We find that country risk is negatively correlated with the degree
of expatriation and that, rather than host-country risk, firm-specific factors (particularly
capital intensity, ownership share of parent firms in subsidiaries and the age of the venture)
explain most of the variation in the degree to which subsidiaries rely on Japanese
expatriates. Contrary to previous studies, the capital intensity of production is a key
explanatory firm-specific variable that correlates positively withthe degree of expatriation.
Japanese multinational companies do not rely on expatria127=tes to off-set host-country
risk, but to mitigate risk to parent investment in subsidiaries.