Young talents from abroad. The impact of foreign graduates on the international operations of Swedish firms

Project: Research

Project Details

Description

The aim of the project is to investigate whether Swedish SMEs are able to improve their international operations through the hiring of foreign graduates from Swedish universities.

Having access to talent is critical for companies willing to improve their competitiveness and their performances in the global markets.The local availability of skilled individuals who possess some general attitude towards international activities and who have some degree of knowledge of foreign cultures is hence an important factor for Swedish SMEs in order to increase their international performances. Foreign graduates who completed their education in Swedish universities represent a relevant opportunity for Swedish SMEs, since these individuals are highly skilled and possess distinctive knowledge of foreign cultures and are locally available.

The analysis will analyze empirically through statistical and econometric methodologies two related set of questions. The first part of the project will investigate which and how many are the Swedish SMEs that hire foreign graduates from Swedish universities and which are the factors that increase the probability of hiring. The second part of the project instead will analyze the conditions under which the hiring of foreign-born individuals who graduated in Sweden can increase the international activities of small and medium sized companies.

The results will inform policy about the need to better harmonize education and labor market policies in order to not only attract international students, but also to retain them to work in Sweden once they graduate.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date2017/01/012018/12/31