Expatriate Remuneration

Expatriation: A Developing Research Agenda

Jaime Bonache

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Chris Brewster

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Vesa Suutari

Executive Summary This introductory article briefly reviews the current state of research into expatriation, focussing on the critical issues of strategy, selection and predeparture, compensation, performance management, repatriation, and career management. The burgeoning research in the field is set into context and a plea made for a more varied and imaginative research agenda. The articles in the rest of this special issue are located in this context. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

EXPATRIATION AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STRATEGY

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he increasing internationalization of business through the establishment of international subsidiaries, joint ventures, and strategic alliances, has resulted in increasing numbers of people working part of their working career abroad (Gregersen, Morrison, & Black, 1998). The literature on IHRM has not ignored these international assignments. In fact, there is a large number of studies that analyze the role they play in multinational companies and how these firms select, train, compensate, and design the professional careers of these employees. However, a review of the literature on expatriation reveals three fundamental facts. First, with very few exceptions (e.g., Edstrom & Galbraith, 1977; Boyacigiller, 1990), texts have been fundamentally descriptive in character and generally lack a theoretical foundation (De Cieri & Dowling, 1999). Second, most studies in the expatriate literature fail to analyze the relationship that exists between expatriation policies and the international strategy of the company. Third, the different aspects

Jaime Bonache is Professor of Human Resource Management, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. Chris Brewster is Professor of International Human Resource Management, Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, Bedford, UK. Dr. Vesa Suutari is Associate Professor of Management and...