Not every expatriation results in success. Some expatriates come back to their home country earlier than expected or do not achieve the targeted objectives. We here aim at highlighting different types of difficulties but also at identifying factors that may reduce the latter. This study, realized in 2011, is the result of an exploratory research based among 45 Belgian and French expatriates on mission in India, China and Europe. We will underline the necessity for a contingent approach of the preparation. The preparation differs from one expatriation to one other and the role of the Human Resource in the host Countries is as important as the role of the Human Resource in the Head Quarter. The preparation differs from one expatriation to one other. We purpose also to define a first expatriation as a training time for the following expatriations, especially if the following expatriation is in a context culturally different or if work conditions are different of these from the home countries. This first expatriation will have to be longer to impact the next expatriation and to enable the expatriate to prepare for cultural differences, acculturation and change in different context. After, the beginning of each expatriation will be training at the particular condition of expatriation but will be more eased and accelerated, as the expatriate already is trained in adapting and cultural differences but as to learn about the particularities of this expatriation.(1) Thank you to Alicia Delagrange and Marie Moreau for their collaboration at the first step of this research.

In this working paper, we will examine in which way the participative management can be a key success factor in a context of organizational change. We tried to determine whether the use/implementation of participative management and its tools is perceived as an increasing success factor of the mergers and acquisitions process. One of the interest of this study is to bring back a managerial aspect, nearly forgot in Europe but yet still relevant in Canada, that has proven is great interest within different studies over last decades and to apply the previous researches to a specific event in the life of a company, but also to a really particular context which is the one of a SME employing people with disabilities. To perform this research, we focused on the perception of participation, and its tools, that have workers and managers though a qualitative and a quantitative survey. The perspectives of this study open the way to more in depth researches in order to define audit processes and advises about the implementation of participative management (tools) to influence positively the probabilities of success for mergers and acquisitions.

Exploratory study of the success factors of rapidly growing SMBs : mythic and relational leadership for contingent and multidimensional management. AbstractSome small and medium-sized businesses achieve incredible success: their financial indicators increase and their employment rate rises for several years without failing. How are these businesses lead? How is their leadership perceived? On which values do they rely? How can their strategy be described? What is their human resources policy? These are among the many questions we will attempt to examine. Indeed, one can be intrigued by the success of such businesses, as keeping afloat is not always easy. The very competitive environment in which these enterprises evolve can cause them to lose everything they had gathered in just a single day. In our challenging socio-economical context, where financial success remains fragile and larger companies are forced to lay off parts of their workforce, small and mediumsized businesses are a significant source of employment. They are more and more involved in the economic revival.It is therefore not surprising that many studies have examined the questions of business growth, performances or efficiency (Lescure, 1991 ;St Pierre, Janssen, Julien, Therrien, 2005 ; Colot, 2008 ; Witmeur, 2008a). The success of a company rests on many factors. Among these, leadership seems fundamental but is actually far from alone; other elements play their part, such as strategic orientation and partnerships. In order to understand these exceptional cases, we must consider a whole series of factors.Nowadays, when mention is made of a situation of growth, one can be tempted to visualize a fierce race driven only by financial results. As we will observe, this theory needs to be reviewed. Among the companies that have been interviewed, the ones which have the most significant growth are those that grant much importance to the human and relational factors.They organize the various facets of business management according to their specific situation.Situations are complex and, to a certain extent, different from one another. Our purpose was precisely to understand this complexity.

Abstract-Not every expatriation results in success. Some expatriates come back to their home country earlier than expected or do not achieve the targeted objectives. We here aim at highlighting different types of difficulties but also at identifying factors that may reduce the latter. This study, realized in 2011, is the result of an exploratory research based among 45 Belgian and French expatriates on mission in India, China and Europe. We will underline the necessity for a contingent approach of the preparation. The preparation differs from one expatriation to one other and the role of the Human Resource in the host Countries is as important as the role of the Human Resource in the Head Quarter. The preparation differs from one expatriation to one other. We purpose also to define a first expatriation as a training time for the following expatriations, especially if the following expatriation is in a context culturally different or if work conditions are different of these from the home countries. This first expatriation will have to be longer to impact the next expatriation and to enable the expatriate to prepare for cultural differences, acculturation and change in different context. After, the beginning of each expatriation will be training at the particular condition of expatriation but will be more eased and accelerated, as the expatriate already is trained in adapting and cultural differences but as to learn about the particularities of this expatriation.

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