Call for papers. Special Issue on: Management of Human Resources in MNCs from the BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa): Emerging Patterns, Challenges and Research Agenda

Journal of International Management 

Special Issue Call For Submissions

Management of Human Resources in MNCs from the BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa): Emerging Patterns, Challenges and Research Agenda

Guest Editors:

• Pawan S. Budhwar (Aston University, Birmingham, UK),
• Rosalie L. Tung (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, CANADA)
• Arup Varma (Loyola University, Chicago, USA) 

Ever since the publication of the Goldman Sachs report (Wilson and Purushothaman, 2003), the world has been carefully watching the growth and developments in the BRIC nations. South Africa sought membership to the BRIC Forum and was officially admitted as a member nation in December 2010. Since then the group has been renamed BRICS to reflect the five-nation membership. Not surprisingly, we have witnessed a number of critical developments in these five markets, such as creation of massive new markets for foreign firms; ever-increasing levels of both outward and inward FDI to and from them; and lately, the growth of MNCs from these markets which are challenging global players and even acquiring them. While research exists on HRM practices of MNCs from developed countries and their subsidiaries – including their operations in developing economies (e.g., Schuler et al., 2009), there is a dearth of publications on HRM systems in emerging market MNCs (EMNCs). Given the increasing awareness of the impact of HRM on organizational performance, the context-specific nature of HRM, the trend towards cross-vergence of HRM systems across the globe and the scarcity of reliable research evidence on HR policies and practices of MNCs from BRICS nation, it is both timely and topical to pursue a special issue on this topic.

Apart from the creation of useful information and knowledge for researchers, practitioners and policy makers, this special issue is expected to test the relevance of existing theoretical frameworks (e.g., OLI – ownership, location, internationalization; global standardization versus localization perspective; resource based view of the firm; institutional theory) to examine the nature and emerging patterns of HRM systems in MNCs from BRICS nations. Further, due to a combination of factors such as the heterogeneity of the BRICS nations, the motives for the growth of their respective MNCs being different, and the ownership of MNCs from these nations being different from developed nations MNCs, this special issue is expected to provide researchers the opportunity to examine and confirm the usefulness of new theoretical perspectives such as the LLL (linkage, leveraging, learning) (Mathews, 2006), dynamic capabilities perspective (Cazurra and Genc, 2008), ambidexterity perspective (Luo and Rui, 2009), ambicultural mode (Chen and Miller, 2010), reverse diffusion, spring board strategy (Luo and Tung, 2007), liability of country of origin, liability of foreignness and late mover disadvantage (e.g., Contractor et al., 2007; Guillen and Garcia-Canal, 2009), and hybridization or move towards the best practice model; contributing to developments in the fields of international HRM, international management, comparative management, and organizational learning (e.g., Tung, 2008; Horwitz and Budhwar, 2014).

The aim of this special issue is to create an opportunity to fill the above highlighted gaps in the existing body of literature by assembling conceptual, theoretical and empirical developments related to the topic of ‘management of human resources in the MNCs from BRICS nations’. HRM is generally acknowledged to be context-specific; and to better understand the nature of HRM systems relevant for EMNCs in different settings, it is important to analyze the business environment of the country of origin of these MNCs and the country of their operations (e.g., Khavul et al., 2010). Also, over the years, there has been an ongoing debates in the field of international HRM on topics such as the suitability of specific approaches to IHRM; global standardization versus localization of HRM policies; transfer of HR across subsidiaries and global sharing of best practice; global talent management; reverse knowledge transfers; the role of country specific HR centers in coordination and transfer of knowledge across the MNE operations; and convergence-divergence or cross-vergence of HRM across subsidiaries of MNCs operating in different parts of the world (see, e.g., Budhwar et al., 2009). However, the majority of these debates have been tested in MNCs from developed nations. In light of the rapid growth of MNCs from BRICS countries, a number of questions need addressing, such as what is the role of the HRM function in the internationalization of EMNCs? What IHRM approach(es) do EMNCs adopt? Are these similar to or different from those of developed countries MNCs? What kind of theoretical frameworks are suitable to investigate the emerging patterns of HRM systems in MNCs from BRICS nations? Do EMNCs emphasize global standardization, localization or glocalization of HRM systems? What are the key HRM challenges facing MNCs from emerging markets? This special issue is designed to address the aforementioned issues.

