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Q:
Which of the following is a characteristic of a sole proprietorship?
A) Business owned by more than one person
B) Easy to form
C) Each stockholder acts as an owner of the company
D) Can continue indefinitely
Q:
Accounting provides information to:
A) managers.
B) government.
C) investors.
D) All of these answers are correct.
Q:
The purpose of the accounting process is to provide financial information about:
A) sole proprietorships.
B) small businesses.
C) large corporations.
D) All of these answers are correct.
Q:
The type of business organization that can continue indefinitely is known as a:
A) sole proprietorship.
B) partnership.
C) corporation.
D) None of the above
Q:
1.1 Learning Objective 1-1
Q:
How do MNEs benefit from superior international HRM especially when filling expatriate positions? What costs do MNEs face when expatriate assignments are unsuccessful?
Q:
Why are third-country nationals increasingly being used to fill expatriate assignments? How do third-country nationals fit into the concept of geocentrism?
Q:
What are the current trends in expatriate allowances? What are the reasons for these changes?
Q:
What problems do managers commonly encounter when repatriated from foreign assignments? How can HRM improve the repatriation process?
Q:
List and discuss the main components of an expatriate's compensation package.
Q:
List and compare the three common methods of implementing a balanced compensation plan.
Q:
What individual characteristics and qualifications should a company consider when choosing managerial candidates for foreign assignments? Which one do you think is most important? Why?
Q:
Why is global HRM more difficult than domestic HRM? How can staffing a foreign facility with locals alleviate some of these HRM difficulties?
Q:
What types of employees are increasingly being chosen for expatriate assignments? What characteristics are firms seeking when selecting expatriates?
Q:
What are the differences between ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric frameworks?
Q:
A growing number of MNEs in Asia and Latin America are using performance-based pay to link compensation with business results.
Q:
A growing number of MNEs are increasing expatriate allowances to entice employees to move overseas.
Q:
Studies of repatriated employees regularly report that most knew what their company position would be when they returned home but were uncertain about their likely new workplace practices.
Q:
Historically, companies have not been particularly concerned with the challenge of repatriation in managing their international human resources.
Q:
A hardship allowance nullifies the risk that an expatriate will suffer a decline in his or her standard of living due to the exorbitant expense of a particular city.
Q:
The headquarters-based compensation method bases the expatriate's compensation on the salary of a comparable job in the city where the MNE has its headquarters.
Q:
Practical predeparture training for the expatriate is often geared toward developing his or her sensitivities to overcome culture fright.
Q:
Upon selection of an executive for an expatriate posting, the most common predeparture training involves a range of instructive profiles of major aspects of the host country.
Q:
Failure rates for overseas postings fall typically between 30 and 50 percent, and usually reduce performance, sidetrack careers, and corrode morale.
Q:
Expatriate failure, broadly defined, indicates there is a breakdown in a company's selection policies to staff its foreign operations.
Q:
Companies find it challenging to judge a potential expatriate's adaptability to foreign places, people, and processes.
Q:
Historically, companies searching their ranks for potential expatriates looked first for individuals with the necessary language proficiency and then evaluated their technical competence.
Q:
A polycentric staffing policy is well matched with a transnational strategy.
Q:
An ethnocentric staffing policy is well matched with a multidomestic strategy.
Q:
A geocentric staffing policy is one in which all key management positions throughout the company's global operations are filled by host-country nationals.
Q:
A geocentric staffing policy seeks the best qualified people for key jobs throughout the organization, irrespective of their nationality.
Q:
A key disadvantage of a polycentric staffing policy is that it limits the career mobility of subsidiary executives.
Q:
An executive with a polycentric staffing policy presumes that successful business practices at home need not change when transferred to foreign markets.
Q:
Unlike the geocentric and polycentric mindsets, the ethnocentric mindset is not tied to a particular home or host nation.
Q:
The MNE that aims to control the transfer of its unique core competencies overseas usually prefers an ethnocentric staffing policy.
Q:
The ethnocentric and polycentric staffing policies, unlike the geocentric staffing policy, rely on extensive use of expatriate managers.
Q:
Companies around the world typically find it easy to locate a number of executives able and willing to run foreign operations.
Q:
The past few years have seen fewer females sent on international assignments.
Q:
Executives from the home office typically demand richer compensation packages and impose higher relocation costs than third-country nationals do.
Q:
An example of an expatriate would be a Canadian manager working for a Canadian firm in China.
Q:
Expatriates are locals from the country of the foreign subsidiary.
