The paper by Marlene Walk, Heike Schinnenburg, and Femida Handy, “What does talent
want? Work expectations in India, China, and Germany”, adds to the increasingly important
field of GTM. According to the authors, talent is currently seen as the most consistent
and frequent factor affecting business success in a globalizing world, and companies
compete for qualified staff across national borders. This study attempts to fill two research
gaps. First, the paper attempts to add to the under-researched area of crosscultural
student work expectations, as students are the primary talent group from
which organisations recruit their future employees. Second, the authors develop a
measure to assess work expectations across diverse cultural backgrounds - a contribution
in itself, given the scarcity of reliable and valid measures in diverse cultural settings.
Drawing on samples from Chinese, Indian, and German students, the authors
found fewer differences in work expectations than their cultural diversity might initially
suggest. Nevertheless, because subtle differences can impact GTM, the authors call
for more targeted recruitment and retention strategies. For instance, German students
differ from Chinese and Indian students in the extent to which they value working for
foreign companies. The authors suggest leaving some freedom to adapt talentmanagement
strategies locally, thereby being able to address specific expectations of