The transfer of training and development practices in Japanese subsidiaries in Vietnam created by Anne Vo

This paper examines the interaction between ‘home‐country’ and ‘host‐country’ effects in determining human resource management (HRM) policies and practices in multinational companies (MNCs) in the context of a developing country. The paper is based on an investigation of the training and development strategies for local managers of a sample of Japanese companies operating in Vietnam, and presents clear evidence of the transfer of home‐country practices. The sector emerges as a key variable in explaining variations in HRM patterns with a greater number of comprehensive training and development programs recorded in automotive than in fast‐moving consumer goods (FMCG) industries. We also argue that developing host countries pose little in the way of formal constraint mechanisms to the transfer of HRM practices, but the instability of the institutional environment and the weakness of its subsystems suggest a complex and challenging situation for MNC operations, and inhibit their ability to maintain their home‐country HRM practices.