MNE regional head offices and their affiliates: Talent management practices and challenges in the Asia Pacific

The paper explores the processes and challenges involved in multinational enterprise (MNE) establishing and operating regional headquaters (RHQs) as bridges between the parent HQ and their subsidiaries within a region. The role of regional structures has been neglected in research on international management, and, until recently, especially in research on HRM and talent management (TM). We know little about how MNEs develop, introduce and adapt TM (global TM (GTM) in this context) to accommodate local/country/regional contexts and challenges. The paper addresses these lacunae by reviewing the literature on GTM, MNE regional structures and GTM in the Asia Pacific region, and by presenting our findings from a study of the recent establishment by a multinational vehicle manufacturer of a regional headquarters in the Asia Pacific region. Four main challenges were identified: setting up the regional headquarters, legitimacy and contribution issues relating to the role of the RHQ, specific regional TM matters and centralisation versus decentralisation within the region.