A survey among Finnish expatriates operating around the world showed that the criteria for international assignee selection include work related skills (74%), language skills (60%), human relations (50%), willingness to live abroad (47%), and knowledge of the country and its culture (42%; Suutari and Brewster, 2001). The survey found that technical expertise is the most important factor when selecting an international assignee and this finding thus coheres well with the main theory of expatriation