditional,
hybrid, flipped, or online class.
VIDEO SUGGESTIONS
McGraw Hill’s collection of international business videos is available on pinterest at
https://pinterest.com/mheibvideos. The content is rich and varied, and it is updated monthly.
There is a page on “Human Resources in the International Business” that provides a range of
potential resources for the content in this module.
Youtube provides many videos that look at opportunities, challenges, and other aspects of
expatriate life in various nations of the world. These can be useful to either use in class or to
assign to students to find, analyze, and report back on. For example, “Settling Abroad: The Expat
Life Episode 1,” found at https://youtu.be/TXm0wIkpHj8, provides a discussion of the challenges
that expats face when settling abroad and how to manage them, with input from psychologist
Eugenia Gajardo. HSBC has recently listed countries that are the best to live in as an expat, so
the video “25 Best Countries to be an Expatriate,” found at https://youtu.be/hlj0Ul-wdKA,
examines some of these countries in more detail. Many videos are focused on a single country,
such as “A Day in the Life of a Costa Rica Expat,” found at https://youtu.be/qwf9q6LOmOE.
The video on “Wal-Mart Bribery Allegations: What Legal Problems, Penalties Could It Face,”
found at http://video.pbs.org/video/2227185314/, includes discussion of the more than $24
million in alleged bribes paid by Wal-Mart in Mexico. This can provide the basis for interesting
discussion in class about some of the pressures that confront employees working in international
environments and the kinds of skills, experience, preparation, and support that is necessary in
order to ensure that appropriate decisions are made within and across the units of an
international company.
GlobalEdge and the Academy of International Business provide links to a number of
organizations that offer videos about international business. You can find these links at
https://aib.msu.edu/resources/videodepositories.asp.
TEAM EXERCISES
These may be done individually or in groups or teams, either in or out of class, for later class
presentation. Some are also appropriate for use in hybrid/flipped classroom and online courses.
1. We have had good response from students when we have asked them to evaluate the
local benefits and costs of labor mobility across national borders. You can assign this as a verbal
report or presentation in class, to help stimulate learning by peers as well as interesting
comparisons. The material in this module is a good place to start their analyses.
International Business
Geringer, McNett, Minor, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 14
25 Instructor’s Manual – Module 14 | Geringer, McNett, Minor, Ball © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education.
2. Assign students to look for some of rich blog sources and prepare reports about working
conditions in different countries. Then you can ask the students to identify what key issues
seem to be evident based on the comments, why these issues might be occurring, and whether
and how these issues might be anticipated and/or managed by companies and their expatriates
in order to minimize the negative consequences. These analyses can be shared in class to help
initiate a discussion on the design of organizational structures in international business.
3. Have students report on the types of training available for language and culture, including
approaches that may be more appropriate for adults versus children, and training that can
occur prior to departure versus once a trainee is immersed in the foreign culture. It can be
useful to take several of these articles and ask students to compare them and discuss ways to
put together an effective program for developing language skills of a company’s prospective
expatriate personnel and their families.
4. Have students prepare an expatriate adjustment manual for a particular country. We
typically suggest that an expatriate, his or her spouse, and their two children (one who is school
age, one not yet in school) are being sent to a particular nation and need to prepare for a
successful immersion there. We let student teams select the country and then ask them to
prepare a thorough, practical guide to help them prepare for and successfully immerse into that
culture. We encourage them to consider a broad range of personal and professional factors
that arise in such an assignment, and ask them to first present an outline of topics to be
covered so that the instructor and/or the class can help to identify whether important areas are
overlooked or not being adequately covered. Then we ask the students to prepare and submit a
detailed report, written in a practical and usable manner, as well as making a presentation to
the class.
SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITIES
Case Studies
Case studies that focus on international human resource management are available through
Ivey Publishing and Harvard Business School. Ivey’s catalog is available for browsing (www.
iveycases.com); the cases are downloadable and pricing is in the U.S. $3.50 range. Harvard
Business Publishing (https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/pages/home) requires an account and
offers free review copies for educators. The case prices begin in the $3.95 to $6 range.
“Solvay Group: International Mobility and Managing Expatriates,” examines the challenge
facing the head of International Mobility at Brussels-based Solvay Group. He must consider how
to handle the expatriation status of four talented executives in his company, with each decision
having important personal and professional implications for the executive in question. This is a
Harvard Business School case.
“Development of a Multinational Personnel Selection System” describes the challenges faced
by a company with production plants in various regions worldwide. The company wishes to
International Business
Geringer, McNett, Minor, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 14
standardize the personnel selection system in a manner that would be highly specific for a
particular nation, while also being valid for different countries. The case raises a number o
issues relevant to IHRM, such as job requirements to assess, modules to include, stages an
methods of the modules, and implementation of the system across various Asia-Pacific region
nations. This is an Ivey Publishing case.
“Jaguar or Bluebird? (A): Mark Chan’s Decision to Stay Overseas or Return Home after his
Expatriate Assignment,” examines the experience of an employee who worked for the
Singapore subsidiary of a British multinational and was sent on an international expatriate
assignment to the company’s headquarters in London. After an enjoyable and successful
assignment in London, he discovers that he cannot find a position back at the Singapore
subsidiary that fits his experience and skills. He contemplates what he should do. This is an
Insead case distributed by Harvard Business School.
CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES
1. Global Debate: The GLOBAL DEBATE: Why Aren’t More Women Selected for
