ABSTRACT
The coining by Jim O’Neill (2001) of the term BRICs as an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China is a well-known story. Indeed, the BRICs are now superseded by BRICS, the capital S indicating the addition of South Africa to the club in 2010/11. In any analysis of the globalization of executive search, it is vital to consider the opportunities and challenges for firms of entry into these emerging economies. In this chapter, we consider the insights that might be gained into the past and future globalization processes of executive search through the case of entry into the BRICS by focusing on how the new profession of executive search institutionalised its role as a labour market intermediary in these economies. We identify two entry strategies—normalisation and qualification—used by executive search to legitimise its intermediary function through different forms of institutional work in the BRICS.
