Human resource management in Chinese multinationals: three Nigerian case studies

A large and impressive body of literature has developed on the human resource policies and practices that multinational corporations (MNCs) adopt in respect of their overseas operations and the factors that influence them. It remains the case, however, that the focus of research attention to date has been on the policies and practices adopted by Western MNCs in respect of similarly located subsidiaries. The aim of this present study was to address this weakness in the literature by drawing on the findings of three case studies of human resource management in three Nigerian subsidiaries of Chinese MNS. More specifically, the study set out to (a) address the paucity of data on how Chinese MNCs approach the management of human resources in African subsidiaries, (b) shed needed new light on how far the approaches being adopted are marked by a hybridization of Chinese and western policies and practices, and (c) offer new insights on the tension that exists in the literature between the potential that is seen for harmonious value-based relationships between Nigerian staff and their Chinese supervisors and managers and evidence pointing to ones marked by substantial conflict.

The findings obtained are seen to make important contributions in each of these areas and to have thereby enabled the study’s objectives to be met. In particular, they provide confirmatory support for the noted tendency of Chinese MNCs to place a heavy reliance on expatriate staff while pursuing low-cost-employment strategies; reveal relatively little in the way of hybridized human resource policies and practices, while pointing to the adoption of highly ethnocentric approaches; and indicate the presence of substantial levels of workforce conflict that contradict the notion of substantial value alignment between Nigerian workers and their Chinese supervisors and managers. In addition, and importantly, the findings highlight the way in which labour management in the subsidiaries were influenced, both formally and informally, by wider political dynamics and processes involving trade unions and government. The thesis ends by putting forward suggestions for future research and drawing out policy implications for Chinese MNCs, trade unions and government.