Issues about the value of international assignments
1 Introduction
Almost all the MNEs have the international assignments, and the success of the international assignments is the goal of the MNEs. What’s more, because the international assignments are very risk and expensive to develop employees, the MNEs and the IHRM researchers want to know whether they are worth it. So, they use the return on investment (ROI) to measure the value of the international assignments.
In this essay, it will focus on the question whether the international assignments are worth it. In fact, this question has been discussed in the chapter 4 of the text book, which is in page 98 and it introduces one of ways (ROI) to measure the value of the international assignments. Specifically, according to Dowling et al., ROI is defined as a calculation in which the financial and non-financial benefits to the MNEs are compared to the financial and non-financial costs of the international assignment (Dowling, Festing, & Engle, 2008, p.98). And the definition of expatriate is an employee who is working and temporarily residing in a foreign country (Dowling et al., 2008, p.4). This essay is structured as follows: firstly, it will introduce what is the international assignment, and explain its importance to both MNEs and expatriates. Secondly, it will measure the value of international assignments from cost and return. Thirdly, the essay will explain how to calculate the ROI of international assignment. Fourthly, it will give the opinions which agree for and against the value of international assignment. Finally, it will explain my own opinion for supporting the international assignments. In my opinion, it’s worthy for MNEs to have the international assignments, and the ROI approach is a common way to measure its value. But global assignments are not always successful, different counties have different expatriate failure rates, and it will show that why these countries have a failed rates...