Staffing Strategy in International Busines | From a Business Professor

When Elon Musk opened its Tesla Giga factory in Shanghai, China, one of the most important questions to him would be whom should be selected as its subsidiary manager. An American? A Chinese? An American born Chinese, or someone from a third country?

The above question essentially is about a firm’s staffing strategy. Staffing strategy is concerned with the selection of employees for particular jobs. Many business cases have shown that firm’s staffing strategy is critical for its survival and success because it not only involves selecting individuals who have the skills required to do particular jobs, but also can be a tool for developing and promoting the desired corporate culture of the firm.

Research has identified three types of staffing strategies in international businesses: the ethnocentric approach, the polycentric approach, and the geocentric approach. In this video, I will introduce all of these approaches with their advantages and disadvantages for you.