United States multinational corporations in the emerging economy of Singapore: An exploratory study of management practices

Increasingly, U.S. companies recognize and their strategic plans reflect the tremendous business opportunities that exist across national boundaries. Perhaps the greatest impact to the success of these opportunities lie in the effectiveness of the expatriate manages at the foreign site. This study presents the findings of the current MNC management practices being utilized by U.S. managers in their company's Singapore location.; Interviews were conducted with U.S. expatriate managers representing four U.S. MNC's across four different industries and local managers of Singapore companies to explore and evaluate cross-cultural differences in preferred management styles. Six themes: employee selection, training, evaluation, promotion, decision-making and interaction with the manager were analyzed and compared against Hofstede's five cultural value dimensions.; The findings revealed some major differences between the managers of the Western and Eastern (Chinese Confucian) cultures regarding their preferred managerial styles and practices particularly if the Singaporean company was a small family business. These businesses tend to retain the traditional Chinese values and business practices, which are consistent with Hofstede's value dimensions for Singapore. Large Singapore companies tend to be more Westernized. Both the U.S. multinational and large Singaporean companies are utilizing Western management practices. Although cultural differences exist, the Chinese Singaporean is open and pragmatic, and therefore permits Western practices to be introduced and become the preferred management style. However, as the study indicated, Western practices can not be transferred seamlessly and most mangers face challenges with employees in the areas of decision-making, innovation and creativity, and participation. To overcome these deficiencies, companies are providing training, creating more relaxed work environments, and providing incentives and constant support.; The findings substantiate the convergence argument. Singapore is undergoing dynamic changes and as an increasing number of Singaporeans work for and are influenced by the MNC's, their traditional values are gradually giving way to the more individualistic and materialistic values of the industrialized West. However, there is also evidence of divergence as Singaporeans continue to maintain some of the traditional values.