A migration industry for skilled migrants: the case of relocation services
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59670/ml.v15i4.4Keywords:
Migration Industry, Highly-Skilled Migration, International Work, Meso-levelAbstract
The aim of this article is to clarify the role of the organisations that support skilled migrants after a relocation, using the analytical concept of migration industry. The concept is used as a tool to explore the gap between the macro and the micro levels and by that stresses the crucial meso-level when it comes to conceptualizing (skilled) migration. I use 30 semi-directive interviews with skilled migrants and six interviews with key informants in the migration industry as a basis for the analysis, leading me to distinguish three main services at the heart of this industry. Each service is covered by distinct private actors: the basic needs of the family by relocation offices, the education of the children by international schools, and the careers of the partner by outplacement agencies.
Metrics
References
Acropolis Services (2017). "Services". retrieved September 12, 2017 from http://acropolis-services.com/services/
Al Ariss, A. (2010). Modes of Engagement: Migration, Self‐initiated Expatriation, and Career Development. Career Development International, 15 (4): 338-358.
Altman, Y. and Baruch, Y. (2012). "Global Self‐initiated Corporate Expatriate Careers: A New Era in International Assignments?" Personnel Review, 41 (2): 233-255.
Beaud, S. and Weber, F. (2003). Guide de l’enquête de Terrain. Paris: La Découverte.
Beaverstock, J. V. (2005). Transnational Elites in the City: British Highly-Skilled Inter-Company Transferees in New York City’s Financial District. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31 (2): 245-268.
Becker, H.S. (2008). Tricks of the Trade: How to Think about Your Research While You’re Doing It. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Biemann, T. and Andresen, M. (2010). Self‐initiated Foreign Expatriates versus Assigned Expatriates: Two Distinct Types of International Careers? Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25 (4): 430-448.
Black, J.S. (1988). Work Role Transitions: A Study of American Expatriate Managers in Japan. Journal of International Business Studies, 19 (2): 277-294.
Castles, S. (2012). Migration and Social Transformation. In: M. Martiniello and J. Rath (eds.) An Introduction to International Migration Studies, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Chaloff, J. and Lemaître, G. (2009). Managing Highly-Skilled Labour Migration. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Cohen, E. (1977). Expatriate communities, Current Sociology, 24 (3), 5-90.
Coe, N.M., Jones, K. and Ward, K. (2010). The Business of Temporary Staffing: A Developing Research Agenda. Geography Compass, 4 (8): 1055-1068.
Counihan, C.R. (2008). Private Actors in Highly-Skilled Migration. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Delaware, Newark, Del.
Cranston, S., Schapendonk, J., and Spaan, E. (2017). New directions in exploring the migration industries: introduction to special issue. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 0(0), 1–15.
Van den Broek, D. Harvey, W. and Groutsis, D. (2016). Commercial Migration Intermediaries and the Segmentation of Skilled Migrant Employment. Work, Employment and Society, 30(3): 523-534.
Faist, T. (2010). The Crucial Meso Level. In: M. Martiniello and J. Rath (eds.) Selected Studies in International Migration and Immigrant Incorporation, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Favell, A. (2014). Immigration, Integration and Mobility: New Agendas in Migration Studies: Essays 1998-2014. Colchester: ECPR Press.
Flamm, M. and Kaufmann V. (2006). Operationalising the Concept of Motility: A Qualitative Study. Mobilities, 1 (2): 167-189.
Flick, U. (2009). An Introduction to Qualitative Research. London: Sage.
Gammeltoft-Hansen, T. and Nyberg Sorensen, N. (2013). The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of International Migration. New York: Routledge.
Groutsis, D., Van den Broek, D. and Harvey, W.S. (2015). Transformations in Network Governance: The Case of Migration Intermediaries. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41 (10): 1558-76.
Harzing, A.W. (2002). Of Bears, Bumble-Bees, and Spiders: The Role of Expatriates in Controlling Foreign Subsidiaries. Journal of World Business, 36 (4): 366-379.
Hernández-León, R. (2013). Conceptualizing the Migration Industry. In: T. Gammeltoft-Hansen and N.N. Sorensen (eds.) The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of International Migration, London and New York: Routledge.
