By: Ishan Jha

1. How do you see the future of international mobility in 10 years?

First, analyse the future context of international mobility, and then discuss the future of
international human resource management practices. Build your argumentation on your own
reflection and what we have studied in class.

Ans: The future of international mobility as I see it has been described in the form of points
below:

a. With the coming of the global pandemic, international mobility as we know has
completely changed. The single biggest outcome of this crisis for businesses as per
Deloitte’s 2020 Human Capital Trends is that a lot of people are now preferring working
from home. Employees have seen improved productivity largely due to the added
flexibility which work from home provides. This would only be accelerated with the
development of technology which supports flexible approaches to working .Therefore,
more companies would be open to reassessing their strategies towards cross-border
assignments. Virtual assignments would now become the norm since it comes with the
benefits of being cheaper to the company while also being less stressful for the employee
to shift environments. Therefore, segments of work which can be performed remotely
would be done so while the employees sit at the comfort of their home offices.
b. Business travel, while continuing to be relevant, will also be subsumed by virtual
meetings so as to reduce costs. Therefore, a lot of non-essential travel and meetings with
clients will be limited and replaced with video conferencing.
c. Another area that is changing is the nature of the international move. Organisations are
increasingly looking towards local hires to fulfil international roles (potentially using
both local and foreign nationals in-country) given the pandemic and its effect on
cross-border moves.
d. Minorities have traditionally been under-represented in the international assignee profile
and remain an untapped source of talent. However with increased globalization and
 equity in opportunities, organisations will begin to look for diversity not limited to race
and gender but also sexuality, religion and disability.
e. A Mercer research shows that the increasing willingness of the new generations to move
abroad goes hand in hand with increased expectation in terms of lifestyle, career
opportunities, and flexibility. Therefore, the focus will not only be on compensation but
also on the experience, work-life balance and career development perspectives.

Effective human resource practices should be formulated to make this transition smooth for
companies. Human resource professionals will have to ensure that the workforce is equipped to
handle an increasingly complex business environment. The steps that should be taken to usher
the company into a new globalised world are:

a. Investing in the capabilities of the workforce is the biggest challenge for HR. A lot more
employees would also look to enter new markets and domains as Gen Z begins to
integrate into the workforce. They would be risk averse and open minded and would like
to take more international assignments than employees before.
In the 2020 Human Capital Trends survey, 53% of respondents said that between half and
all of their workforce will need to change their skills and capabilities in the next three
years. Business success does not rely only on precise standardized skills but rather
depends increasingly on innovation, entrepreneurship, and other forms of creativity that
rely not just on skills, but also on less quantifiable capabilities such as critical thinking,
emotional intelligence, and collaboration. With the coming of a new era of digitalisation,
developing essential skills in IT, automation, data science, etc would become a part of
every employee’s work even if they don’t deal with technical matters.
b. With more meetings and work being shifted online, HR and Mobility Managers can take
the opportunity to review or design business traveler policies to regulate this type of
travel and the compliance obligations that surround this. Limiting business travel to
essential types of travel can be a cost-saving opportunity.
c. With more local hires fulfilling international roles, HR’s will face new challenges.
Besides the obvious issues of tax and immigration compliance, these issues influence
remuneration packages given as well. There should also be increased importance to
 moves which have been requested by employees rather than moves being forced upon
them.
d. HRs should look to promote deserving candidates who belong to minorities to bring upon
more inclusion and diversity in the organization. This would also foster creativity and
innovation since more employees would feel empowered to speak up in a safe
environment.
e. In response to more millennials joining the workforce, companies might have to offer a
more holistic approach than just cash or vague promises. Companies will need to adapt to
their needs by aligning their mobility practices with the expectation of the new
generations. Career development programs should be charted out to enhance the
experience for the millennial generation and empower them. Flexibility should also be
introduced in policies so as to adapt the approach based on the host country

2. Secondly, read case study: “Yogo game: strategy in the united states” and answer the
following questions (50%):
A. What are the typical stages of MNEs’ internationalization? At what stage is currently Yogo
Game? Give examples and use verbatim from the text to justify your answer.

Ans: A. There are typically five stages to the internationalisation of MNEs:

(i) Domestic Market Establishment - Most companies at their fledgling stage run operations in
their home country alone. This gives the companies a chance to evaluate its strengths and
weaknesses and a platform to test their products before they hit international waters. A strong
foundation has to be built in the domestic market for a company before it makes
export-market-expansion activities.

(ii) Establishment of Local Sales Office - Once the due diligence has been performed, a country
for expansion is selected. This, then leads to the setting up of a local sales office where the
company takes orders for its products and hires a few local sales representatives to gauge
demand and engage with the clients.
(iii) From the third stage, the company truly becomes global by running its operations abroad in
full steam. In the third stage, the company performs its operations through sub-contracting,
franchising or licensing. Therefore, the company does not take the entire onus upon itself to
bring a global brand but instead relies on experts of the region to carry the brand through
licensing its products for sale by a third party in exchange for a cut in the profits. Therefore, the
company does not completely run its operations from their offices but instead ties up with other
companies who are experts in the local market to further their prospects.

