What Happens on Tour, Stays on Tour: Failure and Teams on Short Term International Assignment (Case Study‪)‬

INTRODUCTION For many years a significant focus of global human resources management (GHRM) research has been the traditional long term expatriate (Bonache, Brewster & Suutari 2001, Brewster & Suutari 2005, Mayerhofer, Hartmann, Michelitsch-Riedl & Kollinger 2004). This emphasis remains the dominant area of interest, although increasingly work is being undertaken on non standard international assignments and independent expatriates using qualitative methodologies (Mayerhofer, et al. 2004, Tahvanainen, Welch & Worm 2005, McKenna & Richardson, 2007, Richardson 2008). Moreover, within conventional research, the focus tends to be on the individual expatriate rather than on teams of assignees.