highly-skilled expatriate staff, Third World nationals. *The theoretical framework discussed on pp. 387-390 is taken from SALT and FINDLAY (1988).
Geoforum, Vol. 19, No.4, pp. 387-399, 1988 Printedin GreatBritain
0016-7185/88S3.00
+ 0.00
© 1988 Pergamon Press pic
Highly-skilled International Migrants, Careers and Internal Labour Markets*
JOHN SALT,t London, U.K. Abstract: This paper is addressed to the interplay of careers and internal labour markets (ILMs) in explaining the international migration of professional and technical personnel, particularly within transnational corporations (TNCs). It begins by reviewing the current state of the theoretical art, focusing on five main elements: the international spatial division of labour; the concept of career; the organization of ILMs; the lubrication of the migration system by recruitment, placement and relocation agencies; and reintegration of returning expatriates. There follows a discussion of selected aspects of the volume and characteristics of ILM migrations among the highly-skilled,using government, employer organization's and individual company data. This paper concludes with three suggestions for future research: on the geography of individual ILMs, on the step-by-step operation of institutions within TNCs which have direct and indirect effects on the migration process, and the extent to which migrants play an active or passive role in institutional behaviour.
International Spatial Division of Labour
One of the most important themes in discussions of the world economy in recent years has been the emergence of a 'new international division of labour' (FROBEL et al., 1980). This has resulted from the trend towards integration into the global economy of Third World countries. As yet there has been little systematic consideration of the impact of this trend on international migration, though it must be considerable. It was certainly one of the main 'emerging issues' that stemmed from the conference of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population at Bellagio in April 1985 (SALT, 1985). The effects of a new international spatial division of labour are likely to be complex, involving movements of expatriates between and within Third World, First World (and even Second World) countries. For example, the growth of advanced manufacturing industries in LDCs requires the immigration of highly-skilled expatriate staff, Third World nationals
* The theoretical framework discussed on pp. 387-390 is taken from SALT and FINDLAY (1988). t Department of Geography, University College, 26 Bedford Way, London WCIH OAP, U.K.
move to First and Second World countries for training, and the development of indigenous multinational companies in Third World countries is increasingly leading to Third World-Third World organizationbased migration. With economic integration come contact and flows of information. Highly-skilled personnel in one country can become more easily informed about improved conditions elsewhere, and they can take advantage of their marketable skills. Little is yet known about the extent to which this new phase of industrial organization [commented upon by LAPPLE (1985) among others] has contributed to uneven spatial development, but it almost certainly has. So far there is little information on the consequences of this development for international migration, though the work of STAHL (1984) on Singapore, for example, shows it can be important. WALTON (1985) has attempted to put contemporary trends in spatial divisions of labour into a temporal context, arguing that the current shift is, in fact, the third such transformation. This, of course, begs the question of what can be learned from previous transformations about the likely direction to be taken by international migration in the future. At the heart of the new international spatial division
387
388 of labour that has emerged in recent decades is the internal spatial division of labour of the transnational corporation (TNC). The growth of the TNC has been instrumental in creating a global organization of labour, much of it highly-skilled, within which mobility takes place . The relationship between the two is as yet unclear, though HYMER (1972) suggested that organizations create a division of labour between countries corresponding to the division between various levels in the corporate hierarchy with centralized high-level decision making in a few key cities. Hymer's model is generally accepted, but study of corporate organizations has shown them to be highly complex and no single international division of labour with a neat hierarchical structure can be discerned. Indeed the growth of Third World based TNCs throws into doubt the general validity of the Hymer model, certainly as far as its assumption of paramountcy by TNCs from more developed countries is concerned. As the large employing organization has grown its functions have become more specialized, its links more complex (DICKEN 1986). Its internal labour market (ILM) takes on a form which reflects these developments. A hierarchical structure develops (see Figure 1) with a range of control functions, the principal ones at head office, and others at lesser points in the organizational system. Links develop between the locations associated with these functions, and the links include geographical mobility of the skilled workforce. The international migration of the highlyskilled may thus be seen as one expression of these links, with staff expertise being moved to where it is required by the employer, and in accordance with skills possessed by individuals. The shape of the organizational system, and consequent staff relocation, is affected by the strategy being pursued, for example, toward horizontal expansion or vertical integration. DICKEN (1986) has suggested that whichever strategy is chosen has implications for the internal relations between the organization's component parts: e.g. the extent to which units are created which are independent or interdependent. The latter would demand greater transfer of know-how which may be accomplished through a mobile professional transient workforce.
