Name: DON MCARTHNEY C.

TUGAOEN Date Submitted: 05/03/2018

Course Code: HRM 280 Module No.: 3
Title of Specific requirement/exercise: Assignment3.1
Course Professor: EVELYN A. ESQUEJO

ASSIGNMENT3.1

Choose an international organization/ multinational company/global organization. Evaluate its

expatriate management practices and policies. What do you consider as strong or weak about
them? What are consistent or inconsistent with the previous discussion? Please expound.

International human resource management has become one of the most controversial issues in
the world today as a result of globalization and internationalization of companies, products and
services. As a result of the complexity of international management it is essential to have the right
person at the right position at the right time with the right cost.

One of the human resource strategies they are using to enhance their operations is to employ
expatriates. In this paper, I will identify and examine how Coca Cola manage its expatriates. HR
practices are internationally one of the most important competitive strength of The Coca-Cola
Company. Coca-Cola, very successful multinational, who has adopted HR practices that suits the
particular region in where the company operates. Coca-Cola prefers regional specific HR practices
by using practices at home and adapting them to host regions. Coca Cola’s HR policies and
practices are mainly formed in compliance with local labor laws and culture. The company
operates within the domination of local laws and cultural practices. Cultural diversity is a major
consideration in Coca-Cola international operations.

Coca-Cola tries to staff their operations with local personnel on operation level, because of better
performance in home locations. Senior managers should have international exposure at strategic
level. Expatriates are needed in the system for two main reasons: 1) to fill a need for a specific set
of skills that not exist at a particular location, 2)to improve the employee's own skill base.
Expatriates are paid according to US benchmarks to prevent the premature return of expatriates.
Coca-Cola’s expatriates move from one international assignment to the next but maintain strong
connections to their mentors at the Atlanta headquarters.

Internal, external recruitment of expatriates

Coca Cola does not prefer external recruitment. They only do external hiring in case of sudden
recruitments.

Their basic focus is on internal recruitment:

 They forecast their future needs and collect the data of applicants in advance.
 They collect resumes at their every territory.
 They maintain a talent bank for meeting internal hiring needs.
 They visit universities and colleges to fulfil their talent bank.
 Their major focus is on quality and their standards of recruitment are high.
 Their selection standard was 85 % marks in masters.
 Their major recruitment source is E-Recruiting.

Page 1 of 3
Name: DON MCARTHNEY C. TUGAOEN Date Submitted: 05/03/2018
Course Code: HRM 280 Module No.: 3
Title of Specific requirement/exercise: Assignment3.1
Course Professor: EVELYN A. ESQUEJO

 They have standard type of adds for the job description and specification.
 Their recruitment adds are published by their Media department.
 Adds and vacancies banners are being offered by every territory as demanded.

Staffing policy
Coca-Cola’s staffing policy for managerial position is combination of Ethnocentric and Geocentric,
but the second one is dominant. Ethnocentric staffing: primarily the company hire expatriates to
staff higher-level foreign positions. Geocentric staffing: Coca-Cola uses worldwide integrated
business strategy, so the company favors the appointment of managers with the best
qualifications, regardless of nationality or ethnic background.

Standards for international assignment

The company relies on selection standards on which management can focus when recruiting and
hiring. This standard is demonstrated in the board of directors were out of 21 members only 4
persons are American. Aimed to identify candidates inside colleges, Coca-Cola has another
standard which is called recruiting program. The company uses a standard which is the internship
program. It provides a year of training for the foreign or US students either in the US or at home.
This is followed by an evaluation of each intern on which the management relies to choose a future
potential employee with the company. By using these standards, the firm is finding talented
candidates on a global basis.

Expatriate Preparation and Development Program

Prior to departure: Orientation Training

 Language
 Culture
 History
 Local Customs
 Living Conditions

During assignment: Continual Development Training

 Expanding Skills
 Career Planning
 Home-Country Development

Near completion: Repatriation Orientation Training:

 Lifestyle
 Workplace
 Employees

Expatriate Compensation

Page 2 of 3
Name: DON MCARTHNEY C. TUGAOEN Date Submitted: 05/03/2018
Course Code: HRM 280 Module No.: 3
Title of Specific requirement/exercise: Assignment3.1
Course Professor: EVELYN A. ESQUEJO

Those individuals who are assigned for over-seas operations have different compensation and
benefit program than the regular workers at their local country.

Coca-Cola offers a package for that employee containing some of the following benefits:
 more salary (Purchasing Power Models based on the US banchmark rates)
 housing, transportation, telephone (cost-of-living allowances)
 insurance and security package
 yearly ticket to home country
 transfer the family
 assist the spouse in finding job in any companies

The international workers’ compensation packages also include such compensation-related

benefits as housing allowances, cost-of-living differentials and education costs. If an expat is in a
particularly difficult area, he or she might receive an environmental allowance that recognizes the
difficulties of that location. And expats in the program may receive home leave, which allows them
to return home if they choose to for a certain period of time to renew their ties with their homeland.

Expatriate failure
Despite the Coca-Cola has well-organized global staffing approaches, the business still faces a
risk of expatriate failure. According to the H.R. Department of Coca-Cola the most striking
challenges occurred due to problems of:
 technical competence,
 adaptability,
 lack of local acceptance.

In order to eliminate or rather reduce such issues, a higher emphasis on cultural awareness, and
intercultural communication training should be placed. To overcome other possible challenges, a
part of the Coca-Cola's Global Human Resource Management is the so called “International
Service Program”.

Repatriation
Coca-Cola does not repatriate managers until they have had a chance to show that they have
made an impact. The minimum time is three to five years, depending on the country and the
assignments. This kind of performance monitoring serves as a great motivator, but to be inspired,
managers require something more.

CONCLUSION

No global enterprise can really guarantee a 100 percent success in their respective expatriate
program and so with Coca Cola. Overall they have a great expatriate program, from recruitment
and selection, training and compensation. But there is a room for improve as shown by expatriate
failures. While their expatriate program is a huge investment of the company, they still need to

Page 3 of 3
Name: DON MCARTHNEY C. TUGAOEN Date Submitted: 05/03/2018
Course Code: HRM 280 Module No.: 3
Title of Specific requirement/exercise: Assignment3.1
Course Professor: EVELYN A. ESQUEJO

reduce failure rates in order to increase profits and ensure global competitiveness. And one of the
way to reduce expatriate failure is through enhancement and concentration on expatriate selection
as stated above that the main causes of expatriate failure are technical competence and
adaptability. During the talent acquisition, a rigid assessment of technical competence and
adaptability. They also have to offer special training to enhance the adaptability competence of
expatriates. As we can see, Coca Cola is continually developing their expatriate program as they
created their International Service Program.

References

https://educheer.com/life-of-an-expatriate-coca-cola/

https://www.slideshare.net/attilanemeth0001/expatriates-at-coca-cola

https://educheer.com/life-of-an-expatriate-coca-cola/

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