DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION PROGRAMS IN MULTINATIONALS: OPPORTUNITY FOR REVERSE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Fonseca, Luíza da; Kogut, Clarice Secches

doi:10.1590/S0034-759020230503

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ARTICLES • Rev. adm. empres. 63 (5) • 2023 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-759020230503 copy

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION PROGRAMS IN MULTINATIONALS: OPPORTUNITY FOR REVERSE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Programas de diversidad e inclusión en multinacionales: Oportunidad para transferencia inversa de conocimiento

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

This article aims to understand how multinational enterprises manage their diversity and inclusion (D&I) programs globally, identifying strategies, subsidiaries’ motivation to internalize practices, and addressing an issue little discussed in D&I literature to date: the reverse knowledge transfer (RKT). Through an exploratory multiple case analysis, this study contributes by integrating and advancing literatures of D&I, international business, and RKT, to the best of our knowledge not yet done. It highlights the importance of the headquarters’ strategy, the subsidiaries context as well as their relative size and power inside the organization, identifying main drivers for D&I and conditions for the RKT, culminating in a summarizing framework.

Keywords:
international human resource management; international business; diversity & inclusion; reverse knowledge transfer; multiple case study

Sources	Primary sources of data	Secondary sources of data
1.Dive In Festival	Field Observation Lectures / talks Videos	Website, Reports, Notes and news
2. Case Companies	Lectures from case companies In-depth interviews (Table 1) First and follow-up contact (email / phone)	For each of the seven companies: Website, Reports (Annual reports and ESG reports) Notes and News - especially on D&I Academic papers mentioning the studied companies For each of the seven companies
3.Escola de Negócios em Seguros (Insurance Industry Business School)		Website Reports on the industry
4.Idis		Website Reports on the industry

Case	Num. of interviews held	Interviewee’s position	Format	Duration (minutes)
1	1	Director of Operations	In-person meeting	20
2	1	Culture and Diversity Senior Analyst	Online meeting	40
3	2	Financial Director	Lecture and in-person meeting	45, 25
4	2	Human Resources Director	Lecture and online meeting	45, 45
5	1	Legal Director	Online meeting	45
6	1	Human Resources Manager	Online meeting	45
7	1	Communication Manager	Online meeting	25

	Country of Origin	Size of Brazilian Operations^* * This figure includes income from Brazil and Colombia because the company disclosed only aggregate data.	% Income from Brazil	% Employees in Brazil	Total Subs. Worldwide	Total Subs. in South America
1	UK	Small	6^* * This figure includes income from Brazil and Colombia because the company disclosed only aggregate data.	0.8	38	2
2	Spain	Large	12	10.4	43	9
3	USA	Medium	8	1.7	19	3
4	Switzerland	Large	5	3.1	55	6
5	UK	Medium	5	0.6	15	2
6	Japan	Large	Not informed	4.9	59	3
7	Colombia	Medium	3	1.9	10	10

Case	Subsidiary Power/ influence	Structure	Transfer Strategy	Subs. role in D&I mgmt.	Evidence
1	Low	Formal - one person responsible	Global	Implementer	“Global [D&I] policies make us, in a way, adopt them.” “Brazilian subsidiary only promotes a festival, originally designed by headquarters.”
2	Med.	Formal - struct. area	Global	Implementer	“There was initially a local council composed of volunteer employees; then came the global structuring to support diversity management practices, and headquarters began to define priority themes and goals [...] Now it is in the company's strategy, and we respond 100% to the headquarters, following global guidelines, although they give us the autonomy to decide how to address each theme.”
3	Med.	Informal - voluntary	Multi-domestic	Contributor	“Headquarters does not have unified D&I programs. They think each country is unique and must develop its own […] Encouraged by headquarters, we started participating in a women's forum, looking at what they were doing in other countries. But Latin America had nothing to show [...]. So, we were encouraged to start something in Brazil and then expand it to the region.”
4	High	Formal - structured area	Trans-national	Strategic Regional Leader	“Some subsidiaries already had their D&I initiatives, and in 2015 headquarters decided to integrate them all. So, we built this model and an aligned strategy together, but until then, each of us had an isolated performance directed to our internal needs [...] We still set our priorities, but now within a global structure.” “Our pillars of ethnic, racial, and cultural inclusion are treated completely differently in the different countries. In Brazil, we focus on including Black people, whereas in other countries, they focus on refugees and indigenous people.”
5	Med.	Formal - official committee formed by voluntary employees	Global	Implementer	“Although we had the autonomy to choose our pillars and direction, we adopted the global guidelines. We think it makes sense, and we could always change or reassess it, but it is working for us now. There are five pillars linked with the seven United Nations sustainable principles, so it made sense.”
6	High	Formal - two groups: one structured /designated and the other voluntary	Transnational	Strategic Leader	“We have much autonomy. We have our own values, which naturally must be consistent with those of the holding [...], but we are far ahead. We have even become a benchmark. The head office often comes to learn our internal processes; we have inspired them to act differently.”
7	High	Informal - several sparse initiatives	Transnational	Strategic Regional Leader	“Today, there is no formal global practice in the group, at least not that I know of. So, we proposed to create an Observatory [...] It was a Brazilian initiative, but the Observatory is regional so that all countries will have access, and local actions will probably emerge.”

Driver	Evidence
External (Market)	“I have been in the insurance industry for many years, and I see that we have been fighting to make sure we become a more diverse environment, with equal opportunities career-wise. We are pushing the agenda through our institutions. We hold many events per year. We are also included in the global discussion and have made much progress.” (Case 1) “Our decision to address D&I was very much in line with the market and to address our consumers’ concerns. We needed to reflect better the markets where we operate.” (Case 4)
External (Legal requirements)	“All companies face the quota law issue, so everyone started by hiring people with disabilities.” (Case 2)
Internal (Leadership)	“I believe our diversity project has been yielding results because our regional and global CEOs sponsor it […] Human resource’s work is generally not seen as a priority in corporate agenda, but I think we are moving forward because they see this work as strategical and relevant.” (Case 4)
Internal (Need felt)	“We identified the need to work on diversity in general - regarding gender, race, etc. […] Also, as part of a multinational, we need to address cultural diversity because we talk to people from other countries in addition to dealing with Spain all the time.” (Case 2) “It was the right thing to do, and made a lot of business sense […] Innovation only comes with different mindsets.” (Case 4) “When we hire people with different mindsets and profiles, respecting the individual, we become a much more powerful company precisely because we have different voices. Listening to every voice makes people proud to belong, contribute, take center-stage, and bring innovation to the organization.” (Case 6)
Internal (Employees)	“Last year, we created our diversity group to exchange ideas and engage our employees in the discussion of D&I. We held an internal campaign looking for volunteers and were surprised to hear back from more than one hundred people! […] The outcome was way better than expected.” (Case 6) “We understood that talking about this topic in a more structured way was a potential driver for our company as an employer brand.” (Case 7)

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