Harvard Business Review Looks at Siemens, CEMEX, Walmart, Samsung and their Expa
By Don Southerton Skimming through the March edition of HBR, I came upon this article-- Developing Your Global Know-How. What stood out was an interview with Samsung's K.Y. Chung talking on how his firm prepared Korean expats for overseas assignment. I've been highly involved in not only training overseas Korean teams for work abroad---but working with the local teams and leadership to interact effectively with the Korean expats. Communication is usually an issue. Most adapt, but it takes time. The HBR article, especially Mr. Chung's coments, notes that skills vary and for many the first overseas assignment is a challenge. Developing Your Global Know-How. It’s a rite of passage for up-and-coming executives: the first overseas assignment. But the conventional multinational approach—offering experienced managers plum overseas jobs with rich expat packages—is becoming less prevalent. The Great Recession has forced many companies to cut back on assignments abroad....