The need for highly qualified multicultural managers will increase as more
organizations globalize their operations. These global managers may be
perceived as organizational resources and, therefore, a resource-based view
of human resource management is utilized. At the same time, relational
view of human capital provides insight into the value of managers who have
unique local market knowledge (i.e., social knowledge). By integrating the
two aspects of the resource-based view, one can develop a dynamic
capabilities approach to staffing global assignments. Within this integrative
theoretical perspective, inpatriate managers (i.e., host or third country
managers who are transferred into the home country organization on a
semi-permanent to permanent basis) can be explored as a potential pool of
uniquely qualified global managers to be utilized in global organizations. It
is envisioned that through this unique building of managerial talents,
organizations can develop/maintain a distinct competitive advantage in the
markets they enter. This article explores inpatriation as an innovative
means to develop managers as strategic resources to be used in formulating
and implementing a global strategic plan.