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Journal of Business Economics

Erschienen in:

01.05.2011 | ZfB-Special Issue 3/2011

Strategic management staffing decisions among German subsidiaries in Japan

Agency concerns and resource endowment issues

verfasst von: Prof. Dr. Ralf Bebenroth, Prof. Dr. Werner Pascha

Erschienen in: Journal of Business Economics | Sonderheft 3/2011

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Abstract

This study discusses the composition of strategic management teams in foreign subsidiaries beyond decisions solely about the general manager, i.e. encompassing third-country nationals; locally hired “foreigners” as well as managers on short-term assignments. We extend the discussion about expatriates by developing hypotheses about those issues based on the resource-based view of the firm and the principal agent theory and find that both are important for understanding staffing decisions. This research analyses these issues by means of a data set on German subsidiaries in Japan and shows that recent changes in the global environment are providing multinationals greater latitude when staffing foreign-based subsidiaries, including choices that have not been given due weight in IHRM literature.

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Journal of Business Economics

From January 2013, the Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft (ZfB) is published in English under the title Journal of Business Economics (JBE). The Journal of Business Economics (JBE) aims at encouraging theoretical and applied research in the field of business economics and business administration, promoting the exchange of ideas between science and practice.

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In our sample, the status of TCNs is similar to expatriate PCNs sent from headquarters. As an example, we found no reason to assume that the Spanish-citizen GM of a leading German carmaker’s subsidiary in Meguro, Tokyo, receives less salary and fringe benefits than do German parent-country-national GM expatriates. However, for other senior management team members, it is conceivable that a TCN, on average, does not receive as favourable conditions as a German PCN. The reason is that a PCN sent from headquarters at least in some cases will enjoy a better negotiation power vis-à-vis the headquarters than a TCN.

This could, for instance, be a German citizen who years ago came to Japan through one of the study and research programs (Bebenroth 2007). As this person is living in Japan already, he/she will be contracted to the subsidiary, not by headquarters.

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Titel: Strategic management staffing decisions among German subsidiaries in Japan
Agency concerns and resource endowment issues
verfasst von: Prof. Dr. Ralf Bebenroth
Prof. Dr. Werner Pascha
Publikationsdatum: 01.05.2011
Verlag: SP Gabler Verlag
Erschienen in: Journal of Business Economics / Ausgabe Sonderheft 3/2011
Print ISSN: 0044-2372
Elektronische ISSN: 1861-8928
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11573-011-0452-0

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