Open Access

Arlene Roa Aillaud

• The field of Global Mobility is becoming more varied and complex than in past years. More and more companies operating at an international level, are realizing that the handling of international assignments cannot remain the same as it was handled at its origin. Many corporations that have already recognized this, have implemented Global Mobility Departments or at least GM representatives within their organizational structure. However, there are also enterprises that due to different reasons for example, the absence of the required resources, are not able to do so. These companies tend to handle international assignments on a case by case basis, which can lead to a handful of obstacles, especially when dealing with long-term assignments. In recent years the field of International Human Resource Management has been experiencing a shift, from the long-term assignments to a short-term assignment variety. Nevertheless, there are various reasons why some companies can still not completely replace this kind of assignments. For this reason, it is vital for companies that do not have either the necessary requirements or demand for introducing a GM department, to manage these more efficiently. This thesis examines the use of checklists as a viable method for managing long-term assignments. The findings were applied to the current case of Liebherr Aerospace Lindenberg, regarding their strategy for traditional assignments. Results show that implementing a tool, like a simple checklist, can help to ease many challenges of managing traditional assignments. Companies that share similarities with Liebherr could apply this method and adjust it to its own situation, goals and resources.