Mapping The Current Situation Of Leadership Localization In Mncs In Shanghai Through A Comparative Approach

While succession planning in multinational corporations is always an important issue, leadership localization is increasingly becoming an interesting topic. The paper looks into the potential gap between conceptions and attitude of home country employers and host country candidates for managerial positions, and maps the current situation of leadership localization in Multinational corporations (MNCs) in Shanghai by examining conceptions on both sides from the following aspects: the most important qualifications for top management in MNCs; in what respects Chinese local employees needs to improve; as well as their attitudes towards leadership localization. Through the study, the author confirms the notion that there are more expatriates than local Chinese employees for top managerial positions, and looks beneath it to sort out the reasons, and how both sides can help local Chinese become more qualified for top management. The author finds a high level of consensus in many respects among the informants, and concludes that result-driven business context can help reduce intercultural conflicts, though there's still a major difference of culture and values between local Chinese employees and MNCs. The author suggests that some general background of different values and mindsets of different cultures is necessary in MNCs to smooth internal communication and to reduce potential damage caused by internal frictions, as well as to inform employers on how they can improve themselves to better qualify for the positions.