Question 1

The loss by a country of its most intelligent and best-educated people,a phenomenon known as reverse brain drain,is usually due to the desire to seek improved economic circumstances and pursue better professional opportunities.

Accepted Answer

The loss by a country of its most intelligent and best-educated people, a phenomenon known as brain drain, is usually due to the desire to seek improved economic circumstances and pursue better professional opportunities. Reverse brain drain refers to the return home of highly skilled immigrants who have made a contribution in their adopted country.

Question 2

Companies with a regional strategic approach can use a polycentric staffing policy,employing a variety of host-country nations (HCNs)and third-country nationals (TCNs).

Accepted Answer

Companies with a regional strategic approach can use a regiocentric staffing policy, employing a variety of HCNs and TCNs.

Question 3

Many economic migrants are involved in what are sometimes referred to as "3-D" jobs-digital,developmental,and demanding-which are well paid but which have inadequate numbers of qualified host-country workers to satisfy demand.

Accepted Answer

Migrant labor ranges from highly skilled jobs such as in information technology and medicine to lower-skilled jobs in agriculture, cleaning, and domestic service. Many migrants are involved in what are sometimes referred to as "3-D" jobs-dirty, dangerous, and degrading-that a nation's own workers reject or for which there are not enough available workers. Many of these 3-D jobs employ vulnerable workers, that is, workers who do not have a contract, work without benefits, are paid "under the table," and whose employment often violates local laws.

Question 4

Parent company nationals (PCNs)commonly encounter difficulty overcoming the biases of their own cultural experience and being able to understand and perform effectively within a new operating context.

Accepted Answer

At first, PCNs usually are not knowledgeable about the host-country culture and language. Many such expatriates have adapted, learned the language, and become thoroughly accepted in the host country, although it is also common that such managers encounter difficulty both in overcoming the biases of their own cultural experience and in being able to understand and perform effectively within the new operating context, especially early in their assignment when their lack of host-country knowledge is greatest.

Question 5

International companies contribute aggressively to reverse brain drain as they outsource knowledge work-engineering,software,product design,and development-to such countries as China and India.

Accepted Answer

The growth of outsourcing in developing economies such as India is also pulling talented Indian professionals back home. International companies contribute aggressively to this aspect of reverse brain drain as they outsource knowledge work-engineering, software, product design, and development-to such countries as China, India, and Russia.

Question 6

Companies with a primarily international strategic orientation may adopt an ethnocentric staffing policy.

Accepted Answer

ompanies with a primarily international strategic orientation (characterized by low pressures for cost reduction and low pressures for local responsiveness) may adopt an ethnocentric staffing policy.

Question 7

The disadvantages of using employees from the home or host countries can sometimes be avoided by sending third-country nationals to fill management posts.

Accepted Answer

The disadvantages often encountered when using employees from the home or host country can sometimes be avoided by sending third-country nationals to fill management posts.

Question 8

Populations in developing nations tend to be growing larger and younger at the same time.

Accepted Answer

Due to high birthrates and a decline in the rate of infant mortality, populations in the developing nations tend to be growing as well as becoming younger. Over one-third of the world's 15- to 24-year-olds, a key source of new workers during the next decade, live in just two developing countries: India and China.

Question 9

While the population of people aged 65 or older was 425 million in 2000,by 2050 this group will be nearly twice as large.

Accepted Answer

While the population of people aged 65 or older was 425 million in 2000, by 2050 this group will be nearly four times larger, or about 1.5 billion.

Question 10

Low birthrates and low levels of immigration are leading to a decline in populations in many developed countries.

Accepted Answer

Populations in many developed countries are projected to decline in the coming years, due to factors such as low birthrates and low levels of immigration. For example, between 2010 and 2050, Japan's population is projected to decline from 127 million to 95 million, Russia's from 141 million to 124 million, and Germany's from 81 million to 72 million.

Question 11

An expatriate is a person living outside his or her country of birth.

Accepted Answer

An expatriate is a person living outside his or her country of citizenship, which is not necessarily the country of birth.

Question 12

Under a polycentric staffing orientation,ICs primarily hire host-country nations (HCNs)for subsidiaries and PCNs for headquarters' positions and movement from the local subsidiaries to headquarters' positions is common.

Accepted Answer

Under a polycentric staffing orientation, ICs primarily hire HCNs for subsidiaries and PCNs for headquarters' positions and movement from the local subsidiaries to headquarters' positions is uncommon.

Question 13

Classical economists assumed that labor was a mobile production factor.

Accepted Answer

Classical economists assumed labor to be immobile.

Question 14

The U.S.has 5 percent of the world's population and 20 percent of the world's migrants.

Accepted Answer

This is a tremendous strength of the United States and promises to keep the U.S. workforce vital.

Question 15

Nearly 30 percent of the world's population lived in urban areas in 1950; in 2010,more than half of the world's population was urban,and this proportion is projected to increase to 60 percent by the year 2030.

Accepted Answer

The population and labor force worldwide have been shifting dramatically from rural to urban during the past century. A nearly 30 percent of the world's population lived in urban areas in 1950. In 2010, more than half of the world's population was urban, and this proportion is projected to increase to 60 percent by the year 2030. Although the level of urbanization is higher in developed countries, the level of urbanization increased nearly six times faster in developing countries from 1975 to 2014 as the developing nations experienced rapid increases in population as well as increasing economic development.

Question 16

Because of the importance of the workforce to the effectiveness of organizational operations,a company's approach to international human resource management (HRM)should drive its competitive strategy.

Accepted Answer

A company's competitive strategy should drive the organization's approach to international human resource management.

Question 17

A disadvantage of hiring local managers is that they are often unfamiliar with the home country of the IC and with its policies and practices.

Accepted Answer

A disadvantage of hiring local managers is that they are often unfamiliar with the home country of the IC and with its corporate culture, policies, and practices. Differences in attitudes and values can cause these locally hired managers to act in ways that surprise or displease headquarters. Also, local managers may create their own upward immobility if, because of strong cultural or family ties, they are reluctant to accept promotions that would require them to leave their home country to work abroad at parent headquarters or at another subsidiary.

Question 18

Outsourcing may be a way for the firm to avoid operating with a labor union.

Accepted Answer

If a firm outsources to a country without a union, and it moves union jobs there from a union environment, then it has avoided the union.

Question 19

The effectiveness of every organization depends,to a great extent,on how well its human resources are used.

Accepted Answer

The effectiveness of every organization depends to a great extent on the nature of its workforce and how well its human resources are utilized. Their effective use depends on management's policies and practices.

Question 20

Sources of successful managers for international company (IC)activities include the home country,the host country,or a third country.

Accepted Answer

Finding the right people to manage an organization can be difficult under any circumstances, but it is especially difficult to find good managers of overseas operations. Such positions require more and different skills than do purely domestic executive jobs. Although difficult to locate, such managers do exist, and they may be found in (1) the home country, (2) the host country, or (3) a third country.

Quiz 14: Managing Human Resources in an International Context