THE SHIFT IN TALENT FOR FRENCH MNCS MANAGEMENT IN ASIA - Lirsa

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                                   THE SHIFT IN TALENT
                                      MANAGEMENT
                                    FOR FRENCH MNCS
                                         IN ASIA
                                                                   Cécile DEJOUX1
                                                                     CNAM LIRSA

                                                          Maurice THÉVENET2
                                                  CNAM LIRSA and ESSEC Business School

                     W
                                 estern MNCs are currently facing new              tween Western and local companies. Second,
                                HR challenges in Asia. For years, they             new Asian multinationals have emerged with a
                                were accustomed to being considered                challenging policy to conquer new markets
                     very attractive for local talent, who saw them as             around the globe. As a result, international ex-
                     good potential employers. Basically, the percep-              posure is no longer limited to Western compa-
                     tion was that they offered comparatively better               nies. Third, local potential employees perceive
                     benefits and career opportunities than local com-             a potential glass ceiling for future careers in
                     panies. However, it could also be interpreted in              Western multinationals that could block their ca-
                     another light; i.e., that local candidates were not           reer progress at some point.
                     yet confident about how economic growth
                     would continue around the world and preferred                     This shift in behavior among Asian talent is
                     to join well-established multinational companies              a serious challenge for French multinationals
                     with known brands. In any event, the situation                that need to reshuffle their local HR policies
                     seems to be changing, at the expense of Western               swiftly if they are to staff the upcoming growth
                     multinationals. In fact, young Asian talent now               on Asian markets properly; i.e., when it will no
                     prefers local companies to Western multina-                   longer be possible to sustain the pace of growth
                     tional, a preference that has created a real obsta-           in both the quality and number of staff by using
                     cle for Western companies in their strategy of                expatriates.
                     being key players of the economic upturn in the                   Confronted by the difficulty of attracting, re-
                     emergent countries in this part of the world.                 taining and managing Asian professionals,
                         Three reasons for this significant shift may              French MNCs need to reconsider their tradi-
                     be put forward. First, the differences in benefits            tional way of managing human resources in this
                     and compensation are no longer significant be-                region. In order to examine the scope, reality

                     1
                             Associate Professor at CNAM LISRA and Professor at the ISC Paris Business School.
                     2
                             Professor at CNAM LIRSA et ESSEC Business School.

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                                                                                                       The shift in talent management for French MNCs in Asia

                  and future of this issue herein, we first consider           process. Indeed, very little research has been
                  the economic, sociological and managerial fea-               conducted on the topic. Most academic work ex-
                  tures of this emerging problem. We then present              amines human resources issues with an eye only
                  the case of three major French MNCs so as to                 to international HRM (Festin & Royer, 2008)
                  contrast different business situations while pin-            and expatriation (Cerdin & Le Pargneux, 2009).
                  pointing similarities and differences in which               This apparent lack of interest in linking strategic
                  policies or strategies companies have been im-               and HR concerns becomes a problem of the ut-
                  plemented as a response to this new situation.               most importance, especially as human resources
                  We conclude by drawing a few lessons pertinent               are a key factor in the success of any business
                  to the current challenges of international human             and as the context of the local talent market
                  resources.                                                   shifts toward a new template. As it happens, the
                                                                               supply of talent has changed in countries where
                                                                               the higher education system provides numerous
                                                                               well-educated young people. Moreover, the con-
                  1. THE ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS                                 tinuing expansion of national economies across
                  CONTEXT                                                      Asia is spawning new companies and increasing
                                                                               the demand for experienced executive or mana-
                      For most Western MNCs, the potential for                 gerial talent (McCool, 2007). Yahya & Kaur
                  growth lies in the Asian markets. In fact, some              (2010) outline the fascinating example of Sin-
                  companies have been investing for years there                gapore by comparing the strategy of recruiting
                  so as to gain market shares. Asia and emerging               foreign talent in Malaysia and Singapore while
                  countries may be the real center for their busi-             considering its economic, political and social
                  ness (McCool, 2007; Neal, 2007). A survey con-               impact on local talent. Overall, however, multi-
                  ducted by the OECD and the Boston Consulting                 national enterprises face challenges in finding
                  Group (Vance & Paik, 2011) reported that in                  competent managers to staff operations and sub-
                  2010, there were one billion people of middle-               sidiaries in emerging market economies (Koh,
                  affluent class2 in these new markets3. The same              2003; Tomasz & James, 2007).
                  study forecasts that this number will increase to
                  2.7 billion in 2020. That seems to modify the tra-
                  ditional view of the stages of the international-            1.1. The traditional issues
                  ization of a company slightly. The usual pattern             of international human
                  was the evolution of the local and domestic
                                                                               resource management
                  company towards the multinational company,
                  combined with the myth of the global company.                    As mentioned, traditional discussions of in-
                  Instead of a global company, some MNCs re-                   ternational HRM have neither included these is-
                  semble ‘new-centered’ companies with a mother                sues nor even anticipated them. It is true that a
                  country and market that no are longer the epi-               large body of research has been devoted to ex-
                  center of their activities and preoccupations. In            patriates, managing cultural differences and,
                  fact, there are other centers possessing signifi-            sometimes, the need for global policies in the
                  cant autonomy and a locally designed strategy.               field. Obviously, economic growth in Asia has
                  For example, the CEO of Schneider is now                     raised the issue of recruiting and integrating
                  based in Hong Kong and the new VP (Strategy)                 young local talent for some time now. After all,
                  of PSA, a major French automaker, is perma-                  there was a real need for people who had a thor-
                  nently located in China where the company’s                  ough knowledge of the language and culture of
                  CEO spends one week per month on a regular                   these countries (Tomasz & James, 2007), and
                  basis.                                                       MNCs could not find at home Western citizens
                      Traditionally, theories related to the interna-          with the right portfolio of linguistic, cultural and
                  tionalization of companies and businesses dis-               business knowledge plus experience. Of course,
                  played little interest in the HR side of the                 that was a comfortable situation at a time when

                  2
                      Middle-affluent is a term applied to households with disposable income > USD 15 000.
                  3
                      Countries included :China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Russia,
                      Ukraine, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Egypt, South Africa, Iran, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco,
                      Saudi Arabia.

