Of Bears, Bumble-bees and Spiders: the Role of Expatriates in Controlling Foreign Subsidiaries

This article investigates the role of expatriate managers in multinational companies. We discuss three key organisational functions of expatriation: position filling, management development and organisation development. In the last function, international transfers are used as an informal coordination and control strategy. The article explores this role of international transfers in detail and also refers to a direct way in which expatriates can control subsidiaries. A large-scale mail survey offers empirical evidence for the role that expatriates play in controlling foreign subsidiaries and shows under which circumstances the different types of control are most important.