Guest Co-Editors: |
Dr.
Adrian Wilkinson,
Dr.
Geoffrey Wood, Dr.
Mehmet Demirbag, |
There is a very
extensive body of literature on how multinationals manage people in different
national contexts. (Ferner, 2009) The bulk of this literature, however, focuses
on cases of multinationals from advanced industrial economies, and more
specifically, the United States. Much less has been written on multinationals
based in emerging markets, and what is published focuses on a very limited
number of contexts (Chang, Mellahi, & Wilkinson, 2009). Yet, multinationals
from emerging markets have become increasingly prominent on the international
scene, most notably, those from the “top” emerging markets (Garten, 1996):
Argentina, Brazil, the Chinese Economic Area, India, Indonesia, South
Korea, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, and Russia. We suggest that much can be learned from
firms in emerging markets because they lack the historic first-mover advantage
abroad. At the same time, they have considerable experience forging beneficial
relations to national governments and coping in culturally diverse and often
unstable markets.
World investment
reports from UNCTAD show that although developed-country multinational
enterprises (MNEs) account for the bulk of global foreign direct investment
(FDI), developing and transition economies have emerged as significant outward
investors, and the growth rate of the number of MNEs from developing countries
and transition economies over the past 15 years has exceeded that of MNEs from
developed countries. The growing importance of emerging economies has led to an
upsurge of strategy research on the topic (Wright, Filatotchev, Hoskisson, & Peng, 2005); however, research on human resource
management (HRM) has not kept pace with the research on MNCs from emerging
economies. While there has been an accelerated interest in emerging markets and
emerging market MNEs as new challengers, studies in recent special issues
international business/management journals focus on internationalization, market
entry strategy, and location choice aspects of these new challengers (Luo &
Tung, 2007; Aulakh, 2007). It is widely agreed that the motivations behind
emerging market MNEs’ international operations, particularly in developed
markets, are related to capability building. HRM policies and practices,
therefore, play crucial roles in building absorptive capacity, which helps firms
develop ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it, and apply it
to commercial ends (Cohen &
Levinthal, 1990). HRM policies and practices facilitate reverse knowledge
transfer to emerging market multinationals’ other subsidiaries and play crucial
role in the success of the firm in diverse cultural environments.
There are also significant differences
between state owned emerging market MNEs and private/or family owned MNEs’ HR
policy and practices. Emerging country MNEs tend to be smaller with considerably
fewer resources and international experience than their counterparts from
developed markets. This limits their ability to transfer management practices
across their subsidiaries. In order to catch up with developed country
multinationals, therefore, they follow rapid and abnormal internationalization
paths (leapfrogging through acquisitions). The small, but growing body of
research on emerging market multinationals focuses on location choice, market
entry
This special issue seeks to contribute
to the emerging body of literature on
HRM in emerging
markets
mode, marketing strategies,
internationalization process (c.f. Aulakh, 2007; Buckley, Clegg, Cross, Zheng,
Voss, & Liu, 2007; Dunning, Kim, & Park, 2008; Demirbag, Tatoglu, &
Glaister, 2009; Luo &Tung, 2007; & Mathews, 2006), but there is
insufficient knowledge about the HRM practices surrounding these new
challengers.
This special issue seeks to contribute to the emerging body of
literature on HRM in emerging markets through publishing articles with fresh
insights, particularly on the varieties of people management strategies
encountered in different national contexts. This special issue encourages submissions on the following themes and
approaches:
·
What makes emerging market multinationals different in
terms of people management?
·
Case studies of HRM in selected emerging market
multinationals.
·
Emerging market multinationals’ HRM practices in
developed and developing country subsidiaries.
·
International acquisitions of emerging market
multinationals and HRM.
·
Emerging market multinationals and HRM role in reverse
knowledge transfer.
·
Country of origin effect, liability of emergingness, and
HRM policies of emerging multinationals.
·
HRM practices of family-owned, private, and state-owned
emerging market multinationals.
·
Host country effects on HR policies and practice by
emerging multinationals.
·
Multinationals, state and society: Coping with managing
people political challenging contexts.
·
Multinationals and market volatility: Prosperity and
challenges for HRM in crisis.
