The Role of Expatriates in the Management of Interdependence Complexity and Risk in Multinational Corporations

Abstract

A multilevel analysis of environmental (country) and organizational (affiliate) factors is used to explain the differential utilization rates of U.S. nationals in overseas professional positions of a major U.S. bank with 84 branches in 43 countries. The research suggests that to the extent that the affiliates of a multinational corporation operate in environments with differing levels of political risk, cultural distance, and competition and have operations with different levels of complexity and interdependence, a single staffing policy may be inappropriate.