Who Gets the Assignment?
You international company located in New Jersey is sending and expatriate to China for a three-year assignment to staff up and run a new branch of its Industrial Products Division. The main Chinese customers are using the product in their Middle Eastern and North African petroleum operations. You are the chair of a selection committee, have extensive overseas experience, and presently serve as VP, Human Resources. There were 12 international people interested in the position, and your committee has narrowed this to the final three candidates who want this assignment. Here are the candidates:
Tom is a middle-level finance manager with stellar performance reviews. He has no foreign experiences and would like to develop his career in this direction. He is single, has an MBA, and has been out of school for 20 years. His background is in finance at the undergraduate level, which he studied at Ohio State, only 50 miles from his hometown. He is involved in the local Council of Foreign Relations and is an accomplished athlete.
Firdaus is a deputy VP of Human Resources at corporate. Her family emigrated from Yemen to Chicago when she was in grade school, and she speaks, reads and writes Arabic, both classical and the Yemen dialect. She is married, with 2 children. Her husband George is a professor of History and does not speak Arabic. She has a PhD in Engineering, joined the company on the operations side, and has made the mid-career transition to HR successfully. She finished her PhD at the University of London before she began with the company and is now early mid-career. She encountered an incident at the company's headquarters several years ago when there was a discussion about her wearing a headscarf. She is well known and well liked throughout Headquarters. Her husband is ready to take a leave of absence for three years to accompany her.
Gunther is VP of the German based European Union (Common Market) company. His functional background is accounting, and he is credited with the success of the company in the EU. He built the company from a small operation in Frankfort to the EU sector leader in only seven years. He speaks German and English and is known to be well organized and "button-upped". His work is timely, detailed and accurate. Gunther's boss, the president of the international side, was a bit surprised that Gunther expressed interest in the position, because it is perceived as junior to the position he has now, although it would have an equivalent title on paper. Gunther has an undergraduate degree in anthropology and took graduate-level accounting courses earlier in his career.
The company would like someone who could get the operation up and running, stay for three years, and then transfer the position to a local hire they would develop for the responsibility. Drawing on the culture dimensions that are in Appendix B or your text, along with your knowledge of business, answer these questions:
1. What criteria should be used to evaluate candidates for this position?
2. Explain how each candidate measures up to or does not have the required cultural background for this position.
3. What other qualifications would you consider important in a candidate for this position?
4. Who would be your choice for the position and why?