International Management Report: Analyzing ASOS plc's India Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of ASOS plc's international management strategies, particularly focusing on its expansion into the Indian market. It explores the crucial role of the HR director in planning and staffing, considering cultural nuances and labor laws. The report delves in...Read More

International
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Functions of the HR director for planning and staffing new project internationally.............1
Role of culture in international business................................................................................2
Developing knowledge of organisational and nation culture using Hofstede model.............3
Challenges and opportunity to manage diverse global workforce.........................................4
Understanding global virtual team and team working...........................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
References:.......................................................................................................................................7
Books and Journals.................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
MNCs are now diversifying and operating their businesses all over the globe. With the increase
in liberalisation in countries for their economic environment, the need of international
management among the business and professional has been increasing automatically.
International management is the management practice to handle the business operations that are
spreader in various countries apart from parent country (Helms, 2021). Basically it is the
management of the diversify business operations and the business environment with the different
language, work culture, political and social policies and economic environment. The present
report is on "ASOS plc" a multinational online shopping retail company based in UK and also
has office in USA and Europe. The report will outline the opening of the new office of company
in New Delhi, India. For which report will understand the role of culture in international business
through Hofstede model, major opportunities and challenges of managing the diverse global
workforce. The report will also outline the factors that contribute the globalised economy the
creating the awareness of ethical and account international policies.
MAIN BODY
Functions of the HR director for planning and staffing new project internationally
In the modern business environment employees are one of the important factors that lead to the
management and in order to bring value and achieve the goals there is the highest involvement of
the employees in this dynamic international business environment (Liu and et. al., 2020). A HR
director plays an important role by performing some elementary functions that help in achieving
goals. The function of HR director of ASOS plc in new project development in New Delhi, India
is discussed below:
Planning: The role of HR director of ASOS plc in the international business planning is a
imperative aspect that is required to be performed in order to expand the business globally. The
HR director will strategize the various strategies in planning the proper road map to conduct
international business in the new country.
Organising: Organising the various tasks according to the new international business planning
vital function that HR manager of ASOS plc performs, as every country has a different cultural
environment that must be adopted.
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Staffing and recruiting: One of the most important functions of the HR director of the ASOS
PLC is to recruiting and hiring the best talented staff. It is the role of the HR director to also
follow all the labour laws of the India that are necessary for creating the skilled team of work
force.
Directing: The cultural difference between the native country and the country in which business
will internationally expand make the above functions difficult for the HR director of ASOS plc.
Therefore it is the responsibility of the HR manager to create diversified work culture by linking
the employee’s culture with the organisations work culture that gives a proper direction towards
hard work and achievement of goals (Miković and et. al., 2020).
Controlling: Geographic dissimilarity, diversified legal laws and policies, and language barrier
make the controlling process very complicated too. An HR Director of ASOS plc with his skill
and knowledge can adopt the best strategy for controlling the international business. Controlling
process is indeed the challenging job for an international business manager.
Role of culture in international business
The global competition in the business environment has pushed various business houses to
transform their management strategies in order to expand their business operations globally.
With the changing business environment the behaviour of target and the business values are also
changing rapidly. In conducting the international business the most important factor that has
major role is the culture because each country or a nation has a different culture. Culture has
different meaning for everyone; basically it is the umbrella term which includes social behaviour
and attitude of the human group. In the business world to conduct an international business
understanding the role and benefits of culture difference is essential (Dang and Zhao, 2020). In
the international business culture includes following elements and each has their significant role
in developing a culture opportunity to the ASOS plc. The major elements of culture for the
business world of the language, religion, value, customs and the history each of them perform a
very important role in international business.
