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From the extant research in international human resource management it is evident that women are not progressing to senior international management positions at comparable rates to their male counterparts. Previous research has estimated that only 3 percent of expatriate managers are women. This paper argues that female international managers have to overcome many additional overt and covert barriers before being developed for international assignments. Based on an extensive empirical research study conducted with senior female international managers in a European context, the paper highlights a number of the barriers which the interviewees believed limit women’s international career opportunities. The paper also highlights the implications of these barriers for international human resource management policies and practices.

The experience of women in international management – especially within a European context – has received little attention in the international human resource management literature. In particular, there is a dearth of empirical research which details the role and career moves of the senior female international manager. The particular focus of this paper is on the senior female international managerial career move in Europe. A total of 50 senior female expatriate managers were interviewed, representing a wide range of industry and service sectors. The article highlights a number of covert and overt barriers which the interviewees believed limit women’s international career opportunities. The findings indicate that it is timely for organisations to face and address the difficulties female managers encounter in their progression to senior managerial positions in order to ensure that future opportunities for progression to senior management is equal to that of their male counterparts.

Managers in developed countries are increasingly interested in outsourcing as a potential source of competitiveness and value creation. There has been a growing awareness of the potential of outsourcing to support a range of strategies beyond that of lower cost. This article makes corporate strategists familiar with four of the most promising opportunities for using outsourcing strategies – focus, scale without mass, disruptive innovation and strategic repositioning. While assessing the potential of these opportunities in specific corporate situations, strategists also need to look at two of the most significant associated risks – the risk of losing skills that could be key to competing in the future, and the risk of turning to outsourcing at the wrong stage in an industry’s evolution. The article widens managers’ views of the strategic alternatives that outsourcing can be used to support, while making managers aware of the main risks to be weighed in the balance. Case examples of companies that have successfully attempted the four types of outsourcing are examined.

nvestigates the career progression of young female Certified Public Accountants in Ireland. Focuses on generation X accountants. A total of 12 male and 12 female accountants were interviewed. All were under the age of 30 and qualified as within the past five years. Aims to examine: whether the young generation of female accountants has encountered the “glass ceiling”; if there is a tendency for male dominance in professional accountancy practices or in industry; whether gender affects one’s ability to network socially; and the ability of the young accountants to balance their home and work lives. This study is particularly relevant, as previous research studies conducted with accountants have focused on older generations. The results of the study show that young female accountants encounter obstacles in their careers because of their gender. The female accountants in this study suggest that male dominance will persist in accountancy practices. Our findings also suggest that an important challenge for managers today is managing generation Xers, who work to live and do not live to work. Finally, the research findings from this study contribute primarily to the extant research on women in the accountancy profession. Also contributes to the corpus of knowledge on women in management, career development, and the development and management of generation X.

This paper considers Drucker's “theory of the business” as a management concept applicable to the challenging of firm performance. The paper seeks to do this by using the theoretical framework developed by Drucker as a tool to apply to organisation planning. In addition the paper aims to demonstrate the often “silent” but influential role assumptions have on organisations. Thus, the paper seeks to invite a reassessment of the role assumptions play in organisations and to present a new and topical perspective on Drucker's original “theory of the business” argument.

A close review of Drucker's “theory of the business” article is outlined and a range of recently published (1994‐2008) works on related subject matter is reviewed. It is argued that the “assumptive design framework” at the heart of the theory of the business has potential to act as a powerful planning and strategy tool for enterprises. In addition the review demonstrates the “silent” positive and negative influences business assumptions have on organisation and management practice.

As a general review the paper provides new knowledge about the practical potential of one of Peter Drucker's seminal published articles in an area largely untouched by business or management research. It illustrates how research employing Drucker's “theory of the business” concept in the context of assumptions in business can have major benefit for organisations, especially growth‐oriented businesses.

This is the first paper to address the empirical potential of Drucker's conceptualisation of the “theory of the business” and exposes a unique Drucker‐inspired business and planning proposition that has significant potential for business management, especially in turbulent times

This article considers the role of postgraduate education in the process of management development. The article argues that most management education has to date concentrated on providing managers with a knowledge and understanding of specific organisational issues as defined by academics and that there are few attempts to provide managers with the skills to solve organisational problems as defined by managers. It is suggested that there is a need to rethink the structure and content of management education and that there are opportunities within specialist postgraduate programmes to experiment with new approaches and techniques. The article describes two Masters programmes in Ireland in which attempts are being made to move from a pedagogical to an andragogical approach in teaching and learning. The results to date indicate that there are positive results to be gained from this approach for both managers and lecturers.

The practice of strategic decision‐making has two major perspectives to help managers create and maintain competitive advantage in the face of a range of business challenges. One stresses market position and the other core competence. (1) Market position – the positioning approach to strategy development is associated mainly with the work of Michael Porter; strategic choice is focused primarily on the structure of the industry and how it might be shaped to advantage. The aim is to establish a “privileged”/hard‐to‐replicate position in an industry that is difficult to enter. (2) Core competence – the competence‐led perspective is associated with the work of C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel; strategic choice focuses primarily on assessing which distinctive competences should be built, then considers the market opportunities that would exploit them best. It may be tempting to use one approach or the other because the market position and core competence approaches do create perspectives that see things very differently, and their analytical methodologies offer different guidance. But instead of picking one over the other, the astute strategist may be best served to test out both perspectives and generate a wider range of options. This is shown in the article’s illustrations of corporate strategy in the multi‐business firm and strategic renewal. In sum, looking at your business from both approaches will generate two sets of contrasting perspectives and options for action. For many firms, this binocular vision of the available strategic options will lead to a better result than if either perspective was used alone.

One of the most significant features of the global labour market in the last half of the twentieth century has been the increasing labour force participation rate of women. It is evident from the extant research that women are not progressing to senior international management positions at comparable rates to their male counterparts. Previous research has estimated that only 3 percent of expatriate managers are women. This paper argues that female international managers have to overcome overt and covert barriers in their home organisations before being developed for international assignments. Based on an extensive empirical research study conducted with senior female international managers in a European context, the findings suggest that organisations may have to review their organisational policies in relation to the recruitment, selection, training and development of international managers if they want to have “the best” people to represent their companies overseas.