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             The shift in talent management for French MNCs in Asia

                    MNCs enjoyed a fine reputation among young             (Pigeyre, 2011), but rather how talent manage-
                    Asian talent, who saw opportunities for explor-        ment can bring new solutions to address the
                    ing new parts of the world and for acquiring           problem of a shortage of Asian talent.
                    both experience and additional training that               Actually, this issue is also addressed in Asia
                    would be of great value on the market in the fu-       and in terms of talent management. Some schol-
                    ture (Yeung, Warner, & Rowley, 2008).                  ars (Iles, Chuai, & Preece, 2008) show how six
                                                                           Chinese firms have dealt with the matter. They
                                                                           reveal how some firms focus on “exclusive-peo-
                    1.2. The context of talent management                  ple” (certain groups of high-performing or high-
                                                                           potential candidates), while others used an
                        This new challenge for MNCs occurred at a          “exclusive-position” focus on certain “key” po-
                    time when talent management appeared to be a           sitions in the organization. Heid & Murphy
                    new frontier for renovating and reshuffling HR         (2007) explain that a Global Talent Index (GTI)
                    policies in companies (Farndale, Scullion, &           has been elaborated to measure the location of
                    Sparrow, 2010). When the notion became pop-            talent. The GTI indicates that the USA will re-
                    ular at the beginning of the 2000s with McKin-         main a talent pool until 2012, and a shift to the
                    sey (Michaels & Handfield-Jones, 2001; Pfeffer,        BRIC will follow.
                    2001), the ‘War for Talent’ meant the incoming
                    fight between companies for attracting and re-
                    taining the candidates necessary for their devel-
                    opment during the .com or internet bubble and
                                                                           1.3. Difficulties faced by Western companies
                    when demographic issues started to become              in China
                    more obvious in Western countries.
                                                                               Many studies (Connell, 2010; Schmidt,
                        Throughout the last decade, the notion of tal-     2011; Ulrich, 2010) have outlined how Western
                    ent has remained a concern. In some areas, talent      MNCs are less attractive to Asian (especially
                    management progressively replaced human re-            Chinese) students. Schmidt (2011) conducted a
                    source management (Dejoux & Thévenet,                  survey from 2006 to 2010 by collecting data on
                    2012). In other areas, talent management em-           300,000 employees and job candidates in China
                    phasized the difficulties inherent in detecting, at-   within 60 firms. In 2007, the results revealed
                    tracting and retaining the talent considered           that 41% of highly skilled Chinese professionals
                    necessary for the achievement of new strategies        preferred to work for a Western multinational
                    (Cappelli, 2008a; Cappelli, 2008b, Rajwani,            while only 9% favored a job in a domestic firm.
                    2009). By the late 2000s, a more strategic ap-         By 2010, the figures were respectively 44% and
                    proach emerged which held that attention to tal-       28%. It appeared that MNCs remain the num-
                    ent would allow human resource management              ber-one choice and that this situation might be
                    to become more strategic. The idea was that the        related to the present economic climate. Second,
                    success of a strategy ultimately depends on the        there are more and more graduate students in
                    presence of key talent within a company. Those         China alongside more and more fast-growing
                    talented individuals are no longer synonymous          domestic companies. Third, some studies
                    with high potential but rather with succeeding         (Rashid, 2010; Ulrich & Sutton, 2011) empha-
                    in a business policy (Boudreau, 2010; Boudreau         size a crucial difference between male and fe-
                    & Ramstad, 2007).                                      male respondents as far as the choice of an
                        The new challenges for MNCs in Asia illus-         employer is concerned. Women look for West-
                    trate perfectly this concern for getting the right     ern MNCs because of the opportunity for inter-
                    people to ensure success of a strategy. These          national assignments. They are highly
                    corporations need local talent for a series of rea-    ambitious, even if they need to break through a
                    sons (Hsieh, Lavoie, & Samek, 1999), and the           very thick glass ceiling. On the contrary, men
                    talent pool appears shallower since these MNCs         prefer to remain in their home country and not
                    are less attractive than in the past (Williams-Lee,    necessarily in the big cities. Finally, there is a
                    2008). Consequently, companies need to ap-             debate about the number of Chinese students
                    proach their policies differently while under the      who return home. Tung (2008) explains that, ac-
                    constraints of time and competition. Hence, the        cording to the Chinese Academy of Social Sci-
                    issue is no longer whether talent management is        ences, 70% of the Chinese students who
                    merely a re-packaging of what already exists           experienced studies abroad did not return to the

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                                                                                                The shift in talent management for French MNCs in Asia

                  homeland. This question of talent flow (or                  – The public sector in many emerging coun-
                  “brain drain”, “brain gain”) is becoming more                 tries is also more desirable because of job
                  significant.                                                  security, professional opportunities, bene-
                      A few possible reasons may be put forward                 fits and prestige. Rashid (2010) points out
                  in order to explain why Western MNCs may lose                 that 60% of Indian male and female stu-
                  their attractiveness as top employers in this                 dents aspire to work in the public rather
                  emerging and growing marketplace:                             than private sector.
                      – The MNCs’ hiring advantages (higher sta-
                        tus, safety net, long-term career path, inter-
                        national assignment) are no longer                1.4. Overview of possible solutions
                        significantly more generous and motivat-
                        ing when compared to the packages that                Facing this challenge, Western MNCs need
                        local companies offer;                            to develop different strategies to break through
                                                                          with traditional policies and also to sustain their
                      – With the help of a good international edu-
                                                                          growth in this fast-growing market (Zheng,
                        cational background on top of their na-
                                                                          2009). Jenkins (2006) shows there is a critical
                        tional culture (Guanxi4 for example), the
                                                                          need for the accurate and meaningful assessment
                        young Chinese graduates accumulate the
                        potential ingredients for a successful career     of the impact of talent management and leader-
                        in a local company. Whereas, they consider        ship development initiatives. Let us begin our
                        that they will never be able to get the           overview by highlighting two seemingly preva-
                        equivalent portfolio of key competences           lent policies. The first policy consists of attract-
                        for succeeding in Western MNCs;                   ing and retaining young talent by implementing
                                                                          a talent management approach. The second pol-
                      – The best Chinese talent often leaves foreign      icy consists of hiring young Western expatriates
                        multinationals with the conviction that they
                                                                          with local contracts. These very general talent
                        will become successful entrepreneurs. In
                                                                          policies emphasize the need to accommodate in-
                        other words, they will remain in their own
                        country, be in a position to seize any emerg-     dividual expectations and, consequently, prepare
                        ing opportunities and thus make more money        packages that are more and more specific and
                        as an entrepreneur than as a manager;             attractive to individuals (Cantrell & Smith,
                                                                          2011). These policies require that multinationals
                      – MNCs and their brands (except the luxury          have processes in place so as to integrate indi-
                        industry) took a hit during the 2008 crisis       viduals into the social and cultural context of the
                        and reduced staff, hiring, and expenses.          company better.
                        Many graduates will remember that and try
                        to avoid the same experience in the future;          From a practical, even sophisticated, per-
                                                                          spective, Schmidt (2011) highlights five differ-
                      – Chinese graduates may be impatient, thus un-
                                                                          ent strategies for those Western MNCs that
                        willing to wait too long for key positions. HR
                        professionals in Western MNCs mention this        consider operating in China:
                        impatience and the common reaction of Chi-           1) reboot employment-branding effort with
                        nese employees leaving the company if they        high-profile university alliances and sponsor-
                        do not get top jobs after a couple of years;      ships;
                      – We can also imagine, even though it is dif-         2) create local development because most
                        ficult to assess it firmly, that young Chinese    Chinese candidates want to stay in China;
                        talent may feel more and more patriotic as
                                                                             3) offer variable career paths and a com-
                        long as the political status of their country
                                                                          pelling long-term career plan;
                        is rising in the world; as a result, they may
                        feel honored to join a national firm at a            4) be smart about pay because domestic firm
                        time when the reputation of Western insti-        pay increases between 20% to 50% more than
                        tutions is fading;                                MNCs to keep talent at home;

                  4
                      Guanxi comes from Confucius and refers to the concept of drawing on connections or networks of contacts,
                      which an individual may have, thanks to his/her family, friends, individual or professional relationships.

