Problems faced by Western expatriate managers in Eastern Europe : evidence provided by Finnish expatriates in Russia and Estonia

A common human resource management strategy among Western companies in international operations is the use of home-country expatriate managers although expatriate adjustment has been found to involve difficulties. In the light of this the present study analyses the issues faced by Finnish expatriate managers working in Russia or Estonia. Three aspects were studied: adaptation to society, adaptation at the work place, and company-level management problems with which expatriates have to deal in their managerial job. The results indicate that various kinds of problems appear in all these areas and that the preparation of both expatriates and companies entering these markets was usually inadequate.