Title: High potentials in multilatinas: creation of Latin American specific models or convergence towards existing ones?

Authors: Maria Rita Blanco; Andrés Hatum; Mariela Golik

Addresses: Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain ' Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina ' Escuela de Economía y Negocios, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract: Multilatinas are part of the emergent multinational enterprises that have arisen from Latin America. Even though these firms are becoming increasingly important in the global economy, little is known about their talent management strategies and practices. This paper seeks to understand, through a qualitative approach, the way in which the talent identification models were conceived, where they were sourced from and who contributed to their design (actors). Seventeen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with Senior Corporate Talent Management Executives working for multilatinas from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Our findings revealed a fragmented scenario. Most of the multilatinas do not copy a complete or 'best practice' model; they create a new hybrid one. As multilatinas draw upon some elements of European and US models in order to create their own, some mimetic and normative pressures were identified. Participant firms, in general, count on internal actors to build their talent identification models, downplaying the importance of international consultancy firms. Finally, relying on the obtained results, a classification is proposed.

Keywords: global talent management; talent identification; high potentials; EMNEs; multilatinas; institutional framework.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2023.127230

European Journal of International Management, 2023 Vol.19 No.1, pp.92 - 116

Received: 30 Jan 2018
Accepted: 17 Oct 2018
Published online: 30 Nov 2022 *

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