International HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 1

International HRM - Essay Example Oakland (2000) proposed that employees’ participation helps in implementing the total quality management (TQM) strategy. The participative form of management is stated to help the subordinates in sharing the decision making power with their superiors. But the success of any strategy depends upon a number of factors, implementation policy and prevailing circumstances. How such policies are implemented by the companies, depends upon the laws of the land and the factors like union’s bargaining power, relationship employees’ unions and the management, the composition of public equity in the company etc. Participatory form of management includes quality circles, collective bargaining, job control, works councils or workers council, co-determination, employee participation on company boards, labour-controlled investment funds and employee stock ownership plans (O’Hara, 1999). Such participation leads to involvement of employees in key decision making processes a nd the employee feels empowered at the workforce, as he has a say in setting the course instead of just following the orders. How this empowerment is carried out, depends upon the way decentralisation takes place within the organisation Today, in view of the competition, profit margins have become quite thin, which sometimes forces the management towards taking cost-cutting initiatives, that includes outsourcing, retrenchments, relocation of employees, pressure on employee benefits etc. Germany and UK too are affected by the phenomenon of outsourcing and availability of skilled workforce at cheaper rates from places like India, China, Philippines, Malaysia etc. Under such circumstances, the unions as well as the management come under pressure to fine-tune their strategies in order to retain the loyalties and goodwill. While Unions in these nations are busy fighting for the retention of jobs, managements too

Introducing a Product to the Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Introducing a Product to the Market - Essay Example In an argument by Kerin (2012) market segmentation is an effective way of introducing a product in the market since the entrepreneur is provided with an accurate way of analyzing the consumer behavior. The author further asserts that the entrepreneur is also able to understand the general behavior of the market and trends that may affect the performance of is product (Kerin, 2012). The argument is supported by Kotler & Keller (2012) who is of the assumption that a thorough market analysis through segmentation enables the ability of the entrepreneur to find the most strategic marketing strategies. For instance, the authors cite that the entrepreneur may understand the best way the market prefers to access marketing information (Kotler & Keller, 2012). The information acquired may be more effective if the entrepreneur realizes a specific target market. From these provision, identifying the target market through market segmentation is an effective overall strategy. Depending on the nature of the product, the most accurate target market would be a population between the ages of 16 to 30. The product is aimed to attract the preference of a market that has the largest conception of mobile phones. Dacko (2008) is of the assumption that the entrepreneur must select a target market based on the impact expected from their product. For instance, the young generation is mostly attracted to technological trends and social innovations. The major characteristics of this target market is their ability to recognize trendy product from a large market. In addition, their market selection is based on uniqueness and time relevance. Kotler & Keller (2012) assert that a young target market has massive preference on luxury goods. The authors further point out that their consumption of luxury goods is not majorly limited by pricing levels (Kotler & Keller, 2012). The target market is also very swift in shifting preference from one product based on a new entrant