...Convergence and Divergence Debate over IHRM Practices By : Anggun M.B Nowadays, there is an increasingly concern about convergence and divergence debate over Human Resource Management practices of MNCs that operate expandly accross the globe. With regard to convergence approach, it is generally accepted that the universality of sound management practices would lead to societies and countries becoming more and more alike and interlink. On the other hand, according to divergence approach, companies will try to adapt its strategies with different host-country context in order to sustain its business continually in different countries. However, in my point of view, MNCs need to have a well-balanced strategy which combines global efficiency and local responsiveness strategy in doing their business around the world. Regarding this concern and how does it relate to HRM practices, this essay will focus on the training and development practice in McDonald India, by starting with comparison about key factors of both approaches as will now be discussed. Comparing both approaches, there are several key factors that force MNCs to implement the convergence and divergence strategies in its global operation. In term of global efficiency or convergence, the driving forces/factors such as converging income across states, economies of scale, uniform product and service design, international business expansion with low transportation cost, less trade barriers and more open market have led to...
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...LG ELECTRONICS INDIA Background Based in South Korea, LG Electronics (LGE) had a global turnover of US$ 29.9 billion in 2003. LGE has 50 affiliated companies across the globe, with 300 offices and presence in 120 countries. With over 64,000 employees, it focuses on four main businesses - Electronics and Telecommunications, Services, Finance and Chemicals. LGE has 20 R&D centres worldwide and has subsidiaries in 76 countries. Established in 1997, LG Electronics India (LGEI) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LG Electronics, South Korea. It is one of the leading companies in consumer electronics, home appliances and computer peripherals in India. It has a turnover of almost US$ 1000 million in India. LGEI’s sales are increasing with a CAGR of 40 per cent over the past five years. LG is the market leader in various segments like colour TVs, microwave ovens, frost-free refrigerators, washing machines and air-conditioners, with market shares of 26.2 per cent, 41.2 per cent, 37.9 per cent, 34.1 per cent and 34 per cent respectively. LG Electronics India received the Occupational Health & Safety Management System OHSAS 18001:1999 certification from the British Standards Institution (BSI), India, for a systematic approach towards Occupational Health and Safety Management System. LGEI exported goods and services worth US$ 40 million in 2003. The major export markets for LGEI are the Middle East, West Africa and Central Asia. India challenges The challenges faced by LG when it entered...
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...India. • One of the last MNCs to enter India. (Samsung, Sony & Panasonic entered in 1995 & LG in 1997.) • High import duty. • Competition from local players and other multinational companies in the consumer electronics segment • Price sensitiveness of Indian consumers. • LGEI has overcome these challenges to emerge as way, by sponsoring the 1999 World Cup, and followed it up in 2003 as well. • LG brought in four captains of the Indian cricket team to endorse its products. LG invested more than USS 8 million on advertising and marketing in this sport. • LG has differentiated its products using technology and health benefits. The CTV range has ‘Golden Eye’ technology, air-conditioners have the ‘Health Air System’ and microwave ovens have the ‘Health Wave System’. Local and efficient manufacturing to reduce cost To overcome high import duties, LG manufactures PC monitors and refrigerators in India at its manufacturing facility at Noida, Delhi. LGEIL had already commissioned contract manufacturing at Mohali, Kolkata and Bhopal for CTVs. This has helped LGEI to reduce costs. LGEIL is implementing a “digital manufacturing system” (DMS) as a cost-cutting innovation. This system is a follow-up to the Six Sigma exercise LGEIL had initiated earlier. Product localization Product localisation is a key strategy used by LG. • LG came out with Hindi and regional language menus on its TV. • Introduced the low-priced “Cineplus” and “Sampoorna” range for the rural...
