The strategic partner role requires HR leaders to align HR practices with strategic business goals. The deliverable for this role is an executed strategy that creates value as seen by major stakeholders, investors, line managers, and
workers. The global challenges for this role include assisting leaders with global mergers and acquisitions, balancing the need to transfer best practices from the home country with the need to adopt local practices,
increasing IHRM planning sophistication, helping leaders build worldwide organizational capabilities, and creating alignment across borders, cultures, and languages. The second role, change agent, delivers a renewed
organization that is more competitive. To achieve and sustain a competitive advantage, corporations must adapt to inevitable changes in the competitive landscape, government regulations, and global economy.