ABSTRACT
Attempts to link international human resource management (IHRM) with the strategic needs of international business has led to the development of the strategic international human resource management (SIHRM) field. Two decades ago, Schuler, Dowling and De Cieri (1993: 720) defined SIHRM as the “human resource management issues, function, policies, and practices that result from the strategic activities of multinational enterprises and that impact the international concerns and goals of those enterprises.” SIHRM borrows many of its ideas from work on the strategic HRM of domestic companies, but SIHRM policies and practices are closely associated with needs of “interunit linkages” (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1991). Following Bartlett and Ghoshal's (1991) discussion of the importance of balancing the needs for coordination, control, and autonomy to ensure MNE success, Schuler et al. (1993: 729) highlight that “being globally competitive, efficient, sensitive to the local environment, flexible and capable of creating an organization in which learning and the transfer of knowledge are feasible” is a “fundamental assumption in SIHRM.” They offer an integrative framework for SIHRM, which distinguishes among: (1) SIHRM issues related to the differentiation and integration of local units, (2) SIHRM functions related to resource allocation across those units, and (3) SIHRM policies and practices associated with local units’ resource utilization.
