Transfer of Human Resource Practices from German Multinational Enterprises to Asian Subsidiaries‪.‬

ABSTRACT There are three Human Resource Management related issues that have attracted considerable interest in the international management literature. These three research issues deal with 1) human resource practice transfers, with 2) relational context affecting implementation and internalisation, and with 3) roles of key staff that influence European human resource practices across Southeast Asian countries. These issues were addressed in a study when human resource (HR) directors and line managers were interviewed in German companies with subsidiaries in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. The study findings indicate firstly, that German MNEs because of underlying value differences, tend to transfer policies and leave the translation into practices to the local Asia Pacific HR director, whereas the subsidiaries have contrasting expectations. Secondly, the findings confirm the importance of the relational context and trust between headquarters (HQ) and subsidiaries. Finally, the study evidence demonstrated HQ and subsidiary managers have different perspectives, and this observation highlights how cultural attributions affect organisational practice. The implications are that various approaches to the control of HR policies exist and the MNEs are encouraged to carefully analyse the relational context and subsidiary expectations when planning their international HR transfer strategy.