When Jardine International Motors was planning a joint venture in India in the late 1990s, the company quickly decided on a person to oversee the collaboration. But getting him in place proved more arduous.

Over four months, Jardine would spend thousands of dollars ferrying the manager, Steven Foster, and his wife between Hong Kong and India; putting them up in luxury hotels; paying deposits on an apartment in Bombay and a house in Delhi, and to a school in the Indian capital — none of which the couple ever used. 

Why, in this era of severe cost-cutting, would a company spend that kind of money to court a manager?

Research shows that more than 30 percent of overseas postings fail, with the executive either returning home prematurely or staying on but under-performing. A lack of family and organisational support or the inability to adapt to the local culture were cited as the main reasons in the survey of 16 multinational companies by human-resources company SHL Hong Kong.

The survey covered both Asian and Western expatriates, with one company calculating that the early return of an expatriate manager cost it USD 2 million in lost productivity, moving costs and the repeat expenses of finding and relocating a new manager.

Companies that work to keep their expats happy Jardine does more than most firms to prevent aborted assignments. Many companies have simply cut spending on the sorts of expenses that paved the way for Mr Foster's smooth entry. Also, Jardine's concessions to the manager and his family were surely influenced by the fact that it was trying to fill a top post in a developing country.

Clearly, a mid-level marketing executive bound for Hong Kong would not be given such leeway.

Still, Jardine is not alone in taking the posting process more seriously. Food and drinks conglomerate Cadbury-Schweppes started short-listing candidates for overseas posts through Kaizen, a series of psychological tests and interviews designed to determine suitability to different cultural environments. For some posts, it interviews the spouse or partner of expatriate candidates.

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