INTRODUCTION

International joint ventures for the realisation of construction projects are gaining more and more in importance in European development. Especially in the field of public infra-structure the dimensions, degree of technological complexity and financial demands on such projects are increasing. This leads to the question of what kind of personnel the companies involved in such a joint venture require, and how they plan and organise the assignment of this personnel. This question can be posed in two different ways. On the one hand it is possible to regard these proceedings as a labour market process. Companies are seeking labour for specific tasks, and labour is looking for that kind of work which suits their qualifications and their social expectations. When regarding the principles and criteria which govern this kind of process - usually called matching - first the specific circumstances of these international joint ventures have to be taken into account. The company now offers its goods services abroad and not only on the familiar domestic market. On the other hand the special conditions of a construction project, which is temporary by its very nature, play a role as well. Additionally one has to observe the distinctions that are usually made by these companies in filling positions for management staff and operative labour. These distinctions mainly concern the scarcity of the according qualification, the ranking and the influence that a certain position is judged to have on the work within the company, and the costs which arise from the assignment. Apart from this, from the point of view of the enterprise the same process is also an integral part of its human resource management. Thus the same questions of selecting the most suitable persons for forthcoming tasks are partly formulated from another point of view. At the same time, however, the interest of the company goes beyond these questions, for the company not only aims at a short-term fulfilment of a certain task, but always regards it as part of a long-term strategy for conquering and safe-guarding a certain position on the market. This turns the attention mainly to the role that a company's personnel is playing within such a strategy. Therefore in the following paper there will first be briefly discussed what significance joint ventures in construction projects have for the companies involved. In this a distinction is made between an externally and an internally directed ranking. The external orientation consists in the struggle to gain entry to markets in which the company has not been represented before. Seen internally the participation in joint ventures helps the enterprise to further develop its organisational structure in such a way as to enable it to become long-term active in international markets. Next the special significance and the special conditions of personnel assignment for joint ventures in construction projects will be described. As this implies activities abroad, usually the question of posting or local recruitment is well to the fore. This question has to be considered from the perspective of labour market theories as well from that of human resource management. It will become obvious that both approaches lead to the same result. As far as management staff is concerned it is more sensible for the success of the joint venture itself as well as for the long-term strategies of the company to foster a permanent staff, which is then posted to the according place of activity. As far as the workforce is concerned, a number of varying reasons argue in favour of local recruitment. These theoretical reflections will finally be compared with the empirical data gained from the case studies of the Groupe Bagnolet. Both can be found to agree to quite some extent; it becomes apparent, however , that under certain circumstances these reflections partly overlap with problems which have arisen by worldwide migration movements and through the pressure that these exert on parts of the labour market for construction site activities.