International Human Resource Management in Chinese Multinational Corporations

In this study, Asian Chinese multinational corporations were adopted as the scope. Two cases from different regions (Taiwan and Hong Kong), different industries (high-tech and international trade), different operating modes (listed and unlisted), and different core values (own brand marketing and regional distributor) were explored to investigate the decentralized management of the parent company and overseas base, coordination and control systems, and strategic human resource management by comparing the differences in terms of multinational corporation management, cross-cultural management, international human resource management, organizational design, succession planning, and family business and manager''s value fit. Based on the research results, views and recommendations on Chinese multinational corporations'' international human resource management strategies and their key factors of success were put forth. The academic theory in this study is based on the multinational business model concept proposed by Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989), the cross-cultural human resource management proposed by Peter J. Dowling (1988), and the strategic human resource management proposed by Morgan (1986), all of which serve as the foundation of this study. The eight scopes of cross-cultural communication, cross-cultural management, and international human resource management functions, namely, international human resource strategies, international human resource management units, international human resource utilization, international human resource development, international human resource and labor relations, international human resource and employee development, international human resource and salary management, and international human resource management and organizational design served as the case study basis. Additionally, a "balanced scorecard" and "human resource scorecard" were supplemented to derive at conclusions and recommendations in this study. It was found that the biggest contradiction and bottleneck of Chinese multinational corporation management lie in the organizational design (headquarters and region), organizational communication (cross-cultural management), and decentralized management (uncertainty avoidance). Business with "global vision are usually faced with the dilemma of inner pain, contradiction, and struggle toward local actions". It was also found from the case studies that Taiwan''s multinational corporations are superior to Hong Kong''s multinational corporations in terms of the control system side (standardized operating processes), while Hong Kong''s multinational corporations are superior to Taiwan''s multinational corporations in terms of organizational communication (cross-cultural management), flexibility, efficiency, and innovation. One feature of international human resource management is that it must have the ability to assist multinational corporations in seeking organizational dynamic equilibrium, thereby effectively establishing a corporate value system (Schein, 1986) and integrate global human resources.