How Swedish MNCs select their expatriates : three case studies

International human resource management is an important component of MNCs’ global strategies and due to the complexity of managing international operations it is important to have the right people at the right place and at the right time. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of how Swedish MNCs select their expatriate managers. With a qualitative and descriptive approach three case studies were conducted, looking at three Swedish MNCs by using in-depth telephone interviews. When looking at the motives for sending managers abroad as expatriates it was found that Swedish MNCs generally have the objective to develop the organizations abroad and implement informal control. Furthermore, it is common among Swedish MNCs to invest in expatriates if they believe that it can provide future advantages. Considering the expatriate selection process it was found that an informal expatriate selection generally is applied, where clearly defined characteristics of the selection process are hard to find. Finally, when looking at criteria for expatriate selection it was found that Swedish MNCs believe that the technical ability and the expatriate candidates’ previous experience are important criteria for expatriate selection.Validerat; 20101217 (root