Human Resources System In Multinational Subsidiaries

The human resources system in MNC’s subsidiaries
In recent years we have witnessed a significant increase in the number of companies that operate internationally. In some cases, expansion in other markets poses no human resource issues, such as, for example, when the company acquires a stake in another foreign organization but is not involved in its management. However, in most cases,globalization leads to the need to address human resource issues.
From the standpoint of the host country, increasing globalization makes a number of employees working for companies that are not exactly their nationality. And these lead us to many questions as for example, are the employment and working conditions in multinational different than purely domestic firms?, How do they differ?, Is itreally different to work for a German multinational, for example, to an American or Japanese?, what are the differences?

Strategies for international human resources management
Although it has its precedents in the work of several decades, there are still a lot that need to be done on the study of the system design of human resources in subsidiaries of multinationals. It is also true thatin the last decade a number of studies have been a marked advance in the discipline. These studies agree in their basic theoretical framework, the role assigned to human resources system, the approach considered most efficient in this area and the kind of issues discussed:
Basic Theory that states that the key challenge to be served by the multinationals in shaping the human resources system ofits subsidiaries is balancing the pressures leading to coordinate among themselves the various units with the exigencies of each unit to operate efficiently their local environment. Next functions, all of them adopt a macro perspective that includes the human resources system of the subsidiary as a mechanism that can help achieve their strategic objectives. This work separately from thefunctional vision and individual analysis of the various human resource functions as independent variables of business strategy, and inserted into the strategic direction that has characterized the human resources department for at least two decades. Next is content. The topics discussed in these works revolve around three issues, which define the basic content of the literature on the subject: first, thestrategies developed by multinational companies in the design of the human resources of its subsidiaries, second the determinants of these strategies and, ultimately, their relative efficiency.
Multinational companies develop three basic approaches to design their human resources system in the subsidiaries: export focus, the adaptive and the hybrid. These strategies differ in three dimensions:the degree to which the human resources system reflects the subsidiary's human resources matrix system, the source to which the subsidiary attributes the problems when the system fails, and the degree multinational company that shares the HR innovations developed in the subsidiary to the central or other subsidiaries.
Export Focus
These multinationals are trying to transplant the human resourcessystem of the plant to the subsidiary. Assume that the way of doing things is more central or more appropriate than other systems, being largely equivalent to the ethnocentric approach. Generally, this approach rests on the belief that the human resources system of the plant is a distinctive competence that provides a competitive advantage and is therefore universally applicable. This competitiveadvantage may be a specific resource or be linked to the national origin of the company.
When the subsidiary is in trouble, such as a lower than expected productivity, or the inability to recruit suitable staff, tend to find their source in external factors beyond the control of the company. Given these problems, the company does not try to change its system, but stay away from the effects of...