In this regard, there are in today's world a still increasing number of managers, namely expatriates, who are sent by international firms on foreign assignments to work in an overseas subsidiary for a period of time in order “to broaden their horizons and to enhance their inter-cultural competence” (K. Barham, 1991, pp.158 ).

Nevertheless, as mentioned by J.F Hennart (1982, pp.82), “operating overseas usually costs more than operating at home because a foreigner does not have the same contacts and knowledge of local customs and business practices as indigenous competitors". The potential lo

Finally, qualified people may not be available locally in the host country, this compelling parent company’s headquarters to look for an other solution in order to fill corporate positions, which usually result in the sending of parent-country nationals.

So the parent company might need to train host-country nationals who are not well qualified and experienced, constraining then the company to support a cost of training which may be quite high. (B.J. Punnett, 1997).

sses associated with this latter point can be extremely costly for the ongoing success of the company. B.J. Punnett pointed out that “ the incremental cost (i.e., that over and above the amount incurred if the position were staffed locally) of sending an expatriate manager to a foreign location is in the vicinity of $200,000 ” (B.J. Punnett, 1997, pp.388). Hence the need to ensure the right people are going overseas for the right reasons at the right time is also central to the company’s success.

Moreover, international transfer of managers is a means “ to reassign a manager who is not performing well at home” (B.J. Punnett, 1997, pp.384), so that the manager can perform his career opportunities and his individual career satisfaction abroad.

Some topics in this essay:
BJ Punnett, PJ Dowling, Edström Galbraith, MH Tayeb, , JF Hennart, host-country nationals, BJ Punnet, parent-country nationals, bj punnett, bj punnett 1997, punnett 1997, parent company, pj dowling 1994, dowling 1994, pj dowling, local employees, 1994 pp49, dowling 1994 pp49, sending expatriates, hiring host-country nationals, continue bear cost,