Engaging institutions in global careers: highly skilled self-initiated expatriates’ journeys through a Nordic welfare state

Recent years of research have highlighted the phenomenon of self-initiated expatriation and clarified the individual agency that underlies it, such as its motivational drivers, thereby depicting it as one form of boundaryless career. Yet as a consequence the role of wider institutional and structural contexts has been left under-theorized. This article provides a much needed examination of the interaction between institutional contexts and agency in self-initiated global careers. It advances the understanding of how self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) are influenced by and engage institutions in constructing their global mobility and careers. The research is a field-based study of SIEs’ encounters with the institutions of a Nordic welfare state and consists of interviews, observations, and document analyses. It makes a relevant addition to understanding how the self-directed expatriation of highly skilled professionals is institutionally moderated. It expands knowledge by showing how SIEs engage and potentially aim to influence public institutions and discourses to further their global mobility and work experiences and by providing a differentiated and distributed view of agency in self-initiated expatriation. While institutional environments condition global mobility and work experiences, they are potentially also influenced by the global talent that flows through them.     

Introducing the expatriate ‘Entry-Mode’: an exploratory qualitative study of a missing link in global mobility and expatriate management research

ABSTRACT

This article introduces the novel concepts of expatriate ‘entry-modes’, ‘comb-patriates’, and ‘Fourth-Country Nationals’ (FCNs), emerging from an exploratory qualitative investigation of 51 Scandinavian expatriates in Hong Kong. Global mobility research has traditionally been overly focused on the characteristics and background variables of expatriates or accumulated experiences after arrival, and has neglected the phase and mode of entering the new host country. Unveiling new global mobility patterns is significant for multinational enterprises’ (MNE) global talent recruitment, and has implications for training and development. This is due to directing the focus towards the increasing numbers of those individuals who are not expatriating in the conventional linear fashion, such as between an MNE’s headquarter (HQ) and its subsidiaries overseas. The critical stance taken in this article is articulated through a theoretical lens comprising a social constructionist epistemology. Theoretical contributions, future research avenues, as well as managerial relevance and policy implications are also discussed.     

Academy of Human Resource Development

Abstract

This non-refereed contribution to Human Resource Development International represents the reflections of three US delegates who attended the 6th International Conference on HRD Research and Practice across Europe in Leeds, England, in May 2005. We begin by providing an overview of the conference programme, examine the conference theme as reflected in the scholarship presented at the conference and share our impressions of the conference atmosphere. We conclude with some final thoughts.     

Career Mobility in a Global Era: Advances in Managing Expatriation and Repatriation

The surge of interest in expatriation and repatriation within the broader discourse on labor mobility of professionals and high-skilled labor, human capital development, and the theory and practice of people management serves as the backdrop to this paper. We propose that expatriation and repatriation be framed in the context of global careers and embedded in the wider social-economic environment of globalization through the lens of a career ecosystem theory. We chart the evolution of scholarly publications on career mobility over the past four decades and highlight current trends, in particular the emergence of self-initiated expatriation as a pivotal change in the direction of expatriation studies and derived practice. We assess the rigor of empirical findings, weigh theoretical underpinnings, offer a research agenda for future research, and outline managerial implications.     

Human Resource Development in Asia – Thriving on dynamism & change: Reflections from 2006 Asian HRD conference

This article discusses the experiences of the conference management team and the host (Universiti Putra Malaysia -UPM) of the Fifth Asian Conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development, held in Putrajaya, Malaysia from 2 to 5 December 2006. In reviewing the conference, the following sub-topics are used for organizing the contents of the article: HRD in Malaysia; conference theme & overview; participations/country representations and paper streams; keynote addresses; conference assessment; and conclusions. At the end, brief perspectives of the next Asian HRD conference to be held in China are also provided.     

Exploring the relationship between our learning,E-learning and HRD: E-Learn 2005 conference report

Abstract

This report provides a personal reflection on the E-Learn Conference held in Vancouver, Canada, in October 2005. First, I provide a brief review of previous conference reports and then share my experiences of this particular conference, focusing on technical, social, pedagogical and cultural aspects.     

Capital views: highlights of perspectives in medical management 1994

Washington, D.C., where health policy is currently being debated, served as an appropriate backdrop May 4-7 for the College's annual "Perspectives in Medical Management" conference. Some of its federal buildings served as classrooms for those interested in learning the legislative process through participation in the "Health Policy Institute," which was held simultaneously. Although it is impossible to report on all that transpired during the four-day conference, this article will briefly describe the comments of a few of the speakers.     

