Wood, G., Mazouz, K., Yin, S. et al. (1 more author) (2014) Foreign direct investment from emerging markets to Africa: The HRM context. Human Resource Management, 53 (1). 179 - 201. ISSN 0090-4848
Abstract
In this article, we explore what determines the decisions of emerging-market multinational corporations (MNCs) to invest in Africa and whether this is any different from their counterparts in mature markets, focusing on the HRM context. More specifically, we explore the effect of potential host-country wages, local capabilities, and the relative rights of owners versus workers on foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions, as well as other relevant factors such as mineral resources and corruption. We found that emerging-market MNCs were not deterred by relatively weak property owner rights (as indeed, was also the case for their counterparts from mature markets); hence, any weakening of countervailing worker rights is unlikely to unlock significant new FDI. However, emerging-market MNCs were more likely to invest in low-wage economies and did not appear to be concerned by local skills gaps; the latter would reflect the relative de facto ease with which even partially skilled expatriate labor can be imported into many African countries. At the same time, a reliance on low-wage, unskilled labor, coupled with the extensive usage of expatriates, brings with it a wide range of challenges for the HR manager, which a firm committed to cost-cutting may lack the capabilities to resolve. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2014 Wiley. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Human Resource Management. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Africa; Emerging market; FDI; HRM context |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Dec 2014 12:01 |
Last Modified: | 22 Apr 2015 06:43 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21550 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | No |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/hrm.21550 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:82464 |