ANALYZING THE INTERPLAY OF FACTORS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE CYPRIOT SERVICE SECTOR: AN UPWARD, INTEGRATED PERSPECTIVE
Anastasia Kynighou, Manchester Business School, United Kingdom

Abstract
This paper examines the process of implementing Human Resource Management practices in various subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations. Even though in existing literature the main line of reasoning is that variations in practices are due to either strong home or host country effects, we have reasons to believe that this polarization does not take place in reality. Hence, to better understand this phenomenon, this paper adopts an integrated perspective which acknowledges the effects of both external (institutions, culture etc.) and internal factors (size, managers, supply of workforce etc.) on HR-related decisions. In order to further explore this issue, a bottom-up approach will be employed which will allow the researcher to fully grasp the HRM process in subsidiaries, without any preconceptions. For the purpose of this research subsidiaries of various service MNCs in Cyprus will be used as the unit of analysis. The service sector provides a fruitful ground for investigating HR issues in MNCs since the actual product is the employees themselves and Cyprus has been in recent years an economy that has welcomed an increasing amount of foreign investment in this sector.   
Keywords: MNCs, transfer, interplay, IHRM, bottom-up