Human resource management in multinational corporations

Although human resources and their management are today acknowledged as crucial for the competitiveness of the global firm, several research challenges remain. The objective of this project is to examine the perceived effectiveness of three key HRM practices - talent management, compensation and reward management and value-based management - and shed light on how they are related to relevant employee attitudes and organizational outcomes. Talent management refers to the activities firms undertake in order to select, assess, develop and retain their personnel for future top management positions. Compensation and reward management includes the management of the fixed, variable and non-monetary compensation and reward systems, as well as intrinsic rewards used to attract, direct and motivate employees. Values-based management activities concern how firms are using different HRM practices to influence the values held by their employees. We also focus on two key aspects related to the above practices. First, we examine the roles played by the HR department and line management in developing and implementing the focal HRM practices. Second, we will examine how the corporate- and unit-level policies, tools, and processes within the three areas of HRM are developed, and also study the processes through which they are implemented throughout the firm. The general objective of this 4 year research project is to contribute to the forefront of academic thought about HRM in multinational corporations. We also aim to create practically relevant results for both the managers leading and organizational members working within multinational corporations. The point of departure and a source of comparison for our project is the Global HRM Project (completed in 2006) in which the responsible leader of the focal research team took part. The Global HRM Project examined the HRM practices of 30 leading multinational corporations in the US, Europe and Asia, including IBM, GE, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, Infosys and Matsushita among others. The current project focuses on Finnish and Swedish multinationals, and will both replicate selected parts of the Global HRM Project in order to allow broad scale international comparison (benchmarking), and - importantly - go considerably beyond achievements of that project. The main means of data collection include surveys carried out in 10 Finnish and 10 Swedish firms with extensive international operations, supplemented with in-depth case studies in units in Finland, Sweden, Russia and China. In each of the 20 ?partner? firms we will collect data from approximately 10 subsidiaries located in specific countries, including Europe, North America and Asia.