rewarded – and considered as a part of the MNC’s human capital investment.
Where possible, these skills should be utilized in the domestic position.
If the skills and competencies of repatriates are not needed, then the repa-
triates should be given a realistic expectation prior to accepting the global
assignment. In some cases, MNCs will hire more contract assignees to fill these
functional positions. Moreover, some individuals may be very attracted to
these contract assignments because they may be consistent with their overall
career goals.
Developmental/high potential assignments
For some MNCs, sending expatriates abroad for two or more years to develop
global competencies is consistent with their overall strategic human resource
plan. Most organizations that utilize this type of global assignment do so
within the context of their managerial development program. These programs
are often rotational – with one of the rotations being in another country. While
on this type of assignment, the goal is individual development.
These developmental rotational assignments often have a very structured
series of experiences. Given the structured nature of these assignments for
these repatriates, their next assignment is often very clear and known well in
advance of the completion of the global assignment. Repatriation, in this
case, is rather straightforward and predetermined by the rotations within the
leadership development program.
Strategic/executive assignments
Many MNCs, when asked to analyse their ideal staffing strategy for global
assignments, will identify ‘the strategic/executive assignment’ as the ideal.
These strategic assignments are usually filled by individuals who are being
developed for high-level management positions in the future. The purpose for
these assignments tend to be high profile (such as general managers or vice-
presidents) and the experience is viewed as both developmental and strategic.
Thus, these individuals are not sent solely for developmental assignments;
rather, they are there to fill a specific need in the organization. These global
assignees are the core ‘critical’ group of assignees. They may have the task of
entering a new market, developing a country base in a new area, or being the
general manager of a joint venture. An inpatriate assignment, where high-
profile managers from other countries take a global assignment in the headquar-
terscountry, is also an example of a strategic assignment (Black et al., 1992a;
Kobrin, 1988).
Repatriation for these individuals is often well thought out and a part of
the overall succession planning initiative of the organization. In many cases,
these expatriates are very well aware that they are being groomed for a given
position. An important aspect of the repatriation process will be to ensure that
the position for which these individuals are being groomed will actually utilize
their developed global skills. As these individuals are often considered the
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