GeoforumNolume 19 Number 4/1988 access to different technologies: for example, head and regional office, Rand D, and production each requires its own locational type and has its own particular role within the organization. Head office requires a strategic location at the hub of communication and with easy face-to-face contacts. In a TNC a regional office may be a local country's head office. Regional offices have a co-ordinating role, their natures depending on the corporate philosophy of who can rise to the top: for example, in some TNCs local nationals may control regional centres, in others their own nationals only. The locational characteristics of Rand D functions depend largely upon the technology employed which determines, for example, whether the organization is 'organic' or 'mechanistic'. In the former case firms operate on the frontiers of new technology, with continuing product and process innovation and the need to transfer technology specialists frequently and with speed; in the latter technology and production processes are more familiar, product lines longer and there is less need to relocate expertise. The Systems and the Career
An explanatory framework for international migration of the highly-skilled should be based on the disaggregated nature of the modern labour market, in which specialist skills and training mean that the workforce is segmented into self-contained non-competing groups (McKAY and WHITELA W, 1977; SALT, 1983-1984). Attempts at explanation must distinguish specific occupational types and examine their relationship with labour market processes and institutions. A close association exists between the career path of the individual, the nature of the job and the migration demands imposed by the organization of work and the internal structure of the employer.
Within the migration system that results the concept of career is most important. A career consists of a sequence of jobs held by an individual and related to each other by the acquisition of skill and experience. Mobility between jobs results from either task or locational change and may occur within an employing organization or in movement between organizations. The career path can then be defined as the route taken The degree of functional and spatial separation of the by the employee through the sequence of jobs (tasks), component parts of the organization is related to the occupations (collections of tasks), employers and technology involved in its operations. Dicken argues locations. The choice of route broadly conforms to that the particular spatial form of the organization the idea that a career will progress upwards. We may results from interaction between internal structure hypothesize that on these career paths critical points and technological forces. Different parts of the will occur at which propensity to move increases and organization have different. locational needs and labour migration results. These are points which
GeoforumNolume 19 Number 4/1988 primarily reflect the nature of the occupation and the structure of tasks it contains, and the way in which an employer organizes work and manages careers. The length and nature of career paths vary, and the interconnections reflect the organization of work by the employer: for example, whether the corporate philosophy is that careers should be functional or general. From the demand side the employer has a large system of fixed jobs into which must be fitted eligible people. Different policies exist for doing that. But such interaction cannot exist in isolation from supply side characteristics in the system, particularly attitudes to work and employee behaviour. There is some evidence that these attitudes vary between migration systems: American managers seem far more mobile than their European counterparts, and JENNINGS (1971), has written of them as 'mobilcentric'. Hence, as an individual moves through his career his decisions about where to work, and what at, are affected by constraints and influences which operate at particular times. Geographical migration patterns are, therefore, determined on the one hand by the location decisions of employing organizations and the spatial division of labour they favour, and on the other by a group of eligible people with degrees of skill and experience already acquired. These are elements in a system, the energy for which is provided by the need for employers to fill vacancies with the right sort of skills, and by the desire of employees for careers which present possibilities for promotion, job satisfaction and general improvement in lifestyle. Migration in ILMs