The following are illustrative questions/themes that are consistent with the spirit of this special issue. Authors are encouraged to contribute papers with wider perspectives, as long as the papers are in line with the broad theme of the proposed special issue.

• What is the nature of HRM systems of foreign firms originating from emerging markets, specifically Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa? 
• What are the major factors that affect HRM policies and practices from EMNCs in their overseas operations? 
• What theoretical frameworks are relevant to examine and highlight the context-specific nature of HRM in EMNCs? 
• Are HRM systems of MNCs from BRICS countries convergent with systems of developed nations? 
• How do MNCs from BRICS countries share their best HRM practices and transfer them between headquarters and subsidiaries? 
• What is the experience of expatriates from MNCs of BRICS countries, and to BRICS countries? 
• How can HR policies and practices affect organizational performance of EMNCs? 
• What is the role of HR in the formation and implementation of global strategic alliances (e.g., mergers and acquisitions)? 

Key dates for the Special Issue:

• Submission Deadline: 31 July 2015
• Review Completion: 30 April 2016
• Publication: 2016/17

For enquiries please contact

• Pawan Budhwar - Email: p.s.budhwar@aston.ac.uk

References:

• Budhwar, P., Schuler, R. and Sparrow, P. (2009) (Eds.) Major Works in International Human Resource Management. London: Sage (4 Volumes).
• Chen, M.J. and Miller D. (2010) West meets East: toward an ambicultural approach to management. Academy of Management Perspectives, 24(4): 17‒24. 
• Contractor, F.J., Kumar, V. and Kundu, S.K. (2007) Nature of the relationship between international expansion and performance: The case of emerging market firms. Journal of World Business, 42: 401‒417. 
• Cuervo-Cazurra, A. and Genc, M. (2008) Transforming disadvantages into advantages: Developing-country MNEs in the least developed countries. Journal of International Business Studies, 39: 957‒979. 
• Gullién, M.F. and Garcia-Canal, E. (2009) The American model of the multinational firm and the new multinationals from emerging economies. Academy of Management Perspectives, 23 (2): 23‒35. 
• Horwitz, F. and Budhwar, P. (2014) (Eds) Handbook of Human Resource Management in Emerging Markets. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar (In Press).
• Khavul, S., Benson, G.S. and Dutta, D.K. (2010) Is internationalization associated with investments in HRM? A study of entrepreneurial firms in emerging markets. Human Resource Management, 49(4): 693-711.
• Luo, Y. and Rui, H. (2009) An ambidexterity perspective toward multinational enterprises from emerging economies. Academy of Management Perspectives, 23(4): 49‒70. 
• Luo, Y. and Tung, R.L. (2007) International expansion of emerging market enterprises: A springboard perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 38: 481‒498. 
• Mathews, J.A. (2006) Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalisation. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23: 5‒27. 
• Schuler, R.S., Sparrow, P. and Budhwar, P. (2009) Major Works in International Human Resource Management. In P. Budhwar, R. Schuler and P. Sparrow (Eds.) Major Works in International Human Resource Management – Volume 1. London: Sage, xxiii - xxviii.
• Tung, R.L. (2008) The cross-cultural research imperative: The need to balance cross-national and intra-national diversity. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(1): 41-46.
• Wilson, D. and Purushothaman, R. (2003) Dreaming with BRICs: The path to 2050. Global Economics Paper Number 99. Goldman Sachs Global Economic Website, www.gs.com

Call for chapters. Progress in International Business Research (PIBR)

Progress in International Business Research (PIBR)

Call for Chapters:
PIBR Volume #11

Book Series Title: Progress in International Business Research (PIBR)

Volume #11: “The challenge of/for BRIC Multinationals”

Editors: Rob van Tulder, Alain Verbeke, Jorge Carneiro, Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez

Publisher: Emerald

For Volume #11 of the PIBR book series, we invite two types of contributions:

·      Research papers on emerging market – particularly BRIC – multinationals;

·      Teaching cases that address managerial dilemmas related to the internationalization of BRIC firms.

