1. Abstract
A vast amount of research on international assignments has as its focus the adjustment of expatriate managers and their families. While the move to a new environment may be the most novel aspect of international assignments, and naturally being the topic that dominates the expatriation literature, it excluded to a degree the consideration of other outcomes.
The research on expatriation conducted during 1970s and 1980s demonstrated that adjustment was crucial to effectiveness on overseas assignments and that selection and pre-training should be designed to facilitate adjustment (Kabalina, 2013).
2. Introduction
This paper aim is to create a guideline, policies and procedures to help four German managers which are about to embark on an 3-5 years overseas project to open an Allianz subsidiary in Russia.
Different factors will have to be taken in consideration such as:
· Differences in cultural patterns and organisational styles between Russian and German employees.
· Language issues and interpersonal styles
· Issues relating to Environmental factors in the host country
· Issues relating to recruitment, training and development and performance management in the host country.
Allianz AG was founded in Berlin on 5 February 1890 by then director of the Munich Reinsurance Company Carl von and Wilhelm von Finck (co-owner of the Merck Finck & Co bank). The joint company was listed in Berlin's trade register under the name Allianz Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft. The first Allianz products were marine and accident policies first sold only in Germany, however in 1893 Allianz opened its first international branch office in London. It distributed marine insurance coverage to German clientele looking for coverage abroad.
In 1905 the company began to offer fire insurance, and in 1911 it began to sell machinery breakdown policies. Allianz remained the only company in the world that sold machine breakdown insurance until 1924. Then in 1918 it began to offer automobile insurance as well. The company would begin to offer life insurance as of 1922, becoming Europe's largest supplier of the policies by the end of the 1920s.
After World War II, global business activities were gradually resumed. Allianz opened an office in Paris in 1959, and started repurchasing stakes in former subsidiaries in Italy and Austria. These expansions were followed in the 1970s by the establishment of business in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Brazil and the United States. In 1990, Allianz started an expansion into eight Eastern European countries with establishing a presence in Hungary. Around this time Allianz expanded its asset management business as well by purchasing for example asset management companies in California. (Online, 2011)
Allianz has operations in over 70 countries and has around 147,000 employees. The parent company, Allianz SE, is headquartered in Munich, Germany. Allianz has more than 85 million customers. worldwide and its services include...
