What are the variables that determine where an employee (or potential employee) wants to work? Should this influence where an employer operates? Why or why not? Do these variables differ by generation (e.g., Baby Boomers v. Generation Xers v. Millennials)? Today, for most firms, it is still important to be located near your customers. But in the global war for talent, it may be equally important to be located in the best place to attract the high performers and specialists your business needs. Over the last few years, specific locations around the world have arisen as preferred places to live and work. High-talent employees can live in locales that enable them to find the work they want while they create the work-life balance that meets their current needs and still be near to others like themselves. So, where are such places?

As it turns out, people don't look so much at countries as they do at cities, and often it is small cities that provide the lifestyles they are looking for. For example, it includes Groningen, a small town in the north of the Netherlands, and Eindhoven, another small town —but major business location —in the Netherlands. Of course, the traditional, popular cities continue to have appeal, but there are also new areas—in every region of the world—that are attracting the talent that today's MNEs need.