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             The shift in talent management for French MNCs in Asia

                        5) become a quasi-local company by devel-              stabilized concept; (c) the survey should help us
                    oping relationships with local suppliers in sec-           understand better, in terms of the strategic ap-
                    ond- and third-tier Chinese cities.                        proach of human resource management, the ra-
                        We emphasize here that the traditional strate-         tionale of these HR policies, given the
                    gic approach in HR should remain open to some              characteristics of the three businesses, their
                    issues usually not addressed. For instance,                global strategies, plus their corporate and HR
                    Rashid (2010) has outlined the importance of               cultures. From a human resources perspective,
                    gender in these countries. A large survey, spon-           these challenges should illustrate how the HR
                    sored by five global companies (Bloomberg,                 function organizationally tackles issues of talent
                    Boozc & Company, Intel, Pfizer and Siemens)                management given the balance of power and in-
                    was conducted in emerging markets (Brazil,                 fluence of the corporation vis-à-vis the local en-
                    Russia, India, China and United Arab Emirates)             tities.
                    among 4,350 college-educated men and women,
                    supplemented with focus groups. Results
                    showed that talented women in emerging mar-                2. BUSINESS CASES6
                    kets are ahead of the curve in unexpected ways.
                    These women represent 65% of college gradu-
                    ates in the UAE, 60% in Brazil, 47% in China,                 Research Methodology
                    50% in India. They represent a huge talent pool                The methodology is based on exploratory
                    that is currently underleveraged. Nevertheless,            case-study research (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin
                    should a talent management approach focus on               1994). As related by Yin (1994, p 14) “ the case
                    this group, it would have to take into account             study strategy should not be confused with
                    certain characteristics. First, women are highly           “qualitative research” (see Schwartz & Jacobs,
                    ambitious and aspire to hold a top job (42% of
                                                                               1979; Strauss & Corbin, 1990; Van Maanen,
                    highly educated Indian women earn as much or
                                                                               1988; Van Maanen, Dabbs, & Faulkner,
                    more than their spouse). Second, they are will-
                                                                               1982)… case studies can be based on any mix
                    ing to work extra hours (49 hours a week in
                                                                               of quantitative and qualitative evidence. In ad-
                    Brazil, 73 hours in Russia, 58 hours in India, 71
                    hours in China5) and they do express a real pas-           dition, case studies need not always include di-
                    sion for their work. Third, they face a double             rect, detailed observations as a source of
                    challenge that limits their career path: having to         evidence”. A case study consists of a description
                    care for the older generation (in India and China,         of an entity’s actions. Our research was based
                    the notion of filial piety influences many deci-           on planning case studies and we had in mind the
                    sions), so they are hindered by both maternity             question to answer: “How does the talent man-
                    and family values.                                         agement process address the issue of attracting,
                                                                               retaining and developing young Asian talent?”
                        As mentioned above, our research has fo-               The greatest advantage of the case study method
                    cused on three major French MNCs that are gen-             is that enables researchers to reveal how a mul-
                    uinely international in their activities and can           titude of factors have interacted to produce the
                    potentially be significant players in the compet-          uniqueness of the problematic.
                    itive Asian markets. The survey of these three
                    examples should provide interesting information
                                                                                  Case Selection
                    at three different levels: (a) the survey describes
                    in real time how these companies are adjusting                We selected three French MNCs that are con-
                    to ongoing rapid change within the Asian con-              fronted with the same issue of staffing their
                    text that may jeopardize their traditional HR              Asian activities with young Asian talent. The
                    policies; (b) the analysis will foster reflection by       three companies have activities in different in-
                    HR scholars on talent management, its reality              dustries (health food, consumer goods, industrial
                    and the emerging HR policies and practices                 projects), and have been involved in an Asia-
                    flourishing under the umbrella of this not yet             centric talent management process for more than

                    5
                        R. Rashid, R. 2010. The Battle for Female Talent in Emerging Markets. Harvard Business Review: 101-106. p 104.
                    6
                        The authors would like to thank all the respondents from DANONE, L’OREAL and ALSTOM for their time and their
                        valuable insights.

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                                                     Table 1: The sample of the Study
                    DANONE                            L’OREAL                              ALSTOM
                                                                                           Talent Management Director
                    HR Asia Pacific                   International Recruitment Director
                                                                                           of South Asia
                    HR Talent Management
                                                      Employer branding Director           Singapore HR Project manager
                    project executive
                                                      HR Talent Recruitment
                    China HR Manager                                                       China HR Project manager
                                                      project manager
                    Indonesia HR Manager              HR South Asia
                                                      China HR project manager
                                                      Singapore HR project manager

