Airbus international mobility in the U.K.: A case study of how international transfers contribute to global integration

Abstract

The today’s global market brings with opportunities to many companies to do international business but brings with many challenges in dealing with that complexity; especially in the high competitive global context of the multinationals. To capitalize on those opportunities, multinationals have the imperative need to integrate their operations globally as a source of competitive advantage. Companies have found that people are an essential asset if they want to achieve this integration. As a consequence the job market is experiencing a significant increase of international mobility of the employees. This study will assess the level of understanding about the international employee’s assignment in a global company such Airbus and particularly in one of its subsidiaries: Airbus UK. In exploring the roles and purposes of the expatriates’ activities in Airbus UK, it is the aim of this research to drawn any conclusion about how Airbus strategy to achieve global integration is being effective through the use of international assignments. As some studies indicates more a more multinationals are making use of horizontal mechanism of global coordination such as social architecture, in moving forward beyond the more traditional vertical control over the subsidiaries. This research will be focused on how expatriates are contributing to this social architecture and whether Airbus constitutes a paradigmatic case of the deployment of this capability through the enhancement of the international transfers among its employees. Key findings suggest Airbus is a good example of a multinational firm that consciously uses expatriates to transfer the company culture, common values, beliefs and behavioural norms to different parts of the corporation, in this case Airbus UK. Hence this contributes to the development a more integrated transnational organization. The expatriates have shown that socializing is one of their prime activities in Airbus UK; in doing so they are contributing to build and shared a strong company culture. Therefore it seems that Airbus more than intents to deemphasize national cultures or to replace them, is trying to strength a one global company culture.