The management of expatriates: Contemporary developments and future challenges

The rapid growth of international business at a time when many multinational companies (MNCs) are under increasing cost pressures has led these organisations to take a much closer look at their expatriation policies and practices. Faced with unprecedented levels of foreign competition at home and abroad, firms are beginning to recognise not only that international business is high on top management's list of priorities but that finding and nurturing the human resources required to implement an international strategy is of critical importance (Dowling et al., 1994). Much of the research on the management of expatriates currently available is drawn from research focused on North American multinationals. Adler (1997) commented that most research on international human resource management was concerned with American expatriates and continues to be written from an American rather than an international perspective. This introduction seeks to highlight the growth of research into expatriation to set the context for the five papers in this special edition that both add to some traditional areas of expatriate research and open up new fields relevant to this area of enquiry in international management and international business.