Q:
Companies have found that superior human resources are instrumental to improving their ability to create and sustain competitive advantage.
Q:
There is a strong yet inconsistent relationship between the strategic performance of an MNE and the decisions it has made in managing its human resources.
Q:
The various activities of HRM perform best when managers link them to the strategy of the firm.
Q:
Fundamentally, the task of HRM is putting the right person into the right job in the right place at the right time for the right salary.
Q:
Which of the following is a characteristic of India that discourages MNE investment?
A) slow market growth
B) restrictive labor laws
C) poor communication infrastructure
D) government controlled market
Q:
Which of the following best explains why MNEs often employ more locals than expatriate managers in foreign facilities?
A) lower compensation expense
B) better support from unions
C) improved economies of scale
D) better grasp of core competencies
Q:
Which of the following trends has LEAST likely led to the increased demand for expatriate talent?
A) market developments
B) technology changes
C) globalization
D) nationalism
Q:
Studies indicate that the main cause of nearly half of failed expatriate assignments is the inability of the expatriate to ________.
A) meet performance expectations
B) initiate a fair compensation package
C) adapt to the host culture
D) learn the local language
Q:
All of the following would most likely improve the successful repatriation of expatriates EXCEPT ________.
A) encouraging repatriated workers to take sabbaticals upon return
B) developing mentoring programs to smooth transitions
C) integrating foreign assignments into career plans
D) providing repatriated workers with desirable jobs
Q:
Companies often face problems repatriating executives from foreign assignments to the home nation due to which of the following?
A) The vacant position cannot be filled overseas.
B) The firm must increase compensation substantially.
C) Different departments compete excessively to hire the repatriated manager.
D) The returning expatriate has less social status and autonomy than when abroad.
Q:
Which of the following is NOT an area in which expatriates experience repatriation frustration?
A) change in personal finances and compensation
B) readjustment to home country corporate structure
C) change in technical competence
D) readjustment to life at home
Q:
Terrell, a manager with Qualsys Technologies, has been on an expatriate assignment in Russia for the last three years. Terrell's foreign assignment has ended, and he is working with HR to return to the U.S. and begin a new job at the firm's headquarters in Philadelphia. In which activity is Terrell most likely involved?
A) expatriation
B) repatriation
C) demotion
D) promotion
Q:
Johnson Construction is an MNE that designs and builds commercial buildings around the world. Johnson has a new contract to construct a building in Pakistan. Tom, a construction manager, will be relocating to Pakistan with his wife, and he will receive additional pay to compensate for the dangerous environment. Which of the following has Johnson Construction most likely offered Tom?
A) repatriation allowance
B) hardship allowance
C) housing allowance
D) spouse allowance
Q:
Kevin, a marketing executive with Ace Electronics, has relocated to India for an expatriate assignment. Kevin's wife, Julia, and three children have joined him. Ace Electronics provides the family with money intended to help Julia find a job and develop cross-cultural skills. Which of the following is Ace providing the family?
A) repatriation allowance
B) hardship allowance
C) housing allowance
D) spouse allowance
Q:
Cost-of-living allowances given to an expatriate during his or her foreign assignment ________.
A) usually involve a compensation reduction because of lower costs abroad
B) are due to the difficulty of duplicating a particular way of living abroad
C) are usually eliminated over time
D) increase the longer the individual is overseas
Q:
The ________ sets the expatriate's salary in terms of the salary of a comparable job in the city where the MNE has its headquarters.
A) host-based method
B) home-based method
C) headquarters-based method
D) culturally based method
Q:
The ________ of compensation determines an expatriate's compensation on the prevailing pay scales in the locale of the foreign assignment.
A) headquarters-based method
B) home-based method
C) culturally based method
D) host-based method
Q:
The ________ approach to expatriate compensation equalizes purchasing power across countries; this helps employees enjoy the same living standard in their foreign posting that they enjoyed at home.
A) balance sheet
B) equalization
C) merit
D) differential
Q:
According to research, expatriates posted to ________ encounter the greatest difficulty in finding accommodations, locating health care, and setting up finances.
A) Australia
B) Saudi Arabia
C) Thailand
D) South Africa
Q:
The most common predeparture training for an expatriate is ________.
A) an informational briefing
B) role playing
C) in-depth cultural seminars
D) language training
Q:
Shelly, a sales manager at Best Computers, has recently moved from Dallas to Hong Kong for an expatriate assignment. Shelly is feeling disoriented, irritable, and stressed about her new job and living arrangements in Hong Kong, which means that she is most likely experiencing ________.
