Inpatriation in a globalising MNC: knowledge exchange and translation of corporate culture

Abstract

This paper draws on a qualitative case study of inpatriation in a globalising multinational company headquartered in Denmark. Based on analysis of in-depth interviews with inpatriates from the People’s Republic of China, the USA, Brazil and Japan, we discuss their experiences at headquarters. We focus on the potential of inpatriates as mediators of knowledge flows between headquarters and subsidiaries. Although the inpatriates’ knowledge is seemingly not exploited in a systematic manner, they are well situated to act as boundary spanners, and also as cultural mediators. The inpatriates’ perceptions of the case company’s corporate values of openness, empowerment and worklife balance point to their potential as mediators when developing a global company’s corporate culture and translating it to various cultural contexts. We also touch upon the roles that an HR department plays in inpatriate assignments, and finally, we discuss the implications of our study for new HR initiatives and future research.

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