Comparative Analysis of IHRM Strategies for Apple and Samsung

This research essay provides a comparative analysis of the international HRM strategies of Apple and Samsung. It explores the impact of these strategies on employee retention and success rate. The essay also offers recommendations for improving HRM practices.

INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH ESSAY

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................3
2.0 Part A.........................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Models on a foreign assignment of expatriates.....................................................................4
2.2 Impact of international HR practices.....................................................................................5
2.3 Factors of international HR practices....................................................................................6
3.0 Part B.........................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Success rate of Apple and Samsung......................................................................................7
3.2 International HR practices used by Apple and Samsung.......................................................8
3.3 Comparison of HR practices..................................................................................................9
3.4 Effect of international HRM practices.................................................................................10
4.0 Part C: Recommendations.......................................................................................................11
5.0 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14
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1.0 Introduction
International Human Resource Management (IHRM) is one of the key developments in the field
of HRM studies and the instant paper delves into the analysis of IHRM strategies for Apple and
Samsung by adopting a comparative approach. The entire report is structured in three main parts.
In the first part, the 5P model of on a foreign assignment of expatriates has been explained in the
backdrop of given scenario. In the second part, the IHRM policies of both the firms have been
compared and the third part provides recommendation based on the findings.
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2.0 Part A
2.1 Models on a foreign assignment of expatriates
The foreign assignments of expatriates would be evaluated with the support of 5P’s model of
IHRM (International Human Resource Management).
Purpose
In this case, the management of every organization is supposed to communicate the mission,
vision and purpose behind its brand expansion into a certain market. As per Farndale et al.
(2017), the HRM department of Samsung enables to meet this factor, where the leader follows a
participative culture where employees are communicated with the organizational purpose and
objectives. On the other hand, Apple does not meet this aspect as it believes in secrecy; hence,
employees assigned with any given project are not disclosed about the purpose and objectives.
Principle
In this case, both organizations are efficient in meeting the principal aspect. Both Samsung and
Apple are efficient to maintain its internal ethnicity and organizational culture. Hence,
expatriates are instructed accordingly.
Processes
The process lines of both the organization vary as per the primary focus. According to Ehnert et
al. (2016), the foremost objective of both Samsung and Apple is profit maximization. Yet,
Samsung explicitly emphasizes on people management and satisfaction, however, Apple relies
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on confidentiality where the internal projects and their plans are kept the secret under strong
protective measures.
People
The people management process in Samsung I much better than Apple, where the expatriates
across all the regions are supported with effective training and development measures to enhance
their knowledge about the market (Chiang et al. 2017). Whereas, Apple takes its employees for
gated and hardly invest time on their evolvement rather expect them always to advance their
creative sides.
Performance
The performance criteria of Samsung are comparatively better than in Apple. Since expatriates
are given all kinds of support to frame their understandings and they are also shared with the
organizational purpose and objectives, hence, all the resources share a common goal (Reiche et
al. 2018). However, Apple never discloses its purpose and expatriates are not even backed with
required support. Thus, the performance figure in Apple is lower than Samsung.
2.2 Impact of international HR practices
The international HR practices followed by Apple have not created but positive impact on its
people management action. The expatriates are not given the right HRM support in apple, which
obstructs them to execute their best potential in the allocated assignments and also
comprehending the expectations of the foreign market. On the other hand, Samsung is efficient
in terms of framing its global HRM lines (Cooke et al. 2019). Based on the requirements of each
nation, the training modules are designed that can extract the apt skills and competencies from its
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resources. Hence, expatriates get the exact idea of the purpose behind the expansion and apply
the required skills to bring a positive outcome.
2.3 Factors of international HR practices
Uncertainties, fear of job loss, cultural and social criteria and adaptation are the factors of
international HR practices. According to Guerci et al. (2016), the moment an organization plans
for market expansion, the HR unit needs to focus effectively on the above-mentioned factors to
make sure that every employee is trained well to cope up with power distance and cultural gaps
of the foreign markets. Inadequate training can lead employees to execute unrequired skills that
might bring discrepancies. Expatriated are often stay confused due to the fear of the unknown,
therefore, it is the sole accountability of the management to design their HRM functions in effect
that can prepare their expatriated with exact requirements.
