| Course | MT220 Global Business |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 8 |
| Paper type | International staffing plan |
| Length | About 860 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MT220 Unit 8
An Expatriate, a Manizales Engineer or a Guatemalan Technician: A Unit 8 International Staffing Plan
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
MT220: Global Business
Unit 8 International Staffing Plan
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Cascade Drum Works, the three candidates and every salary and cost are composite and illustrative; Colombian employment terms are summarized from public sources and should be confirmed with a Colombian labor lawyer; the sources cited are real.
The Role
Cascade Drum Works needs a technical manager in Colombia who will train the distributor's technicians, inspect every installation, audit service quality during the harvest seasons and report field failures back to Tacoma so the engineering team can fix design problems. The role does not sell machines; the distributor does that. It protects Cascade's reputation by making sure every machine runs well. The person will spend most days on the road between farms in Caldas, Risaralda and Quindio, often reachable only by mountain roads.
Three Orientations
Perlmutter (1969) described three ways multinational firms approach staffing abroad. An ethnocentric firm sends home-country managers, trusting their knowledge of the company. A polycentric firm hires local managers, trusting their knowledge of the market. A geocentric firm hires the best person wherever they come from. Each of Cascade's candidates fits one orientation.
The Candidates
The first is Jake, Cascade's senior service lead, who has installed more than [200] roasters in the United States and offered to relocate for two years. He knows the machine better than anyone outside engineering but speaks little Spanish and has never worked abroad. He represents the ethnocentric choice.
The second is Laura, a mechanical engineer from Manizales who has worked for six years at a coffee processing equipment company, installing dryers and hullers on farms in the coffee axis. She is fluent in Spanish and conversational in English, and she knows many of the growers and the distributor's technicians personally. She has not worked on roasters. She represents the polycentric choice.
The third is Mateo, a Guatemalan technician who spent eight years with a dealer of European roasters in Central America. He knows roasters well and speaks Spanish, but he does not know Colombian growers or Colombian labor rules. He represents the geocentric choice.
Comparison
On technical depth with roasters, Jake is strongest, Mateo close behind, and Laura weakest, though her general mechanical training is strong. On Spanish and local relationships, Laura is far ahead. On cost, Jake is the most expensive: moving him for two years, with a Pereira apartment, an allowance for higher costs, flights home and help with taxes in two countries, would cost about [$190,000] a year. Mateo would need relocation and immigration support, about [$75,000] in the first year. Laura would cost about [$48,000] a year in salary and Colombian employer charges. On willingness to stay long term, Laura is the most likely, since she would be working at home.
Black and Gregersen (1999) found that many expatriate assignments fail to meet expectations, often because the manager or family does not adapt, and that companies frequently choose expatriates for technical skill alone. Jake's skill is real, but the role depends more on relationships with growers and technicians than on knowing the machine better than anyone else.
The Choice
Cascade should hire Laura and close her technical gap with six weeks of training in Tacoma before she starts, plus Jake's support by video during her first harvest season. Collings et al. (2007) noted that companies increasingly combine local hires with short visits and virtual support from headquarters rather than relying on long expatriate assignments, and this plan follows that pattern.
What the Colombian Contract Overrides
Hiring Laura in Colombia means a Colombian employment contract, which changes several of Cascade's habits. In Tacoma, employment is at will; in Colombia, an employee on an indefinite-term contract who is dismissed without just cause is owed severance set by law, so Cascade cannot end the job casually. Colombian employers also pay a service bonus, the prima, of about one month's salary a year in two installments, deposit about one month's salary a year into a severance fund called cesantias, pay interest on that fund and contribute to health, pension and workplace risk insurance. Employees receive fifteen working days of paid vacation a year. The legal maximum workweek has been falling under a 2021 law and reaches 42 hours by mid-2026, so the harvest-season overtime Cascade's Tacoma crew is used to would be limited and paid at premium rates.
These obligations add roughly [50] percent to Laura's base salary, which is included in the [$48,000] estimate. Cascade should hire her through a Colombian payroll provider or the distributor's legal entity until it has its own, and have a Colombian lawyer draft the contract.
In Tacoma the firm can end a job with a conversation; in Manizales it ends with a severance calculation.
Onboarding Calendar
Month one: six weeks in Tacoma on assembly, burner calibration and control software. Month two: installs alongside the distributor's technicians on three farms, with Jake on video. Months three and four: first harvest season, with weekly failure reports to Tacoma. Month six: a review with the owner of service quality and the failure log.
References
Black, J. S., & Gregersen, H. B. (1999). The right way to manage expats. Harvard Business Review, 77(2), 52-63.