The way in which migration occurs within the ILM can be explained with the help of Figure 1 [taken from SALT and FINDLAY (1988)]. The organization is represented in Figure 1A by a series of levels of operation, narrowing in size as higher-level decision and control is reached. At the heart is the head office, the geographical centre of operations. Peripheral operations may be widely scattered at far-flung international locations. Within this system labour migration can take place in a number of ways. It may be a promotion, along the vertical axis in Figure 1A; it may be lateral to a new post at the same grade; it may be between functions, perhaps from sales to production; it may be geographical, between organizational sites in the same or in different countries; or it may also be some combination of these, e.g. with geog-
389 raphical relocation associated with promotion, lateral or functional movement. Movement to and from the ILM occurs through a series of ports of entry/exit to be found at different occupational levels. In Figure 1B these are indicated in association with the promotional lines of movement of occupational groups. The permeability of any large organization to the external labour market is determined by the degree of openness of these ports. In some cases employees may be freely recruited into the organization at any level; in others entry is predominantly at the bottom, with a policy of filling vacancies higher up via promotional moves of existing staff. Within the organization there are internal ports, diminishing in number up the hierarchy. Promotion through these may well involve geographical movement, but such relocation may also come from a lateral change of job within one of the 'strata' depicted. For some employees such as manual workers, the promotional ladder is short; others, such as technicians, may come in at higher levels but progress is limited; graduates may enter at the bottom of the pyramid but expect that career development (and relocation) will move them upwards. The extent to which they are in competition with potential recruits from other organizations will depend upon the organization's policy towards vacancy filling. Movement within the organizational system may be for varying periods. The likelihood of long-term migration overseas is now much diminished; the time when 'our man' was permanently ensconced abroad is generally gone. Increasingly secondments are of short duration, perhaps 2 or 3 years at the most. What is also emerging is a tendency for corporations to use modern air travel as a means of relocating expertise quickly and at short notice from an established base. The corporate labour market is increasingly able to substitute 'business travel' for longer-term migration. That way a special skill, like 'trouble shooting', can be on tap from the centre to a wide range of peripheral locations.
Lubricating the Migration System
The mobility of the highly-skilled is lubricated by efficient recruitment and placement systems and by generous relocation assistance. Recruitment may be within the ILM using local and central personnel functions, or through external agencies. Most large organizations have well-developed vacancy-filling procedures where the work needs of the employer are
390
GeoforumNolume 19 Number 4/1988
:ai er Schon, ',971)
o nior Manage
.I
»"
- I~
.icdle Manager
SEI\!OF. TEChNiCiA.,,-' TECHN:CL4..'1....J Junior
0150 N
61.8 29.4 5.9 1.5 1.5
52.4 22.6 10.7 2.4 1.2
10.7 68
84
84.6 15.4
64.3 26.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 3.5
50.0 22.2 11.0 10.1 4.6 2.1 476
70.1 22.3 5.1 2.5
292
61.5 20.2 9.6 5.8 1.9 1.0 104
51.0 30.0 6.0 9.0 3.0 1.0 100
57.9 17.1 11.2 9.1 4.0 0.8 375
62.5 22.9 7.3 5.2
100.0
2.1 96
7
57.1 21.6 7.3 9.4 2.9 1.7 1507
(b) Third-country nationals 1-2 3-5 6-10 11-25 26--50 >50 N
26
56
57.3 26.4 7.7 4.9 3.3 0.4 246
74.7 21.1 3.2
71.4 21.4 4.8
68.4 18.4 7.9 2.6
2.4 2.6
1.0 171
84
38
68.9 18.1 6.2 5.7 0.5 0.5 193
78.7 17.0 2.1 2.1
47
100.0
2
67.1 21.9 5.5 3.3 1.5 0.8 787
• Source : International Experience Index , U.S. Employee Relocation Council.
bers of employees in specified countries abroad, transfer volumes per annum and nature of the housing assistance provided. Those whose assignments arc under6 months are excluded. The data are subdivided into two employee categories: U.S . citizens assigned to a foreign locale (USEs) and third-country nationals (TCNs)---citizens of another country (not U.S. citizens) who are assigned to a country other than their own or the U.S. There are problems in using the index as a source for studying the geography of the highly-skilled. First, the data relate only to U .S . firms and cannot be regarded as necessarily representative of all TNCs. However, since U.S.-based corporations are undoubtedly the most important on a world scale, the resulting pattern should be of interest. Second, the data represent only a sample of U .S. firms, and may not be representative of the totality of U.S. business. However, the large size of the sample and its sectoral catholicity should give a reasonable picture. Finally, the data are presented only in categorized form , making calculations of transfer rates difficult. A simple tabular presentation docs allow a picture to be built up by geographical region of the main characteristics of expatriate professional and managerial level labour.
