Examples of changes in the Japanese international management staffing policy - Case studies of Japanese subsidiaries in Sweden

Abstract

This thesis will look into the management staffing policies of Japanese subsidiaries in Sweden. International human resource management theories and a set of interviews conducted at the Swedish subsidiaries of three different Japanese companies are the basis of our analysis. One of the reasons to research this matter has come as a result of the few available recent studies about how Japanese companies choose to staff their subsidiaries. Several studies have been conducted on the human resource policies of Japan during the 1980s and 1990s but nowadays, there is little information on this subject and therefore, the former studies require an update. The results show that the practices of Japanese companies are starting to move away from what these older studies have found. Japanese multinational corporations have been famous for employing Japanese nationals on most of their high positions in subsidiaries but nowadays, this pattern has changed. Japanese companies choose to send Japanese employees to their European headquarters, but not to their smaller subsidiaries, like the ones in Sweden. As a matter of fact, the regional headquarters is the one responsible for maintaining the communication between the parent company and the other subsidiaries. The Swedish subsidiaries do not actually have Japanese employees on their management positions and conduct a more local strategy, oriented after the needs of their customers.