International Business and Cultural Barriers
Small-Scale Qualitative Research Project�The Interview Guide
Qualitative research questions are open-ended, and typically restate the purpose of a study in specific
terms. These questions should start with “what” or “how” instead of “why”. While you are developing your
Central qualitative research question, you might begin by considering what type of questions to ask. Keep
in mind that your research question for this assignment should be one that can be answered, at least in
part, by this interview. Questions that provoke a yes/no response are not permitted in a doctoral study
interview guide.
For this Assignment:
� Review this week’s media resource regrading conducting interviews
PRIMARY RESEARCH PHENOMENON UNDER STUDY:
PRIMARY RESEARCH GOALS
INITIAL PROBE QUESTIONS:
International culture and how it affects the effectiveness of Multinational
Enterprises (MNEs)
Scholars such as Baliga and Jaeger (2004) have identified that one of the biggest
issues that MNEs face is cultural barriers in foreign markets. The purpose of this
study is to learn three major issues that are related to human resource
management international business. These include;
=>How culture in foreign markets affects the way firms manage their
international human resource
=>strategies used by Multinational Corporations to manage the problem
=>challenges faced by expatriates when they work in foreign countries
Multinational corporations face massive challenges when operating in foreign
markets (Dunning & Lundan, 2008). Among these challenges is the issue of
managing intentional human resources. Specifically, expats for these firms are
faced with numerous challenges that can limit their productivity (Negandhi,
2013). In this interview, I talk to Jared B. Craig, who is a management
consultant for Oxford Business Group (OBG). OBG is an intentional
consultancy firm that sends expats to over 89 countries around the world. Craig
will shed some light as to the challenges that multinationals such as OBI face,
and how they deal with them.
TARGETED CONCEPT QUESTIONS
TARGETED FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS
As Ayub (2014) says, some of the problems that business managers feel the
urge to solve are perceived problems, would you say that the cultural barrier
problems for MNEs are perceived or real and why or why not?
What are the biggest challenges that MNCs face in the foreign markets relating
to human resource management?
How serious are these challenges to business strategic alignment and in
particular how do they affect the success of a business?
How do businesses deal with these challenges?
How do different firms differ with regard to how they deal with these
challenges?
Who are affected by these challenges the most, that is, are foreign expats more
likely to be affected by this more than the local employees for these MNCs, and
if so how and why?
Do you think all types of firms are affected by these the same way? If not why
and what are the factors that that may make one firm or one industry to be
affected by the cultural barriers more than the others.
Would you say that the cultural barriers in foreign markets affect the market
strategy more than they do the HR strategy, how?
What are the strategies that have been developed through empirical research on
how these issues can be dealt with, and is there room for improvement?
If different firms in different sectors face more formidable challenges from the
cultural barriers in foreign markets than others, why is this and how could this
be solved?
If the cultural barriers are more of a problem to market strategy than in HR
strategy for MNEs, why is this and is it the same for all sector of the economy?
If the strategies there are gaps in the currently theoretical framework for dealing
with these problems, what are these gaps and how can they be closed?
If the cultural barrier is a perceived problems as opposed to a real problem, why
is this and how can firm deal with this?
Wrap up question:
References
What do you think is the future of international HR management?
How will this affect the way international business is going to be managed in
the next 20-50 years?
Do you think MNEs will stop using expats from their home countries in the
foreign markets and start using local expats? Why or why not?
Ayub, K. (2014). Diverse Contemporary Issues Facing Business Management Education. New
York, NY: IGI Global.
Baliga, B., & Jaeger, A. (2004). Multinational Corporations: Control Systems and Delegation
Issues. Journal of International Business Studies , pp. 25-40.
Dunning, J., & Lundan, M. (2008). Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy. London,
UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Negandhi, A. (2013). Functioning of the Multinational Corporation: A Global Comparative
Study: Pergamon policy studies on business. New York, NY: Elsevier.