This Call for Chapters is intended to provide prospective authors for a volume on BRIC multinationals to come up with relevant ideas. The Call first describes why the issue of BRIC multinationals defines a specific angle in international business research. Secondly, the Call specifies the content of the special issue that we plan for the Progress in International Business Research (PIBR) book series (published by Emerald). Thirdly, this Call elaborates possible themes and the way these could be tackled in the form of teaching-oriented case studies. You are warmly invited and welcome to contribute!

General Introduction: Why BRIC multinationals are special?

The recent emergence of a number of high-profile multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging markets has triggered considerable research and debate on how to understand and appraise this phenomenon (Sauvant, 2011). The challenge for empirical research includes the question of whether the strategies and motives for the internationalization of these MNEs can be considered fundamentally different from the strategies of firms from developed countries (Luo and Tung 2007), or whether their ownership advantages are fundamentally different from those of developed country MNEs (Mathews 2002; Luo and Tung 2007; Buckley et al. 2007; Li 2007). Increasingly described as “springboarding” (Luo and Tung 2007), the internationalization strategies of emerging market firms are characterized by their high-risk, aggressive, and “boom-and-bust” or radical nature, while targeting many customers in many foreign markets at once, in a strategy of entrepreneurial venturing (Yiu et al. 2007). Comparing developed country MNEs of the 1960s, with emerging market MNEs in the 2000s, Dunning, Kim, and Park (2008) identified a number of additional differences. These include forms of entry (alliances); motivation (asset augmentation); managerial approach (regional and geocentric); role of home governments (more active than in the past); regional destination; institutional triggers of internationalization rather than traditional motives related to neoclassical models; and the lack of firm-specific ownership advantages (177).

One of the problems with these observations is that the category of ‘emerging market multinationals’ does not distinguish between different types of emerging markets. Although the empirical research is dominated by Chinese, Indian and – to a lesser extent – Brazilian multinationals, the theoretical literature nevertheless tends to adopt the more neutral term of emerging markets. But to what extent can the multinationals from these very specific country backgrounds be considered representative for a wider group of multinationals? Can China be compared, for instance, to Malaysia or Thailand? 

Taking these questions into account asks for the extent to which countries-of-origin matter in general for the study of MNEs. Moreover, with regard to the special case of BRIC countries and BRIC multinationals, a further dimension should be taken into account: the size of the home country as well as in particular the political weight in the international arena that this brings with it. To what extent can these domestic institutions be considered ‘normal” for explaining the internationalization strategies of BRIC multinationals as compared to emerging market multinationals in general? Another dimension related to these questions is the circumstance that whereas the classical developed country multinationals developed more or less parallel to their home countries economic development and political power, the BRIC multinationals still develop in relatively weakly developed countries, however with considerable political power and aspirations. Do these circumstances, therefore, imply that perhaps theoretical lines for ‘emerging market multinationals’ need not be redrawn, but that new approaches to explain the new breed of multinationals from BRIC countries need to be designed? If so what does that mean for the study of international business. Most modern IB theorists have either denied that there is need for new approaches, or have slightly modified their approach, not to explain for emerging market multinational specifically, but rather to include some of the characteristics of globalization in general. But to what extent does this underestimates the ‘uniqueness’ of the BRIC multinationals? Because the BRIC countries – in comparison to most other developing countries – have occupied a stronger bargaining position vis-à-vis developed countries’ multinationals, does this change their entry conditions and ultimately the way foreign multinationals (can) contribute to domestic development? And the flip-side of this argument: most BRIC countries only started to ‘allow’ their domestic companies to move abroad, thus creating substantial Outward Foreign Direct Investment flows. Many of these moves were accompanied by institutional arrangements, like Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). Depending on the ownership of these companies, their international expansion was part of national strategies and policy agendas. Compared to the outwards internationalization strategies of ‘western’ multinationals, this also provides a distinctive characteristic of BRIC multinationals: their links with the foreign ambitions of their home governments.