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3.0 Part B
3.1 Success rate of Apple and Samsung
In the opinion of Naeem et al. (2019), in the global context, both Samsung and Apple are the
tech giants, therefore, both the organizations have adopted explicit international HRM conducts
to retain its potential employees. As per the records of reliable sources, in the year 2018, the
management o Apple has managed to reach a figure above 132 thousands of resources across the
nations (Statista, 2019). On the other hand, information received from similar sources highlights
that Samsung with its existing HRM practices has enabled to reach a figure of 320,670
employees by the end of 2017 (Statista, 2019). Hence, it can be stated from the above
comparison that the international HRM practices followed in Samsung are more effective and
satisfactory to fit the expectations of its employees. Therefore, the success rate in terms of
recruitment and employee retention is more in Samsung as compared to Apple’s. Moreover,
relative information received from LinkedIn reflects that Samsung’s international network
involves approximately 310,000 resources across its 79 nations (Statista, 2019). On top of that
across the US network, the brand has enabled to generate its employee base with 18,500 people
across its 46 states. On the other side, Apple has only managed to generate a global headcount of
123,000 resources as compared to Samsung. Although, the brand has managed to expand its
engineers and IT headcounts by 8% and 4% by 2017 respective, yet, it still requires
incorporating better HRM conducts that can help it to lower its employee turnover figure (Roth,
2019). Hence, it can be identified from the prior evaluation that the success rate in terms of
HRM practices is more in Samsung than Apple.
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3.2 International HR practices used by Apple and Samsung
In the consideration of Malik et al. (2019), it can be stated that Apple never opens its HRM
strategies, which in the majority of time becomes difficult for its resources to understand the
purpose and objectives behind tasks they are assigned upon. According to Mira et al. (2019),
recruitment and selection are the factors driving key success to the company, however, it fails to
ensure the same for its employee retention. The management of the brand demands candidates
who are hard working by nature and getting every precise detail accurate. Conversely, the
management fails to impose effective HRM solutions that can bring him high retention figure as
well (Management, 2019). Instead of ensuring proper work and life balance, Apple focuses only
on employee hard works. The concept of the brand for its expatriates is to own their career and
the career path of its resources are not entirely supported by the management, which calls from
the high turnover rate as well. Moreover, instead of offering suitable training and development
programs, the management makes its expatriates to do it on themselves. Herein, training is
available; yet, the management merely offers or develops any learning plan for its resources. On
the other hand, Valeau et al. (2019) defined that Samsung’s HRM initiatives towards its
resources are quite effective to experience high retention rate. The management of the brand
place high value to its people whether they are its employees or customers. Unlike Apple, The
management of the brand conducts strong and effective training programs from its expatriates in
which they are offered with effective learning and developmental modules to enhance their
product and service related knowledge regarding the foreign market (Hernaus et al. 2019). The
expatriates are also assisted with suitable compensation support and other benefits programs that
tend to enhance their level of motivation. Hence, it becomes easy for the expatriates to identify
and get accustomed to the new cultures of the foreign markets.
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3.3 Comparison of HR practices
It has already been discussed in the previous section that the international HRM practices of
Samsung are much more effective than Apple. As per the claim of Guerci et al. (2016), the
management of Apple always directs its employees to apply their creative inputs in their
assigned tasks to maintain product differentiation in the market. However, it just contains a
traditional training module which every employee is given. Conversely, the skills and potentials
of every employee or expatriates are not the same that require one on one session with the
trainers or supervisors to nurture their talent to execute effectively on the new market. However,
expatriates are only instructed to brainstorm their skills and apply them accordingly and learning
while working. This had been the major loopholes, where inadequate training and knowledge
lead the expatriates to fail drastically on the foreign markets, which rigorously lead to high
employee dissatisfaction. According to Mira et al. (2019), innovation has been the centre of
attraction for Apple, thus, instead of developing a strong team to work on the new foreign
market, the brand assigns different teams to work on a single project. All teams compete against
one another to create something fresh full of innovation. The competing nature enforces the
expatriates to lack in team unity, which result in the final outcome as well. On the other hand,
Samsung conducts total opposite actions, where team unity and innovation is their focal point.