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...of expanded markets includes the auto industry. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, those living in countries under the influence of communism only had access to cars that were produced domestically or in other communist markets. This was due to trade barriers with the West. When communism fell, Western economies, that is, countries that were not under communist influence, were able to expand their markets to former communist countries. This in turn increased their profit potential. Related Reading: How to Prepare Your Company for Globalization Cheaper Resources Another consequence of bilateral trade agreements is the access to cheaper resources. Until the start of the 1990's, the People's Republic of China was largely closed off to the rest of the world. Many companies in the United States produced their goods either domestically or in areas with slightly less expensive labor. When China opened its market to the rest of the world, however, American companies were able to take advantage of the far cheaper labor. This is known as outsourcing. Cheaper...
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...Viacom inc. and started to expand its operations through the global marketplace through a “Think Globally, Act Locally” strategy. The channel MTV Arabia was formed as a result of a licensing arrangement between MTV and AMG. MTVN (MTV Networks) launched MTV Arabia on November 17, 2007, in partnership with Arabian Television Network (ATN), which is part of the Arab Media Group’s (AMG) Arabian Broadcasting Network (ABN). According to analysts, MTV’s success in the Middle East was contingent upon a tactical balancing between delivery of international quality music and the culturally sensitive environment prevalent in the region. The Fundamental Management Issue: The key fundamental issue within the MTV case study is to determine whether localisation is needed to be successful in the market in conjunction with maintaining the MTV global brand and product. This is an issue since the market that MTV was entering, the Arabian market, presented a different cultural and socio-ethical construction from which MTV was used to and MTV was forced to adapt to the market to be successful. Analysis of the Fundamental Management Issue: There are many idiosyncrasies within the Middle Eastern culture that MTV would not have been familiar with, although MTV has a high degree of cultural competence with its extensive forays into regions such as Europe, Asia and Latin America. One of the major attributes to...
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...Unilever is one of the world’s oldest multinational corporations with extensive product offerings in the food, detergent, and personal care businesses. It generates annual revenue in excess of $50 billion and a wide range of branded products in virtually every country. Detergents, which account for about 25 percent of corporate revenues, include well-known names such as Omo, which is sold in more than 50 countries. Personal care products which account for about 15 percent of sales include Calvin Klein cosmetics, Pepsodent toothpaste brands, Faberge hair care products and Vaseline skin lotions. Food products account for the remaining 60 percent of sales and include strong offerings in margarine (where Unilever’s market share in most countries exceeds 70 percent), tea, ice cream, frozen foods and bakery products. Historically, Unilever was organised on a decentralised basis. Subsidiary companies in each major national market were responsible for the production, marketing, sales and distribution of the products in that market. In Western Europe, for example, the company had 17 subsidiaries in the early 1990s, each focused on a different national market. Each was a profit center and each was held accountable for its own performance. This decentralisation was viewed as a source of strength. The structure allowed local managers to match product offerings and marketing strategy to local tastes and preferences and to alter sales and distribution strategies to fit the prevailing...
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...order to become a source of competitive advantage. The authors state that there is a need to manage human resources strategically so that they become source of sustained competitive advantage (Wright and McMahan, 1992; Boxall and Purcell, 2008). And that this has led to the evolution of strategic international human resource management (SIHRM), which not only acknowledge the need of balancing global integration and local responsiveness (Evans et al., 2002), but to seek strategic fit between HR policies and business strategy in order to achieve superior business performance. The researcher’s paper focus upon China with reference to foreign MNCs’ operations and the challenges faced from the dual pressure of balancing globalisation and localisation. Arguing that by combining the concept of SHRM with IHRM it identified a new research area of SIHRM which addressed the HRM issues and activities resulting from, and impacting on, the strategic activities and international concerns of MNC’s, that the universality, contingency and configurationally approaches in SHRM provides a theoretical foundation and development of HR practices and firm relationship that have been reflected in the substantial number of empirical studies, The research concludes that HR practices must be combined with specific business strategies to enhance organisation performance, that foreign MNC’s are seeking...