International School of Lausanne. (2016). University Placements – Matriculation Statistics by Location 2015. Retrieved October 16, 2017, from https://www.isl.ch/page.cfm?p=4942&Lock
SSL=true.
Iredale, R. (2001). The Migration of Professionals: Theories and Typologies. International Migration, 39 (5): 7-26.
Känsälä, M., Mäkelä, L and Suutari, V. (2014). Career Coordination Strategies among Dual Career Expatriate Couples. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26 (17): 1-24.
Kofman, E. (2000). The Invisibility of Skilled Female Migrants and Gender Relations in Studies of Skilled Migration in Europe. International Journal of Population Geography, 6 (1): 45-59.
Kõu, A., Van Wissen, L., Van Dijk, J. and Bailey, A. (2015). A Life Course Approach to High-Skilled Migration: Lived Experiences of Indians in the Netherlands. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41 (10): 1–20.
Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L. (2012). Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson.
La Cote Relocation. (2017). Search for accomodation. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from http://www.lacoterelocation.ch/services/recherchedulogement-en.html.
Lamnek, S. (1993). Qualitative Sozialforschung. Band 2: Methoden Und Techniken, 2. Weinheim: Beltz.
Liversage, A. (2009). Vital Conjunctures, Shifting Horizons: High-Skilled Female Immigrants Looking for Work. Work, Employment and Society, 23 (1): 120–141.
Meares, C. (2010). A Fine Balance: Women, Work and Skilled Migration. Women’s Studies International Forum, 33 (5): 473-481.
Menz, G. (2013). The Neoliberalized State and the Growth of the Migration Industry. In: T. Gammeltoft-Hansen and N.N. Sorensen (eds.) The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of International Migration, London and New York: Routledge..
Observatoire BCV de l’économie vaudoise. (2016). Vaud: le tigre discret. Lausanne: Université de Lausanne.
Pries, L. (2007). Transnationalism: Trendy Catch-All or Specific Research Programme? A Proposal for Transnational Organisation Studies as a Micro-Macro-Link. COMCAD Working Papers, 34.
Riaño, Y., Limacher, K., Aschwanden, A., Hirsig, S. and Wastl-Walter, D. (2015). Shaping Gender Inequalities: Critical Moments and Critical Places. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 34 (2): 155-167.
Ryan, L. (2011). Transnational Relations: Family Migration among Recent Polish Migrants in London. International Migration, 49 (2): 80-103.
Ryan, L., Sales R., Tilki, M. and Siara, B. (2009). Family Strategies and Transnational Migration: Recent Polish Migrants in London. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35 (1): 61-77.
Salamin, X., and Davoine, E. (2015). International Adjustment of Female vs Male Business Expatriates. A Replication Study in Switzerland. Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, 3 (2): 183-212.
Salt, J. and Stein, J. (1997). Migration as a Business: The Case of Trafficking. International Migration, 35 (4): 467-494.
Schaer, M., Dahinden, J. and Toader, A. (2017). Transnational mobility among early-career academics: gendered aspects of negotiations and arrangements within heterosexual couples. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43 (8), 1292-1307.
Shinozaki, K. (2014). Career Strategies and Spatial Mobility among Skilled Migrants in Germany: The Role of Gender in the Work-Family Interaction: The Role of Gender in the Work-Family Interaction. Tijdschrift Voor Economische En Sociale Geografie, 105 (5): 526-541.
Spener, D. (2015). Some Critical Reflections on the Migration Industry Concept. Working paper, San Antonio, Tx: Trinity University.
Van Campenhoudt, L. and Quivy, R. (2011). Manuel de Recherche En Sciences Sociales. Paris: Dunod.
Van Riemsdijk, M. (2015). Agents of Local Incorporation: Skilled Migrant Organizations in Oslo, Norway. In: L. Meier (eds) Migrant Professionals in the City Local Encounters, Identities and Inequalities, London: Routledge.
Vertovec, S. (2002). Transnational Networks and Skilled Labour Migration. Conference paper for the Ladenburger Diskurs 'Migration' Gottlieb Daimler- und Karl Benz-Stiftung, Ladenburg, 14-15 February 2002.
Vertovec, S. (1999). Conceiving and researching transnationalism. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22(2): 447-462.
Witzel, A. (2000). Das Problemzentrierte Interview. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 1(1).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
