The paradox of development. The challenges of a French subsidiary vis-à-vis its Latin-American corporate headquarters

Abstract

Subject area

International Human Resource Management.

Study level/applicability

Master in Management, MBA.

Case overview

This case is based upon a real Latin-American multinational company operating in France. The character called Anne, Human Resources Director of the French subsidiary, has to implement an organizational project, while at the same time managing local constraints. She also deals with the internal employee survey on working conditions. Through this case study, students will analyze international human resources issues in a company that has offices in different locations and therefore has to deal with different cultural and legal constraints. It tackles questions of employee satisfaction, working conditions and internal communication. It deals with the specific role of the Human Resources (HR) Director of a multinational company’s foreign subsidiary, who has to comply with headquarters’ instructions concerning the implementation of organizational projects and also abide by local laws and regulations.

Expected learning outcomes

“The Paradox of Development” case has four main learning objectives: It illustrates some well-known cultural values frameworks, such as Hall and Hall’s (1990), Hofstede’s (1991), Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s (1998) and the GLOBE study’s (House et al., 2004) in a concrete way. It teaches students how to deal with the particular issues and constraints of multinationals when operating abroad, especially when the company’s headquarters are located in a developing country while the subsidiaries are in a developed country. And it helps them better understand the role of an HR Director in such a context. It illustrates the shift from standardization–localization debate [global integration – local adaptation dilemma, Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989); Prahalad and Doz (1987)] towards the choice of HR practices among three options, not two: standardization towards headquarters’ practices, standardization towards global best practices and localization (Pudelko and Harzing, 2007, 2008). It tackles the issues of employee satisfaction and working conditions in an international context where employees have different cultural values.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code

CSS 6: Human Resource Management

Citation

Bonneton, D., Muratbekova-Touron, M. and Pinot de Villechenon, F. (2016), "The paradox of development. The challenges of a French subsidiary vis-à-vis its Latin-American corporate headquarters", , Vol. 6 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-06-2015-0123