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...Brand Strategy What can a brand do to stay profitable during a recession? Here are some realistic possibilities: • Add a lower-price item with fewer features to your product line. You might even launch it under a different brand name. Most companies should produce a line of products at different price points. • Add some additional value to the offer, such as free shipping or installation. • Maintain the current price but advertise heavily as to why customers should pay more for this brand. Procter & Gamble (P&G) uses this strategy with Tide, instead of cutting the price. • Change the brand’s image through a new campaign. Dove introduced its “Real Beauty” campaign in China in 2011 based on the notion that most women have real beauty—and Dove can help them realize it. • Innovate something new. Apple introduced its iPhone just before the Great Recession and caused Nokia’s market share to decline from 50 percent to 10 percent in five years. • Shift to win the low price position but maintain the brand value and promise. Insurance provider Geico sells auto insurance mainly online and, as a well-known brand, owns the low-cost position. Top Twelve Branding Keys For 2012 by Derrick Daye The 12th year of the 21st century is close upon us, bringing not just a new slate, but also a sense of significance: the very number 12 commands a lot of attention, in different ways. For product brands it’s a unit of trade – 12 units to a dozen, said to be cheaper than other...
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...Question 1 Examine the organization structure of a FTSE 100 company and evaluate the reasoning behind its choice. Explain the advantages of this structure against other types of organizational structure. The FTSE UK index series is designed to represent the performance of UK companies, providing investors with a comprehensive set of indices that measure the performance of all capital and industry segments of the UK equity market. HSBC is on the 3rd rank of FTSE 100. History of HSBC HSBC Bank plc and its subsidiaries form a UK-based group providing a comprehensive range of banking and related financial services. HSBC Bank plc (formerly Midland Bank plc) was formed in England in 1836 and subsequently registered as a limited company in 1880. In 1923, the company adopted the name of Midland Bank Limited which it held until 1982 when the name was changed to Midland Bank plc. During the year ended 31 December 1992, Midland Bank plc became a wholly owned subsidiary undertaking of HSBC Holdings PLC (“HSBC Holdings”), whose Headquartered is in London. HSBC Bank plc adopted its current name, changing from Midland Bank plc, in the year ended 31 December 1999. The HSBC Group is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world, with over 9,500 offices in 79 countries and territories in Europe, Hong Kong, the rest of Asia-Pacific, including the Middle East and Africa, North America and South America. Its total assets at 31 December 2009 were £579 billion...
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...environment analysis of specific countries. These methods can be applied by companies that aim to internationalise and so to define the right location(s) abroad in terms of institutional as well as cultural fit and success opportunities. Correspondingly, concepts like this also provide insightful information for explaining the location choices which organisations have already made. One such framework is the so called Diamond Model introduced by Michael Porter in 1990. This essay tries to determine its advantages and disadvantages as a tool for the examination of firm‟s home and host location decisions by focusing on two major MNEs: the world‟s second-largest high-street retailer –French Carrefour and UK‟s famous Marks & Spencer Porter s Diamond Model(1990: 73) argues that “nation‟s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade” and therefore is determined by a nation‟s level of productivity. From an organisational perspective this means that national competitive advantage depends on the nations ability to provide a home base for companies to sustainably improve their products and services in terms of quality, features, technology and so to successfully compete in highly productive industries internationally. Hence, the advantage of the framework is that it identifies four important, interrelated factors that create and illustrate the essential national environment where companies are born, grow and build sustainable competitive advantages (Porter...
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...global capital flow. The mutual independence of economy is also strengthened by Globalisation. Economic globalisation builds international capital, production, technology, market, resources and manpower in order to understand reasonable and effective allocation. Competition between the countries are intensified during the effective promotion of global cooperation. This is due to the limited resources and extended capital in economic perspective. In terms of politics each country tends to increase the strength to achieve more profit (Broad & David, 2006). The independent flow of production factors in the world are accelerated though economic globalization which forms a global market. Therefore the global operation of the multinational companies along with the involvement of global industrial structure are promoted. The advantages of capital and technology can be used by the developing countries and by transferring these capital and technology the market can be expanded to the developed countries. The development of global productive force together with the economies of the developing countries is promoted by the effective combination of the economic factors in different countries. Liberalization of trade is the nature of the global trade and based on this nature globalization include many concreted features. Firstly, global trade has...