Hand-Hygiene Mitigation Strategies Against Global Disease Spreading through the Air Transportation Network

The risk for a global transmission of flu-type viruses is strengthened by the physical contact between humans and accelerated through individual mobility patterns. The Air Transportation System plays a critical role in such transmissions because it is responsible for fast and long-range human travel, while its building components—the airports—are crowded, confined areas with usually poor hygiene. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) consider hand hygiene as the most efficient and cost-effective way to limit disease propagation. Results from clinical studies reveal the effect of hand washing on individual transmissibility of infectious diseases. However, its potential as a mitigation strategy against the global risk for a pandemic has not been fully explored. Here, we use epidemiological modeling and data-driven simulations to elucidate the role of individual engagement with hand hygiene inside airports in conjunction with human travel on the global spread of epidemics. We find that, by increasing travelers engagement with hand hygiene at all airports, a potential pandemic can be inhibited by 24% to 69%. In addition, we identify 10 airports at the core of a cost-optimal deployment of the hand-washing mitigation strategy. Increasing hand-washing rate at only those 10 influential locations, the risk of a pandemic could potentially drop by up to 37%. Our results provide evidence for the effectiveness of hand hygiene in airports on the global spread of infections that could shape the way public-health policy is implemented with respect to the overall objective of mitigating potential population health crises.     

Practical Implications of Preference‐Based Conference Scheduling

Conference scheduling involves organizing presentations into sessions which are assigned to time periods and rooms. This includes assuring a feasible utilization of time periods and rooms, and avoiding individual schedule conflicts. The problem increases in complexity by considering the preferences of presenters: for time periods, for rooms, etc. A greater level of complexity comes from considering the preferences of conference attendees, which we define as preference‐based conference scheduling (PBCS). This article provides a structure on which PBCS problems are founded, including empirical demonstration of solution techniques. In addition, real‐world strategic planning issues of flexibility and preference detail are explored.     

中国省域企业家精神的空间溢出效应研究

企业家精神的发展受到空间因素的影响,但之前大部分区域企业家精神影响因素实证研究都忽略了空间相关性,导致实证结果出现偏差。本文首先使用探索性空间数据分析工具研究了2000-2009年间中国各省域企业家精神的空间分布格局与特征,进一步从地理特征和社会经济特征两个方面建立空间权重矩阵,并运用空间面板数据模型考察了中国省域企业家精神的空间溢出效应。结果表明存在着全域范围的正的空间自相关性,并且局域相关显示出其空间集聚特征;中国省域企业家精神存在较强的空间溢出效应,相邻省份企业家创业活动对本省企业家创业活动有正向影响。基于模型分析结论,提出了引导创业资源空间合理流动、促进省域企业家精神发展等政策建议。     

Governance of Small Jurisdictions: Guest Editors' Introduction

This article introduces a symposium on the Governance of Small Jurisdictions developed from selected papers first presented at a conference at the Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta in November 1999. It notes the important role of the University of Malta in promoting the study of governance in small states, and recognises other leaders in the small and island states study movement including the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration which co-hosted the beginning conference.The article then considers the notions of smallness and statehood as generally used in this branch of scholarship, reflects on what small states have in common, introduces the other articles which make up the symposium, and provides a list of some 90 states with populations of under one million sorted into three categories: (i) sovereign states, (ii) states in federations, and (iii) associate states, self-governing territories and self-governing colonies.     

Future trends in world trade (A review of the Lima target)

In March 1975, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization held an important conference at Lima to discuss ways of speeding up the industrialization of developing countries. Various targets were formulated by the conference to achieve further growth in the developing areas of the world, which could have far-reaching implications not only for the developing countries, but also for the developed. The whole structure of world trade could be radically changed by the year 2000 and, as the authors of this article argue, the likely growth of various industries could be altered significantly over the next 25 years.     

Introducing strategic management

This is a report on the International Conference on Strategic Management, held at Vanderbilt Graduate School of Management (14–18 May 1973). At the conference, senior academics, businessmen and consultants from fifteen countries met to discuss the problems of implementing strategic planning.     

