You are the HR or ER manager of a U.S.-based firm about to expand into THREE different countries.

• Decide which THREE counties you will focus on.
• Choose the first two countries from the continents of South America and Asia, and include either Australia OR New Zealand for the third territory.
• What are the key HR/ER issues you will face with internationalization in terms of
  • HR/ER policies and practices and
  • the structure and roles of the HR/ER function?

In order to be able to answer these questions, you will need to draw on the readings from this course and scientific literature (e.g. scientific journals on IHRM, HRM, ER, general business and management) available to you from the online library. Refer to these readings and the literature and engage with them, and if possible, carry out interviews within your organization.

If possible, use the current organization in which you are employed as the basis for the study. If your current organization is in the public sector or does not have any overseas operations, consider what challenges you might face if the organization decided to expand internationally. If your organization is already active internationally, consider how internationalization decisions have been made in the past, and apply this understanding to the scenario provided.

• Describe the organization, including size (number of employees), age (year of founding), and sector.
• Outline the internationalization strategy of the organization.
• Describe which countries to be included.
• Describe whether the focus will be HR or ER, and what this will include.
• Based on the above points, describe the objectives of the paper.
• Outline the theories/frameworks you will draw onfrom the course, with references.
• Indicate key scientific articles that you intend to refer to from outside the course readings (you do not need to have an exhaustive list at this stage), with references. Include recent references from the last four years. If needed, you could include old references but the number of these should be limited.
• If you intend to do interviews, please include a list of questions which you would ask senior management in your organization in order to establish the internationalization strategy of the firm (you can use these later for your actual paper research). You could also draw on interviews from other relevant sources (such as the perception of employees, point of view of unions, etc). In all cases, you will need to justify your choice of participants in terms of the objectives of your paper. If you do not or cannot include interviews, just skip this part but justify your choice.
• Mention your expected findings and how these can confirm/contradict the theories that you will draw on from the course and the scientific literature.
• Describe the possible limitations of your paper and its practical implications.