Managing the expatriation cycle: case studies of two Swedish MNCs

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The world markets of today are becoming more and more integrated through globalization. MNCs are conducting and expanding their business operations in many countries and spreading their organizations worldwide. This has led many MNCs to send people from their home country abroad and transfer from one country subsidiary to another. Managing the expatriates in different economic, social and cultural environments and organizing for the expatriation process has gained importance and is considered instrumental in MNCs' global success and local good performance. Interest in investigating the challenges and practices of how to manage the different steps of the expatriation process has formed the basis and motivation for the present thesis. The purpose is to investigate the Swedish MNCs' ways of managing the expatriation process. Four research questions were formed in order to investigate the companies' selection process of expatriates, training, support during assignment and the repatriation. Two qualitative case studies were conducted on two globally well-established Swedish MNCs namely SCA and Sandvik. Findings show that "good practice" presented by theory is often not in line with the practice of companies: that the companies have a selection process which is not as rigid and extensive as theory suggests. Findings further show that cross-cultural training is not as extensive as theory describes and consists mostly of one to two days of pre-departure training for the expatriate and the expatriate´s spouse. Support during assignment consists of basic help with logistic, economic and administrative support and that social support is neglected. Findings also revealed tha...