This document discusses key factors for successful expatriate assignments. It begins by defining expatriate failure as an early, unplanned return or an ineffective overseas posting. Research shows failure rates range from 10-50% depending on the destination. There are three types of failures - early termination, an unprofitable assignment, or lack of support leading to an employee leaving the company. The document then examines reasons for failure, including individual factors like lack of adaptability or going abroad for the wrong reasons, as well as family pressures. Work factors include poor selection criteria, lack of support, and bad job matches. Finally, the document outlines key success factors such as comprehensive selection processes, relevant training for expatriates and spouses,

1. EXPATRIATION
KEY FACTORS OF
SUCCESS

2. AGENDA
Expatriation Failures
Core Reasons
Key factors to make
an expatriate
assignment
successful
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3. Expatriate Failure
Definition
●
●
Often defined as “the early, unplanned return of the
expatriate” , expatriate failure is :
 not only a posting that ends prematurely, but
 can also be considered as one ineffective by senior
management.
Research in the field ranks failure rates as high as 10% to
50%, according to the expat's destination. Though rarely
estimated with due precision, costs of failure are high too,
and definitely outweigh the benefits of the overseas
assignment come to a dead end.
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4. Expatriate Failure
3 Distinct Cases
Expatriation is considered as a failure in three distinct
cases :
●
●
●
If the assignment terminates prematurely, to the double
expense of the company (economic loss), and the
expatriate (and family – human expense), but also :
If the overseas experience proves to be unprofitable for
the company , when the assignment comes to due
term, but the expatriate's mission isn't successully
fulfilled (misadjustment, and “wrong fit” case)
If lack of appropriate organizational support , during
and/or after the overseas assignment, leads the
expatriate to leave the company.
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5. Expatriate Failure
Costs at Stake
Poor repatriate retention is a costly failure for the
company, since the global experience , i.e.“the repatriate's
knowledge and expertise, are created and reside in the
person's mind”.
● Sometimes considered as “career disaster” because of the
“under-utilization of the newly developed knowledge and
skills”, overseas assignments can be a source of real
disillusionment, since the expatriate has been “removed
from the mainstream of corporate advancement”.
● Thus, some returning expats choose to leave the company
to find a better career fit elswhere (protean careers), as
their “international experience will give them an edge that
will make them more marketable”, at the total expense
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of the company.
●

6. AGENDA
Expatriation Failures
Core Reasons
Key factors to make
an expatriate
assignment
successful
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7. Core Reasons
Individual Factors
Failure for an overseas assignment may be due to
organizational, or nonwork factors.
First, early returns can result from individual characteristics,
ranging from personality to misadjustment to the mission.
On a very personal basis :
● Expats sometimes lack maturity, adaptability to different
contexts, and
● cultural flexibility, and
a global mindset is no innate
characterictic.
● Some out-and-out go-getters also choose expatriation for
the wrong reasons or intentions (money, adventure,
exotism, career loophole...), and fail to meet the
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very requirements of the assignment.

8. Core Reasons
Side-Effect Factors
Family pressures are the
other set of failure factors in
the individual sphere, as
spouses and families may fail
to adjust ( U-Curve and
Culture Shock).
● Some
corporate data give
total marriage breakdown
rates in specific locations “up
to 50%, due to the stress of
offshore postings”*.
●
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* Challenges in Expatriate Postings -Main reasons for Expatriate Failures – www.chalre.com

9. Core Reasons
Work-Related Factors
As for organizational, or work-related factors of failure,
they range :
● from the bad corporate habit of basing selection on
technical competencies only,
● to the lack of adaptability screening,
● lack of support and networking, and
● bad
person-job match, overlooking responsibility
overload , i.e. neglecting the assessment of abilities to
cope with larger overseas responsibility (or adequate
prejob training).
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10. AGENDA
Expatriation Failures
Core Reasons
Key factors to make
an expatriate
assignment
successful
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11. Key Success Factors
Success Predictability Factors
For all these reasons, overseas assignments need to be
well thought of, and really ought to depend on a
systemized corporate expatriate management process.
The first key factor of sucess is :
● to select assignees, not only on a technical or strictly
professionnal basis, but
● by identifying the five factors of success predictability :
job knowledge and motivation, relational skills,
flexibility / adaptability, extra-cultural openness, and
family situation”.
● At this stage, adaptability screening is also
preponderant (overseas assignment inventory).
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Overseas Assignment Inventory available at : http://www.prudential.com/view/page/public/14394

12. Key Success Factors
Relevant Information & Training
Second , both expatriate and spouse need to receive :
● relevant
information (realistic previews, improved
orientation),
● together with cultural and language training
==> to cope with the expected culture shock.
As family stress is to be anticipated, on a very private
level this time, candidates must get aware that they will
go through a very demanding experience, where
“strong bonds of closeness” between expat spouses are
definitely “together-we're-strong” key factors of success,
and stress smoothers.
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13. Key Success Factors
Financial Support
On the financial front, improved
packages will most certainly help :
benefits
to cope with material difficulties,
● standard of living discrepancies,
● or the need for regular flights back
home to visit family and help stand
homesickness.
●
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14. Key Success Factors
Organisational Support
In the professional field, it is important that the firm
should find a way to keep the expatriate “in the
corporate loop”, by developing oriented networking, to
avoid the terrible results “out of sight out of mind”
methods.
Requiring and providing regular feedback ,
● together with setting SMART individual goals,
●
enable the overseas assignee to stay in the loop,
keep their motivation, and fuel professional
satisfaction.
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15. Key Success Factors
Further Opportunities
Of course, another KSF (key success factor) is to
provide the expats with :
opportunities for further training and
improvement (development) ,
● and
the assurance that their overseas
assignment will be recognized as a
valuable experience on their return, and
will not meet a repatriation dead end
(career).
●
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16. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Human
Resource
Management
Gary Dessler
Revisiting
Repatriation
Concerns
Revisiting
Repatriation
Concerns :
Organizational
Support
Versus Career
& Contextual
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v38/n3/abs/8400273a.html
Influences
Mila Lazarova
Jean-Luc Cerdin
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