(iv) In stage 4, the company operates through wholly owned subsidiaries where they run
operations in multiple countries in its name. They exercise complete control over the operations,
branding, marketing and supply chain of the subsidiary.

(v) Finally, in stage 5, the company has become a major international player where it enters into
international alliances and joint ventures with other big international brands. This allows the two
brands to enjoy synergy due to the expertise of the other. The company therefore leverages the
strength of its partner to enter new countries and capture market share.

Yogo is at stage 4 of their internationalisation plan. This is evidenced in the case study by the
following text copied verbatim below:
“ As Zemba gained popularity, Yogo Game’s divisions also experienced substantial growth.
Yogo Game had achieved a great deal in just 14 years. The firm’s overall operating profit had
grown more than 48 per cent, and by then, the company employed over 2,000 people across
subsidiaries in major cities within the United States, China, and Vietnam.”
Hence, the company owned fully held subsidiaries in other countries and were looking to go
truly global by moving base to Menlo Park.
B. Should Keigo hire mainly locally or bring in employees from Japan? What Are the advantages
and disadvantages of each solution? Give examples from the text to illustrate your answer, and
explain how you limit the drawbacks of the two solutions.

I believe that Keigo should primarily hire more local engineers and management rather than
getting them from Japan.
Before assessing the pros and cons behind hiring more Americans, we should analyse why Yogo
Game entered the US. The reason why Keigo switched base to Menlo Park, California, was due
to strategic considerations. Menlo Park was the hub of gaming software companies and access to
skilled talent would be far easier. Apart from that, the American gaming market was larger, more
lucrative and competitive which would ensure that Yogo stayed relevant in a rapidly evolving
industry.

As supported by evidence in the case, Keigo was looking to ‘American-ize’ Yogo Games by
bringing in more Americans into the company. The advantages of this are:
(i) American engineers and management had a better grasp of the American business climate and
experience in working with other social media companies in Silicon Valley.
Therefore, they would be essential to ensuring the success of Yogo Games in America.
(ii) For Yogo Games to become a truly international brand, they would need a diverse workforce
with differing mindsets and backgrounds. The workforce is predominantly Japanese which leads
to tunnel vision since the style of functioning is Japanese which can lead to inefficiencies in an
American environment. Therefore, more American engineers and management would be
required for the company to expand its vision and scale new heights.

The disadvantages of hiring more American employees meanwhile are:

(i) Yogo Games is a Japanese company with strong core values personified in Japanese corporate
culture such as open spaces, daily morning meetings, power distance, strong hierarchical
barriers, etc. Therefore, for a company which has predominantly been Japanese, it would be
difficult to make it more American since the two factions might come at odds due to a difference
in culture and working style which would also impact productivity.
(ii) There are challenges with hiring American engineers such as having to hire 4 engineers for
one Japanese due to their high degree of specialisation. American engineers were also higher
compensated due to the proliferation of software companies in California. These would lead to
higher costs for Yogo Games.

The advantages of hiring Japanese engineers meanwhile are:

(i) They would be more adapted to the culture at Yogo Games. Hence, they could pick up work
and get acclimated to the working environment quicker.

(ii) They would be relatively cheaper to hire since they would not be subject to poaching as is the
case with American employees.

The disadvantages meanwhile are:

(i) Japanese engineers working in the USA would be at odds with the culture and language due
to the differences that exist between the two. This would lead to miscommunication and wasted
time since they would require a translator for the engineering groups to get the job done.

(ii) It is also a lot harder to hire employees from Japan due to difficult immigration policies
which look to limit foreigners getting working visas in the US.

The ways to limit the drawback and ameliorate the situation are:

(i) There should definitely be more Americans in the company since they would help bring in
more customers due to their understanding of the local market and preferences. However, this
should not be at the expense of Yogo losing its Japanese identity. Therefore, employees should
be hired in America but should also be exposed to Japanese culture. Similarly, all the current
Japanese employees should be given cross cultural training in American norms and customs.
This would help bridge the cultural differences between the two and lead to a more congenial
working environment.
(ii) The transformation of the company to becoming more American should be done gradually to
avoid cultural shocks. All employees should first be taken into full confidence and given training
in English language. It could start with employees being encouraged to speak in English and
American feedback culture being integrated into their workstyles. This should then be followed
by appointment of American management into important positions and teams being formed of
both Americans and Japanese, rather than having them both working in silos.

(iii) Japanese engineers who are only proficient in English should be hired so as to keep the core
Japanese culture of the company intact while also making it more international.

(iv) Third country nationals should be hired to bring more diversity into the company so that one
community or group does not feel like they’re being dominated by the other.