International Human Resource Management-MJ Version

most chapters have been written from scratch, while the remaining

chapters (Chapters 1, 5 and 14) have been updated. In doing so, the

authors have focused even more strongly on theoretical models and

frameworks, cutting down on factual information that can easily be

retrieved from other sources, including other textbooks.

• The integrated perspective has been strengthened by even more careful
  editing. Most authors went through three versions of their chapters and
  many read chapters of other authors in order to avoid overlap and con-
  flicting evidence. Links have been provided between chapters to further
  clarify the overall structure of the book, and in order to help instructors,
  discussion questions and suggestions for further reading are now pro-
  vided with each chapter.


• The book has moved from a predominantly Dutch author base in the 1st
  edition to a truly international group of authors, coming from or working
  in more than ten different countries, in this edition. The book has main-
  tained its distinctive European focus (especially in Part 4), but with new
  chapters on Asia and developing countries and new authors from the
  US, China and Australia, it has now reached out to other areas of the
  world as well.

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THIS BOOK?

This book consists of four clearly delineated parts. Each part can be studied as

an independent unit, so that readers may choose to study the parts most inter-

esting to them, if they so desire. Taken together, however, the four parts

present a consistent picture of the way in which international HRM can be

approached as a discipline.

In Part 1 (Internationalization: Context, Strategy, Structure and Processes)

we first place International HRM in a wider context. Chapter 1 touches upon

recent developments in the field of internationalization and offers various theo-

retical models which explain the existence of international trade and multi-

national companies. We also look at the social consequences of the increasing

internationalization of the global economy. Chapter 2 then discusses the

different options that MNCs have in terms of strategy and structure in some

detail and shows that these can be combined into a typology of MNCs that

stands up to empirical verification. We also provide a preview of the link between

strategy, structure and HRM, an issue that is further explored in Chapter 3. That

chapter also traces the development of IHRM as a research field and examines the

role of the corporate HR function in the international firm, global management

development and the roles and responsibilities of transnational managers.

Introduction 3

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