Study on staff management practice of multinational company affiliates in China

Abstract

PurposeMore and more foreign companies, including multinational companies, open business in China. The staff management under the local culture of China is one of the critical points affecting the success of foreign invested companies in China. This paper aims to illustrate the effective methods of staff management for foreign invested companies in China.Design/methodology/approachFor this purpose, a survey on concrete practices of staff management was conducted among three multinational company affiliates in China, whose parent companies are located in the USA, Japan, and Europe, respectively, by the in‐depth interviews with the high‐level executives of the affiliates.FindingsIt was found that although the staff management experiences of the surveyed affiliates show differences in operation, the affiliates have a common sense on how to balance culture difference, how to effectively communicate with staff, and how to appraise the performance. The active and passive factors of these experiences were further analysed from the needs level under current Chinese economic situation and from the invisible impacts on human behaviour of Chinese culture.Research limitations/implicationsThis study surveyed only three multinational company affiliates in China and therefore, the understanding obtained is limited in scope. The comprehensive knowledge of the subject depends on more case studies.Practical implicationsThe analysis reveals that the active factors and localization, especially localization of the management team, are very important to the staff management of foreign invested companies in China.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the research on effective methods for staff management in multinational companies.