 We are discussing different approaches to staffing international operations and in this topic We are going to discuss the geocentric approach Geocentric approach as opposed to ethnocentric and polycentric approaches is in is a global approach and Geocentric means giving preference to to ability rather than the nationality so an ethnicity or a Nationality is not the reason for appointing a person or for adopting any kind of strategy The strategy or the person who whatever is going to be employed that is going to be employed because of its ability and its utility so geocentric approach takes into account the the overall utilization and utility of Fair of an operation of a strategy or of a particular person Alright, so with a geocentric approach the multinational organization is taking a global approach to its operations and well organization may be global but Its approach its strategy may still be something which is only restricted to the host to the national To the parent country or to the host country, but this is the next level of integration and The operations are actually managed through a very much integrated approach What does a geocentric approach basically holds it recognizes that each part subsidiaries as well as the headquarters makes a unique contribution with its unique Competence so neither the parent country Headquarters they have got any superiority Nor the host country Nationals or the subsidiary they have got any superiority over each other So they have got it recognizes that headquarters ki apni competence a Unki a unique competitive advantage a or Joe host country a Ski apni a unique competence a disco up utilize Not just for the host country operations, but it can be utilized those resources can be utilized for the entire global operations of the of that multinational enterprise so this is then accompanied by a worldwide integrated business and Lationality is less important than ability. So if you've got the ability then you don't like in polycentric approach You will not be promoted to the To the parent country headquarters so This is something which is not held in the geocentric approach if you've got the ability Then you may be promoted to any place in the world where your ability is applicable to that particular position Let's take a look at the reasons why a geocentric approach is adopted it enables an multinational enterprise to develop an international executive team which assists in developing a global perspective and Internal pool of labor for deployment throughout the global organization. So When you are geocentric you are taking in people and resources from all over the world without any restrictions and Barriers of nationality and geographical locations you are actually making an executive team of people who are coming from various different places in the world and therefore it would lead to an entire global organization and And and the organization will have an internal pool which can then be deployed for various Positions in the global organization that leads to a much rich pool of resources particularly of human capital and human resources for the organization a It also overcomes the federation drawback of the polycentric approach You know that in polycentric approach the national the the host country nationals they are restricted to the host country only and the The subsidiary is given some kind of autonomy, but it is restricted In its structure and its operations from the rest of the world. So the geocentric approach it Overcomes the federation drawback of the polycentric approach and this approach supports cooperation and resource sharing of cross different units What could be the disadvantages of a geocentric approach? Well on the face of it the first thing is that it is something which is very costly When you are taking up resources from different parts of the world It means that you have to train them You've got to allocate time for their training and you need to give all that cultural awareness and and Cultural embeddedness to them. So that means this is something which which needs time effort and money There are a number of then ramifications of that One disadvantage is a possibility that the host government wants a high number of Citizens employed and may utilize immigration control. So if that is some kind of a limitation on On your organization that a certain level of people can only come to the host country there are immigration controls and they require that in order to operate in that particular company in that particular country you need to have a certain Percentage of host country nationals in their subsidiary then this approach may not be Possible to be employed over there Then another disadvantage is that most countries require multinational organizations to provide Extensive documentation for a foreign national So when you are appointing a number of foreign nationals for example from different countries So if you are let's say operating in Pakistan, you're sending people from not just from USA. You're sending from UK You're sending from Japan. You're sending people from Africa learning to provide documentation and Gaining immigration for those people that may be something which is difficult because Pakistan also restricts people on the basis of visa and immigration policy and So if that kind of requirement is there, then it would be really something which is time-consuming expensive and at times it is futile because Sometimes for example, Israeli Nationals will not be able to gain access to the Pakistani people to the Pakistani country Then another disadvantage is that a geocentric policy can be expensive to implement because of increased training and Relocation cost is something that I've just said and another disadvantage is that if you have a geocentric approach You are employing people from all over the world. People are mixing together from different nationalities. You need to have a standardized International base pay so you cannot you need to have a structure of compensation in which You cannot go beyond a certain disc Discrimination among different nationalities. So you need to have that kind of structure in your compensation packages that there is a base International pay for your people which may be higher than national levels in many countries So if you are going for cost Saving because of labor costs in other countries in developing countries and you are employing a geocentric approach and you've got to employ an international standardized base pay then the advantage of cost saving in human resources with something which is going to be lost in that so you need to Think about that Then another disadvantage is that a large number of PCNs DCNs and HCNs need to be Center broad then that leads to relatively more lead times and more centralized control of the Staffing process so you cannot have a totally decentralized approach in which National managers they can appoint people from their own pool. You need to have a completely centralized staffing operations in your Organization and this is something which reduces the independence of your subsidiary operations So for example, if you are employing people from different various nationalities your Headquarters would be making that decision which what kind of mix is going to be appointed in a particular location So people in that particular locations for example, if it is Pakistan then the subsidiary which is being held in Pakistan They would feel that their autonomy and decision-making is something which is lost so the Pakistani manager would be feeling kind of Left out in making that decision that who is going to be appointed in their particular National subsidiary so that could lead to some kind of disappointment and Demotivation so these are a few disadvantages of the geocentric approach