                  five years. They all share the same objective of        telephone to determine their willingness to par-
                  developing local staffing.                              ticipate. Interviews are focused interviews
                                                                          (Merton, Fiske, & Kendall, 1990) in which a
                      Data Sources                                        respondent is interviewed for a short period of
                     These three business cases are drawn from            time (less than 130 minutes). In such cases, the
                  broader research on tackling HR issues from             interviews may follow the interview guide but
                  French MNCs in Asia. In these three firms, in-          may still remain open-ended and assume a con-
                  terviews with the HR country managers (China,           versational manner and can contain a set of
                  India, Singapore) and HR managers (HR project           questions derived from the case study protocol.
                                                                          The interviews varied in duration, but all fell
                  leaders, talent manager leader) were conducted
                                                                          within a range of 90-120 minutes each. Some
                  from 2008 to 2011. Some participants are gen-
                                                                          interviews were organized face-to-face, some
                  eralists, responsible for all areas of HR; whereas,
                                                                          by telephone. Interviews were tape-recorded,
                  others are managers of a business unit who have
                                                                          transcribed verbatim, verified by the respon-
                  implemented talent management tools (table 1).
                                                                          dents and used an interview guide in order to
                                                                          further explore the “black box” of how the tal-
                      Data Collection
                                                                          ent management process is implemented. This
                      The participants’ job titles vary, but all are      interview guide consisted of both closed-ended
                  involved in policies and processes related to tal-      and open-ended questions that were asked of
                  ent management in Asia. The participants’ ex-           all participants. Examples of the questions in-
                  perience in the HRM field ranges from 2 to 20           cluded: “What kind of tools do you use to at-
                  years. Of the six female and seven male partic-         tract Asian talent?” and “[t]o what extent do
                  ipants, six hold certification in the HRM field.        you use mentoring to retain young Asian tal-
                  For this study, data were collected through var-        ent?” For the latter question, participants could
                  ious methods: face-to-face, semi-structured, in-        choose from a scale of 1-5. The interviews
                  dividual, and in-depth interviews were                  sought to obtain both consistency and diversity
                  conducted with 13 HRM practitioners, with the           in responses in order to develop a better under-
                  help of an interview guide. Documentation re-           standing of the perceptions of attraction and re-
                  views and archival records have been read and           tention of Asians.
                  explored to multiply the sources of evidence.
                  This triangulation across various techniques of             Analytical Strategy
                  data collection proves especially fruitful in that          The data were analyzed using content analy-
                  it provides multiple perspectives on an issue, al-      sis (Miles & Huberman, 1984). Thematic units
                  lows for cross-checking, and yields stronger            were identified and formed the basis for answer-
                  substantiation of construct (Eisenhardt, 1989;          ing the guiding questions. At the same time, this
                  Orlikowski, 1993).                                      research employs an interpretive ontology with
                     The interview protocol was based on the re-          a realist epistemology to facilitate the under-
                  search framework and the process of talent              standing of managerial perceptions because
                  management. Practitioners were contacted by             “when investigating contemporary phenomena

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             The shift in talent management for French MNCs in Asia

                    within real-life contexts when the boundaries be-          Asia has become one of the key drivers for
                    tween phenomenon and context are not clearly           the growth of worldwide business for DANONE
                    evident” (Yin 1994, p.13).                             now and in the foreseeable future. Indeed, Asia
                        With this in mind, we prepared a general an-       should represent about 13% of the company’s
                                                                           business and 50% of the growth of the entire
                    alytical strategy to apply to the case studies (Yin,
                                                                           DANONE group is done in emerging markets.
                    1994, p 106). After collecting the data, each in-
                                                                           In order to make this growth possible, the firm
                    terview was coded separately on the basis of “in       needs to make a shift in the rapidity of talent de-
                    vivo” words, phrases, terms offered by the in-         velopment to be able to provide the business
                    formants. First-order codes are discerned. Then,       with the local talent pool needed to face the high
                    various analytical techniques (see Miles & Hu-         growth.
                    berman, 1984) have been implemented; such as,
                    putting information into different arrays, making          DANONE faces specific marketing, business
                    a matrix of categories and placing the evidence        and HR challenges in this part of the world and
                    within the categories, creating data displays for      seeks to do the following:
                    examining the data, tabulating the frequency of            – Reinforce its product and brand image.
                    different events, using some other temporal                  Some DANONE products (e.g. Aqua
                    scheme. Data collection, or first step of the strat-         Water in Indonesia) are well known and
                    egy, relied on a theoretical proposition about the           some are breaking into the market (espe-
                    causal relationships in answers as to how and                cially baby formula).
                    why talent management enables companies to at-             – Develop the local sales force and its man-
                    tract and retain people (Boudreau, 2010; Cap-                agement. The company needs to hire many
                    peli, 2008a; Lawler, 2008). The second step of               young salespeople and managers to in-
                    the analytical strategy was a descriptive ap-                crease its market shares.
                    proach that was used to explain why implemen-              – Expand its relationships with universities
                    tation of talent management for young Asians                 and business schools in Asia by promoting
                    had succeeded.                                               its serious game “Trust by DANONE”, an
                                                                                 effective tool to promote the working speci-
                                                                                 ficity of the company. Management trainee
                    2.1 DANONE : How to attract Asian talent?                    programs have been created to integrate
                                                                                 more efficiently the young graduates.
                        DANONE, created in 1966 by Antoine Ri-                 DANONE has many strengths which should
                    boud, is a fast-growing food company who has           help it reach its goals in Asia despite the fact it
                    defined its mission since 1995 as “bringing            is not yet the leader because it is two times
                    Health through food to as many people as pos-          smaller than Unilever and five times smaller
                    sible in the world” that experienced a major shift     than Nestlé. For example, DANONE possesses
                    in 2007 allowing to have a business 100% con-          a very strong culture of entrepreneurship that en-
                    sistent with the mission. DANONE underwent             ables its subsidiaries to take local initiatives to
                    a commercial and geographical transformation           fulfill their needs. For example, thanks to its re-
                    to create a new health-oriented company. First,        search center and its local marketing surveys,
                    in 2007, DANONE focused its activities on four         DANONE will find the right taste of dairy prod-
                    core competencies (57% fresh dairy products,           ucts for Chinese consumers, as it has done in so
                    20% baby food, 17% bottled water, 6% medical           many countries. The ninety subsidiaries are en-
                    nutrition). To achieve its target, the firm sold its   couraged to propose products and action plans to
                    biscuit business and bought Numico, a world            adapt to the local market. Also, people have been
                    leader in infant and medical nutrition. Second,        considered a key driver ever since the company’s
                    the company decided its future was linked to           founding by Antoine Riboud. Talent manage-
                    emerging markets. The shift may be seen quan-          ment has been the heart of the human resource
                    titatively: in 1996, the largest share of sales was    management process for more than fifteen years
                    in Europe (77% of the sales breakdown) versus          and HRM has implemented many people-cen-
                    17% in emerging markets; by 2010, only 39%             tered tools such as a specific program for Asian
                    of DANONE’s business was carried out in Eu-            emerging markets, called “BO Le” in Asia.
                    rope and almost half of the company’s business             The “BO Le” program was launched in Jan-
                    was in emerging markets (49%).                         uary 2010 as an ambitious policy to accelerate

