What Do they Expect, and What Do We Need to Offer? A Classification of Repatriation Strategies from the MNC Perspective

Abstract

Despite considerable research on the topic today, repatriation remains a struggle for MNCs. Difficulties thereby frequently revolve around the matter of repatriate careers. Upon return from international assignments, employees tend to expect a promotion as reward for their efforts overseas. Performance decreases and turnovers are otherwise likely. For the firm, this entails the risk of a withdrawal of the potentially valuable human capital repatriates gained abroad. Yet, providing every returnee with a more attractive position in consequence of an international assignment is no solution to the problem, as this would require extensive corporate resources. Differences between assignments must thus be taken into account to be able to decide for which employees the experience should serve as career steppingstone, and how to handle the return of those for which it should not. This study draws on the resource-based view and psychological contract theory to develop a set of repatriation strategies that integrates organizational and individual interests to provide MNCs with diverse approaches to managing returnees. We then derive organizational prerequisites for the successful implementation of those strategies. We thereby offer a concrete approach to solving the MNCs’ career-related struggle upon repatriation.

North American Perspective

What Do they Expect, and What Do We Need to Offer? A Classification of Repatriation Strategies from the MNC Perspective

• Mila Lazarova 

1. Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada

   Mila Lazarova

“Successful repatriation” has long been a “hot” topic for both MNCs and global assignees, not least because it appears that the majority of MNCs, regardless of their country of origin, are not all that “successful” when repatriating their employees. First gaining traction in the 1980s, the topic has been a staple in expatriate research, with notable rise in scholarly interest in the early 2000s, given the ever-intensifying process of globalization and corresponding knowledge sharing demands associated with global operations. Early work on repatriation centered primarily on individual experiences and often listed numerous frustrations that repatriates experienced upon return, while more recent work has expanded its focus to include organizational concerns. Over the years, retention has been the outcome that has been studied most intensely (mostly in terms of individual decisions to stay or go) and although its top position in the list of repatriation issues is still unchallenged, scholars today have turned their attention to a much wider gamut of issues of strategic interest to organizations and individuals.

MNCs managing repatriation strategically is precisely the point of departure of this chapter. The study does an excellent job of applying the RBV to repatriation and of building an argument that repatriate human capital can be a source of sustained competitive advantage for organizations. Breitenmoser and Berg rightly state that repatriation strategies can (and must) be used to motivate repatriates to contribute their experience and expertise to corporate use. The chapter then discusses several differentiated repatriation strategies to be used by MNCs as a function of the type of international assignment and the performance of the assignee. While the chapter is written from a European perspective, it is just as relevant for organizations outside Europe.

The authors make two key points, which both organizations and scholars are well advised to heed. First is differentiating between types of assignments. While typologies of expatriates have existed for quite some time, they have not been integrated well in the study of managing global mobility. This chapter is a step in the right direction. The second point is that there are multiple dimensions of recognizing the value of international experience. The authors talk about the most common ones here, promotions and compensation, noting that they might not always go hand in hand. To me, the core contribution of the chapter is the idea that organizations should consider a much more tailored approach to repatriation and the chapter provides a number of specific suggestions on how they can approach this complex issue.

A reflection on this chapter suggests possible extensions on its key points. Notably, in addition to considering assignment type and performance on assignment, MNCs also consider the personal and career goals of individual assignees. For example, there could be repatriates that long for more of the excitement of an international assignment job and thus be motivated by neither a salary increase nor a promotion, but rather by purposeful career planning that allows for opportunities for international work. Related to this, there are likely different ways to motivate people to contribute to the organization that go above and beyond compensation and/or promotion. For example, repatriates who have developed international employee identities over the course of their assignments (Kraimer, Shaffer, Harrison, & Ren, 2012b) can be given domestic jobs with international responsibilities, asked to act as mentors to future expatriates and liaisons for current ones, asked to contribute to cross-border knowledge sharing and so forth. In other words, there are many ways to show recognition and appreciation of foreign experience.

A related venue for future research is the need to clarify what organizations consider as desired outcomes of repatriation (for the organization), both in the immediate weeks after repatriation and in the much longer term. Clarity on this issue is the first step towards assessing systematically whether the way an MNC handles repatriation contributes to its sustained competitive advantage. A similar issue is relevant at the individual level. Despite several recent exceptions (Kraimer et al., 2012b; Reiche, 2012b; Reiche, Kraimer, & Harzing, 2011) repatriation studies tend to be cross-sectional thus not allowing us to confirm the long-term professional and personal benefits of global assignment experience. More applied work is also needed on why organizations tend not to utilize the wealth of knowledge that has been provided by existing repatriation research. It is disheartening to read study after study that collectively suggest that the repatriate experience has not changed much over the years and is still associated with frustration and lack of fulfillment, while at the same time be presented with reports that state that MNCs struggle to keep repatriates. Finally, going beyond the European and the North American context, we need work on how MNCs from developing countries are handling repatriation, especially that of expatriates that return from assignments in more economically developed countries. If knowledge and competency acquisition are higher up on the agenda in MNCs from developing countries than in their Western counterparts, are they managing repatriation differently (and are such efforts paying off)?

For better or worse, repatriation is a topic that still offers a number of opportunities for research. The present chapter charts a number of interesting questions to explore. The exciting ideas presented here represent some of the core themes that will continue to keep us busy (and excited) for the foreseeable future.