Case Study (about 330 words; simple, inference-heavy)
Aurora Tech Solutions, headquartered in Toronto, has been accelerating its Asian
expansion. A new coordination office in Kuala Lumpur is led by Michael Turner, a
Canadian sent from the headquarters to guide the rollout. Supporting him is Aisha
Rahman, hired in Malaysia to handle local recruiting, onboarding, and vendor relations.
Early hiring moved quickly as Aurora prepared data integration work for retail clients across
Southeast Asia.
For a large rollout in Dhaka, the regional team brought in Jonas Weber, originally based in
Singapore, to stabilize supply planning and warehouse handoffs. At the same time, Aisha
finalized the offer for Farhana Siddique to lead finance in the Dhaka unit, noting her prior
experience with Bangladeshi tax filings and cross-border reconciliations. To standardize
analytics, headquarters nominated Li Wei from the Shanghai office to spend six months in
Kuala Lumpur, building dashboards that would be copied across country teams.
As operations grew, Ravi Menon from Chennai was asked to support transport scheduling
in Malaysia during a seasonal surge. Some Toronto managers argued that moving people
around the region had improved speed and quality. Others worried the Kuala Lumpur and
Dhaka teams still waited for direction from Toronto on issues they understood best. Aisha
observed that local candidates were strong in functional know-how but were rarely chosen
to design regional systems or lead cross-country projects.
During a strategy review, the leadership debated how future roles should be filled: whether
senior posts in new locations should continue to be led by people sent from headquarters,
whether local leaders should run their own markets with minimal transfers, or whether the
company should pick talent from anywhere based on skills alone. The discussion also
touched on whether to move people largely within Asia to build a shared regional
playbook, or to rotate specialists from multiple continents to keep the newest practices
flowing into the hubs.
(Students will infer employee categories and staffing approaches from nationalities,
locations, and who is filling which roles.)
(Concepts covered include: Home-/Parent-/Third-Country Nationals and ethnocentric,
polycentric, regiocentric, geocentric staffing approaches.) [HRM in a G...onment Ch1 |
PDF], [Sourcing H...IHRM Ch 3 | PDF]
15 MCQs for Wayground (four options each; answers in full form)
1. Michael Turner’s appointment to lead the Malaysia office is best classified as:
a) Home-Country National
b) Parent-Country National
c) Third-Country National
d) Inpatriate
Answer: Parent-Country National [HRM in a G...onment Ch1 | PDF]
2. Aisha Rahman’s role in Malaysia represents:
a) Home-Country National
b) Parent-Country National
c) Third-Country National
d) Inpatriate
Answer: Home-Country National [HRM in a G...onment Ch1 | PDF]
3. Jonas Weber moving from Singapore to Bangladesh is best described as:
a) Home-Country National
b) Parent-Country National
c) Third-Country National
d) Inpatriate
Answer: Third-Country National [HRM in a G...onment Ch1 | PDF]
4. Hiring Farhana Siddique directly into the Dhaka finance role is an example of which
sourcing practice?
a) Ethnocentric approach
b) Polycentric approach
c) Geocentric approach
d) Regiocentric approach
Answer: Polycentric approach [Sourcing H...IHRM Ch 3 | PDF]
5. Selecting Li Wei from Shanghai to work temporarily in Kuala Lumpur, with nationality
not being the deciding factor, most closely reflects:
a) Ethnocentric approach
b) Polycentric approach
c) Geocentric approach
d) Regiocentric approach
Answer: Geocentric approach [Sourcing H...IHRM Ch 3 | PDF]
6. Toronto sending a headquarters manager to run the Malaysian hub is indicative of
which overall tendency?
a) Polycentric approach
b) Ethnocentric approach
c) Regiocentric approach
d) Geocentric approach
Answer: Ethnocentric approach [Sourcing H...IHRM Ch 3 | PDF]
7. Bringing Ravi Menon from India to Malaysia during peak season is an example of:
a) Home-Country National
b) Parent-Country National
c) Third-Country National
d) Inpatriate
Answer: Third-Country National [HRM in a G...onment Ch1 | PDF]
8. Favoring locally hired managers to run their respective country units, as with
Farhana in Dhaka, aligns most with:
a) Polycentric approach
b) Regiocentric approach
c) Geocentric approach
d) Ethnocentric approach
Answer: Polycentric approach [Sourcing H...IHRM Ch 3 | PDF]
9. Staffing primarily from within Asia for Asian roles, such as moving talent between
Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India, represents:
a) Geocentric approach
b) Regiocentric approach
c) Ethnocentric approach
d) Polycentric approach
Answer: Regiocentric approach [Sourcing H...IHRM Ch 3 | PDF]
10. Choosing individuals for cross-country projects based purely on competence,
regardless of nationality or location, best reflects:
a) Geocentric approach
b) Ethnocentric approach
c) Polycentric approach
d) Regiocentric approach
Answer: Geocentric approach [Sourcing H...IHRM Ch 3 | PDF]
11. If Toronto insists that key leadership roles abroad always be filled by people sent
from headquarters, this would illustrate:
a) Polycentric approach
b) Regiocentric approach
c) Geocentric approach
d) Ethnocentric approach
Answer: Ethnocentric approach [Sourcing H...IHRM Ch 3 | PDF]
12. A local Malaysian professional managing the Malaysia office without transfers from
headquarters would most likely be:
a) Home-Country National
b) Parent-Country National
c) Third-Country National
d) Inpatriate
Answer: Home-Country National [HRM in a G...onment Ch1 | PDF]
13. Moving Li Wei from China to Malaysia to spread best practices across multiple
countries highlights which philosophy?
a) Polycentric approach focused on local autonomy
b) Ethnocentric approach centered on headquarters control
c) Geocentric approach emphasizing worldwide talent
d) Domestic approach with no international movement
Answer: Geocentric approach [Sourcing H...IHRM Ch 3 | PDF]
14. If Aurora were to staff only from within Asia for Asian markets to build a shared
playbook, that would be an example of:
a) Regiocentric approach
b) Polycentric approach
c) Ethnocentric approach
d) Geocentric approach
Answer: Regiocentric approach [Sourcing H...IHRM Ch 3 | PDF]
15. A Canadian headquarters employee assigned to a foreign subsidiary for a
multi-month leadership role would be categorized as:
a) Parent-Country National
b) Home-Country National
c) Third-Country National
d) Inpatriate
Answer: Parent-Country National