scale of transfer and 2294 records on numbers of expatriates employed. Tables 6 and 7 show that U.S. firms use both USEs and TCNs, but that consistently USE staff are used and transferred more than TCNs. Although it is not evident from Tables 6 and 7, corporations do not necessarly use both USEs and TCNs in the same country; often, in fact, they use one or the other. Most firms are represented abroad by only one or two staff in any country; the vast majority employ under five (Table 6). About two-thirds of corporations with USE staff transfer less than one person per annum on average, while at that level the proportion for those employing TCNs is three-quarters (Table 7). Only two firms in the sample transferred over 100 USEs; none transferred over 100 TCNs.
These aggregate figures hide both similarities and differences between major world regions. The general pattern is for TCNs to be located and transferred in smaller numbers than USEs. In some regions numbers of expatriates employed are lower than average: Eastern Europe, Australasia, Central/South America, Africa and the Caribbean (Table 6). Larger numbers occur in the more developed regions, especially Western Europe where over one-quarter of corporations employed between six and 25. The MidThe sample lists data for 150 corporations in 114 dle East has the highest proportion of corporations countries in 1987, providing 2226 records on annual with large expatriate staffs, reflecting the emphasis
GeoforumIVolume 19 Number 4/1988
395
Table 7. Percentage of expatriates transferred in U.S. corporations by major region and grouped number of transfers per annum, 1987* Number of transfers
Caribbean
Middle East
Western Europe
Central and South America
Africa
North America
Asia
Australasia
60.1 24.5 11.3 2.8 1.3
68.5 22.8 6.5
Eastern Europe
Total
(a) U.S. expatriates 100 N
73.8 20.0 6.2
58.5 19.5 12.2 1.2 3.7 1.2 1.2 2.4
65
82
95.6
78.2 14.5 7.3
53.5 28.4 12.1 4.1 1.1 0.6 0.2 465
75.9 18.5 5.1 0.5
195
76.9 13.5 7.7 1.9
104
55.6 28.9 11.1 2.2 1.1 1.1
90
363
85.7 14.3
62.2 23.8 9.9 2.4 1.0 0.4 0.1 0.1
1.1 1.1
92
7
1463
(b) Third-country nationals 100 N
4.4
23
55
70.1 18.7 8.3 2.5 0.4
241
86.3 9.5 4.2
80.7 14.5 4.8
77.1 17.1 5.7
95
83
35
78.0 16.7 3.2 1.1 1.1
193
76.7 20.9 2.3
43
100.0
2
77.3 15.7 5.5 1.0 0.4
763
* Source: As Table 6.
there on major structural projects and the oil industry. The Middle East and Western Europe too are characterized by greater use of TCNs than in the other regions. Western Europe stands out too with a comparatively high level of transfers of USEs (Table 7), though only occasionally are there substantial numbers in a year, notably in the Middle East. Small numbers of USE transfers occur especially in Central/ South America, Australasia and Eastern Europe. Among TCNs the Middle East tends to be involved in larger numbers of transfers than other regions; Central/South America and Eastern Europe smaller ones. Overall the analysis shows a very widespread global presence of highly-skilled expatriate labour employed by large corporations but with geographical differences. The pattern is for small pools of expatriates having a turnover of only one or two per annum, but occasionally with larger numbers. The Middle East and Western Europe are the regions with the greatest tendency towards larger numbers, Eastern Europe being at the opposite extreme. In sum, it is clear that there are a lot of global outposts incorporated into the ILMs of TNCs. Far more work needs to be done to explain the patterns, not least at the scale of individual countries and individual corporations. These results merely hint at the geographical complexities involved.