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                                                                                           The shift in talent management for French MNCs in Asia

                  the focus on the urgency to develop Asian lead-      enough [individuals] to grow in a sustainable
                  ers. This program was built through a cross-di-      way in the region. There was the need to take
                  vision, country and multiple-function team.          quick action to face this challenge. The idea was
                  Three objectives have been defined: attract, de-     to build a common ambition to tackle this issue
                  velop and retain talent. “BO Le is a strategic HR    in a collaborative way. As a result, a group of
                  program for DANONE because the growth of             20 people representing Danone in Asia (people
                  our business is located in Asia. The target of the   from different functions, CBUs and countries)
                  BO Le program is to accelerate the development       was created to identify this needed common am-
                  of young Asian talent. We have an objective to       bition. Then two groups […] have been identi-
                  empower people in their team, to define what         fied by the firm to set up a talent pipeline: a
                  are the key drivers in Asia to grow the resource     group of ongoing leaders and a group of man-
                  pipeline after having analysed the manpower          agers.”
                  needed in the next 3 to 5 years, and to allow            For each of these two groups, a specific pro-
                  Asian leaders to grow in Asia then worldwide ”,      gram included tailor-made training, a projects
                  said the HR Director of DANONE Asia Pacific.
                                                                       workshop as well as networking and coaching.
                      The project teams have recommended key ac-       Specific leadership programs and self-assess-
                  tions such as building a stronger employer brand-    ment workshops on emotional competencies
                  ing, developing and generating talents faster, and   have been proposed. Each local talent has to
                  retaining new or existing ‘DANONErs’.                work on a Business Unit strategic Project with
                      Three groups have been working on this tal-      other participants from other divisions to solve
                  ent management program: Attract, Develop and         a relevant problem. In addition, they are pro-
                  Retain. Below are details about each one.            posed to participate to a CSR project they are
                                                                       choosing themselves, in order to develop a deep
                      • Attracting talent through strong               understanding on contributing leadership. The
                  employer branding                                    HR committee has organized events (coffee
                                                                       morning, lunch) with two general managers
                      The group conducts a survey about the em-
                                                                       from all the divisions for each talent. The objec-
                  ployer brand in five Asian countries and outlines
                                                                       tive is to facilitate the transfer of employees and
                  a gap between in-house management values and
                                                                       to expand the individual employee’s network.
                  people’s perception. This survey helps the com-
                                                                       Finally, coaching sessions have been designed
                  pany focus on different key items regarding
                                                                       to train managers to become effective coaches
                  countries. For example, in China what was re-
                                                                       for their own teams.
                  vealed was working environment, career devel-
                  opment, proximity, entrepreneurship and
                  pragmatism. “Danone is indeed not always                • Retaining talent for the future
                  known for what it is now, but for what it was in        Given the high turnover in Asia, talent reten-
                  the past. For instance, an employer branding         tion is considered a key challenge. The firm has
                  survey conducted in China in 2010 showed that        ensured that the salary package to its competi-
                  Danone was still perceived as a biscuit company      tors’ practices and to reinforce the safety net
                  both by young graduates and professionals. Or        “because of the tradition of looking after seniors
                  in fact, the group sold its biscuit business back    without a pension. This is one of the elements of
                  in 2007, while buying Royal Dutch Numico. The        the company’s health goal and it echoes
                  new Danone, 100 % focused on healthy food            Danone’s global mission (to bring health
                  products with the integration of the medical and     through food to as many people as possible).”
                  baby nutrition businesses”. Many sponsoring          Tremendous attention is paid to people who re-
                  operations have been set up in universities to       sign, in fact, an exit interview is automatically
                  communicate and to attract graduate students.        conducted.
                  Some student ambassadors have been trained to            More and more Asian managers and execu-
                  promote the brand in student activities.             tives have been nominated to lead key positions
                                                                       in Asia and international assignments in Paris.
                     • Developing talents from within to generate      A local director was promoted to a general man-
                  young Asian managers                                 agement position two years after launching “BO
                     “An analysis of Danone’s talent pool in Asia      Le” and a Chinese regional vice president was
                  was led and revealed that the group had not          nominated from the general management pool.

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             The shift in talent management for French MNCs in Asia

                        The “BO Le” program remains anchored             solutions to attract and retain them”, said the In-
                    thanks to two basic tools: a roadmap in each of      ternational Recruitment Director of L’OREAL.
                    the countries which sums up the key action, key      The HR director of this area describes Asia’s
                    timing and key people plus a dashboard with key      Generation Y as well-connected, ambitious,
                    performance indicators which are assessed every      techno-addicts, who are mobile, want to be in-
                    two months by the HR steering committee in           dependent from their parents. In order to attract
                    Asia. After two years, a survey based on online      these candidates, L’OREAL had its ‘campus
                    answers and 30 interviews was conducted and          managers’ in the targeted universities. They pro-
                    outlined three positive results: the hiring of       pose sponsorship opportunities, interviews, in-
                    young talent has increased dramatically, the         ternships and workshops. Furthermore, the firm
                    commitment of the Asian employees has im-            proposes a famous worldwide ‘serious game’,
                    proved and the turn-over has decreased.              entitled “BRAINSTORM”, with a pool of local
                        In order to reinforce its position in Asia,      universities.
                    DANONE has implemented a talent manage-                  A talent shortage remains the first problem.
                    ment process to fulfill its recruitment needs.       However, retention through development is an-
                    With the “BO Le program”, the firm displays a        other one with which the firm is struggling. As
                    local hands-on approach that has reached two         a result, three major courses of action have been
                    main objectives: hiring young Asian talent and       drafted for L’OREAL in Asia: learning, compen-
                    committing all employees by boosting their mo-       sation and promotion.
                    bility in Asia.                                          L’OREAL has a lot of experience in effective
                                                                         learning workshops. One ‘must’ for newcomers
                                                                         is the two-year personalized guidance and train-
                    2.2 L’OREAL: How to develop young                    ing program appropriately called “FIT”. This
                    Asian talent                                         two-year process is based on six key areas (ex-
                                                                         perience in the field and with the products, train-
                        L’OREAL is a leading global company with         ing and round-table discussions, personalized
                    a mission to make beauty universal in a sustain-     meeting programs, on-the-job learning sup-
                    able and responsible way. In 2009, L’OREAL           ported by the line management, individual guid-
                    celebrated its 100th anniversary. This interna-      ance with mentoring and HR support and, at the
                    tional group promotes 23 global brands in 130        very start, a successful welcome). A specific
                    countries, hires 66,600 employees and, in 2010,      learning program about leadership is offered so
                    had 612 patents. With the opening of emerging        as to meet the expectation for learning quickly
                    markets, L’OREAL’s mission has broadened in          and gaining as much as possible in the shortest
                    response to the vast diversity of populations. In    period of time possible. An assessment center
                    2010, L’OREAL had 64% of its business in             allows new employees to improve their individ-
                    Western countries. For 2030, the company’s           ual skills. Mentoring programs help them get
                    business forecast is 70% in Asia, Africa, and        quick answers to their questions and expand
                    Latin America. Attracting, developing and re-        their internal network in such a big company.
                    taining young talent in Asia is becoming crucial     For L’OREAL, integrating a newcomer is a
                    for the company. Indeed, L’OREAL’s Asia Pa-          shared responsibility: the manager is considered
                    cific Business Unit hires one hundred people,        an operational coach; the human resources team
                    considered young talent, for India, Singapore        are project drivers; the newcomer, a potential
                    and South Asia annually; whereas, it hires more      great performer.
                    than 500 for all of Asia (China included). How-          Compensation is also a key argument. In
                    ever, the turnover is rather high at more than       many Asian countries, local companies offer
                    50%.                                                 better compensation packages than Western
                        Given this context, L’OREAL has decided to       MNCs do. For candidates, the compensation and
                    develop all the young talent in the Asia-Pacific.    the safety net that a firm offers is a determining
                    “[the] talent management process is about mak-       factor, because they need to think about their fu-
                    ing long- term commitments with chosen indi-         ture as many Asian states do not provide social
                    viduals that will develop their talent and build     compensation (unemployment indemnities,
                    our company for the greater future. The Gen Y        medical benefits, retirement pension). Further-
                    in the BRIC, and especially in Asia, is one of our   more, in these countries runaway inflation is the
                    priorities and talent management is one of the       norm combined with the rising cost of living (es-

