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Expatriates experience both positive and negative effects of boundary-spanning activities in multinational enterprises
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Credit: KyotoU/Trais
Kyoto, Japan — In international business, companies frequently dispatch their employees overseas as expatriates. They are crucial for linking the headquarters with foreign branches and their subsidiaries and bridging cultural, language, and business practice gaps.
Traditionally, the focus has been on these positive effects of expatriates engaging in boundary-spanning activities. These include formal and informal communication, coordination across diverse cultures and organizational practices, and building business networks and trust within and outside the companies.
However, the risk of excessive…
