Opinion: Can Working Abroad Ever Be Worthwhile?

Pearce, Alison, Dziewanowska, Katarzyna, Quan, Rose and Wu, Szu-hsin (2019) Opinion: Can Working Abroad Ever Be Worthwhile? International Journal of Human Resource Development Practice, Policy and Research, 4 (2). pp. 127-132. ISSN 2397-4583

[img]
Preview
Text
IJHRDPPR-Vol-4-No-2-9-Forum-Opinion.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0.

Download (585kB) | Preview
Official URL: https://www.ijhrdppr.com/international-journal-of-...

Abstract

Despite assumptions of automatic benefits, sending people abroad can sometimes be bad for business, while working abroad can be as much of a pain, as a perk or privilege.Over the last 3 years, we have managed and participated in a major international staff exchange programme supporting research and innovation, funded by the European Commission. A consortium of 16 partner organizations of varying size, in different industries and across five countries in Europe and Asia undertook to complete 270 months of international secondment between them.The results have been overwhelmingly positive and successful: new and fruitful relationships between individuals and institutions, a diverse network growing in size and stability, increasing confidence, creativity and innovation within the project, a rapidly developing international profile and significant new skills sets, international experience and effectiveness for all involved. We have navigated stormy geopolitical waters involving Brexit and US-intra-Korean relations. The development of such capacity is a key aim of our project.However, we have arguably learned more from our failures than our success. In this opinion piece we want to take the rare opportunity reflect on the mistakes we have made and how we rectified them, recovered and thrived. By the end of our staff exchange project, we believe we will have perfected the creation of value from international mobility and everyone can learn from our experience and the solutions we have developed.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Dr. Alison Pearce is Associate Professor of Strategic Entrepreneurship at Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University, UK, Affiliate Professor at Grenoble Ecole de Management, France and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. One of the original cohort of British Erasmus students sent abroad in 1987 she spent 15 years living and working internationally in marketing, design and product development culminating in Head of Innovation and Business Development and running her own marketing and design consultancy. She is now the convenor of a faculty Research Interest Group and her work has been published in academic journals, industry magazines, books, blogs, and news media. An original member of the GETM3 team, Alison led the funding bid and now leads the project’s overall implementation, undertaking secondments in Ireland, Poland, Slovenia, and Korea. Dr. Katarzyna Dziewanowska is Assistant Professor in Marketing at the Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw, Poland. She is a member of the European Marketing Academy and Polish Scientific Association of Marketing. She received her PhD in marketing from the University of Warsaw. She was a visiting researcher at Centre for Studies on Higher Education at University of California, Berkeley, and holds the position of visiting fellow at Northumbria University. Her research interests focus on consumer behaviour, value co-creation, consumer experiences, and experiential marketing, as well as customer satisfaction, loyalty, and relationship marketing. Katarzyna was an original member of the GETM3 project team and leads the research workstream focused on young people. She has undertaken secondments in Ireland, the UK, Slovenia, and Korea. Dr. Rose Quan is Associate Professor in International Business and Strategy at Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University, UK. Her research interests include international entrepreneurship, international student and staff mobility, and international market entry strategy for MNEs and SMEs from both developed and developing countries. She has been responsible for the development of UK-Chinese partnerships. Rose is co-lead of the GETM3 workstream managing networking, communication, dissemination, and training activities. She has completed secondments in Korea, Ireland, Poland, and Slovenia. Szu-Hsin Wu is a PhD student in Marketing at Dublin City University Business School, Ireland. She is also a Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, working on a multidisciplinary project ‘Dŵr Uisce’ funded by the ERDF INTERREG Ireland-Wales Co-operation Programme 2014-2020. She has a Master’s degree in Design Management from the University of Southampton and expertise in graphic design. Her current research interests focus on actor engagement, green innovation and value co-creation. Szu-hsin has undertaken a GETM3 secondment in Slovenia and works mainly in the young people workstream.
Subjects: N100 Business studies
N600 Human Resource Management
Department: Faculties > Business and Law > Newcastle Business School
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 02 Mar 2020 14:12
Last Modified: 31 Jul 2021 18:45
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/42306

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics