????本月早些時(shí)候,，在成都召開(kāi)的財(cái)富全球論壇舉辦了一場(chǎng)關(guān)于市場(chǎng)進(jìn)入策略的分組討論會(huì),，這次會(huì)議給人印象最深的一點(diǎn)是與會(huì)公司最高管理層的國(guó)際性多元化。

????美國(guó)商務(wù)部前部長(zhǎng)卡洛斯?古鐵雷斯指出,，在食品公司家樂(lè)氏（Kellogg,，K）擔(dān)任首席執(zhí)行官時(shí)，他的前任是一名澳大利亞人,，他的繼任者則是一名加拿大人,。巴西人薄睿拓執(zhí)掌著全球最大啤酒釀造企業(yè)百威英博（ABInBev），它的規(guī)模遙遙領(lǐng)先于其他啤酒公司,，但巴西只占該公司啤酒銷(xiāo)量的四分之一,。（順便提一下，百威英博董事長(zhǎng)基斯?斯多姆是荷蘭人）,。吉利（Geely）是中國(guó)汽車(chē)制造業(yè)全球化的一面旗幟,，最近它并購(gòu)了瑞典的沃爾沃（Volvo）——后者的營(yíng)收接近吉利的五倍。吉利創(chuàng)始人兼董事長(zhǎng)李書(shū)福也因此頻頻出現(xiàn)在新聞?lì)^條中,。他計(jì)劃把沃爾沃的制造業(yè)務(wù)引進(jìn)中國(guó),，并首先在成都建立一家工廠(chǎng)，此舉將使外國(guó)人在吉利的中國(guó)業(yè)務(wù)中擔(dān)任關(guān)鍵角色,。在此之前,，我們?cè)谪?cái)富全球論壇上還聽(tīng)到了聯(lián)想（Lenovo）首席執(zhí)行官楊元慶的發(fā)言。這家公司的最高管理團(tuán)隊(duì)有14人,，來(lái)自七個(gè)不同的國(guó)家,。

????看到這些企業(yè)的最高管理層有著如此強(qiáng)烈的多元文化色彩自然令人振奮。不過(guò),，現(xiàn)實(shí)情況是它們并不具有代表性,。財(cái)富全球500強(qiáng)中，在總部所在國(guó)以外聘請(qǐng)首席執(zhí)行官的僅有14%,。在規(guī)模較小，國(guó)際化程度較低的公司中,，非本國(guó)首席執(zhí)行官的比例明顯偏低——而在100家最大的非金融跨國(guó)公司中,，這一比例達(dá)到31%。在這100家公司中，非本國(guó)董事的比例也大致處于同一水平,。

????最常見(jiàn)的情況是,，大公司的最高層中僅有一名外籍人士，他可能會(huì)感到過(guò)于孤單,。（想象一下,，作為聯(lián)想最高管理團(tuán)隊(duì)中唯一的一名外國(guó)人會(huì)面臨怎樣的困難。）在非本國(guó)高層中,，來(lái)自公司總部所在地區(qū)的管理者也特別多,，表明除了國(guó)家偏好之外，還存在著地區(qū)偏好,。有些公司不存在這樣的情況,，但其中很多都是跨境并購(gòu)的結(jié)果，比如百威英博,。在出現(xiàn)成功案例的同時(shí),，也不乏失敗案例。例如,，阿爾卡特朗訊（Alcatel-Lucent,，ALU）合二為一后，來(lái)自法國(guó)和美國(guó)的聯(lián)合首席執(zhí)行官之間就出現(xiàn)了權(quán)力分配問(wèn)題,。

????同樣,，最高層全球化的普及速度似乎也不是非常快,。2012年,，在財(cái)富全球500強(qiáng)中，非本國(guó)首席執(zhí)行官的比例為14.4%,，而在2008年這一比例就已經(jīng)達(dá)到13.6%,。按照這樣的速度，幾乎要到2200年該數(shù)字才能提升到50%,。值得注意的是,，就全球500強(qiáng)的非本國(guó)首席執(zhí)行官比例而言，瑞士居于世界最高水平,。美國(guó)公司的非本國(guó)首席執(zhí)行官比例為14%,，與全球平均值相當(dāng)。在金磚國(guó)家的全球500強(qiáng)公司中,，僅有一家公司的最高管理者是非本國(guó)人士,。

