The success rates, and determinants, of South Africa expatriate managers in Sub-Saharan African countries to First World countries

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the risk of failure as an expatriate manager in sub-Saharan Africa, given the high cost of failure and the cultural distance of African countries compared to South Africa. The lack of cultural skills of Multi-National Corporations can hinder their success in doing business in sub-Saharan African countries despite their technical knowledge and proven Western management styles. This requires an expatriate workforce that understands the African environment and management systems in order to reduce the risk of failure. This study surveyed the expatriate work force that have completed assignments in sub-Saharan African, using First World countries as a benchmark. The survey was web based and the questionnaire covered a wide range of issues from the failure rate, to challenges faced, to the determinants for success. The results show that the sub-Saharan African group had a failure rate of 36% or 7 times higher than the First World group. This was caused by underestimating the impact of the large cultural distance and not preparing for the assignment through the correct training and pre-departure planning. The selection process to scan for the correct attributes and previous expatriate experience proved to be key determinants of success. The results also show that among the top five reasons for failure are found those accepted in theory. The dominant reasons for failure were found to be the inability to cope with the larger assignment, adjustment issues with the expatriate, the inability of the spouse to adjust, family problems and the lack of technical competence. By far the most dominant of these reasons was the expatriate’s inability to cope with the larger assignment. The results show that 50% of the expatriates received a promotion together with their new assignment and it is proposed that this was a significant contributing factor to the inability to cope with their new assignment. The second most dominant reason was the expatriate’s issues with adjusting to the new environment and it is proposed that cultural distance and lack of cultural skills and training are the main reasons for this finding. The most likely scenario for failure is selecting an expatriate manager based purely on their technical competence without any expatriate management experience, promoting them to a higher position, and sending them into a foreign country with a significant cultural distance, without any training of the expatriate and family members, and then expecting them to perform successfully without any on the job support, yet many companies seem to follow this approach.