Case studies: Honeywell and Firestone in 1982
Further perspectives on the process can be seen by considering the experiences of individual companies. Two contrasting case studies are discussed briefly, Honeywell and Firestone. The International Experience Index for 1982 lists Honeywell operations in 29 countries outside the U.S. In none did the company employ TCNs, but only USEs and citizens of the host country. As might be expected, operations occur mainly in the developed world. With the exception of South Africa there was no African representation, only three countries in Latin America, while Asian operations were mainly in more developed countries. In contrast, 11countries in Western Europe hosted Honeywell operations, plus Yugoslavia and the U.S.S.R. Not surprisingly, numbers of USEs employed were usually only one or two,though in the U.K. they were 11-25 and in Belgium and West Germany 26-50, these high numbers reflecting corporate structure. Numbers of transferees mostly averaged under two per annum (18 cases) but in four countries (Belgium, the U.K., France and West Germany) they rose to between six and 10 per annum. In total the company moves about 75 people per annum. The Honeywell corporate mover gets favoured housing treatment. For those
396 going to South Africa, China, the U.S.S.R., Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates companyowned or leased housing is provided at no expense to the employee. In all other cases the employee is free to rent non-company housing but is provided with a housing allowance. Firestone operations are more widespread, with operations in 38 countries. In contrast to Honeywell, Firestone uses TCNs in 17 countries, including fivein which no USEs are employed. Numbers employed tend to be low (25 cases for USEs, 13 for TCNs were under five) but in Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela the number of USEs is between six and 10, and in Kenya, Liberia, Costa Rica and Italy between 11 and 25. Between 11 and 25 USEs are employed in Liberia, but 26-50 TCNs work for the company there. The vast majority of transfers involve less than two people per annum, with only Liberia (6-10 USEs, 3-5 TCNs) exceeding this figure. Total transfers per a1Z11/111l are about 40. Reflecting the nature of its operations, Firestone operates more in the Third World than Honeywell, with six African operations (excluding South Africa) and 12 in Latin America. European representation-10 countries-is slightly less than that of Honeywell. Clearly the geographical nature of corporate business is a major determinant of overall patterns of flow. Firestone's policy towards housing shows more variation than Honeywell's, and the employee is left more to his own devices, though assistance is again provided in all cases. In only three countries is company housing provided at no expense; in seven the employee is expected to pay part of the cost of company housing; in all the rest the employee rents non-company housing but is provided with a housing allowance. Housing policy towards TCNs is identical to that for USEs. Thus in both companies housing assistance is provided, but Firestone does not operate a company-ownedlleasing system on anything like the scale of Honeywell. One might argue from this that the latter company operates more of a magic carpet system, and that placement of a transferee in a new country isdecided by company purchasing policy rather than the free residential choice of the migrant. Career planning
An underlying assumption of much of what has gone before is that international migration within ILMs is planned for, ergo predictable. We have very little evidence of the extent of success in planning; however, one instinctively feels that a host of business and
GeoforumNolume 19 Number 4/1988 personal circumstances may contrive to shake the organization career off its planned path. In one financial services organization currently under study it was possible to obtain data on how far the inter-country moves during 1986were consistent with the corporate manpower plan. In 54% of occasions the vacancies were planned to occur, but in only 35% of fillings was the person involved the one who had been anticipated in the manpower plan, and in only 32% of cases did a planned vacancy and filling occur together. These figures raise two interesting points. First it is easier to plan for vacancies to occur than for a particular individual to move to a vacancy. Second, the ILM system needs and can come up with (in this case anyway) the considerable flexibility required to cope with moves not in the corporate plan but to the benefit of both employee and organization. The existence of a corporate manpower plan naturally leads to questions about its association with other variables, especially age. The data indicate that filling of vacancies is more likely to be consistent with the plan for those under 30. This may be associated with the provision of training and a greater likelihood of promotion for younger expatriates.
