Question

What staffing policy (Ethnocentric staffing, Polycentric staffing, Geocentric staffing) would you use when expanding internationally to a country like Vietnam? How will you staff your management positions in your overseas operations? What is your rationale for this approach? Please expand.

Answer 1

Answer - Vietnam is located in the asian sub continent and has abundance of labor and other inexpensive factors of production that might not be present in most of the countries that are developed. Ethocentric staffing refers to filling the company with people that belong to the home country or the country in which the company incorporated it’s business. Polycentric staffing means to staff the organisation with people of a foreign country or with people that belong to the territorial boundaries outside the nation. While geocentric staffing refers to hiring or staffing the organisation with people that are the best match for organisation needs irrespective of the nationality.

If any business is setup in a foreign country the rules and regulations of the land must be known otherwise it will involve government intervention and is bad for the firms profitability. Also the work culture varies from one country to another. Considering all of this their is need to employee correct people in the organisation that are the best match to organisatio needs irrespective of the nationality. Here the Geocentric staffing would suit the organisation the best as it will help the organisation understand each and every aspect. This way the organisation can get the beat match for it’s needs and staffing requirements.

Staffing the management is difficult when it comes to a firm operating in a foreign land. As management involves various functions like marketing, finance, Sales, Logistics etc. All of this needs to be taken care of before commencing business. Thus to fill the management position the experience and qualifications of the people will be examined and since the management people are faced with a lot of pressure and challenging circumstances so a test might also be conducted for them to analyse their strategy in wvery scenario be it best or worst. This way the filling the management position will be efficientand effective.

In a nutshell to conclude all above, it basically means that the organisation should take the best fit employees withbthe required skills and knowledge. Also the company should run a test model to see if there are any variations from the strategic model budgeted or thought.