Standardization versus localization: Human resource management in Finnish companies operating in Russia
Salmi, Markus (2006)
Kuvaus
Kokotekstiversiota ei ole saatavissa.
Tiivistelmä
After the dissolution of Soviet Union, Russia has become a member of global economy. The transition period to market economy is still long and far from completed. Further difficulties are caused by the Russian culture. Finnish companies have been well estab-lished operators in Russian and were even in Soviet markets. Therefore Finnish compa-nies have had time to establish themselves in the Russian markets longer than many of their Western competitors.
In this study the focus is on the practices of human resource management and whether Finnish companies operating in Russia use standardized or localized strategy in them. The earlier studies in this topic form a theoretical framework, which contains five as-pects: staffing, human resource development, performance management, compensation and labor relations. Based on this framework, a group of goals are set for this study.
The methodology selected for the study is case methodology and the total amount of case companies is five. Each of them was studied using theme interviews conducted to manager level person operating in each of the companies. The themes in the interviews were based on the theoretical framework formulated from previous studies and theories.
It was found out that companies preferred to localize many of the human resource practices. There was, however, a tendency to start standardize at least performance man-agement practice in companies. This requires further studies in the future.
In this study the focus is on the practices of human resource management and whether Finnish companies operating in Russia use standardized or localized strategy in them. The earlier studies in this topic form a theoretical framework, which contains five as-pects: staffing, human resource development, performance management, compensation and labor relations. Based on this framework, a group of goals are set for this study.
The methodology selected for the study is case methodology and the total amount of case companies is five. Each of them was studied using theme interviews conducted to manager level person operating in each of the companies. The themes in the interviews were based on the theoretical framework formulated from previous studies and theories.
It was found out that companies preferred to localize many of the human resource practices. There was, however, a tendency to start standardize at least performance man-agement practice in companies. This requires further studies in the future.