Jaguar: Expatriate and International Assignment

Case 4 Jaguar or Bluebird? Mark Chan’s Decision to Stay Overseas or Return Home after His Expatriate Assignment (A)

Case 5 From Jaguar to Bluebird – Mark Chan Returns Home after His Expatriate Assignment (B)

Teaching Note

This teaching note was prepared by Günter K. Stahl, Assistant Professor of Asian Business and Comparative Management at INSEAD and Chei Hwee Chua, Doctoral Student at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. It is intended to aid instructors in the classroom use of the case Mark Chan’s Decision to Stay Overseas or Return Home after His Expatriate Assignment (A and B).

Financial support for the project "Expatriate Careers" (INSEAD research grant # 2010-502 R) is gratefully acknowledged.

Copyright © 2004 INSEAD, Singapore.

N.B. Please note that details of ordering INSEAD cases are found on the back cover. Copies may not be made without permission.

Case Summary

Mark Chan’s five-year international assignment in a senior management position at corporate headquarters in London is coming to an end. With a generous expatriate compensation and benefits package, a large house with a big garden in the countryside, and two fancy cars, Mark and his family are living a life in England that they can only dream of in their home country, Singapore. Having performed well in his job at corporate headquarters, Mark is offered a promotion opportunity – a very attractive three-year international assignment at his company’s subsidiary in the Netherlands. However, due to family reasons, his wife Linda feels the need to return home in the near future and Mark starts to look for a suitable position back in Singapore. When the position of regional general manager for one of the company’s largest divisions that Mark is hoping to get is offered to someone else, he has to decide whether to continue pursuing an international career or return to a position that would essentially mean a demotion. The case ends with Mark wondering

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