Closing Case: Chicago versus Shanghai

Emerging Markets/Ethical Dilemma

Richard Wang is president (country manager) for Dream Hotel China, whose corporate headquarters is in Chicago. Wang has an engineering degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas. After obtaining his MBA in 1995, Wang worked at Dream Hotel Chicago and picked up a green card (US permanent residency) while maintaining his Chinese passport. In 2005, when Dream Hotel opened its first location in Chinain Wang's hometown Shanghaihe was tapped to be one of the first managers sent from the United States. China of the 21st century was certainly different from China of the 1990s that Wang had left behind. Reforms were in the air, multinationals coming left and right, and his two phones ringing off the hook from head-hunters shouting to him about "career opportunities."

As a manager, Wang has shined in Shanghai. He has been promoted to replace an expat to be the number one executive in charge of all Dream Hotel locations in China. His wife and two children (born in 2001 and 2003 in Chicago) are also happy. After all, Chinese food in Shanghai is a lot more authentic than that in Chicago. Grandparents, relatives, and friends are all happy to see the family back. In Chicago, Wang's wife, Lily, a Chinese language teacher by training, taught on a part-time basis, but could not secure a full-time teaching position because so few schools offered Chinese. Now she is principal of a great school in Shanghai. The two children are enrolled in the elite Shanghai International School, the cost of which is paidfor by the company. Shanghai is not perfect, but the Wangs feel good about coming back.

At the end of 2017, president of Dream Hotel Asia Pacific, an American expat who is co-located with Wang in the same building in Shanghai, has a conversation with him:

Richard, I have great news for you! Headquarters wants you to move back to Chicago. You'll be in charge of strategy development for global expansion, working directly under the group vice president. Isn't that exciting?! They want someone with proven success. You are my best candidate. I don't know what design they have for you after this assignment, but I suspect it'll be highly promising. Don't quote me, but I'd say you may have a shot to eventually replace me or the next Asia Pacific president here. While I personally enjoy the work here, my family is really fed up with the air pollution, especially on a winter day like this. Or folks in Chicago may eventually want you to go somewhere else like Russia or Brazil or Turkey or Cuba. As you know, some of our earlier experience in sensitive countries tells us that a fantastic third-country national may be an awesome Dream Hotel manager. And you can be that awesome third-country national! Frankly, I don't know but I'm just trying to help you speculate. I know it's a big decision. Talk to Lily and the kids. But they lived in Chicago before, so they should be fine going back. Of course, I'll put you in touch with the folks in Chicago directly so that you can ask them all kinds of questions. Let me know what you think in a week.

Instead of calling his wife immediately, Wang has decided to wait till he gets home in the evening so that he can have a few hours to think about this. Going from Chicago to Shanghai, Wang, with his Chinese passport, is a host-country national (HCN). However, with his green card, he is also considered a US national and thus an expatriate. He wonders whether he should accept the new assignment. He thinks this will be an exciting career move for him, but he is not sure if his family will like it.

Questions

1. What questions should Wang ask the people at headquarters in Chicago? Please help him to create a list.
2. Will Lily and the children be happy about this move? Why?
3. Should Wang accept or decline this opportunity? Why?