 In this topic, we are going to discuss about the reasons why people are sent on international assignments and we are going to base our discussion on Brookfield Global Relocation Trends Survey 2010. Generally, there are various different studies which talk about different reasons for international assignments but this survey is a survey which takes into account a very big data and therefore is an authentic survey to base our discussion upon. So the first reason why people are sent on international assignments in multinational organizations which are operating in different countries is to fill the positions and filling the positions is important because there is a lack of availability of human resources for that particular position. So people from other countries, mostly the parent countries, they are sent to the host countries to fill those positions. There are some studies which show and say and claim that the availability of human resources problem has declined and the personnel cost, they have also decreased and therefore the problem of position filling is not the most important one. But according to this survey, short term position filling that continues to be a reason for international assignments and a lack of available skill is the major reason for international assignments. So it happens that where in host countries, multinationals start their operations, according to their requirements, according to their skill gap, according to their strategic objective, skilled labor and skilled human resources are not available. So to fill those positions, people have to be sent on international assignments. So we have some statistics. So in many cases, the most important assignment objective was filling a managerial gap which was 22% of the assignments were given to people because they were needed to fill a managerial gap. And then the next was filling a technical gap which was following it at 21% of the reasons. So accordingly, we can say that position filling and filling up the managerial and technical gaps in human resources is one of the major reasons why people are sent on international assignments and people are not available in the host countries to fill those managerial and technical gaps. The second important reason for international assignments is management development and staff, they are often moved to other parts of the organization for training and development purposes and to assist in the development of common corporate values. So one thing is that people are sent for training and for their career development because international exposure is something which is very important, particularly for the multinational organizations which are operating in a number of countries. It is important that people who are managing that organization should have a flavor of different countries and different cultures so that they understand that what is their global position, how they are perceived in various different countries and what are the different challenges and objectives of the organization in that particular country and what is going to be the global implication of those particular challenges and issues. So that is a very much important reason management development, why people are sent on international assignment and then it is very much important to develop the management in the host countries as well. So it is very much important to transfer the corporate values in those countries. So it is important that the company which is operating in different locations should have a shared corporate value system. So that should be something which should show in your operations, in your services, in the products that you sell. So for example, if we talk about McDonald's, you can see that they have the same corporate values of efficiency and service, customer service and all their corporate values, they are replicated wherever you go, in whichever country you go, you see that the same kind of environment is there and same kind of services are provided which means that the same corporate values are instilled in the people who are running those organizations. All right, so assignments may be for the varying length of time and they may involve project work as well as trainee positions. So it is possible that for management development, the people are sent on assignments for three months, for a year or for a longer period of time. It depends on the kind of position that is being filled. If it is a technical position, a short-term experience is going to be sufficient to make you understand the work. But if it is a managerial position, then a longer period in that position would be required to give a training for that particular position in the organization. And then there is this perceived link between international experience and career development and people in the organization, they think that it is their perception that if they are sent on international assignments and given international exposure, it means that the organization is concerned about their career development and that also serves as a motivator. So people who are sent on international assignments, they feel motivated and they feel a part of the organization and their organizational commitment and motivation is also enhanced because they feel that the organization cares about their career development. So they also reciprocate that with organizational commitment and motivation. So according to the Brookfield Global Relocation Trends Survey, building management expertise was considered to be the third most important reason for international assignments. Now the third reason which is very much important is organization development. You know that management development is about developing of individuals and organization development is about developing of the organization. So organization development is concerned as individual development is concerned with training and learning of the individuals. Organization development is concerned about learning of the organization. So when you go to different other countries and you work in other countries and the organization gets the experience of other countries, the organization also learns. So learning of the organization is also an important part why people are sent to international assignments. So according to the Brookfield Global Relocation Survey technology transfer was an important aspect 16% of assignments were given so that the technology which is either in the host country or in the parent country that is transferred from between the two and launching new endeavors which is also a part of organizational development had 13% of value and that was also a very important aspect of organization development and that is one of the reasons for sending people to international assignments. So in this topic we have discussed about the major reasons why people are sent on international assignments and what is the importance of that in the organization.