Recently, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), sponsored by UnitedHealthcare Global, surveyed 360 executives from North America and Europe and conducted five in-depth interviews with experts to examine companies’ experiences with global mobility. In the following I will highlight some key report data that caught my eye. • Assignment geography is not about the traditional home […]
Global Markets: Prospects for 2015
The most recent PWC Global CEO survey asked over 1,300 global leaders about their prospects for 2015. Given the currently intensified geopolitical uncertainty, CEOs are generally less confident in global economic growth this year compared to last year. Yet, the PWC survey results indicate that they remain confident of their own business prospects, as today […]
How about some New Year’s resolutions?
We all make resolutions, don’t we? Some of us in a more structured way, others very informally, but I guess the majority of us mark the change of year by reviewing what happened and, more importantly, making new goals, promises and resolutions for the year ahead. For example, the scientific journal Nature shared the New […]
Global Business Environment: Comparing the Then and Now
It really is fascinating how quickly the global business environment develops and changes. The latest Insight article in the McKinsey Quarterly magazine illustrates the point very well, highlighting the fifty years gap between then and now. For example, exactly 50 years ago, in 1964, IBM made a breakthrough in computer technologies with their System/360 mainframe, […]
Sending Expats to Emerging Markets: Can You Really Afford That?
If I would be asked to name the most expensive cities in the world, it wouldn’t take me long to come up with an answer. My common sense and travelling experience would suggest Oslo, London, New York, Moscow, Tokyo, Paris and Geneva, for a start. There would probably be some debate about the relative ranking […]
Picking a New Foreign Location? What a Hassle!
Multinational corporations continue expanding abroad and thus try to populate foreign markets more and more. For instance, a lot has been said and written about emerging markets, which lure Western corporations with good investment opportunities. At the same time, there is also a reverse trend of emerging-market brands going global. As such, all businesses with […]
Expats in Emerging Markets: Revising Previous Trends?
Exactly two years ago I wrote about emerging markets and the scarcity of talent these markets were experiencing. As the main message read, multinational corporations started actively expanding into emerging markets where they faced a lack of talent because local managers often did not have the necessary set of skills and preparation. As such, emerging […]
The Deep Waters of Global Business Travel
Today global travel in general and global business travel in particular is not really a problem. It still comes at a cost, yet it is a great asset for multinational companies, because they can get the people they need to the locations they want for the duration that is required. There are multiple travel modes, […]
The Return of the Expat Allowance
Given the recent focus on the economic crisis in financial news reporting, many headlines in the area of global mobility were about reductions of expat costs and, more specifically, of expat compensation packages. At the beginning of this year however, several sources predicted possible changes to the cost reduction orientation, arguing that talent scarcity will […]
Latin America: Is It Truly Welcoming Foreigners?
For the last three to four years, Latin America has been considered as one of the booming economies. Indeed, hardly any publication on emerging markets and future economic prospects goes by without mentioning the potential of Brazil, Mexico and several other countries. So does a recent article in The Economist, highlighting the changes in Latin […]
Global Workforce Migration Outlook for 2013: Off to Even More Surprising Destinations?
‘UK to Botswana’, ‘Greece to Australia’, ‘Ireland to UAE’, and ‘Portugal to Mozambique’ – the four stories from the latest Guardian article illustrate European migrants fleeing the continuous recession. Indeed, ‘the great escape’ of Europeans from economic crisis, especially to emerging economies around the world, is expected to continue in 2013. While already quite pronounced […]
Global CEOs about Talent: Key Challenges and Key Actions
The Global CEO Survey conducted by PWC revealed that despite of all the economic uncertainties, business leaders still believe that the trend of global integration will stay on track, and maintain the commitment for doing business globally stronger than ever before. To support the main direction of business expansion, CEOs highlight strategies for managing talent as their top priority.
Follow-up on emerging markets: The war for talent
Scarce local talent in emerging markets tops mobility challenges according to the recent Mercer HR & Mobility Challenges of Emerging Markets Survey. Echoing these findings, the latest article in McKinsey Quarterly, the business journal of McKinsey & Company, posits that ‘competition for talent in emerging markets is heating up’ which the authors attribute to two main reasons: scarcity of local talent, and reluctance of parent country managers to go abroad.
Following the business prospects: ‘Glocal’ students
Last week my post discussed workforce localization trends in developing markets. Although the trend naturally affects the working population, one might expect that it also has an impact on younger generations of farsighted students. Thus, following up on the topic of localized employees, let me review an interesting read on the localization of students.
How to balance the biggest relocation challenges
Given the current economically challenging times, the notion of costs being the number one concern of international assignments is to be expected. However, apart from this finding, the Cartus 2012 Biggest Challenges survey points to a number of other key challenges and suggests that relocation managers are in constant strive for balancing these competing issues.
Spotlight emerging markets – How important are the costs of expatriation?
The 2011 report on Mobility Challenges in Emerging Markets by Cartus aimed to establish baseline practices used by multinationals in emerging locations. The report highlights the variety of markets perceived as emerging and that companies have a strong need to succeed in these markets. Moreover, it seems that when dealing with emerging markets the question of expatriation costs becomes secondary. Take a look at the arguments.
