Talent Management of Western
MNCs in China: Balancing Global
Integration and Local
Responsiveness
Evi Hartmann, Edda Feisel, Holger
Schober, 2010
Introduction
• Global integration vs. local responsiveness
• Besides internal organizational factors, the transfer of HRM
practices is also influenced by external contextual factors (Gomez &
Sanchez, 2005). In order to transfer HRM practices from home
country operations to China, both institutional factors and cultural
differences have been purported to influence the adaption and
responsiveness of HRM practices
• Numerous Chinese cultural characteristics influence the
implementation of HRM practices of MNCs in China. These include,
for example, respect for elders and those positioned further up in
hierarchies, the significance of ‘‘saving face’’ and harmony, and the
importance of personal relationships (‘‘guanxi’’) between different
members of the same group (Bjo‥ rkman & Lu, 1999; Gamble,
2003; Lockett, 1988; Wong & Slater, 2002)
• In particular, the paper aims to answer the
following two research questions
– How do western MNCs in China identify, develop
and retain talented employees?
– Do institutional and/or cultural influences lead to
the adaptation of talent management practice to
the focal subsidiary in China?
Conceptual Background of
Talent Management
Underlying Research Framework
Research Methodology:
Case Study
Case Results
• Identification of Chinese talent in western MNCs
– Formalization-based mechanisms refer to the
standardization and use of work policies and rules
that are drawn up on a global basis and subsequently
distributed to all subsidiaries as guidelines for their
activities.
– Internal talent standards (in usual)
• Performance
• Potential/competencies
• commitment
• Developmental activities and visibility of talented employees in China
– Three of the case companies – Electrico, Technologico and Logistico – founded
company-specific training institutes in China within the last ten years
– Some rely on external training opportunities, the training is provided by local
universities
– Development process helps to enhance the visibility of internal talents and to
increase the degree of localization
– The contents of the training courses were not only adapted from the home
country but also specifically designed for Chinese requirements
– Training academies were considered as long-term investments in talent
development and were only established by the larger companies in our
sample
– The use of people-based mechanisms helps to transfer tacit knowledge as well
as to communicate important information during the establishment of such
academies
• Succession planning of talented employees in
China
– Some of the case companies noted that long-term
planning and the early identification of potential
incumbents is difficult due to the high mobility of
Chinese managerial talent
– The case companies mainly relied on informationbased mechanisms to achieve integration.
– Information-based mechanisms comprising tools that
make information flows easier (Kim et al., 2003) were
specifically used to enhance the global visibility of
talented Chinese employees
• Mentoring relationships in western MNCs
– Described by the middle manager of Computerco:
‘‘We tried to implement mentoring to China; however,
our impression was that Chinese employees do not
open up to their mentors if they have a higher
hierarchy.’’
– In general, the data showed that mentoring
relationships are implemented informally rather than
formally
– Face-to-face communication is an important cultural
element in China, respect for hierarchy was shown to
hinder people-based integration and the
internalization of HR practices.
• Organizational culture at western MNCs
– An organizational culture that supports the development of talented
employees
– Three case companies – Technologico, Electrico and Logistico – received strong
top managerial support from their CEOs, who regularly participate in round
table meetings with middle managers or trainees and visit top Chinese
universities to meet students and encourage them to join the company
– Furthermore, it could be observed that all seven case companies concentrated
their efforts on building an organizational culture, which supports the
development of personal relationships between the organization and
employees
– with the development of talented employees, all case companies relied solely
on people-based mechanisms to create an organizational culture that
supports talent management activities. Here, it was specifically pointed out
that the Chinese culture and the preference for face-to-face interaction
encourage the use of this integration mechanism