For ASOS plc Language is the key factor in the culture especially in India with national
language Hindi and second language English there are many other languages among the citizens
as per their geographical areas. Therefore the company must have knowledge about Indian
languages for hiring the workforce. The Indian culture is full of variety in terms of geographical
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locations, religious, languages, food and also in terms of how the people dress. There are various
types of festivals and celebrations in the Indian culture which not only brings the joy but also
have a different cultural dresses and lifestyle that ASOS plc should gain the knowledge about to
attain the benefits of diversified culture of India. The different religion in the India has a
imperative role in the international business as it provides the company like ASOS plc a wider
opportunity to diversify its clothing and footwear segment according the religion dresses choices
of the people. India has the laws that supports different religion of the nation therefore it is very
important for the resource PLC to have the knowledge about the various cultural policies of India
in order to conduct a international business smoothly and profitably.
Developing knowledge of organisational and nation culture using Hofstede model
The Hofstede Cultural Dimension Theory
To learn about the organisational and the nation's culture Hofstede cultural dimension theory is
the suitable method as it the easiest way to compare and contrast the culture of two different
nations. The various dimensions in context of ASOS plc is discussed below:
Power distance index
Power distance index is considered to explain the inequality and the power that is tolerated
within an organisation (Gilboa and Mitchell, 2020). In India's organisational culture this is a low
power distance index as it supports and encourage decision making responsibility pass it
participated style of management a hierarchical organisation structure and a place where the
power is distributed among the different employees.
Individualism vs. collectivism
Individualism indicates that in the society where the people think more about attending their
personal goals while collectivism means is society where the group of people give more
importance to the goals and the well being of the society and they are the people around them.
For ASOS plc in India the weight age of collectivism is majorly high among the people as the
Indian culture defines protecting and caring about others before themselves.
Uncertainty avoidance index
It defines the extent to which the risk, ambiguity and the uncertainty are to be tolerated. The high
uncertainty avoidance index refers to the lower tolerance for their risk and uncertainty this is
done by implementing the strict rules and regulations according to the nation laws and
legislations as per the international business rules.
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Masculinity vs. femininity
This is the comparison between the male and female gender which is also referred as tough vs.
tender. In India there are laws towards gender equality and sexuality (Argyris, Wang and
Muqaddam, 2020). Masculinity refers to the characteristics like wealth building, assertive,
concentrated femininity refers to the characteristics like soft, nurturing, modest and concern for
the quality of life.
Long term orientation vs. short term orientation
The dimension of the Hofstede model refers to the extent to which the society or its culture
views the time period or the time horizon. The long-term orientation refers to the focus over the
future growth and development and avoids the short term success in order to achieve the long-
term success. Whereas short-term orientation the first to the focus over the upcoming near future
which pays attention towards short-term gratifications in order to gain the short-term joy and
happiness.
Challenges and opportunity to manage diverse global workforce
In the international business management managing the diverse global workforce is also an
important task but it comes with the set of unique challenges for the HR professionals that are
required to be mitigated by focusing over the heterogeneous environment which promotes open
culture and open communication (Rojo and et. al., 2020). Some of the challenges faced by
ASOS plc are:
Challenges Cross culture management challenge: There is a major gap between the cultures of the
various countries which results in the cultural barrier during the global business operations
and that creates the biggest challenge for the HR director of ASOS plc while managing the
diverse global workforce. Due to the difference in culture of the various employees it
becomes very complicated under tough task for the HR manager to respect and value to each
and every culture of the employee and thereby managing the environment of the
organisation which gives equal respect to every culture. Therefore, to mitigate the challenge
the HR manager requires the in-depth understanding about the various diverse cultures that
exist in the India.
 Leadership challenge: Another challenge when managing the global diverse workforce is
the leadership issues it is very important for the HR director of ASOS PLC to have the
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efficient leadership skills because they are required to manage the workforce that have a
different religion, language, believes, habits and norms. Lack of leadership style give origin
to the conflicts in the organisation (Talalova and Werthschulte, 2020). Therefore to become
a good leader this is very important to have a keen knowledge of all the leadership style and
analyse the best approach in managing global diverse workforce.
