Which staffing orientation involves recruiting host country nationals to manage subsidiaries in their own country and recruiting parent country nationals to fill management positions at headquarters?

Which staffing orientation involves recruiting host country nationals to manage subsidiaries in their own country and recruiting parent country nationals to fill management positions at headquarters?

• A. global staffing orientation
• B. polycentric staffing orientation
• C. geocentric staffing orientation
• D. ethnocentric staffing orientation

Answer: (B)

_polycentric staffing_ emphasizes using local talent to run the company’s operations in a host country while keeping leadership at the headquarters filled by the parent country’s nationals. This approach leverages local knowledge and networks to manage the subsidiary effectively, while the parent country maintains strategic control through its own personnel at the home office. It helps with cultural fit, legal and market familiarity, and often morale and legitimacy in the host market. This differs from an ethnocentric approach, which relies on parent-country nationals for leadership both at headquarters and in subsidiaries, not prioritizing local managers. It also isn’t a geocentric approach, which seeks the best people for key roles regardless of nationality, and it isn’t regiocentric, which focuses on staffing within a specific geographic region rather than using host-country nationals for local subsidiaries and parent-country nationals at HQ.

polycentric staffing emphasizes using local talent to run the company’s operations in a host country while keeping leadership at the headquarters filled by the parent country’s nationals. This approach leverages local knowledge and networks to manage the subsidiary effectively, while the parent country maintains strategic control through its own personnel at the home office. It helps with cultural fit, legal and market familiarity, and often morale and legitimacy in the host market.

This differs from an ethnocentric approach, which relies on parent-country nationals for leadership both at headquarters and in subsidiaries, not prioritizing local managers. It also isn’t a geocentric approach, which seeks the best people for key roles regardless of nationality, and it isn’t regiocentric, which focuses on staffing within a specific geographic region rather than using host-country nationals for local subsidiaries and parent-country nationals at HQ.