Before we discuss some of the strategies involved in networking, reflect back on some previous important discussions:
• We introduced two theoretical perspectives around the notion of organisational capabilities – the knowledge-based or organisational learning view of the firm, and relational and social capital theory – in Chapter 12. How might these notions influence the way that IHRM personnel should think about their role in the global organisation?
• In IHRM, complex knowledge must be managed across cultural divides. If you want to create more intellectual integration across a global organisation, what becomes important about the ways that managers have been developed in various national labour markets?
• What might be the influence of vocational education and training systems be on the way in which the management task is defined?
How might such development shape the values that managers give to different types of knowledge?
• As we saw throughout Part Two of the book, these interests lie at the heart of much of the comparative HRM literature. What is the range of HRM practices that might be brought to bear to create a more integrated organisation?