Implementing global-local strategies in a post-GFC era: Creating an ambidextrous context through strategic choice and HRM

Abstract

This paper, through a multi case qualitative study design, explains how in times of economic adversity, such as the global financial crisis, adaptive firms from the Indian IT offshore outsourcing implemented several global and local human resource management (HRM) strategies for co-ordinating internal and external processes for managing growth. Applying the theoretical lenses of ambidexterity, HRM practices and the integration-responsiveness framework, the paper highlights the importance of strategic choices in achieving ambidexterity and how implementing certain capabilities and HRM practices creates an ambidextrous context. The implications for theory and practice are also discussed.