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                                                                                           The shift in talent management for French MNCs in Asia

                  pecially housing). “Gen Y in Asia is difficult to    tablish a calendar for the process. The commit-
                  retain. They quit the firm if they have a better     tees meet four or five times a year and elabo-
                  opportunity. They need to think about their fu-      rate a succession plan. “L’OREAL takes a
                  ture because the government doesn’t provide so-      long-term approach on career development,
                  cial compensation, and they pay for their            based on people’s performance and potential.
                  relatives.”                                          The group offers a wide variety of career op-
                      Promotion has become another requirement         portunities.”
                  for the Asian Generation Y. This generation              In conclusion, L’OREAL Asia uses all the
                  wants to stay for fewer than 3 years in a firm       corporate tools and support at its disposal to de-
                  and to be free to test the job market and possi-     velop the Asian Generation Y through its talent
                  bly join a new firm with better salary condi-        review and nomination committees. At the same
                  tions. To meet this challenge, L’OREAL has           time, the Asian L’OREAL core business units
                  sped up the pace of projects, enhanced respon-       (CBUs) have taken the initiative to integrate cul-
                  sibilities and a worldwide network within the        tural specificities and meet the requirements of
                  company to keep Generation Y committed to            this specific ‘spoilt’ demographic.
                  the firm. Mobility is thus encouraged, includ-
                  ing giving early responsibilities to new talent
                  with a limit of two steps at a time, maximum.        2.3 ALSTOM: How to retain young
                  One step is a change of hierarchical position,       Asian talents
                  country, division, professional field or trade.
                  Every entity has a formal process of talent re-          ALSTOM is a world leader in transport in-
                  views and nomination committees, under the           frastructure, power generation and transmission.
                  responsibility of the national managing direc-       The firm is present in approximately 100 coun-
                  tor. Staffing decisions are made according to        tries with sales (in 2011) of about 21 billion
                  the potential of individuals, as assessed by the     Euros, and hires 100,000 employees in three
                  accomplishment of a mission and actual per-          fields: power transmission (56%), grid (17%)
                  formance on the job, competences (seven L’O-         and rail transport (27%). The group continued
                  REAL general competences plus technical              its growth strategy in the BRIC countries, forg-
                  competences), employee aspiration, experience        ing strategic relationships with local partners. In
                  and character.                                       a 2010 interview, ALSTOM’s chairman, Patrick
                                                                       Kron observed that “the geography of our mar-
                      The talent review focuses on the detection of    kets is shifting and demand for systems, equip-
                  potential employees and their development of         ment and services is changing with it. In
                  employees. The review has four objectives:           2009/10 emerging markets accounted for 35%
                      1) focus on individuals;                         of our orders. In 2010/11, that figure was almost
                      2) review and regular updating of the pool of    60%.”
                  potential talent for key positions;                      This global French company competes and
                      3) examination of individuals’ careers;          signs contracts for an increasing number of proj-
                                                                       ects in Asia (subway in Chennai, India; metro
                      4) identification of potential gaps for sourc-   projects in Singapore and in the Republic of
                  ing the need of the different entities.              China). Like many Western companies in this
                      This review takes place at least once a year     part of the world, ALSTOM faces the challenge
                  and produces an individual talent review form        of how to retain young Asians.
                  and a talent list. “L’OREAL talent manage-               Its target: become a local firm with projects
                  ment program aims at providing individuals           and operational teams. In order to carry out
                  with the conditions to develop their talent over     these projects, the company needs to develop
                  the long term and generating most of the tal-        Asian managers and train them according to
                  ents and competences necessary for the growth        ALSTOM’s values. For that reason, ALSTOM
                  and development of the business.” A second           has set up a specific talent management process
                  and complementary process involves nomina-           focused on a training program, called
                  tion committees. The target of these commit-         “GOAL” (Grow Our Asian Leaders). “Many
                  tees is to organize mobility. In other words,        young Asians try to know how much discrimi-
                  they focus on key jobs, fill vacant positions ac-    nation is in the company and if the company
                  cording to the short-or medium-term, and es-         treats its nationals the same as the others. They

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             The shift in talent management for French MNCs in Asia

