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PurposeIn an era when expatriates are increasingly used as strategic conduits for developing capabilities in local business units, we identify what and how host-country nationals in a developing economy learn from self-initiated expatriates whose assignments focus on organizational capacity development objectives.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews with 23 Vietnamese host-country nationals rendered a sample of 138 learning episodes for qualitative content analysis. Respondents were employed in Vietnamese government and non-government organizations and worked closely with multiple self-initiated expatriates in a variety of professional contexts.FindingsHost-country nationals develop a broad array of primarily "soft" capabilities. This learning is typically informal and vicarious in nature. While learning tends to arise incidentally through day-to-day activities, host-country nationals facilitate this by structuring their formal and informal interactions with expatriates to maximize their learning potential.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the study's exploratory design and specific context limit the transferability of our results, analysis of a sample of specific learning episodes allowed us to map "hotspots" of particular activities and contexts in which certain learning outcomes transpired.Practical implicationsOur results put into sharp focus the overlooked roles of expatriates as models (to be observed), mentors (to be consulted) and collaborators (to be partnered with) who can catalyse valued learning opportunities for local colleagues.Originality/valueWe provide a comprehensive account of the nature and extent of informal learning that host-country nationals accumulate during interactions with expatriates, and so contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the experiences of host-country nationals in international business.

While prior research suggests that the cognitive changes triggered by cross-cultural experiences can enhance an individual's creative-thinking abilities, this is yet to be verified through empirical field research. We draw on schema theory, and the principle of psychological dissonance experienced during cultural adaptation, to argue that expatriates undergo wholesale cognitive changes that can lead to enhanced creative-thinking abilities. We test this hypothesis by measuring changes in the creative-thinking abilities of a sample of expatriates over the first 12 months of their placement. When compared with a control group of non-expatriates, the expatriates showed significant increases in overall creative-thinking abilities and cognitive flexibility, although not originality, elaboration, or ideational fluency.

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the content of voluntary disclosures of intangible asset (IA) information communicated by the world's leading 200 emerging-market companies. We make a detailed assessment of the variety, nature, and extent of IA disclosures in annual reports using an index based on the Value Chain Scoreboard™ devised by Lev (2001). Our findings show that the vast majority of companies engage in IA voluntary disclosure practices. As expected, most companies disclose IA information stemming from the Discovery and Learning phase of the value chain, while significantly fewer companies disclose IA information from the Implementation phase. Contrary to popular belief, we find that the majority of companies disclose quantitative IA information, with both financial and nonfinancial components, rather than qualitative. Our results further indicate that the variety, nature, and extent of IA voluntary disclosures differ according to type of accounting standard adopted and industry, but not size or foreign listing.

This paper applies the theoretical framework proposed by McKinnon [1986] to the creation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) which represented an important change to the accounting system in India post-independence. The development of the ICAI is categorized into three phases: source, diffusion, and reaction. Intra-system activity, trans-system activity, and the socio-economic and political environments are shown to influence all stages of the change. Within these phases, the paper focuses on the involvement of the state in the development of the ICAI, credentialism and the importance of the title "chartered," the disciplinary powers of the ICAI, and the issue of mutual recognition and reciprocity with foreign professional accounting organizations.

This study examines whether an international work assignment can contribute toward expatriates developing greater cognitive complexity, the core building block of a global mindset and a capability critical to being an effective cross-cultural operative. Using a pre-test–post-test longitudinal panel design, cognitive changes in a sample of Australian and New Zealand expatriates working in 18 different countries were measured. The findings show that, as a group, the expatriates' levels of cognitive complexity increased significantly during the 12-month study period. The individuals who experienced the largest increase were those who interacted most frequently with host culture nationals.

The board of directors is one of a number of internal governance mechanisms that are intended to ensure that the interests of shareholders and managers are closely aligned, and to discipline or remove ineffective management teams. Among the most significant governance issues currently faced by the modern corporation are those relating to diversity, such as gender and age, and independence of directors.While board diversity and independence has been a growing area of research in recent years, most empirical research on this topic has been restricted to US data. The generalisability of such findings may not extend across national boundaries due to different regulatory and economic environments, cultural differences, the size of capital markets and the effectiveness of governance mechanisms. Consequently, the importance and value of various governance structures, including board diversity and independence, should be separately examined in each country, and the influential factors investigated.This study reports on the diversity and independence of the board membership of 100 top Australian companies in 2003. Australia has one of the most developed stock markets in the Asia‐Pacific region. With the collapse of several well‐known public companies such as Ansett, OneTel and HIH, there is an increasing demand to evaluate the corporate governance practices of Australian companies, including the composition of boards. Accordingly, this research provides a timely review of the state of corporate governance in Australia so far as board composition is concerned.