·
Comparing country of origin effects: People management in
multinationals from different emerging markets.
·
Articles that help bridge the gap between theory and
practice by providing both practical implications of empirical research on
emerging economies MNCs and capture leading examples of practitioner-initiated
HRM strategies and policies via theoretically grounded case
studies.
Manuscript Submission and Review
All papers must be based on
original material and must not be under consideration by any other journal.
Papers intended for the HR Science Forum will undergo a rigorous, double-blind
review process to ensure relevance and quality. Papers suited for the HR Leadership Forum
(more practitioner-focused pieces, case studies, interviews, etc.) will be
single-blind reviewed by subject matter experts. Please see HRM’s Publishing
Cues for a complete description of each section. Submitted papers must also
follow the HRM Style Guidelines, found at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/32249/home/ForAuthors.html.
The deadline for
submitting papers is December 1,
2011.
Direct questions
about content and ideas to the guest co-editors noted above. Direct all
logistical questions about submitting and review to Managing Editor Leslie
Wilhelm at [log in to unmask]. Manuscripts must be submitted electronically using the
Journal’s web-based submission and review website called Manuscript Central:
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hrm. Electronic
submission through Manuscript Central is required. Manuscript Central is
configured to be very intuitive; therefore, you should have little difficulty
creating an account and submitting your manuscript. The online system will guide
you through each step of the process.
When submitting through Manuscript
Central, please submit the following documents:
1.
Document 1: A “blind” copy of your manuscript.
Delete all author identification from this primary document. This document may
include your tables and figures, or you may include tables and figures in a
separate document.
2.
Document 2: Submit
a separate document with information that would typically appear on the
document’s title page (author names, addresses, affiliations, contact
information, etc.). This document may also include author
biographies.
In addition:
§ Answer “Yes” to
the question regarding special issue submission and clearly label your
submission for the “Emerging Market
Multinationals” in the text box
provided.
§ Include a
paragraph in your cover letter specifically identifying how the paper fits
within the special issue theme.
§ Direct
logistical questions about submitting your manuscript through Manuscript Central
to Managing Editor Leslie Wilhelm at [log in to unmask] or 734-748-9069.
References
Aulakh, P. S.
(Ed.) (2007). Special issue on emerging market multinationals from developing
economies: motivations, paths, and performance. Journal of International
Management, 13(3), 235-402.
Buckley, P. J.,
Clegg, J., Cross, A., Zheng, P., Voss, H. & Liu, X. (2007). The determinants
of Chinese outward foreign direct investment. Journal of International Business
Studies, 38(4), 499 – 518.
Chang, Y. Y.,
Mellahi, K., & Wilkinson, A. (2009). Control of subsidiaries of MNCs from
emerging economies: The case of Taiwanese MNCs in the UK. International
Journal of Human Resource Management, 20 (1),
75-95.
Cohen, W., & Levinthal, D. (1990). Absorptive
capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation, Administrative
Science Quarterly, 35(1), 128-152.
Demirbag, M., Tatoglu, E., & Glaister, K. (2009). Equity-based entry modes of emerging country
multinationals: Lessons from Turkey, Journal of World Business, 2009, 44(4),
445-462.
Dunning, J. H.,
Kim, C., & Park, D. (2008). Old wine in new bottles: a comparison of
emerging market TNCs today and developed country TNCs thirty years ago,
Department of International Economics, SLPTMD Working Paper Series 11, Oxford:
University of Oxford.
Ferner, A.
(2009). HRM in Multinational Companies. In A. Wilkinson, N. Bacon, T. Redman,
& S. Snell (Eds.). The Sage Handbook
of Human Resource Management. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Garten, J. E. (1996), The big
emerging markets, Columbia Journal of
World Business, 31(2), 7-31.
Luo, Y. &
Tung, R. (2007). International expansion of emerging market enterprises: A
springboard perspective. Journal of
International Business Studies, 38(4), 481-498.
Mathews, J. A.
(2006). Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalization.
Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23,
5-27.
Wright, M.,
Filatotchev, I., Hoskisson, R. E., & Peng, M. W. (2005). Guest Editors’
Introduction, Strategy research in emerging economies: Challenging the
conventional wisdom. Journal of
Management Studies. 42(1),
1-33.