Herein, employee and the expatriates are offered with correct training programs and they are
asked to execute demo actions in a team to strengthen their team bonds. Hence, the culture at
Samsung is much more positive than apple, where the team members are sympathetic towards
one another and project respect for the organization as well.
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3.4 Effect of international HRM practices
It has been identified that the management of Apple has enabled to position effective financial
rewards ad befits for its employees. However, the employee lacks motivation in terms of
recognition, emotional support and appreciation in the workplace, which calls for a high turnover
rate as well. Information gathered from relevant sources underscores that Apple seems to b the
most unproductive place to work in the global context (Management, 2019). The approach of the
management towards its expatriates seems to be arrogant and supercilious. Apple only pushes its
resources and expatriates to a certain limit without helping them with any necessary
requirements. Hence, as per Guerci et al. (2016), Apple can be just a short term job solution and
therefore, employees seek a switchover after spending a certain tenure in the organization. On
the other hand, Samsung is perfect for its employees, which effectively offers both financial and
non-financial rewards to keep its employees of every nation motivated. The work environments
of this organization are often regarded s a platform in which employees of every region are
allowed to display their competencies. It has been identified that Samsung has an operating a
three-layer training module involving the factors like core leadership and expertise programs to
increase employee abilities and to encourage foundation talent by offering effective and lucrative
training programs as per the self-assessment outcome (Samsung, 2019). Hence, it can be stated
that the expatriates of Samsung enjoy working in the organization and the positive HRM support
also influence the expatriates to align their career plans with the organizational objectives.
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4.0 Part C: Recommendations
Evaluating the above discussion, it has been observed that the employee turnover rate in Apple is
relatively greater than Samsung. The management of Samsung enabled to identify the internal
needs of its employees across the globe and based on which the HRM conducts are implemented
to ensure high employee retention and satisfaction rate. On the other hand, Apple takes its
employees and expatriates for granted and push them to invest their time and energies on
overtime works and several amendments. Although, Apple till date has managed to retain the tag
of the most innovative brand, however, changing market dynamics are transforming the mindset
of the customers (Mira et al. 2019). Hence, there is a high probability for the potential leads of
Apple to try the innovation lines of its competitors. Thus, employee support would be relatively
required to sustain the pressure of the global market. According to Guerci et al. (2016), Apple
requires establishing a culture where every resource can display individual district talents and
personalities in a free and creative manner. The HRM department also needs to introduce some
in-house club activities and mental fitness program that can act as an employee stress buster.
Moreover, the expatriates shall also be offered with a consistent training program that can help
them to get over the fear of uncertainties or unknown market. The training strategies shall be
designed so that every expatriate can feel free to communicate their queries and they can be
supported with a\precise guided actions to understand the policies of the new foreign market.
Moreover, the management also needs to boost team motivation and unity rather than enhancing
the competition amongst team members (Mira et al. 2019). The members shall be encouraged to
be supportive of one another by cutting down the un-useful competitive spirit. This can
efficiently help the HRM department of Apple to develop a positive working culture, where the
employee would feel free to execute their talents and creative inputs to bring a productive
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outcome. Hence, employee satisfaction would also help the management of Apple to reduce the
employee switch over tendency and experience greater retention figure as well.
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5.0 Conclusion
Based on the discussion and analysis performed in the preceding sections of the report, it may be
concluded that a well-designed IHRM strategies supported by the strong leadership with control
and feedback mechanism in place will help the management to achieve the corporate goal of
sustainability in the foreign operations in the long-run in most time and cost efficient manner.
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