Cleve,
I can agree with much of what you say, but by no means all.
My points of reference are 15 years spent working in Korea, India and China on long-haul fleets.
The direct influence of expats at the ops/mgmt level is as you say not overly significant, but I have seen it achieve some improvements at times.
To see the real influence of expats, though, you have to take a longer view. All of those flights where operational performance was enhanced has an effect, not just directly on that flight but additively over time in that the F/Os (and Capts ... my crews are usually 4-5 pilots in total) you fly with become more adaptable and adapted to western procedures and concepts.
This takes time and does not provide immediate results, but changes are noticeable eventually. For example, when I joined KE in 2000 they had just experienced a spate of bad accidents. There were 3 fatal accidents at KE between the time I screened in 1999 and when I accepted the offer in 2000. The safety culture was very poor. Some change for the better was noticeable by the time I left 5 years later and I believe it has improved there more since then. There have been no fatal accidents since 1999. Now KE still has some ways to go but I believe it has improved and one of the reasons (not the only or greatest) for that improvement has been the overall impact of expats particularly on the F/Os who then become the managers of the future. They still take an Asian approach, but it does get modified and I believe improved by their experiences with expats. That alone, mind you, does not mean that KE is a great place to work now, anymore than it was then. There are still land mines there for the unwary, but I also know good operators who have survived their for closing on 20 years and they are happy enough not to move.
A personal example of the effect of expats in action is an F/O I befriended during my KE days who later became a Capt. and eventually decided to move on from KE and become an expat himself joining the same carrier I'm now working for a number of years later. He's well respected by expats and locals alike and I think he would tell you that his growth as an aviator was much influenced by the expats he worked with in his earlier years.
As to the quality and nature of the expats working in the locales I have frequented, I would have to disagree quite a bit with your assessment. The successful expats I have known were typically also very successful in the western carriers they came from, often as trainers, checkers and managers. Succeeding in the expat world requires both good skill and knowledge as well as an ability to apply both "western" airmanship and "eastern" cultural approaches in a way that results in as safe an operation as can be achieved with the resources at hand. CRM takes on a whole new meaning when you have to apply it across cultures to get the job done.
There are certainly some bad apples and odd ducks in the expat barrel, but I'd be pretty comfortable sitting beside or behind a large majority of the guys who've survived long term in this environment. They seem to have figured out what the real priorities are.
Referring to the book that is the subject of this thread, it is entertaining and I can sympathize with many of the stories presented. That said it reads a tad too far to the side of hyperbole for my taste and definitely has more than a faint odour of the same racism it complains about. To my ear they sound like the stories of a group with very little expat experience (even if not all came from the U.S.) operating a type that was unlikely to have given them much previous international exposure, that were dropped with little assistance into a Chinese carrier that seems to be at the bottom of the barrel in how it treats its pilots. Other groups at other carriers have experienced similar things, but to my knowledge, generally not to the same degree. After 7 years I'm leaving my carrier on good terms and with their assistance in transferring to another Chinese carrier that can offer terms that better match my lifestyle needs.
So, the real truth is that it ain't always all that bad everywhere, and I don't think that either the book or your previous comments reflect that. Those interested in any expat job need to do their homework and avoid relying on any single source of info if they want the whole picture. Goose's book will help only if the wheat gets better sorted from the chaff.
Regards,
ELAC