A) uncertainty dislocation
B) melancholy
C) culture shock
D) cultural transition
Q:
According to the text, what is the most common concern that expatriates have before they move overseas?
A) reestablishing a social life
B) missing friends and family
C) learning a foreign language
D) adapting to the culture
Q:
Today, which of the following circumstances is LEAST likely to cause expatriate failure?
A) inability of the expatriate's family to adjust
B) resistance from the expatriate's partner
C) inadequate technical expertise
D) inability to adjust
Q:
Expatriate failure, defined in broad terms, refers to the ________.
A) manager's premature return home due to poor job performance
B) manager's miscues, which give competitors a market advantage
C) unintentional dilution of the company's core competency
D) poor expatriate selection procedures of the MNE
Q:
Generally, HRM does not emphasize which of the following characteristics when evaluating the adaptiveness of an expatriate candidate?
A) self maintenance
B) technology skills
C) cultural empathy
D) sensitivity to host environments
Q:
Which of the following accurately describes a difference between jobs in the home office versus those in a foreign subsidiary?
A) Cultural empathy is essential for employees in the home office, but is not necessary for employees in a foreign subsidiary.
B) Employees in the home office do not need to be familiar with a second language, but employees in a foreign subsidiary must be proficient in the language of the subsidiary's host country.
C) Expatriate executives in foreign subsidiaries are less expensive for a company to employ than executives in the home office.
D) Employees in foreign subsidiaries typically have broader job responsibilities than employees in the home office.
Q:
According to the text which of the following is the most important competency in the expatriate selection process?
A) flexibility
B) business acumen
C) global mindset
D) geographic knowledge
Q:
Historically, the most important criterion in selecting individuals for posting to an expatriate slot has been ________.
A) foreign language abilities
B) technical competence
C) leadership skills
D) flexibility
Q:
Firms with global strategies versus those implementing multidomestic strategies are more likely to use ________.
A) expatriate managers
B) host country nationals in top management positions abroad
C) local managers
D) home country nationals in corporate positions
Q:
The HRM requirements of a(n) ________ strategy is well matched with a geocentric staffing policy.
A) multidomestic
B) transnational
C) domestic
D) international
Q:
The HRM requirements of a(n) ________ strategy is well matched with a polycentric staffing policy.
A) transnational
B) international
C) multidomestic
D) global
Q:
The HRM requirements of a(n) ________ strategy is well matched with an ethnocentric staffing policy.
A) multidomestic
B) transnational
C) international
D) global
Q:
Microsoft has a tendency to hire home country nationals for jobs outside the United States. Microsoft's leadership supports a(n) ________ approach to staffing.
A) geocentric
B) ethnocentric
C) adaptive
D) polycentric
Q:
An advantage of the geocentric outlook to staffing is ________.
A) encouraging workers to appreciate the unique virtues of a particular country
B) giving people a flexible perspective for fitting operations to different countries
C) removing most behavioral barriers to fully adapting to the chosen local market
D) tapping learning opportunities around the world to generate ideas that enhance core competencies
Q:
Which of the following interpretative frameworks does NOT automatically presume that a particular nation provides a solution to every problem or an explanation for every action?
A) ethnocentric
B) geocentric
C) polycentric
D) intercentric
Q:
The staffing policy at Hanover International is to seek the best people for key jobs throughout the organization, regardless of nationality. Hanover most likely follows a(n) ________ staffing approach.
A) geocentric
B) intercentric
C) polycentric
D) ethnocentric
Q:
Advantages of adopting a polycentric approach include which of the following?
A) capitalizing on the availability of qualified local managers
B) helping transfer core competencies from the home nation to local subsidiaries
C) increasing the international career mobility for local managers
D) offsetting tendencies for the company to adapt excessively to the local market
Q:
Which of the following is a drawback of the polycentric approach?
A) Host-country nationals become more committed to company headquarters than to their local colleagues.
B) Successful local units may increasingly function independently and pay less attention to headquarters.
C) Local units depend too much on headquarters for resources and innovations, with little incentive to develop their own.
D) Local managers study international business and cultural practices in other markets in preparation for international assignments at the expense of not fully investing in understanding the host country.
Q:
Ferguson Manufacturing, an American MNE, has facilities in India and Mexico. Ferguson fills management positions at the facility in India with Indians and management positions in Mexico with Mexicans. Ferguson most likely follows a(n) ________ approach to staffing.
A) ethnocentric
B) geocentric
C) polycentric
D) intercentric