Globalization has cause organizations between nations to be more integrated and interdependent than before. Taiwan, being an economy based on international trade, has abundant experience in international assignments among business organizations. Due to the changing environments, organizations developed various forms of international assignments. Other than the standard expatriate assignments, short-term assignments, international business travelers (IBT), commuter assignments, rotational assignments and virtual assignments are emerging alternatives to deal with international issues. The IBT is likely to be a big portion of international assignment used in Taiwan, as the number of business travel rises. A qualitative research was held and 11 IBTs from Taiwanese firms was interviewed. The findings are as follow: 1. The proportion of time spent overseas per year differs from IBTs with different backgrounds. 2. The positive factors of IBT work are increase of specialties training, increase of job satisfaction and the rise of personal development. 3. The negative factors of IBT work are pressing work schedules, culture and cognition gaps, time differences and abnormal work schedules, health and safety concerns, separation of family and friends and confliction between work and personal schedules. 4. The standard of travel class influences IBTs¡¦ perspective towards the job and also their life style. 5. IBT cannot totally be substituted.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify the causes and benefits of workforce diversity in a Swedish electrical engineering multinational corporation. Furthermore, to identify various challenges faced by the managers in diversity management and to find strategies adopted by them to minimize those challenges. Design/Methodology/Approach For this research qualitative method is undertaken. The research was undertaken in two stages. In stage one, an open-ended questionnaire was used to collect primary data from three line-managers and in stage two focused group discussion was conducted with three employees from HR department. The total sample size is six employees working in a Swedish Electrical Engineering MNC. Findings and Conclusions The nature of the business carried by the studied MNC requires continuous innovation and customization of products, which requires employees with diverse knowledge, skills and capabilities. The causes for diversity in the studied organization are because of encouraging internal movement of employees from various subsidiaries to the headquarters and by using various other staffing practises such as inpatriation, global virtual teams, permanent transfers etc. The company is also hiring employees from diverse jobmarkets. The findings from the primary data shows that the studied MNC is benefited from highly diversified work force. However, there are certain challenges faced by managers in managing diversity. The Diversity 360 policy of the company is helping the studied MNC to overcome the challenges in diversity management.