Re-visiting ‘country of origin’ effects on HRM in multinational corporations

This article builds on the existing literature on ‘country of origin’ effects on the management of human resources in multinational corporations (MNCs). It adopts a relational perspective in order to examine how actors at different levels within multinationals develop identities, and how these interact. Exploring the different sets of relations present within MNCs highlights two major areas in which the existing literature is deficient: first, a more integrated perspective on country effects within MNCs is dependent on an understanding of the potential for firms to strategically segment HR policies; second, more consideration needs to be given to the potential separation, either full or partial, of country of ownership and country of management effects, in order to reach a more realistic analysis of how national business systems shape international HRM.