Royal Dutch Shell is a British-Dutch multinational oil and gas company, founded in 1907, that is headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom. The company is one of the world's largest oil producers with revenues of about $388 billion (profit of $24 billion) and operations in more than 70 countries. The company has some 82,000 employees, of which about 7,000 employees are at any one time on expatriate assignments outside their home country. A crucial task for Shell is to manage this extensive population of expatriate workers in order to meet its commercial goals and transfer valuable technical and managerial knowledge across operations located in different nations. It's no easy task. Shell's long-term goal is to develop local talent wherever possible, thereby leveraging local employees' networks, market knowledge, and language skills, while also minimizing costs. Moving Shell employees from other countries to work with partners and transfer expertise is often a key part of the company's strategy.

question:

1. Can this be done effectively in all world regions (e.g., Middle East and North Africa), where potential local employees do not have the educational background in many cases?
2. How would you solve the education, skill, and knowledge gaps if you were a Shell C-suite leader?