                    want to know what kind of future they can have           – A project-based active learning process
                    at ALSTOM if they stay more than 3 years. That             where cross-cultural groups of 4 have to
                    is why GOAL, our talent management program                 work on a project for one year under the
                    is a great example demonstrating our will to               mentorship of a dedicated senior manager.
                    have one policy for everybody to be promoted               This project entails inter-regional interac-
                    in the company, whatever country they come                 tion and research with French colleagues
                    from, ” said the Talent Management Director of             horizontally and vertically within the hier-
                    ALSTOM South Asia.                                         archy. The topic of this virtual work (each
                        GOAL has three objectives: (1) create an               member lives in a different country) meets
                    Asian group of managers and initiate an Asian              an important need for the French and the
                    network; (2) break the glass ceiling and demon-            Asian headquarters and gives the employ-
                    strate that the firm wants to push Asian man-              ees the opportunity to use their new net-
                    agers to become executives; (3) reinforce                  work and to develop close relationships
                    ALSTOM’s culture and develop relationships                 with all the people met.
                    with the headquarters in France.                         – At the end of the program, each group
                        The program concerns three groups of tal-              makes a presentation in front of the Asian
                    ented employees: (1) added-value employees                 board, with representation from headquar-
                    whom the firm wishes to assist in charting their           ters in France.
                    in-house career path; (2) indispensable special-         The first session of this program turned out
                    ists with strong technical skills; (3) high poten-   to be a real success. “People were positively sur-
                    tial employees who could reach senior posts or       prised to have so many benefits from this pro-
                    become executives in the short or middle term        gram. For example, they improve their internal
                    (4-8 years). The first GOAL session took place       social network and they understand French cor-
                    from 2009 to 2011and involved 12 people from         porate culture better.” Eleven out of twenty peo-
                    all Asian countries.                                 ple were promoted and changed their positions.
                        The content of this program has been de-         For example, in finance, this program helped
                    signed as follows:                                   create a talent pipeline. In fact, the trainees have
                                                                         worked in different Asian countries and have
                        – A personality inventory test (MBTI: Myers      improved their analysis and forecasting skills in
                          Briggs Type Indicator) to help people be       this complex and very demanding field, accord-
                          aware of their strengths, their improving      ing to the human resources department. Some of
                          axes followed by drills to drive their Emo-    them have been sent, or ‘expatriated’, in Europe
                          tional Intelligence in order to improve re-    for three years to reinforce their technical skills
                          lationships with others;                       in power transmission. Another strength of this
                        – A leadership workshop to bridge Asian and      talent management program lies in its ability to
                          Western cultures that can be distinctly dif-   facilitate job transfers from one sector to another
                          ferent;                                        for transferrable skills (excluding technical
                        – Different workshops designed to reinforce      skills).
                          specific managerial technical skills such as       In terms of retaining young Asian talent, AL-
                          media-handling skills, presentation skills,    STOM relies on the originality of its GOAL
                          etc… “For example, we want to teach            program and HR executives are convinced that
                          young Asian talent how to use their emo-       an HR differentiation is directly linked to low
                          tional competencies because in an interna-     turnover.
                          tional and cross-cultural context it seems a
                          real asset.”;
                        – An educational visit to the French head-       3. RESULTS, LEARNING
                          quarters in order to strengthen their in-      AND DISCUSSION
                          house network and to be committed to
                          sharing the vision of the top executive           In what follows, we provide an overview of
                          team;                                          the main practices of these firms as well as high-
                        – Visits to various work and business excel-     lights of the main lessons to be learned from the
                          lence centers to gain a deeper understand-     three cases. We also suggest topics for further
                          ing of the business;                           discussion.

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                                                                               to be aligned to new constraints specific to these mar-
                  3.1 Results from the cases
                                                                               kets. The three cases confirm the above statement. In
                      Ready, Hill, & Conger (2008) claim that emerg-           order to manage the issue of a shortage of talents in
                  ing markets pose special challenges for foreign multi-       Asia, DANONE, L’OREAL and ALSTOM have pro-
                  nationals and the talent management process needs            posed similar answers:

                                            Table 2: Overview of Asian Talent Management Programs
                                                 DANONE                        L’OREAL                        ALSTOM
                    Date of entry in Asia        1997                          1993                           1992
                                                                                                              Industrial projects
                    Activities                   Health food                   Consumer goods
                                                                                                              (Transport, power, grid)
                                                 New Zealand, Australia,
                                                 India, North Asia (Japan,
                                                                               China, Hong-Kong, India,       For transport: China,
                    Countries under              South Korea, China),
                                                                               South Korea, Taiwan,           Hong-Kong, India,
                    the responsibility           South-East Asia (Indonesia,
                                                                               Singapore, Malaysia,           South Korea, Taiwan,
                    of the regional HR           Malaysia, Singapore,
                                                                               Indonesia, Australia,          Singapore, Malaysia,
                    in Asia                      Thailand). For dairy
                                                                               new Zeeland, Thailand          Indonesia, and Australia.
                                                 activities: (Middle East
                                                 and South Africa added)
                                                                                                              - HR Project: recruitment,
                                                                                                              salary management,
                                                                                                              HR project, supports
                                                                                                              the Project, reports
                                                                                                              to the country
                                                                                                              HR hierarchically
                                                                                                              - Country HR: staffing
                                                 - cross-corporate HR                                         management of all projects
                                                 for all activities            - HR country                   across sectors (Transport
                                                 - in each business            - HR international             sector, Power sector, Grid)
                    Fields of responsibilities
                                                 division in Asia,             recruitment                    within the country.
                    between regional HRM
                                                 there is an HR Director       at a corporate level           Optimizing HR manage-
                    and country HRM
                                                 - China : « HR shared         - HR international talent      ment between countries.
                    in Asia
                                                 service » in charge           development                    Reports to the Country
                                                 of recruitment, learning,     at the corporate level         President operationally,
                                                 resources development                                        and to the DRH
                                                                                                              Asia-Pacific hierarchically.
                                                                                                              - HR Director Asia-Pacific
                                                                                                              Reports to President
                                                                                                              of Region operationally,
                                                                                                              and to the International
                                                                                                              HRM Director
                                                                                                              in France hierarchically.
                                                                               Active policy of contacts
                                                                               with universities
                                                                                                              Development
                                                                               Develop
                                                                                                              Leadership program
                    Target of the Talent         Attract, develop              Compensation
                                                                                                              Assign talent to Position
                    Management program           and retain Asian talent       Promotion
                                                                                                              of greater influence.
                                                                               Acculturation
                                                                               to the company
                                                                               and its business.
                    Talent management
                                                 HR Asia                       International HR Director      HR Asia
                    decision-making
                                                 BO Le                                                        GOAL
                                                 TRUST                         FIT                            International mobility
                                                 Campus of Universities        Campus of Universities         Project leader
                                                 Brand image                   ‘Serious game’                 Challenging
                    Talent management
                                                 Coaching                      Worldwide training             Emotional competency
                    program and tools
                                                 Mentoring                     Assessment center              assessment
                                                 Local task force              Challenging                    Cross-cultural projects
                                                 Empowerment                   Mentoring                      Breaking the glass ceiling
                                                 Roadmap                                                      Talent review form

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             The shift in talent management for French MNCs in Asia

