Current issues in international human resource management include global careers that
differ from traditional expatriate assignments. A number of foreign executives have in
recent years been appointed to positions in the headquarter operations of culturally
distant organisations. These appointments of foreign executives in local organisations
(FELOs) can be viewed as a specific form of self-initiated expatriation (SIE), with
several distinct types of FELOs found in fieldwork studies. This article offers typologies
of the individuals and organisations involved in the FELO phenomenon. These typologies
elucidate that FELO appointments do not necessarily indicate a geocentric hiring approach,
and assist in identifying which FELO workplaces produce successful outcomes as well as
those which are likely to fail. The applicability to other country contexts, implications
for theory on diversity in management teams, and key criteria for FELO hiring practices
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