Note: Please solve the case in your own words

Jaguar or bluebird? (B) Mark Chan returns home after his expatriate assignment 1 Gter K. Stahl (INSEAD Singapore), Chel Hwee Chua (University of South Carolina) and Rebekah France (INSEAD MBA 03J) Copyright 2003 INSEAD Singapore. Not to be used or reproduced without written permission. Reproduced with permission. Home sweet home After several more rounds of long discussions with Linda, they finally decided to move back to Singapore. The needs of his wife, children and mother-in-law were the over-riding factors in his decision. The following months were spent paciding and shipping their things and bidding farewells. Other than that, they did not have much time to think about their return to Singapore until the day of the departure. In fact, it did not cross their mind that it was something that they had to be mentally prepared for. Niter all, Singapore is home,' they thought. It had been half a year since Mark and his family moved back to Singapore. To their surprise, adapting back to life in Singapore turned out to be not as easy as they had imagined. After getting used to living in a large house with a big garden in the countryside for 5 years, their apartment in Singapore seemed much smaller than before. Although they lived in a luxurious condominium complex with facilities such as swimming pools, jacuzzis, saunas, gym and tennis courts, they simply missed the vastness of the English countryside and the lifestyle that they led in England. Mark no longer had his fancy cars and drove a Nissan Bluebird, as he used to do 5 years ago, before he left Singapore. Linda had to give up her gardening. The children missed their teachers and friends at school. And they all missed their dog terribly. It was impossible to bring it back since it would have been too large for their apartment. While the whole family was having dinner one evening, Mark's elder son, Jeremy, suddenty blurted out, I really don't want to go to school any more!' 'Me tool' John, the younger one, followed. Total silence fell upon the dining room. Tears started to trickle down Linda's face and she began sobbing uncontrollably. She, too, was unhappy. All the tensions and unhappiness that had built up over the past 6 months suddenly came out in the open. She could no longer pretend that it was great to move home. She knew Wat sil of them were, In one way or another, unhappy with their new life back in Fue months ago, Jeremy and John went to school on the Arst day with a brigh and dreery face, but came back quiet and gloomy. Especially Jeremy; he hadn't bech quile his usual chirpy self since then. Except for the weekends, the boys were dilles tired or felt lil every moming, and wanted to skip school. Mark and Linda found out that they did not like going to school because they felt out of place and nere unable to make new friends. They sald that very often, their teachers and dasmates could hot understand what they were saying and neither could they fully understand what their teachers and classmates were saying. Having lived in England since they were 2 and 3 years old, respectively, both boys grew up speaking English with a clear British accent. So, being in an environment whiere their new teachers and classmates spoke 'Singlish' - English with a Singaporean accent and Singaporean slang words - communication became a problem. Sometimes, their classmates made fun of their accent by imitating them. They also found Mandarin classes tough since they did not have Mandarin classes in England and the spoke English at home. Therefore, Linda engaged a private tutor to give the boss additional Mandarin classes. Linda and Mark consoled them and told them that they should give school a try and that things would get better. The sudden ouburst at the dinner table showed that things obviously did not get better. linda and Mark could empathize with their children. Although Linda was hapPY to be back in Singapore so that she could take care of her mother, she found her life back in Singapore less satisfying than she had imagined while she was in England. In the beginning, her friends were glad to have her back and listened to her about ber life in England with interest. However, this interest waned and they started swithing topics whenever she mentioned England. Soon, Linda found it difficult to identify with her friends. Sometimes, she couldn't help feeling that some of them who had always lived in Singapore were rather mopic and uninteresting, wheress at other times, she felt left out when they talked about their jobs and office politics. Another problem was job search. Linda was keen to start working again, but with the economic downturn in Singapore, there were few suitable job openings. The application letters that Linda sent either had no replies or were rejected. For Mark, he began to regret his decision to accept the job in Singapore. When he accepted the position, he knew that it would be a demotion in rank and the scope of his responsibilities would be less. However, he did not expect that he would be feeling bored with the job after just a few months. Mark started asking the Global pice President of were not available at the moment and positions, but was told that such positions were not the global economy, there was no that be should be patient. With the downticularly in Asia-Pacific. And nobody at the growth in the Division's business, particularly in Asia-Paing. Mark also got the same senior management level was leavig 6 months, Mark realized that his 'temporanswer from the other Divisions. Atery' after all, since senior management posary' position might not be 'temporailable for quite a while. He felt trapped. itions in Singapore would not be available lor quite a while. He wark of his own frusThe outbursts by his two children and jituation and his anger of being not offered the tration with his current job sosition in the Specialty Chemicals Division. 'This is Regional General Manager posit of getting international experience when it doesn't simply unfair! What's the point of getting international experty long am I supposed get you a decent job back home?,' he thought, bitterly. 'How long am I supposed to whit? I've had enough! There must be companies out there that value interantional experience.' PART IV CASESAND EXERCISES After consoling his wife and children, Mark went to his home office and dialled the mobile phone number of his friend Nigel, who was head of the local office of an international executive scarch firm. After consoling his wife and children, Mark went to his home office and dialled the mobile phone number of his friend Nigel, who was head of the local office of an international executive scarch firm. Note 1 This case is intended for classroom discussion mather than to illustrate cither effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. pou think 1 Erigland to Fincppore was righ How would you have handled the Sitvation in which wark finds himself