The ranking was among the findings of a survey conducted by Cartus Corp, a Connecticut, US-based relocation services provider. According to Cartus, these four so-called BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – have also held the top four spots in its most recent surveys of those of its corporate clients who are planning to move employees to countries considered to be "emerging markets".
China took the top spot in the latest survey, with more than half (53%) of Cartus’s client respondents naming it as their company’s top emerging market (EM) destination. India came in second with 45%.
Brazil (34%) and Russia (22%) were ranked third and fourth, respectively.
The Cartus report, Mobility Challenges in Emerging Markets, is based on survey responses from 116 representatives of multinational corporations of all sizes that it said move from tens to thousands of employees per year.
Second tier EM destinations
A second category identified by the Cartus researchers was of countries "mentioned by at least 5%of respondents as being in their companies’ lists of "Top Three" emerging market" destinations. The UAE headed this list, and thus was in fifth place overall among emerging market destinations; South Africa was next, followed by Mexico and, in a tie for eighth place, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.
The Philippines and Vietnam tied for tenth place.
Three of the locations listed among the top 10 key emerging markets – the Philippines, South Africa, and Vietnam – have never been among the top 25 most common locations for relocation assignments, according to Cartus, which carries out the research annually.
Kevin Kelleher, president and chief executive of Cartus, said the survey revealed that corporations worldwide were "clearly sending their employees to an unprecedented array of new locations that will pose an even broader range of challenges, both for mobility programmes and assignees on the ground".
"In addition, the strong growth in international relocations underscores the need for global organisations to assess candidates very carefully, to make certain they have the leadership and business skills that make them the right fit for the assignment," Kelleher said.
