Changes in the international environment during the last two decades are forcing most firms to consider globalization and localization issues more seriously. Factors such as the high value of the currency's value and trade friction have led firms of all sizes to establish or expand foreign manufacturing facilities. The large-scale expansion of overseas operations by Japanese firms during the 1980s and 1990s has brought about a shortage of qualified Japanese PCN managers to fill management positions at foreign subsidiaries The high cost of maintaining so many PCN managers at foreign subsidiaries and complaints by HCN employees and local authorities underlines the importance of integrating HCNs into the management process There is a significant body of research suggesting most Japanese and Asian MNCs have a long way to go before reaching such a stage in their organizational development. Corporations are going global in the sense that they are engaging in extensive FDI but at the same time they are not going local, as US and European companies have tended to do. Wingrove bases her conclusions on a study of well-known Japanese companies operating in Britain, including: Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi Power Tools, Kobe Steel and Mitsui and Co. She found that Japanese expatriates fill practically all the senior managerial posts. Furthermore, Wingrove contends that even when decisionmaking is delegated to managers in the European markets, the Japanese practice of consensus still requires thorough consultation with head office in Japan. She asserts that the Japanese parent companies tightly control the operation of their foreign subsidiaries and that many Japanese foreign manufacturing subsidiaries have not moved beyond the screwdriver-plant stage. She also reported that Shoichiro Irimajiri, senior managing director at Honda, stated Japanese firms are 10–20 years behind in internationalization