It is week eight in International Business.  Four more to go until this class is over.  I am counting the days.  This week, we’re talking about International Human Resources Management.  This is an interesting topic to me.  An example of what we’re discussing is:

Briggs & Stratton is a company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the 1990s, Briggs & Stratton moved its production facilities to Mexico. They faced a huge hurdle in that they had to reeducate their entire Mexican workforce to meet their production quality standards. They had little to work with, the average Mexican leaves school somewhere between age 12 and 16 and only about 21% finish their secondary education (high school). Where were they going to find their worker base? With only 5% of Mexicans obtaining a college level education, how much would they have to spend on “knowledge workers” (engineers, managers, and technical specialists)? Would they have to staff the entire facility with US expatriate managers?

Briggs & Stratton's approach was to design in-house educational experiences in literacy, quality control, basic applied engineering skills, management development programs, and a host of other training programs. You could say that they are now in the business of primary and secondary education, as well as small-engine manufacturing. Naturally, they want to portray a positive image and that they have been good for the local communities near the production facilities, but the need to be a good corporate citizen arose out of the very real need to make production quotas. It is a win-win scenario for both Briggs & Stratton and the people of Mexico.

In the beginning, however, many of the middle and higher level positions had to be filled by US expatriates that were helping to establish the subsidiary since most Mexicans did not have the requisite competencies required by Briggs & Stratton. Typical of most expatriate assignments, these employees generally cost from 2 ½ to 5 times as much as a similar assignment would have in the expatriates' home countries (USA, in this case). These increased costs arise because most expats need some incentive to uproot and move. They will need to be compensated for travel expenses to and from the host country, which may occur several times per year if the expat is traveling alone and wants to come home to see family. On long-term assignments, the entire family will need to be moved. The number one reason for expatriate failure (coming home early) is that the family can not adjust to the host country culture, so everyone involved will need some cultural training to ensure that the assignment is completed. Briggs & Stratton quickly determined that sending even a technician to Mexico was very pricey. This section focuses heavily on what organizations can do to ensure expatriate success and how to develop these expatriates into an internationally savvy management cadre that can help to move the organization into the future.