                        – Creating a specific talent management           leave a firm: 1) after 1.5 years; 2) after 3 years;
                    model for Asia                                        3) after 5 years. To retain talent, some compa-
                        A new model of international HR is appear-        nies had the bright idea of putting these employ-
                    ing in emerging markets and more specifically         ees into a training program (leadership
                    in Asia for MNCs. This model needs to align the       workshop, MBA program, and executive MBA)
                    young Asian’s aspirations that are different from     at these critical points and to make the talent
                    those of the young Westerner.                         sign a letter in order to keep them for two or
                                                                          more years.
                        Attracting, developing and retaining young
                    Asian talent could therefore focus on targeted
                    actions such as:
                                                                          3.2 Learning from the cases
                       – Focus on young, potential graduates
                    while they are still at university                        First, these three major French MNCs have
                       To draw upon a deep pool of young talented         obviously adopted the concept of talent manage-
                    employees, firms develop tight relationships          ment. They all label their initiatives with this
                    with selected universities. They try to identify      wording that is supposed to be a disruption in
                    graduates in the same field as their activities and   their HR policies in Asia. Although it may be too
                    create a process of integration (internship pro-      soon to tell whether this constitutes a genuine
                    gram, workshop, sponsorship, student ambassa-         breakthrough, it is at least related to a perception
                    dor, business case study, award and reward).          of a dramatic change in the context of their tra-
                                                                          ditional HR policies.
                       – Communicate about international                      Second, companies consider talent manage-
                    mobility                                              ment in the same priority as issues of attraction
                       The possibility of an international assign-        and retention. That concurs with what the major
                    ment may appear to be a great advantage in the        academic books (Boudreau, 2010; Cappelli,
                    job proposal made to Asian talent. Even if some       2008a) or practical handbooks (Berger &
                    studies (Schmidt, 2011) emphasize that nowa-          Berger, 2010) argue as another order of priority
                    days, the trend is for Chinese men to prefer to       in HR topics in the context of what could be tal-
                    be re-located within their own country.               ent management.
                        – Target a long-term career without                   Third, these three case studies demonstrate
                    the glass ceiling                                     that a large variety of policies and practices may
                                                                          be found under the umbrella of the same so-
                        If Western firms wish to win the talent battle
                                                                          called TM approach. Across the companies,
                    in emerging markets, their HR approach should
                                                                          these policies may cover training programs as
                    be reshuffled to take into account cultural speci-
                                                                          well as a compensation and career-management
                    ficities and local requirements. Removing the
                                                                          policy.
                    perceived glass ceiling seems relevant. How-
                    ever, this is not a new way of managing. Indeed,          Fourth, this variety of policies could be pre-
                    many American MNCs active in Europe have              sented as an escalation of policies from the de-
                    pushed a European CEO to the head of their            velopmental approach (with a training program)
                    business unit. This must be an ongoing, logical       of ALSTOM, to the broader scope of
                    process, though.                                      DANONE’s policy (attraction, retention and de-
                                                                          velopment) and L’OREAL’s more consistent HR
                        – Increase the salary                             policy that encompasses development, career-
                        In Asia (and more particularly in China), the     management and compensation. This difference
                    level of salary increases regularly and reaches       in the scope of TM policy has to be related to
                    the Western level for skilled personnel. The          the differences in their respective businesses.
                    struggle with the public sector and with expatri-     ALSTOM is settling in Asia according to the
                    ates has raised standards. To compete, firms          projects it has to gain there and to implement if
                    need to be aligned with the local companies and       successful in bidding. DANONE has a strategy
                    to propose a significant increase.                    in Asia that is very different according to its
                                                                          product divisions and countries. Therefore, the
                       – Build a tactical training policy                 BO Le program is clearly associated to the com-
                       Studies have indicated that there are three        pany’s business strategies in China and Indone-
                    dangerous points when young employees may             sia. In the case of L’OREAL, its presence in Asia

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                  goes back quite a while. They are operating with
                                                                         Conclusion
                  famous brands in a market of consumer and lux-
                  ury products with a genuine effort of a regional           By addressing a brand new issue that French
                  policy.                                                MNCs face and by trying to decipher the emerg-
                                                                         ing policies and HR approaches, this article
                                                                         opens up several perspectives that are of the ut-
                  3.3 Discussion                                         most importance for human resource manage-
                                                                         ment.
                      Interestingly, the presentation of talent man-
                  agement for these three French MNCs makes it               First, the study provides a good illustration
                  clear that the emergence of talent management          of how companies adjust their policies to their
                  cannot be considered outside of a local and busi-      context by breaking or changing the traditional
                  ness context that varies from a company to the         rules of HR policies that would be directly man-
                  other. Although it may have been considered a          aged from the top within the framework of a
                  fad by some authors (Pigeyre, Dietrich, Gilbert,       global unique strategy. That raises one of the key
                  Aubret, 2010), talent management in our exam-          questions of international human resource man-
                  ples is a way of putting a name on practices and       agement: the organizational issue of who should
                  policies that are pretty new for these companies,      do what and where.
                  either in Asia or in the mother country.                   Second, the rising problems encountered by
                      It will be interesting to follow up on these       French MNCs in the Asian region exemplify the
                  companies in the future. This is truly the situa-      new type of dilemma that companies must con-
                  tion of a region where MNCs see their growth           front when their reputation is not sufficient to
                  potential but may face greater difficulties in con-    generate enough applicants and to find employ-
                  fronting local competition. All in all, we are         ees who will be more ready to espouse the poli-
                                                                         cies and culture of the company. Clearly it is
                  probably seeing a signal of what the economic
                                                                         easier to manage HR when you have a positive
                  and HRM situation of these companies will be.
                                                                         and powerful reputation, like that which these
                      We can then imagine that, in a kind of rebal-      companies have traditionally enjoyed so far.
                  ancing of the regional activities of these compa-      Having new perspectives is thus important when
                  nies, the challenge of staffing and motivating         a corporation seeks to develop its brand as an
                  Asian staff may help companies to change their         employer.
                  HR policies worldwide. What is happening to
                                                                             Third, another perspective opens here and re-
                  these companies in Asia is totally new and will
                                                                         lates to the issue surveyed; i.e., the risk of not
                  generate a kind of cultural revolution in how HR
                                                                         succeeding in their new approach to local talent.
                  is considered, just as the difficulties of the busi-
                                                                         What happens if these policies do not succeed?
                  ness challenge could trigger the more strategic
                                                                         What can be done, then, in terms of HR policies
                  approach in HR that has been proclaimed by
                                                                         to sustain business growth in this part of the
                  scholars for so long.
                                                                         world? With respect to Asian talent, there are a
                     This survey has presented three limits that         few ideas to explore. First, firms could adopt a
                  further research will necessarily compensate.          targeted approach for women, who represent a
                  First of all, it would be interesting to increase      highly skilled group. For example, Google
                  the sample size in order to be more specific           launched the India Women in Engineering
                  about the connections between these HR poli-           Award in 2008 with an award of US$ 2,000.
                  cies and the general strategy of the companies.        Second, MNCs explain to young candidates that
                  Second, given that this research has been con-         they can build a strong network with a first job
                  ducted in real time with the implementation of         in their company. This target is reached through
                  these policies, we are unable to evaluate in the       coaching, mentoring approaches and business-
                  mid-term the real effectiveness of what has been       centered projects realized in a cross-division
                  implemented. Third, it was helpful to compare          team (for example in General Electric with “my-
                  French multinationals; however, it would have          Connections”, a talent-spotting and mentoring
                  been significant and enriching to compare their        program in the United Arab Emirates). Third,
                  policies to those of other multinationals in the       companies could try to adjust to the cultural val-
                  same region or even in other emerging regions          ues and current way of life. This might mean
                  around the globe.                                      proposing a package that allows an employee to

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                  N° 86 - OCTOBRE - NOVEMBRE - DÉCEMBRE 2012
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