Travel Management in Global Corporation
Vanhanen, Milla (2012)
Vanhanen, Milla
HAAGA-HELIA ammattikorkeakoulu
2012
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2012111015084
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2012111015084
Tiivistelmä
This Bachelor’s thesis forms a view of the current situation and a recommendation of development actions for improving the Travel Management of a globally operating company.
The author worked in the case company as Executive Assistant and Travel Manager during the time the study was initiated. The corporate management showed concern for not having a comprehensive view of travelling on different company sites. The author took the case under study and formed a questionnaire with help from company HR and management team members. The main research problem was: How is travel managed today in the case company and how could it be improved? The question was divided into five investigative questions. On top of these investigative questions, the questionnaire also included some background questions.
The theory part of this thesis was formed around international human resource management (IHRM), the travel process, the role of travel policy and cultural and international aspects. The research was done by phone interviews during the summer and fall of 2011. The respondents replied verbally to the open ended questions in the questionnaire that was sent to them at least a week earlier for them to prepare for the interview. The author recorded the interviews and a simplified transcript of these interview answers was formed.
The interviews showed that the reasons for travelling were mostly the same on all of the sites, but the means of travel varied by the geographic location of the site. Most of the sites had a travel policy, but on some sites they relied on common unwritten practices. On all the sites, there was some control of travel spending and especially in Asia the travel process was a clearly defined step-by-step process with several control points before and after travel. Some clear differences could be found in the company credit card policy and how the employees purchased the travel on different sites. Travel security and traveller well-being were also some of the topics that were examined to a lesser degree on all of the sites.
Author recommends that the case company would take the already existing common travel policy in use. Further study about the reporting tools as well as global TMC should be done and the company credit card policy needs to be clarified as soon as possible.
The author worked in the case company as Executive Assistant and Travel Manager during the time the study was initiated. The corporate management showed concern for not having a comprehensive view of travelling on different company sites. The author took the case under study and formed a questionnaire with help from company HR and management team members. The main research problem was: How is travel managed today in the case company and how could it be improved? The question was divided into five investigative questions. On top of these investigative questions, the questionnaire also included some background questions.
The theory part of this thesis was formed around international human resource management (IHRM), the travel process, the role of travel policy and cultural and international aspects. The research was done by phone interviews during the summer and fall of 2011. The respondents replied verbally to the open ended questions in the questionnaire that was sent to them at least a week earlier for them to prepare for the interview. The author recorded the interviews and a simplified transcript of these interview answers was formed.
The interviews showed that the reasons for travelling were mostly the same on all of the sites, but the means of travel varied by the geographic location of the site. Most of the sites had a travel policy, but on some sites they relied on common unwritten practices. On all the sites, there was some control of travel spending and especially in Asia the travel process was a clearly defined step-by-step process with several control points before and after travel. Some clear differences could be found in the company credit card policy and how the employees purchased the travel on different sites. Travel security and traveller well-being were also some of the topics that were examined to a lesser degree on all of the sites.
Author recommends that the case company would take the already existing common travel policy in use. Further study about the reporting tools as well as global TMC should be done and the company credit card policy needs to be clarified as soon as possible.