A total of 110 senior human resource and industrial relations managers from
multinational companies located in North America, South America, the Middle
East, Asia, Europe, and Australia responded to a survey designed to elicit their
opinions of the most compelling issues in international human resource
management for the 1990s. The following three within-firm issues were most
salient: the role of human resources in international operations; managing a
multi-cultural workforce; and developing management talent in a global business
environment. Three other issues were seen as critically important external
challenges: human resource aspects of international alliances; the impact of the
social dimension of the new Europe; and the future role of Japan in Asia and
the world. These issues were discussed in terms of their strategic and managerial
implications.
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