I think most people understand meritocracy is more of a nebulous ideal rather than reality, in any place, whether monocultural or multicultural.<p>One of the factors as pointed out elsewhere is the availability of bodies. Is that pool of available candidates representative of the pop at large and also do the staffs reflect the characteristics of the availability pool .  Companies continually show they are willing to go thru sponsorships of visas and surely hiring a local workforce, diverse as may be, would be easier than scouring continents for talent.