International Human Resource Management: Apple and Samsung

This report outlines a brief discussion on IHRM for two popular and significant organizations, Apple and Samsung. Few distinctive theories and models for IHRM will be described in the report with proper analysis of the distinctive practices of the two above mentioned companies.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
International Human Resource Management: Apple and Samsung
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion..............................................................................................................................2
2.1 Part A: Theories and Models on International HR Practices...........................................2
2.2 Part B: Analyses of the International HR Practice of Apple and Samsung.....................5
2.3 Managerial Implications for Apple Inc. with Poor International HR Practice................6
3. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8
Appendices.................................................................................................................................9
Appendix A............................................................................................................................9
Appendix B............................................................................................................................9

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1. Introduction
International human resource management can be referred to as a set of few actions
that aim HRM at the specific international state (Noe et al. 2017). This type of management
eventually strives in fulfilling each and every type of organizational objective as well as
attaining competitive advantages over the various competitors at international or national
levels. The various functionalities of this HRM include recruitment, better selection,
performance appraisals and training and development both at international level and even
extra exercises like management of global skills and even management of expatriates (Cascio
2015). The following report outlines a brief discussion on IHRM for two popular and
significant organizations, Apple and Samsung. Few distinctive theories and models for IHRM
will be described in the report with proper analysis of the distinctive practices of the two
above mentioned companies. Moreover, the managerial implications for the company with
poor IHRM practices would also be demonstrated here with details.
2. Discussion
2.1 Part A: Theories and Models on International HR Practices
i) Theories and Models: The expatriates are those individuals, who live outside their
native countries. The organizational members, doing business in a globalized work place are
also termed as expatriate individuals. It eventually refers to the skilled workers and
professionals, who are either sent abroad by their employers like universities, governments or
even organizations (Brewster et al. 2016). The right of expatriation determines about the
respective indispensable rights for each and every individual. The entire procedure of
globalization can be referred to be as the proper integration of markets that have incremented
foreign direct investments by multinational companies as well as cross-border integrations of
various services and production. The specific proliferation of interests within both

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comparative HRM and international HRM strategies directly from the theory of strategic
management as well as globalization (Bratton and Gold 2017). It is required to involve
international human resource management in this process of including expatriates in the
business.
The various theories and models eventually help in describing the importance of
expatriate in the most effective method. The most significant theories of IHRM include
strategic contingency theory, agency theory, SDT and theory X and theory Y. According to
strategic contingency theory, it mainly emphasizes on the tasks, which require to be done for
problems to be resolved, hence focusing on the personality of expatriate. Since, an expatriate
has to align with the various strategies of that particular organization and then provide better
performances (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014). The cultural sensitivity helps in developing
the most positive emotion towards appreciation and understanding cultural differences and
promoting effective behaviours for intercultural communications.
Agency theory, on the other hand, provides a description on managers being agents
and expatriates as principals. This theory argues about the fact that the respective value of a
firm could not be maximized, when correct incentives or proper monitoring is not effective
for restraining managers for maximization of advantages. The expatriates have to consider
various factors to ensure that organization is getting competitive advantages globally.
Self-determination theory or SDT is one of the popular theory of motivation that
states about human personality, which concerns about inherent growth tendencies of the
expatriates as well as innate psychological requirements. These expatriates would have to
gain motivation for working abroad without any type of external interference or influence.
This is concerned about the motivation that expatriates get to remain self determined, which
is extremely vital for the organization.

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Theory X and theory Y are two theories of employee motivation. The individuals,
falling under theory X, dislike their work and try to avoid responsibilities. They require to be
supervised continuously (Shenkar, Luo and Chi 2014). On the other hand, theory Y
employees are extremely happy about their work and are involved in the process of decision
making as well as self-motivated. The expatriates have to follow theory Y in their
professional life for remaining self-motivate and they would have to seek and accept
responsibilities majorly.
It is needed to make the expatriates extremely motivated towards work, so that they
do not face any type of issue related to lack of motivation, under any circumstance (Jackson,
Schuler and Jiang 2014). The models include recruitment as well as selection, diversity or
even equal employment opportunity, employment advantages and compensations, employee
recognition and many more. These above mentioned theories and models ensure that the
various expatriates are well motivated towards work and every aspect is being fulfilled on a
priority basis.
ii) Factors of International HR Practices: There are few distinctive factors that are
needed to be taken into consideration, having major impacts on expatriates. These factors
mainly include economic factors, legal factors, changing demands of employees and human
resources in the specific country (Sparrow, Brewster and Chung 2016). Moreover, the labour
markets are also highly affected in this process.
iii) Impacts of International HR Practice: The major impact of this international HR
practice on the expatriates can be referred to as the capitalization of positive effects of human
resource management after helping the various employees to improvise. The organizations
could provide significant resources to these expatriates for ensuring that they are getting
better training as well as a better chance to use or share their knowledge for the betterment of

