1 Going global: How to succeed in International Business! (29 pages)
12 Global Management: A dance with icebergs
more frequently being sent abroad without their families. Further-
more, the number of short stays abroad and commuting posts
where the expatriate is on assignment during the week and re-
turns home for weekend are increasing. Technical knowhow is
the most common reason for sending an employee abroad
13
. A
German engineer sent to optimize production processes in Mexico
is a typical example.
In our own study titled
‘
Management & Leadership across the
Board: Performance Driver International Dynamics!
’
Wietasch &
Partner wanted to find out how expats are prepared for their as-
signments abroad. We interviewed 150 managers and HR pro-
fessionals in upper and mid-level management positions through-
out 2009. All interviewees work for companies that are operating
internationally, from Mexico to Russia, and from Slovakia to
Spain
14
. Respondents were asked what they thought was im-
portant for expat assignments, allowing for multiple answers:
13
Cf. with that “Unternehmen entsenden Mitarbeiter immer häufiger für kurze
Zeit ins Ausland” under www.mercer.at/press-releases/Assignments-Survey-
2010.
14
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> Expertenbefragung.