Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of cultural distance in cross-cultural adjustment of inpatriates. Furthermore, it investigates the role  of organizational and social support in cross-cultural adjustment. Method In order to achieve the purpose of this study a qualitative method of data gathering was chosen. A case study was conducted in Sandvik Sweden in Gävle, and personal interviews were done with the Indian inpatriates and other representatives involved in international assignment. Findings The cultural distance between Sweden and Indian  directly affect the concept of teamwork in Sandvik-Sweden and Sanvik-India. To understand the cultural background and  motive of  inpatriates is important  in designing organizational support that facilitates anticipatory and in-country adjustment processes. The existence of a recognized socializing way at headquarter eases to interact and develop interpersonal relationship, which facilitate the adjustment process of inpatriates through  referral made from known sources. Implication and suggestion for the future This study can assist multinational companies that are interested in the Cross- cultural adjustment process of inpatriates. We suggest for additional investigations in different organizational setup about the same subject matter to compare new results with the current findings. Future researchers can also investigate the impact of repatriation of inpatriates’ in cross- cultural adjustment. / Masters Thesis

The thesis on the topic of Taking Care of GE and Knowledge Transfer in Company X has examined the practice in the field of the global assignments of the company X hand in hand with a qualitative research method among the GE of X. First, theoretical proposals were introduced and analysed. Then they were connected with the results of the research and discussed and proposals were made for optimising of the care taking about the GE and for releasing the knowledge flow in X.

The main motivations of this thesis are to bring new insights into the different forms of international assignment in a non-multinational context. For this purpose, the dissertation provides new evidence on the roles of different forms of international assignees in offshore insourcing and outsourcing arrangements. The thesis is based on four research essays. The first chapter develops a conceptual framework that links the extent of international assignments to the characteristics of service offshoring strategies in terms of drivers, task complexity, governance mode, and host country location. We argue that offshoring strategies are associated with different needs for control, coordination and transfer of tacit knowledge. Those needs are in turn best served by using a different combination of international assignments. The model suggests that opting for extensive international transfers when the offshoring strategy does not require doing so, exposes firms to unnecessary extra costs. On the contrary, limiting the use of international transfers below the level required to guarantee cross-border control, coordination and knowledge transfer increases the risk of not being able to integrate the offshored services. Therefore, the adequate use of various forms of international assignments (such as expatriation, inpatriation and virtual assignments) constitutes an important capability for the offshoring organization to be able to integrate globally dispersed value chain activities whilst at the same time containing costs. The aim of Chapter 2 is to develop a comprehensive integrative framework that provides a deeper understanding of the use of expatriates and inpatriates to exert control in the specific context of offshore outsourcing. This study extends the agency theory by investigating different practices used by expatriates and inpatriates to exert control on third party providers in order to reduce the agency problems of the client-provider relationships. The research approach consists of an exploratory qualitative study of 32 offshore outsourcing initiatives from 32 companies located in Belgium. The model suggests that even though expatriates and inpatriates play a vital role in exerting control through different strategic control practices implemented in the client company or the third-party provider, they may differ in various matters. Companies prefer to use inpatriates than expatriates as the latter is difficult to find, costly, have an attitude of dominance, and have difficulties in adjusting to the new environment. The specific advantage of using inpatriates is that they provide unique understanding and insight into ‘why things are happening’, which is difficult for expatriates to decipher. This emphasises that the process of inpatriating offshore members into the client company appears to hold significant potential in exerting control in offshore outsourcing relations. Control is a role that has traditionally been attributed to expatriates. Our research shows that inpatriates offer valid alternative with several advantages in the context of offshoring.Chapter 3 develops a comprehensive framework of potential factors responsible for hindering the learning process of offshore team members that should be considered in an offshore insourcing context. This paper adopts a longitudinal case study approach for over a period of one year for studying a large firm in the financial services sector based in Belgium and offshoring its service in Poland. The study focuses on a firm that has set up its own service operations abroad using an offshore insourcing arrangement. Based on a longitudinal study, this research recognizes delayed barriers that still hinder the learning process of offshore team members. Unexpectedly, the study demonstrates that the role of expatriates and inpatriates is an influencing factor (positive or negative) in the learning process of offshore team members. In addition, the results highlighted the fact that short-term perspectives for companies to fully benefit from their actions may not be the solution to enable offshore team members to learn their tasks efficiently in the long-run. Even though offshoring provides access to lower costs and specialised resources, the primary challenge faced by companies is to be able to manage its knowledge efficiently across locations and facilitate the access of knowledge to its offshore team members. The purpose of chapter 4 is to explore how a large firm in the financial service sector transfers different types of knowledge, particularly through different forms of international assignees in an offshore insourcing arrangement. This study adopted a single in-depth case study of a firm based in Belgium where his offshore location is in Poland. The findings from 31 interviews concluded that different forms of international assignees are used in the form of complementary sequences to transfer various types of knowledge during the offshore insourcing arrangement. Therefore, all international assignments are not the same and should not be generalised into one category. Further, the findings offer qualitative evidence to support the roles of different forms of international assignees for creating and retaining new knowledge and avoiding knowledge loss for the organisation. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished