Using Experiences Earned in a Foreign Assignment - Case L4 Project, Stora Enso
Lipsanen, Tanja (2009)
Kymenlaakson ammattikorkeakoulu
2009
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-200911235862
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-200911235862
Tiivistelmä
Expatriation, sending employees for an international assignment, has become more popular in Finland within the last twenty years. The phenomenon has been studied much, however there is a lack of studies that focuses on repatriation, returning to the home country, and how companies benefit from the experiences of the expatriates after repatriation.
This study focused on repatriation and whether a case organisation had the ability to gain from experiences earned in a foreign assignment. The target group was Finnish expatriates from L4 Project of Stora Enso who were in an international assignment in Belgium in 2002 and 2003. Repatriation has happened about five years before this study. Interviews of the project members and their superiors took place in spring 2008.
It was admitted by the members and superiors interviewed that valuable experience was earned during the assignment. Organisation had used these experiences in 76% of the cases and they had added value to the organisation. Earned knowledge had been transferred within the organisation and it had enhanced Stora Enso as a learning organisation. International assignments of the cases were not part of individual career planning which is in the employees’ interest.
As a result of the study there are proposals for improving international assignment policy, new organisation of project experts and taking project experts as a part of company’s management audit process. Findings of the study are planned to be used in the future projects and when people are sent for an international assignment. At the end repatriation and expatriation are rethought and the phenomenon has been developed further by criticising use of expatriates and their repatriation to the same location. New term, globatriation, relocation for career development after an international assignment, is introduced.
This study focused on repatriation and whether a case organisation had the ability to gain from experiences earned in a foreign assignment. The target group was Finnish expatriates from L4 Project of Stora Enso who were in an international assignment in Belgium in 2002 and 2003. Repatriation has happened about five years before this study. Interviews of the project members and their superiors took place in spring 2008.
It was admitted by the members and superiors interviewed that valuable experience was earned during the assignment. Organisation had used these experiences in 76% of the cases and they had added value to the organisation. Earned knowledge had been transferred within the organisation and it had enhanced Stora Enso as a learning organisation. International assignments of the cases were not part of individual career planning which is in the employees’ interest.
As a result of the study there are proposals for improving international assignment policy, new organisation of project experts and taking project experts as a part of company’s management audit process. Findings of the study are planned to be used in the future projects and when people are sent for an international assignment. At the end repatriation and expatriation are rethought and the phenomenon has been developed further by criticising use of expatriates and their repatriation to the same location. New term, globatriation, relocation for career development after an international assignment, is introduced.