The impact of emerging markets on staffing the global organization:: A knowledge-based view

As organizations become more global in their strategic orientation, the need for developing global managers becomes imperative. One of the distinguishing features of global organizations is to effectively manage global operations in a consistent manner but at the same time allow flexibility at the country level to effectively compete. Acquisition and sharing of tacit social knowledge necessary to work globally but with a contextual understanding of local markets require a unique set of management skills. The process of inpatriating host and third country nationals into the home country organization appears to hold significant potential in developing a pool of future global managers. This article presents a theoretical perspective to analyze the contextual factors influencing the staffing choice when to utilize expatriate and inpatriate managers in global organizations.