PIBR #11 – Research papers

This volume searches for a number of idiosyncratic elements in internationalization strategies of BRIC MNEs and, therefore, in particular in their relationship with home country policies:

1   The theoretical challenge: do we need different or more specific theories of EMNEs to assess the phenomenon of BRIC multinationals?

2   The empirical challenge: what marks the changing position of BRIC countries in the world economy: including institutional differences and commonalities in outward orientation and participation and shaping of international institutions (such as the BRICs bank complementing Bretton Woods institutes).

3   The managerial challenge: coming of age of a new breed of multinationals: what distinguishes BRIC multinationals from other multinationals? To what extent is the diplomatic agenda aligned with the corporate agenda? 

4   The policy making challenge: impact of outward Foreign Direct Investment on the home market: What impact have MNEs from BRIC countries on their domestic economy and the political constellations

PIBR #11 – Teaching cases

Educational ambitions

This volume emphasizes the unique characteristics of BRIC multinationals. We will actively solicit state-of-the art contributions, including systematic literature reviews – preferably by PhD students. Furthermore, the volume is intended to be used in an educational setting. For this, more extensive teaching cases as well as short cases (included as boxed in the book) are request that illustrate the above ambitions of the book: 

• Examples of how the size of the home market influences the international strategies of companies 
• Examples of how the international strategy of a company is linked to national political priorities 
• Examples of companies that successfully combined a Bilateral Investment Treaty (or any other form of diplomatic support) with a foreign investment 
• Examples of negative or positive responses by host governments to the entry of BRIC multinationals 
• Examples of the risks and opportunities of ‘springboarding’ strategies of BRIC multinationals 
• Examples of in particular the regional implementation of internationalization strategies by BRIC multinationals 

The teaching case format

1. The special focus of BRIC cases


The BRIC countries are a ‘special breed’ in the internationalization strategies of firms, because of a number of reasons: (1) big home market, that is rapidly developing, (2) but that remains not very well developed yet with sizable institutional voids and great ‘ issues’ at home, (3) at the same time these countries have sizable political weight in the international arena (member of security council, in international treaties etc.) that makes them incomparable to most other developing countries, which (4) therefore creates a different ‘risk mitigation’ strategy for the companies originating in the BRIC countries (Outward Foreign Direct Investment), and (5) at the same time creates a better bargaining position of these companies vis-à-vis incoming companies in their home turf (Inward Foreign Direct Investment), and explains also why (6) some of these companies have internationalized so rapidly (springboarding) due to a mix of domestic and foreign influences that in the case of BRIC multinationals really make a difference (strategic tipping points; for instance the political support to take over competitors in the home market and/or to invest abroad as part of geo-political strategic motivations).

2. Theoretical discussion

This distinguishes them from traditional multinationals (general theory on multinationals) and from ‘emerging market multinationals’ (general theory on latecomer multinationals). The discussion whether we need ’new theory’ or can continue to base our studies on ‘old’ theories therefore seems a bit off-the-case. See, for example, van Tulder (2010), who argues that it is more important to re-address classical approaches to IB (the political economic) next to recent insights that look at the motivations to go abroad in a more holistic manner: such as the ‘resource bundling’ perspective and different ways of looking at stakeholder engagement and new angles to the ‘liability of foreignness’.






VAN TULDER, Rob (2010). Toward a Renewed Stages Theory for BRIC Multinational Enterprises? A Home Country Bargaining Approach. In SAUVANT, Karl, McALLISTER, Geraldine, and MASCHEK, Wolfgang (eds.), Foreign Investments from Emerging Markets.

3. The case format

Taking the above considerations into account the teaching case should roughly follow the following characteristics:

•   [a] discuss a BRIC multinational, with controlling ownership in the BRIC country (can be anything)

•   [b] depart from a managerial problem: what should the manager do?

•   [c] take a bargaining and stakeholder perspective: how to deal with stakeholders at home and abroad (or how is action induced by stakeholder action at home)?