Migration chains
One of the features of ILM moves is the development of migration chains-'chains of opportunity' as WHITE (1970) called them. In the financial services organization identified above it has been possible to recreate these chains for 1986, using annual crosssection data supplemented by discussion with the career development manager responsible for staff movement. What these chains demonstrate is the interacting nature of the ILM system where individuals' careers and the organization's vacancies become intertwined in a complex mobility matrix. From analysis so far, it has become clear that chains start and finish for a variety of reasons: a resignation, creation of a new job, opening or closure of a unit, personal reasons, secondment and so on. Not all chains start at the end (or the beginning). Some begin in the middle-for anyone of the reasons above-and sequences of moves are then fitted into place as circumstances dictate. Initial analysis suggests about 60% of the chains recognized contain only one inter-country move (there may be other, internal, moves consequent upon this), about 30% have two overseas links, 4%
GeoforumNolume 19 Number 4/1988 three and 6% four. Some of the chains may be localized, perhaps within one of the organization's defined regions. More commonly they may encompass the whole world. A few examples of migration chains, effectively vacancy chains, within the organization will serve to show the rich possibilities of this form of analysis. The first chain illustrated took 8 months finally to complete and took in five countries: Office closed
I
Bahrain-Dubai
I
Taipei- Milan
I
London. At first sight the chain was precipitated by the closure of an office in Bahrain. However, this event was known in advance and its consequences could be fed into career planning.
397 The man in London specialized in the Middle East where operations were being restructured, so his post was unfilled. He was given a lateral move to Paraguay, the move designed to give the broader experience of managing the organization's operations in a country. It was clearly a career development move. The man in Paraguay moved to Brussels, a promotion designed to give him experience of managing a larger and more complex country. The occupant in Brussels, a Frenchman, wished to return to Paris, which he did. In this chain there are, at one level, three different types of moves: one lateral, one promotion, one a TCN returning to his own country. All, however, were consistent with the organization's career planning policy. Each of these chains, and many others, demonstrates the significance within ILMs of migration chains and the predominant role in their genesis and continuation of career planning at a global level.
The individual in the system
Most migration data are cross-sectional, i.e. they The Bahrain man had a lateral move to a neighbour- focus on the pattern of movement at one time and are ing part of the region in which he was a specialist. In hence conducive to a push-pull mode of analysis. The turn the organization wished to move the Dubai hypothesized relationship between career path and occupant to Taipei in a planned promotion career migration requires a longitudinal approach. move. Meanwhile back in London a new unit was being created in which a vacancy occurred requiring Such an approach has characterized much of the work skills held by, among others, the man in Milan. He of Hagerstrand and his research team at Lund, who was due for a move anyway as part of his career have studied extensively the individual's path in development. The ensuing Milan vacancy was suit- space-time. In HAGERSTRAND's (1969) definition able for the man in Taipei whose career had been of migration, movements are regulated by 'stations' mainly in the Far East and who was ready for Euro- (homes or workplaces) at which a person stays for pean experience. What really triggered the chain? varying lengths of time. People's 'life-paths' take Office closure in the Middle East? Creation of a new them through a network of stations, the aggregate of unit in London? Rather surprisingly, perhaps, career many life-paths forming an intricate but far from development thinking focused on the need to move unordered fabric. Much of the intricacy stems from the man in Milan because he had been there long the replacement nature of most migration, as people enough and required new experience. Therein lay the form movement chains, in labour and housing martrigger and events in Bahrain and London were kets, for example. brought into a pre-existing train of thought and not The problem with such a microscopic approach, the other way round. focusing on theindividual, is that of aggregation, for, The significance of career development emerges in once an attempt is made to view the fabric as a whole, much of the detail is lost. Nevertheless, as shown the next chain: below, consideration of the movement of an individual in life(career)-path terms can throw fresh light on how the system regulates channels of mobility Post unfilled amongst particular groups. I London-Asuncion An earlier study of nearly 100 large employing organI izations in the U.K. yielded the career histories of a Brussels-Paris.
