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Feature The global executive Credit: Jos Schmid
From expat manager
to global executive
Despatching old hands from head office to run the show in new territories has
been a feature of international business. But a competitive, globalized marketplace
is reshaping the nature and dynamics of the expatriate assignment.
Summary
The traditional
expatriate model is
changing as companies
get to grips with a
changing global
economy. Executives • By Paul Kielstra
are not just flowing from
West to East, but in all Viewed through a narrow lens,
directions. Overseas
the traditional corporate expat
postings can be a
seems alive and well. Cost
powerful tool to share cutting during the recent downturn
expertise and build dented the enthusiasm of companies
leadership talent, but for sending people abroad, but now
there are many
firms are stepping up the number of
practical difficulties such assignments.
that can impede their Ernst & Young’s recent Global
success.
Mobility Effectiveness Survey found
that, although the number of
companies with at least 1% of
employees on a short-term international
assignment declined precipitously from 48% in
2008 to just 20% in 2010, it bounced back up to
33% during 2011. Longer-term assignments,
which are harder to cut rapidly, never went out
of fashion: the proportion of businesses with
more than 1% of employees on long-term
postings rose steadily from 27% in 2008 to 46%
in 2011.
In line with the rebalancing of the global
economy toward high-growth emerging markets,
these are the primary destinations for expatriate
postings. About six in 10 (61%) of companies
polled have seen an increase in the number of
international transfers to emerging growth
markets in the last three years. Nearly seven in
ten (68%) expect to see a further rise in the next
three years. Other studies back this up. A 2010
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey
indicated that by far the most international
transfers still originate from Western Europe and
North America, with China and the rest of Asia
the most common destinations. The key drivers
for such assignments are strategic and
managerial needs. In the EIU’s words, “The
traditional expat model is alive and well”.
New patterns of postings
But all this misses some significant changes. The
most obvious is the evolving traffic patterns of
executives. Philippe Waty, Group Head of
Compensation and Benefits at Novartis, the
Swiss-based global pharmaceutical company, has
seen a “rapid change with respect to executives
moving out of developing countries, with many
people from India and China coming to
developed countries over the last few years.”
Others agree. Susan Steele, Global Chief Human
Resources Officer at Millward Brown, a global
brand insight consultancy, explains that, “In the
past, it was one-way traffic from the United
States and Europe to the rest of the world. Now,
in sending people to Africa, we are taking folks
from India and vice versa. It is becoming much
more blended and less one-way. Going on
assignment will be the norm for this current
8 T Magazine Issue 07 Ernst & Young