•   [d] look at risk mitigation factors (that are typical for BRIC countries; bilateral treaties between the home and the host countries: BITs, DTTs, regional treaties and the like)

•   [e] consider the institutional distance that the company has to overcome and the managerial problems it facing because of that

•   [f] try to specify in which stage of internationalization this company is and what that entails for the management problem

•   [g] NOTE: the core of the case can be any management problem in specific (R&D, take-over yes/no, marketing, license to operate, entry decision, independence of the subsidiary) as long as you are able to define the role that is played by the large home country basis (i.e. the BRIC nature) 

NOTE: At the EIBA 2015 conference in Rio de Janeiro (www.eiba2015.org), a special session around the prospective teaching cases on BRIC multinationals will be organized.

Deadlines:

·      April 30^th 2015: First submission of papers (to the EIBA 2015 Rio conference, www.eiba2015.org)

·      December 2015: Pre-selection of papers/chapters

·      March 15^th 2016: Second submission of improved papers

·      May 15^th 2016: Final submission of papers

·      November 2016: Publication of the book

Submit your contribution via the link: http://eiba2015.iag.puc-rio.br/?page_id=446

Teaching cases shall be submitted as competitive papers (as per the guidelines above) to Track 14 of the EIBA 2015 conference and must not exceed 25 pages (double-spaced), including tables, figures, references, and the respective teaching notes. Manuscripts submitted must not have been published, accepted for publication, or be currently under consideration elsewhere. Teaching cases must contain (1) the text of the teaching case itself, where the managerial dilemma is presented and information about the company and the context is shown; (2) teaching notes, which must present the learning objectives, issues for discussion, examples of appropriate analysis and of suggestions for in-class dynamics; and, ideally, also (3) a discussion of experiences in using the case in class.

ATTENTION – Special Issue of ARLA: While PIBR Volume #11 is interested in cases about BRIC multinationals, Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Adminsitración (ARLA) (http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=arla) will be publishing a special issue composed of the best teaching cases (submitted to the EIBA 2015 conference) that address internationalization challenges of Latin American firms (excluding Brazilian firms, which are within the scope of PIBR Volume #11).

Further information:

Rob van Tulder

Professor of International Business-Society Management

Department of Business-Society Management

Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)

Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands

Email: rtulder@rsm.nl

Call for conference papers on: Marketing in BRICS

2014 World Marketing Congress

August 5-8, 2014 Lima, Peru

Track “Marketing in BRICS”

Co-Chairs Gregory Kivenzor and Deon Nel

You are cordially invited to submit your research paper and/or special session proposal for this track in a PDF format via the link: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wmc17esan

Suggested topics for this track include:

marketing in transitional BRICS economies; comparison among BRICS consumers and these with Western markets; cross-cultural and multicultural marketing in BRICS; cultural issues and their effect on marketing successes and failures; peculiarities of B2B and B2C marketing environment; marketing to the growing middle-class; marketing to consumers in the bottom of the pyramid; marketing luxury products in BRICS; marketing effects on ethics, sustainable practices and CSR; competition between MNCs and local players in BRICS; SMEs in BRICS; firms from BRICS entering developed markets; teaching marketing disciplines in BRICS; brands in BRICS.

This list is neither comprehensive nor exclusive, other BRICS related topics will be considered.

Track co-Chairs foresee the use of different session formats: competitive paper presentations, panel discussions, poster sessions, etc. General requirements are listed in the AMS Call for Papers: http://tinyurl.com/lql5s3x.

Submission Deadline: October 1, 2013.  

By this date, you need to submit only an extended abstract (up to 5 pages) for the purpose of review. You may find useful an example of the structured abstract posted on the AMS site: http://tinyurl.com/kxbxvse.

If you have any questions, please contact track co-Chairs:

• Gregory Kivenzor gkivenzor@bifosllc.com
• Deon Nel               deon.nel@icloud.com

Note: co-Chairs are in a dialog with publishers and explore opportunities to publish full academic research papers presented at the “Marketing in BRICS” track in a book.