Expatriates and International Assignments in the German Chemical Industry – The Organisational Perspective*

The International Human Resource Management (IHRM) research on international assignments (IA) is characterised by a domination of US studies and a strong focus on multinational companies (MNC), disregarding that smalland middlesized enterprises (SME) represent close to 90% of all firms in most industries. Our study addresses these shortcomings by providing data from the German chemical industry, a sector known for both its high degree of internationalisation and its large share of SME. We report on the organisational perspective on IA as derived from the results of a mail survey and expert interviews. The main findings are that IA are not the predominant choice with German chemical firms when going global, and that expatriation issues are often dealt with in a rather flexible, individualised way, particularly in SME. Our findings call for further research on the way SME approach the internationalisation of business activities and human resources.