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the business. Moreover, due to such positive behaviour, it becomes quite easier to develop the
employees and encouraging in contributing to the organizational assets (Cavusgil et al. 2014).
A flexible workplace is being built and the workers are motivated to the highest possible
level.
2.2 Part B: Analyses of the International HR Practice of Apple and Samsung
i) Success Rates of Apple and Samsung: Apple is one of the most transformative and
successful organizations in the world and the main reason for their success is that they
believe in dropping costly projects and then streamlining the overall organizational focus. As
per statistical analysis, Apple Inc. has sold about 1.5 billion iPhones 0in the duration of 2007
and 2018 in each and every part of the world, hence making them one of the most significant
and noteworthy organizations.
Samsung, on the other hand, is doing business for a much longer period of time than
Apple Inc. and has launched several innovative products and services to the customers (See
Appendix B). The success rate of Samsung has always been on the higher side and they
ensure that more diversity and innovation is present in their products to maintain
competiveness.
ii) International HR Practice Used by Apple Inc. and Samsung: Both Apple and
Samsung have been doing businesses in the most effective manner after consideration of each
and every aspect of HR practice. Since, they have been doing businesses in all over the
world, it has become mandatory to involve international HR practices for their employees
(Wilton 2016). The major international HR practices used by Apple include, creation of
potential network, compliance to work, employee incentives and transparency in the work.
On the other hand, the international HR practices used by the organization of Samsung
mainly include people being valued, investment in people, and concept of human tech thesis

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and employee development. Due to these distinctive international HR practices, Samsung has
been able to do business in the most efficient manner (Syed and Ozbilgin 2015).
iii) Comparison of International HR Practices used by Apple Inc. and Samsung:
The IHR practices of Apple, such as creation of potential network and compliance to work
refer to the fact that they are focusing more on the legal and compliance factors and ensuring
that laws are being maintained in the best possible manner (Shenkar, Luo and Chi 2014). As a
result, in spite of doing businesses in all over the world, they have been considered as the
most significant and effective organizations.
The international human resource practices of Samsung include people being valued
and employee development. It refers to the fact that they have been focusing on their
employee growth and development on top priority and are trying to motivate them in every
possible manner. Apart from the compliance and legal factors, unlike Apple Inc., Samsung is
considering their employee development so that it becomes much easier for them to obtain all
distinctive business strategies in the most efficient method (See Appendix A).
iv) Effects of IHR Practices on Expatriates in Apple and Samsung: The above
mentioned IHR practices on various expatriates in both Apple Inc. and Samsung have
significant effects (Nankervis et al. 2016). These IHR practices ensure that the business is
expanding in respect to the respective business operations. The organizations require to
consider a diversified range of practical adjustments for hiring, training, retaining and even
supporting the entire workforce, which is being spread throughout the world. Technological
developments provide high scope for eradication of the cultural differences. The expatriates
in Apple and Samsung have been highly developed and they get the core capability for
moving into new markets and would be able to fill subsequent needs with the various skilled
workers (Kavanagh and Johnson 2017).

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2.3 Managerial Implications for Apple Inc. with Poor International HR Practice
The organization of Apple Inc. is not focusing on their employee development and is
only focused on compliance and legal factors. They have to focus on employee development
so that they are able to resolve the issues in the most efficient manner. The most significant
recommendations for Apple Inc. to improve their international HR practices include putting
high effort on the recruitment and selection practice. This could be done easily after every
HR practice is being made for the betterment of expatriates. It is extremely important and
significant for them to improve their policies and procedures of recruitment and selection. It
would ensure that they would already have the knowledge of compliance and legal factors,
hence allowing management of Apple to focus on employee development. The insufficient
attention as well as budget are being devoted to better assessment, training as well as
development of the recruited expatriates. Moreover, the management of Apple Inc. should
consider the theories of motivation such as SDT and theory x and theory Y for understanding
the needs of their expatriate and how to motivate them. Hence, few factors of expatriates’ job
performances, such as adjustment, job performance, self-efficacy, cultural sensitivity,
previous international experiences and social network are being analysed by Apple. This
particular recommendation would provide few of the most distinctive advantages and would
resolve issues related to the international HR practices.
3. Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that international HRM is responsible for resolving the
issues or complexities faced by the organizations, who are doing business globally. The most
significant and important functionalities of this IHRM are recruitment, hiring, compensation,
training and development. Apple and Samsung, both are two distinctive and important
electronics appliances organizations that are responsible for providing few of the distinctive
and noteworthy services and products to their customers. These two organizations have

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differences in relation to 8 IHRM practices. This report has focused on the impacts of such
practices over foreign assignment of expatriates. Proper theories and models are taken into
consideration and the two organizations are being analysed in a better manner with suitable
recommendations.

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References
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C., Vernon, G., Sparrow, P. and Houldsworth, E., 2016. International human
resource management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Cascio, W.F., 2015. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
Cavusgil, S.T., Knight, G., Riesenberger, J.R., Rammal, H.G. and Rose, E.L.,
2014. International business. Pearson Australia.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic
human resource management. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.1-56.
Kavanagh, M.J. and Johnson, R.D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics,
applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.
Nankervis, A.R., Baird, M., Coffey, J. and Shields, J., 2016. Human resource management:
strategy and practice. Cengage AU.
Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2017. Human resource
management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Shenkar, O., Luo, Y. and Chi, T., 2014. International business. Routledge.
Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016. Globalizing human resource management.
Routledge.
Syed, J. and Ozbilgin, M. eds., 2015. Managing diversity and inclusion: An international
perspective. Sage.
Wilton, N., 2016. An introduction to human resource management. Sage.

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Appendices
Appendix A
International HR Practices of Apple
Appendix B
International HR Practices of Samsung

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