For Success in a Cross-Cultural Environment, Choose Foreign Executives Wisely

The increasing globalization of the world economy challenges multinational as well as small and medium-sized local organizations to attract and retain global talent. Academic researchers have lately turned their attention from organizational expatriate assignments to various new types of global careers, including self-initiated expatriation in geographically and culturally distant countries. Among these new global careers, foreign executives in local organizations (FELOs) are a very specific phenomenon. Highly visible and often controversial, FELOs are appointed to help organizations compete with -- and even leapfrog -- international competitors. Research shows that a dichotomy exists between the initial reason for FELO appointments and the reasons that actually make cross-cultural workplaces successful in the long term. Local organizations that appoint foreign executives without regard for contextual influences, people management skills, and capacity development do so at their peril