South African MNCs and HR

Abstract

This chapter explores how three South African MNCs ventured north into Africa and what this meant for their practice of HRM. The chapter highlights how each company developed their HR systems under late apartheid, and how they have been adapted since then. It explores what their investments meant for local firms and for workers more generally in their countries of operation. Two of the three firms have placed a strong emphasis on internal HRD and human resource planning orientated towards developing the careers of their staff up to senior management; the third has followed a more mixed model that has not been without controversy.