Competition and change: Mapping the indian HRM recipe against world-wide patterns

Abstract

The research raises a series of propositions for international managers considering the transfer of HR practices from one country to another. Data from an empirical study based on a survey of HRM practices in 137 Indian organisations are combined with the original IBM/Towers Perrin world-wide HRM survey dataset to produce a nine factor empirical framework that is of value in comparing national HRM patterns. All 13 countries covered are pursuing distinctive “HRM recipes.” India emerges as a “cultural island.” The Indian recipe is therefore analysed in the context of the management literature on crossnational differences.