IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v45y2010i2p143-149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The barriers to effective global talent management: The example of corporate élites in MNEs

Author

Listed:
  • Mellahi, Kamel
  • Collings, David G.

Abstract

This paper focuses on talent management failure by multinational enterprises (MNEs). It examines barriers to corporate advancement of talents located in subsidiaries and more specifically on promotion of talent already employed by the MNE to be part of the upper echelon management team at its centre. Drawing on agency and bounded rationality theories, we discuss the underlying causes of talent management failure in MNEs. At the subsidiary level, we draw on agency theory to delineate self-serving mechanisms displayed by subsidiary managers that might hinder effective talent management systems throughout the MNE. At the headquarter level, we use bounded rationality to explain how decision-making processes, and information top management teams use to make decisions about talent management results in overlooking talents at subsidiary level.

Suggested Citation

  • Mellahi, Kamel & Collings, David G., 2010. "The barriers to effective global talent management: The example of corporate élites in MNEs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 143-149, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:45:y:2010:i:2:p:143-149
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951609000790
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gilles Hilary & Lior Menzly, 2006. "Does Past Success Lead Analysts to Become Overconfident?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(4), pages 489-500, April.
    2. Ingmar Björkman & Carl F Fey & Hyeon Jeong Park, 2007. "Institutional theory and MNC subsidiary HRM practices: evidence from a three-country study," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(3), pages 430-446, May.
    3. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    4. Collings, David G. & Morley, Michael J. & Gunnigle, Patrick, 2008. "Composing the top management team in the international subsidiary: Qualitative evidence on international staffing in U.S. MNCs in the Republic of Ireland," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 197-212, March.
    5. Udo Zander & Bruce Kogut, 1995. "Knowledge and the Speed of the Transfer and Imitation of Organizational Capabilities: An Empirical Test," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(1), pages 76-92, February.
    6. Clifford L. Staples, 2007. "Board Globalisation in the World’s Largest TNCs 1993–2005," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 311-321, March.
    7. James E. Smith & Robert L. Winkler, 2006. "The Optimizer's Curse: Skepticism and Postdecision Surprise in Decision Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(3), pages 311-322, March.
    8. Yaping Gong, 2006. "The impact of subsidiary top management team national diversity on subsidiary performance: Knowledge and legitimacy perspectives," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 46(6), pages 771-790, December.
    9. Simon, Herbert A, 1979. "Rational Decision Making in Business Organizations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(4), pages 493-513, September.
    10. Nancy J Adler & Susan Bartholomew, 1992. "Academic and Professional Communities of Discourse: Generating Knowledge on Transnational Human Resource Management," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 23(3), pages 551-569, September.
    11. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
    12. Pfeffer, Jeffrey, 2001. "Fighting the War for Talent is Hazardous to Your Organization's Health," Research Papers 1687, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    13. James G. March & Zur Shapira, 1987. "Managerial Perspectives on Risk and Risk Taking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(11), pages 1404-1418, November.
    14. Sully Taylor, 2006. "Emerging Motivations for Global HRM Integration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Anthony Ferner & Javier Quintanilla & Carlos Sánchez-Runde (ed.), Multinationals, Institutions and the Construction of Transnational Practices, chapter 5, pages 109-130, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Catherine M. Daily & S. Trevis Certo & Dan R. Dalton, 2000. "International experience in the executive suite: the path to prosperity?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 515-523, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schmid, Stefan & Dauth, Tobias, 2014. "Does internationalization make a difference? Stock market reaction to announcements of international top executive appointments," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 63-77.
    2. Sanjukta Brahma & Agyenim Boateng & Sardar Ahmad, 2023. "Board overconfidence and M&A performance: evidence from the UK," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1363-1391, May.
    3. Michaela Wrede & Tobias Dauth, 2020. "A temporal perspective on the relationship between top management team internationalization and firms' innovativeness," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 542-561, June.
    4. Muellner, Jakob & Klopf, Patricia & Nell, Phillip C., 2017. "Trojan Horses or Local Allies: Host-country National Managers in Developing Market Subsidiaries," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 306-325.
    5. Sarabi, Almasa & Froese, Fabian J. & Hamori, Monika, 2017. "Is inpatriate assignment experience a ticket to the top of a foreign subsidiary? The moderating effect of subsidiary context," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(5), pages 680-690.
    6. Greve, Peder & Biemann, Torsten & Ruigrok, Winfried, 2015. "Foreign executive appointments: A multilevel examination," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 674-686.
    7. Sabina Nielsen, 2010. "Top Management Team Internationalization and Firm Performance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 185-206, April.
    8. Bouzguenda, Karima, 2018. "Emotional intelligence and financial decision making: Are we talking about a paradigmatic shift or a change in practices?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 273-284.
    9. David Weitzner & Theo Peridis, 2011. "Corporate Governance as Part of the Strategic Process: Rethinking the Role of the Board," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 33-42, March.
    10. Antonczyk, Ron Christian & Salzmann, Astrid Juliane, 2014. "Overconfidence and optimism: The effect of national culture on capital structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 132-151.
    11. Farah, Bassam & Chakravarty, Dwarka & Dau, Luis & Beamish, Paul W., 2022. "Multinational enterprise parent-subsidiary governance and survival," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(2).
    12. Hsieh, Linda H.Y. & Rodrigues, Suzana B. & Child, John, 2010. "Risk perception and post-formation governance in international joint ventures in Taiwan: The perspective of the foreign partner," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 288-303, September.
    13. Sitthipongpanich, Thitima & Polsiri, Piruna, 2015. "Do CEO and board characteristics matter? A study of Thai family firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 119-129.
    14. Malcolm Baker & Richard S. Ruback & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2004. "Behavioral Corporate Finance: A Survey," NBER Working Papers 10863, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Vesna Vlaisavljevic & Carmen Cabello Medina & Ana Pérez-Luño, 2014. "Does The Diversity Of Partners In Alliances Guarantees Innovation Performance? The Influence Of Social Capital And Knowledge Codifiability On Such Relationship," Working Papers 14.01, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Business Organization and Marketing (former Department of Business Administration).
    16. Cristiano Antonelli, 2011. "The Economic Complexity of Technological Change: Knowledge Interaction and Path Dependence," Chapters, in: Cristiano Antonelli (ed.), Handbook on the Economic Complexity of Technological Change, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Christina Fang & Jeho Lee & Melissa A. Schilling, 2010. "Balancing Exploration and Exploitation Through Structural Design: The Isolation of Subgroups and Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 625-642, June.
    18. Mewes, Lars & Broekel, Tom, 2022. "Technological complexity and economic growth of regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    19. Du, Yan & Deloof, Marc & Jorissen, Ann, 2015. "The Roles of Subsidiary Boards in Multinational Enterprises," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 169-181.
    20. Prietula, Michael J. & Watson, Harry S., 2008. "When behavior matters: Games and computation in A Behavioral Theory of the Firm," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 74-94, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:45:y:2010:i:2:p:143-149. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620401/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.