????外籍高管偏少的部分原因是近年來(lái)跨境任命高管的現(xiàn)象顯著減少。一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn),，在中國(guó),、印度,、巴西和俄羅斯的跨國(guó)公司中，高級(jí)管理層中外派人員的比例已經(jīng)從20世紀(jì)90年代后期的56%降至本世紀(jì)前十年末期的12%,。少量大型樣板公司的數(shù)據(jù)顯示,，在大型跨國(guó)公司中，外派人員的比例一般不到總雇員人數(shù)的1%——通常只有0.1%左右,。還有證據(jù)顯示,，在歐美跨國(guó)公司中，相對(duì)于留在本國(guó)的管理者,，外派人員在升職方面通常要花更長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間,。不僅是研究者，管理者也已經(jīng)注意到了這個(gè)現(xiàn)象,。因此,，在經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家情報(bào)社（EIU）近期召開(kāi)的人才管理峰會(huì)上進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查中，盡管有超過(guò)60%的受訪(fǎng)者認(rèn)為在主要新興市場(chǎng)或發(fā)達(dá)市場(chǎng)任職在原則上應(yīng)有助于職業(yè)發(fā)展,，但僅有27%的人認(rèn)為自己所在公司的人才發(fā)展戰(zhàn)略體現(xiàn)出了這一點(diǎn),。大約同樣比例的受訪(fǎng)者稱(chēng)，他們公司的政策并沒(méi)有向外派人員傾斜,。37%的受訪(fǎng)者表示,，自己所在的公司總是設(shè)法在所有關(guān)鍵職位上招聘本土人士。

????One of the most striking takeaways from a panel on go-to-market strategies at the Fortune Global Forum in Chengdu, China earlier this month was the international diversity in the C-suite of the companies represented.

????Carlos Gutierrez, former U.S. Commerce Secretary, pointed out that his predecessor as CEO at Kellogg (K) was an Australian and his successor a Canadian. Brazilian Carlos Brito runs ABInBev, which is by far the world's largest brewer but sells only one-quarter of its beer in Brazil. (ABInBev's chairman, Kees Storm, is Dutch, by the way). Li Shufu, the founder-chairman of Geely, the standard-bearer of globalization among Chinese automakers, recently generated headlines when his company swallowed Volvo of Sweden -- with nearly five times Geely's revenues. His plans to bring Volvo production to China, starting with a plant in Chengdu, will result in non-Chinese holding key roles within the Chinese operations. And earlier at Fortune's Global Forum, we heard from Yuanqing Yang, CEO of Lenovo, whose top management team of 14 includes nationals from seven different countries.

????As encouraging as it is to see such multiculturalism at the top of these organizations, the reality is that these examples are unrepresentative. Only 14% of the Fortune Global 500 have a CEO from outside the country where the company is headquartered. The percentage of non-native CEOs is significantly lower for smaller, less international companies -- and rises to 31% for the 100 largest nonfinancial, transnational corporations in the world. The percentage of non-native directors is about the same at those 100 companies.

????Most often, big companies have only one outsider in the top ranks, a lone ranger who may feel too alone. (Imagine the difficulty of being the only foreigner in Lenovo's top management team.) Non-natives also tend to be disproportionately from the same region as where the company is headquartered, suggesting regional as well as home bias. Many of the exceptions to these patterns are the results of cross-border mergers or acquisitions, as at ABInBev (BUD). But for every such case of success, it is easy to specify a failure, e.g., the unworkable power sharing between French and American co-CEOs at Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) after the two companies merged.

????Nor does the incidence of top-level globalization seem to be increasing very rapidly. The 14.4% incidence of non-native CEOs in the Fortune Global 500 in 2012 is up only from 13.6% in 2008: at this rate, it would take almost until 2200 to get up to 50%. Note that Switzerland leads the world in terms of the incidence of non-native CEOs in the Fortune Global 500. The U.S. falls right at the global average of 14% non-native CEOs. Only one of the Fortune Global 500 companies from the BRIC countries is led by a non-native.

????Part of the reason for this shortage of foreign executives: cross-border assignments have suffered significant cutbacks in recent times. According to one study, the proportion of expatriates in senior management roles at multinationals in China, India, Brazil, Russia, and the Middle East declined from 56% to 12% from the late 1990s to the late 2000s. Data on a small sample of large companies suggest that the proportion of expatriates in large global companies is usually less than 1% of total employment -- often only around 0.1%. There is also evidence that at U.S. and European multinationals, expatriates tend to take longer to ascend the corporate ladder than managers who stay at home. And managers, not just researchers, see this happening. Thus, while more than 60% of respondents to a recent survey conducted during EIU's Talent Management Summit agree that a posting in a major emerging or developed markets should in principle help one's career prospects, only 27% believe this is reflected in their company's talent development strategy. About the same percentage say their firm has no policy towards ex-pat postings, and 37% assert that the organization always tries to recruit local staff for all key roles.