组内竞争与组间竞争对企业绩效的影响差异——基于移动壁垒分隔作用的研究

本文基于战略群组理论,通过实证研究探索了组内竞争、组间竞争对移动壁垒内外部企业具有的不同影响。以中国制药业上市公司为样本,采用阶层聚类分析中的Ward法进行战略群组划分,识别行业中的移动壁垒并将其保护功能作为调节变量,然后分别使用POLS和RE回归模型对两类竞争的效果进行了分析检验。研究发现,组内竞争对于移动壁垒外部企业绩效的不利影响显著大于其对壁垒内部企业的影响;相反,组间竞争对移动壁垒内部企业绩效的不利影响显著大于其对壁垒外部企业的影响。上述发现表明,行业中不同类型竞争的效果存在显著差异,而企业相对于移动壁垒的位置是造成上述差异的重要原因。对竞争效果的准确分析需把握以下两方面因素:行业中有哪些移动壁垒,以及竞争发生在组内还是组间。     

An International Comparative Study on Job Mobility

Abstract. Job mobility refers to the movement of people between jobs with different employers. It is an important means of adjustment in the labour market because it facilitates structural changes in the economy. This paper presents the results of a comparative study on job mobility in 6 countries: France, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom and the USA. Some of these countries use both labour force surveys and establishment surveys to gather information on job mobility, while other countries only use one of them. The paper uses information from both types of survey held in the seventies and the eighties and describes the developments and the structure of job mobility in the 6 countries. An empirical cross-country analysis shows that job mobility is positively correlated with the growth of employment and negatively correlated with the unemployment rate. There appear to be hardly any structural differences in job mobility between the USA, Sweden, France and the UK. Job mobility in the Netherlands is structurally lower than in the other countries, while job mobility in Japan is structurally lower than in the Netherlands.     

面向中国管理实践的组织与人力资源管理:反思与探索——首届“中国人力资源管理论坛(2012)”观点评述

全球化和知识经济时代动荡复杂的环境,对中国企业的组织形态和人力资源管理模式形成了严峻挑战。同时,近年来主流西方管理理论在中国遭遇的"水土不服",也需要中国管理学界在深刻反思的基础上积极探索中国式管理之路。基于对组织和人力资源管理领域回应现实课题和理论创新的双重要求,2012年5月26～27日在南开大学商学院召开的首届"中国人力资源管理论坛(2012):组织创新与人力资源管理变革"学术研讨会上,与会学者就中国人力资源管理的挑战和学科建设方向、人力资源管理研究的方法论、战略人力资源管理、组织行为与领导力、组织学习与变革等专题进行了深入研讨。鉴于此,在介绍诸多学术观点的基础上,对相关问题进行简要评述。     

Summary of the Workshop on Issues in Risk Assessment: Quantitative Methods for Developmental Toxicology

This report summarizes the proceedings of a conference on quantitative methods for assessing the risks of developmental toxicants. The conference was planned by a subcommittee of the National Research Council's Committee on Risk Assessment Methodology ⁴ in conjunction with staff from several federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, and Health and Welfare Canada. Issues discussed at the workshop included computerized techniques for hazard identification, use of human and animal data for defining risks in a clinical setting, relationships between end points in developmental toxicity testing, reference dose calculations for developmental toxicology, analysis of quantitative dose-response data, mechanisms of developmental toxicity, physiologically based pharmacokinetic models, and structure-activity relationships. Although a formal consensus was not sought, many participants favored the evolution of quantitative techniques for developmental toxicology risk assessment, including the replacement of lowest observed adverse effect levels (LOAELs) and no observed adverse effect levels (NOAELs) with the benchmark dose methodology.     

Assessing the Height of Mobility Barriers: A Methodology and an Empirical Test in the UK Retail Grocery Industry1

A profitable niche will have few entrants if the presence of significant mobility barriers impedes entry and, hence, reduces the expected rents for entrants. Identifying sources of mobility barriers is critical in explaining how incumbents can sustain competitive advantage and obtain supranormal profits (excess rents). While much of strategic management research (and strategic group research, in particular) focuses on the pursuit of sustainable performance advantages, there is relatively little empirical research exploring the dynamics of firm movement and the impact of mobility barriers on performance. The paper analyses mobility dynamics and, most importantly, develops a method to identify the location and severity of mobility barriers. The method is illustrated on a database of large multiples in the UK retail grocery industry for the period 1982–1986. It appears that there are two dimensions of strategic change that facilitate movement into profitable niches. Implications for competition and profitability are discussed.     

Can there be a domain-specific knowledge base in HRD? Reflections on the Lille symposium

A conversation recently began amongst senior human resource development scholars from around the world that focused on the prospects for theory development in human resource development (HRD). The opening event in the form of a panel discussion was held at the European HRD conference in Lille, France, in May 2008. This article summarizes and discusses contributions made by the panel participants.     

制造型企业的产品应变力及其评价

制造型企业的敏捷性归根到底在于其所提供产品的应变力。本文在明确产品应变力的内涵及影响制造型企业产品应变力因素的基础上,提出了制造型企业产品应变力评价的TCRP模型、建立了评价指标体系并给出了评价的方法,以寻求提高产品应变力和企业敏捷性的正确途径。