Along with the Challenges managing the diverse global workforce provides some opportunities
and benefits to the organisation which can foster the profitability and the revenue of the
organisation there by creating the global reputation in the market. Some opportunity for ASOS
plc is discussed below:
Opportunities
 Foster innovation: When organisation have a different culture, experienced and skilled
workforce then it is likely to bring fresh, creative and new ideas thereby rooting the stem of
innovation in the organisation. This is a big opportunity for the ASOS plc the managing the
diverse global workforce to create a new innovative product range that meets the cultural
demands of different customer segments of India. Managing the diverse global workforce
with the opportunity to create the spark of creativity and innovation in the organisation that
leads to the better performance and faster learning (Griffin, 2020).
 Global level competition: Today's business environment has totally become global where
many multinational companies hire the employees from different countries in order to
acquire the best talent from worldwide. This give the opportunity to the ASOS plc to create
the global level competition by representing their diversified talented work force who
understands the different cultures, laws and the policies of their native countries in order to
create a healthy and ethical global competition.
Understanding global virtual team and team working
Global virtual team and team working
Global virtual team is referred as the group of people that data connected with each other through
the online communication medium and are interdependent on each other for the work from two
different cultured countries. The global virtual team is supported with the technology in order to
communicate this is mainly done through face-to-face meeting via online video calls (Mitchell
and Walker, 2020). Global virtual teams are the game changer in the international business
management as the efficient global virtual team can increase the productivity thereby keeping
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out the potential benefits why working in the culturally diverse workplace. The global virtual
team helps the organisation in hiring the best talent not only from the native city but also cross
border by searching out blue believe what its right for their organisation. The global virtual team
to be effective and efficient the team working skills are the major element that plays a vital role
in maximizing the performance and effectiveness of the global virtual team. Hence for the
international management and to recruit the best skilled workforce from different locations of the
world globally by the HR director of ASOS plc the global virtual team is best suitable method to
communicate from India to UK.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that it has become very important for multinational
companies operating in more than one country to implement international management practice
in their organisation. It is also observed that international management is indeed a tough job.
Culture barrier is the challenge for the international business. Therefore in the international
management the most important aspect to understand is culture of the nation in which
organisation wants to operate for which Hofstede culture model is the best tool. Managing the
diverse global workforce efficiently provides the opportunity to achieve the goals of the
organisation. Hence, virtual global team and team working is also the part of the managing the
international business.
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References:
Books and Journals
Argyris, Y.A., Wang, Y. and Muqaddam, A., 2020. Role of Culture in Engaging Consumers in
Organizational Social media Posts. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic
Commerce. 30(4). pp.297-322.
Dang, L. and Zhao, J., 2020. Cultural risk and management strategy for Chinese enterprises'
overseas investment. China Economic Review. 61. p.101433.
Gilboa, S. and Mitchell, V., 2020. The role of culture and purchasing power parity in shaping
mall-shoppers’ profiles. Journal of retailing and consumer services. 52. p.101951.
Griffin, T., 2020. Workforce-Ready: Challenges and Opportunities for VET.'No Frills'
Discussion Paper. National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).
Helms, M.M., 2021. Encyclopedia of management. Thomson.
Liu, Y and et. al., 2020. Talent management and the HR function in cross-cultural mergers and
acquisitions: The role and impact of bi-cultural identity. Human Resource Management
Review, p.100744.
Miković, R and et. al., 2020. The integration of social capital and knowledge management–The
key challenge for international development and cooperation projects of nonprofit
organizations. International Journal of Project Management. 38(8). pp.515-533.
Mitchell, E. and Walker, R., 2020. Global ageing: successes, challenges and
opportunities. British Journal of Hospital Medicine. 81(2). pp.1-9.
Rojo, J and et. al., 2020. Hofstede's cultural dimensions as the explanatory framework for
performance issues during clinical placement: A mixed methods study. Nurse Education
Today. 94. p.104581.
Talalova, L. and Werthschulte, D.K., 2020. ADAPTING TWO CULTURES (A GLANCE
THROUGH THE HOFSTEDE'S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS MODEL).
In FUNCTIONAL ASPECTS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION.
TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING ISSUES (pp. 12-18).
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