A conscious belief that only the host-country managers can ever really understand the culture and behaviour of the host-country market. It refers to which of the following top executives’ values :
Polycentric
Polycentric — option 3.
The framework. This is Howard Perlmutter’s EPRG model of the attitudes top management holds towards international operations. The orientation shows itself in who is appointed to run foreign subsidiaries, in how much autonomy they are given, and in whether products are standardised or adapted.
| Orientation | Belief | Who staffs the subsidiary | Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnocentric | Home-country ways are best and should be exported | Home-country nationals (expatriates) in all key posts | Standardised; tight central control |
| Polycentric | Each host country is unique, and only local managers can really understand it | Host-country nationals run the subsidiary | Adapted to each market; subsidiaries largely autonomous |
| Regiocentric | Countries within a region are similar enough to manage together | Managers moved within the region | Regional strategy — Europe, ASEAN |
| Geocentric | The world is one market; nationality is irrelevant | The best person, of any nationality | Integrated global strategy |
The question’s phrasing — “only the host-country managers can ever really understand” — is a direct statement of the polycentric belief.
The strengths and costs of each. A polycentric approach adapts well to local taste, regulation and custom, avoids the resentment expatriate management provokes, and costs far less than posting expatriates. Its weakness is fragmentation: subsidiaries pursue their own courses, learning is not shared between them, host-country managers have no path to headquarters, and economies of scale are lost. The ethnocentric approach has the opposite profile — consistent and controlled, but insensitive and expensive. The geocentric approach is the ideal most multinationals aim at and few achieve, since it demands a genuinely international culture and a very costly system of moving people worldwide.
Note the odd option. “Egocentric” is not part of the EPRG model at all — it is included because it sounds like the others.
Hence, the answer is Polycentric.
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- Which among the following pertain to international staffing policy?
A. Geocentric
B. Expatriates
C. Repatriates
D. Employee leasing
E. Career portability
Choose the correct answer from the options given below: - Fill in the blank
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