398 sample of over 3000 potentially mobile staff, many of whom had spent time abroad (SALT, 1984). For some of the sample career details before joining present employer were available, others had worked for only the one company, and for some there was no record of prior employers. Initial analysis of those who had worked abroad suggests at least six basic types of career path in which international movement is involved. Type A is someone moving around in the ELM in the early career, while gaining experience and promotion, then settling into the ILM of his present employer. Further international moves are usually upon secondment, perhaps to an overseas subsidiary, either for a specific project or to gain new expertise. Type B is someone whose career is spent entirely within an ILM. Overseas moves occur especially in the early-middle part of the career as experience is being gained for career development purposes. Later moves are secondments. Type C, common in service trades like hotels and catering, involves a series of short-term (6-12 months, perhaps seasonal) jobs in either the ELM or the ILM, for training purposes, leading ultimately to management, and perhaps culminating in an overseas posting to a prestigious position. Type D is the person engaged in overseas customer relations, an installation engineer for example, who is resident with the customer to deal with specific problems arising from the use or assembly of products supplied. The category includes people involved in heavy engineering (e.g. power stations) and aircraft (e.g. engines, avionics) industries. Type E occurs where someone is sent abroad to develop a particular expertise, to be applied on the return home, perhaps to head office. Two subsets seem to exist. The first spends time abroad with a subsidiary, an associated company or a trading partner to become proficient at a new technique or technology. The second, and more common, is in marketing and sales. An example is the man who went to Brazil as a sales representative, came home to take charge of Latin American sales, and subsequently became marketing director. Type F is a sign of the times of recession. He is the person who is surplus at home, is posted abroad as an alternative to redundancy, and for whom there is no guarantee of a job with the same company on return.
GeoforurnNolume 19 Number 4/1988 Exigencies of space prevent examplification of each type, so two cases must suffice. A Type A example is a man whose career started as a metallurgist in North Australia who moved in the same capacity a year later to another firm in South Australia. After another year he moved to a new employer in Canada as a chemical engineer, then back to Australia as a manager. Three years later he joined his present company as a metallurgical engineer, was promoted and came to London for 7 years before being seconded as manager to Southern Africa. He returned to London for 18 months having been promoted to chief metallurgical engineer, was seconded to Toronto and 15 months later received a major promotion to one of the company's U.S. operations, returning to London again a year later. A Type C example comes from the hotel and catering trade. Starting with three jobs in 2,1 years in London, he was promoted from commis waiter/chef to receptionist, then moved to an American company in San Francisco for 6 months as head receptionist before returning to a large U.K. company's London hotel. Promotions there from reception manager to assistant manager to banqueting and conference manager occurred over the next 4 years before another change of company and location, to manage a hotel in Malta. After 21 years he became the company's general manager for Greece, then resident manager (with a large salary increase) of one of its hotels in Cyprus. A year later he was transferred to the London head office (with another large salary increase) and after 6 months became general manager of one of the company's showpiece hotels in Turkey (his salary doubled). After 18 months he returned to London to his present employer, being geneal manager over the next 5 years at three of its most prestigious hotels. Although in both these cases unknown personal (lifecycle) factors would have come into play, a clear relationship of overseas migration and career development can be discerned. Each step can be understood only in the light of the sequence as a whole. What is certain is that the movements described are conditioned by the elements of work organization, the incremental acquisition of skills, the career motivation of the individual, and the variables influencing them. Such detailed personal geographies create aggregate patterns but cannot be explained by macroscopic forces, singly or in combination.
Conclusion This paper has indicated clearly both the significance
GeoforumNolume 19 Number 4/1988 of ILMs in the analysis of international migration by the highly-skilled and the limits of existing data sources and knowledge. Future research should focus on three issues in particular. First, one needs to understand much more about the geography of ILMs-after all, someone changing companies (with or without a migration) is moving between ILMs since every employer has one. Second, one needs empirical studies of the step-by-step operation of institutions within TNCs, the roles migrants play and an analysis of the direct and indirect effects on the migration process. Finally, one needs to know the extent to which the migrant plays an active or passive role in institutional behaviour, for example, in the interplay of personal career aspirations and job-filling processes. The more one finds out, the more one will begin to see systematic patterns of migrant behaviour in what often now seem random deviations from expected patterns. References DICKEN, P. (1986) Global Shift. Industrial Change in a Turbulent World. Harper & Row, London. FINDLAY, A. and STEWART, A. (1986) Manpower policies of British firms with offices in the Middle East, Bull. Comm. Middle E. Trade, 18,22-26. FROBEL, F. et al. (1980) The New International Division of Labour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. HAGERSTRAND, T. (1969) On the definition of migration, Scand. Populo Stud., 1,63-67. HYMER, S. H. (1972) The multinational corporation and the law of uneven development, In: Economics and
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