Collings, D. G., Scullion, H., & Morley, M. J. (2007). Changing patterns of global staffing in the multinational enterprise: Challenges to the conventional expatriate assignment and emerging alternatives. Journal of World Business, 42(2), 198-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2007.02.005
Perlmutter, H. V. (1969). The tortuous evolution of the multinational corporation. Columbia Journal of World Business, 4(1), 9-18.
The Purdue Global MT220 Unit 8 instructions
In Unit 8 the task is usually to fill one role abroad and justify the choice. Most prompts expect the role defined, staffing options compared, often a sent-from-home manager, a local hire and someone from a third country, a choice made and the employment terms that apply in the host country. Bring in Perlmutter or whichever staffing model your section teaches, and compare candidates on criteria tied to the role. Expatriate costs should include housing, allowances and tax support. The host country's employment law should be summarized accurately, including contract type, mandatory benefits, termination rules and working-time limits, with a recommendation to confirm with local counsel. An employer of record or local payroll provider is often worth mentioning. An onboarding plan helps. Expect about five pages, citing staffing research and official sources in APA 7.
How the MT 220 Unit 8 example is put together
The plan defines the role as technical rather than sales. Perlmutter's three orientations are explained and tied to the three candidates, each described with strengths and gaps. A comparison weighs technical depth, Spanish, local relationships, cost and willingness to stay, with Black and Gregersen on why expatriate assignments often disappoint, and a margin note shows the decision resting on what the role requires. The choice section hires the engineer with six weeks of training and remote support, citing Collings and colleagues on alternatives to long assignments. The contract section lists what Colombian law overrides, from severance to the shrinking workweek, and the highlighted line contrasts ending a job in Tacoma and in Manizales. A second note explains the translation into the firm's habits, and an onboarding calendar closes the plan.
Reading the MT220 Unit 8 grading rubric
International staffing plans are usually graded on the fit between candidate and role, the accuracy of host-country terms and the practicality of the plan. Defining the role clearly sets up a fair comparison. Perlmutter's three orientations score best when each one is attached to an actual candidate. Comparisons should cover cost honestly, including the full price of an expatriate package. Graders reward plans that summarize host-country employment law accurately and explain what it changes for the firm. A recommendation to use local counsel or a payroll provider shows awareness of risk. Training and onboarding plans demonstrate that the hire is set up to succeed. Perlmutter, Black and Gregersen and Collings and colleagues should appear in APA 7.
MT220 Unit 8 help from the desk
Staffing plans often go wrong by choosing the home-country candidate because he knows the product, without weighing the role's relationship demands. Another frequent problem is understating expatriate costs. Some writers treat host-country employment as if home-country rules applied, ignoring severance, mandatory bonuses or working-time limits. Others list legal terms without explaining what they change. Onboarding is often missing. Be careful with legal details; summarize them, cite a source and recommend local counsel. If your company would use an employer of record, explain why. With the role, the country and your shortlist in hand, a writer can lay the candidates side by side and draft the contract section for that country.
Get an MT220 Unit 8 example written to your instructions
Tell us which foreign operation your Unit 8 scenario creates, the role it needs and any candidates the case names, then attach the rubric. A custom plan defines the job, compares staffing options on cost and fit, and sets the terms under the host country's labor law, arriving in 24-48h. No charge applies to the first, and legal provisions are dated to their sources. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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MT220 Unit 8 questions, answered
What are parent-country, host-country and third-country nationals?
Parent-country nationals come from the firm's home country, host-country nationals from the country where the operation sits, and third-country nationals from somewhere else. Each brings different strengths: product knowledge and trust from headquarters, local relationships and language, or regional experience at moderate cost. Staffing plans usually compare at least two of the three against the role's real demands.
How much employment law should the plan include?
Enough to show the terms are lawful and costed. Name the contract type, the mandatory benefits, termination rules and working-time limits, citing the host country's labor ministry or a reputable law firm guide with its date. A plan need not read like legal advice, but assuming home-country rules apply abroad is the error graders notice fastest.
Is an employer of record worth mentioning?
Often, yes. An employer of record is a local company that legally employs the worker on the firm's behalf, handling payroll and benefits, which lets a small exporter hire before forming its own entity. The plan should state the fee, the control the firm gives up, and the point at which forming a subsidiary would make more sense.
Where can I find a free MT220 Unit 8 sample paper?
This page holds a full MT220 Unit 8 international staffing plan for a roaster maker in Colombia. It compares three candidates through Perlmutter's orientations, hires a local engineer, explains her Colombian contract terms and includes margin notes.
Why does the sample hire the Colombian engineer over the US service lead?
The role depends on relationships with growers and technicians and on Spanish, where she is far stronger, and she costs about $48,000 a year against about $190,000 for an expatriate package. Training closes her roaster gap.