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...|glasgow College | |Assestment1 | |International HRM | | | | | |3/21/2011 | | | CONTENTS Terms of references 3 Methods of investigation 3 Findings 3 Conclusions 17 Recommendations 17 Reference 18 Bibliography 18 Words: 3517 1.0 Terms of reference In order to complete International HRM unit task, a formal report has been requested. The task is to carry out an investigation and undertake a role of Management Consultant...
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...Nissan Company: Abstract * Nissan is one of the world’s largest automobiles company, * Manufacturing locations in 18 nations and serving in around 160 locations. * In year 2007, Nissan’s Executive Vice President, Tadao Takahashi mentioned its strategy of moving to transnational from multi-domestic so at present Nissan has increased its focus on emerging markets like India and Russia. This presentation aims to evaluate Nissan’s “Go-Global” strategy. In this analysis, we will try to assess the various imperatives that ……… * Company has to operate at multiple locations, * How it chooses among various locations * How it goes about implementing the expansion plan. * Studying Nissan’s global strategy and focusing on its moves specifically in India and Russia. This analysis will conducted by using various analysis tools like porter 5 forces, SWOT analysis, and PESTEL analysis as well value chain and after analysis will suggest the better strategy for betterment of company and for future prospects. Introduction With the increasing trend of globalization and heightened competition, most of the companies at some point of time think of expanding to new locations because of different imperatives ranging from efficiency, growth, competition, knowledge or mix of few. Each company decides its own parameters while making strategic choices of a market or a country NISSAN at a glance: * Nissan is a multinational automaker headquartered in Yokohama,...
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...resource management strategies in practice: Case-study findings in multinational firms Irene K.H. Chew* Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Frank M. Horwitz* University of Cape Town, South Africa, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Competitive pressures have increased the strategic value of a skilled, motivated and adaptable workforce, and the HRM strategies to support and develop it. A strategic perspective of HRM requires the firm to identify and adopt human capital initiatives likely to enhance competitiveness and shareholder value. A key question considered here is the extent to which multinational firms adapt internally consistent human resource strategies across national boundaries to address these issues. Case-study data on how eight multinational firms in Singapore apply strategic approaches to human resource management are presented. Findings show that while some adaptation considering local context occurs, the diffusion of headquarters and centrally initiated, but competitively differentiated strategies across cultural boundaries, is significant. Effective human resource strategies were understood as ‘configurational’, integrated both vertically and horizontally. Keywords: convergent/divergent practices, human resource strategy, multinational firms There is a paucity of empirical, especially case-study research on human resource management (HRM) strategies of multinational corporations (MNCs) in South East Asia in general and Singapore in...
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...Differences Between A Corporation With An Ethnocentric, Polycentric, And Geocentric Orientations. How The Concept Of Competitive Advantage Can Be Applied In International Marketing? This paper is submitted in the partial fulfilment of Marketing Management course By FRANCES GRACEY DADZIE March 2013 Standardization marketing strategy is typically applied to discussion of global businesses and a means to market a solution with uniform consistency throughout the marketing mix. This is an opposite approach to a localized strategy, under which multinational companies differentiate their product and adapt it to fit the unique needs of countries.Localization as defined by the business dictionary is where by a business operates in a number of countries, adjusts its products and practices in each at a high relative cost, with a committed operating presence in each markets of other nations. Standardization on the other hand is where by a company produces same or standardizes all the products its produces to all nations. For example coca cola drink is a standardized product that is it is the same branding, colour, taste where ever you go. OK, even though some people think...
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