Some of the most popular buzz words and debated topics in many areas of inquiry, not just business and management, are ‘internationalisation ’ and ‘globalisation’. In the field of human resource management (HRM), developments in these areas have had several impacts. Importantly, they have generated a need for many companies to be internationally competitive. Thus, many businesses look to methods of flexibility and treat their employees as disposable human resources. This has led to some common changes in the HRM practices at the enterprise level. This, at least on the surface, indicates a degree of convergence. However, when we probe more deeply a different picture emerges. Many differences in HRM remain due to a variety of limiting factors, ranging from economic stages of development to business strategies, national culture and fixed enterprise mindsets. Using evidence from a selection of diverse economies in Asia, we explore and map out the patterns and challenges in these themes and for research.
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Rowley et al. (2002) studied this question.