Knowledge@ASB: Cross-Border Assignments

There’s ample evidence that giving a cross-border assignment to the wrong manager can have catastrophic results. New research from the Australian School of Business reveals companies are using poor selection criteria when choosing who does business offshore. Often managers who perform well in the domestic business environment receive the prized international assignments. But multinationals should be looking more closely at individual traits and values. Star candidates do not value one culture more than another. They are “transnationalists” who can pursue prospects in different cultural circumstances – and learn along the way. Those with die-hard ethnocentric tendencies need not apply.