Cotton On Group's International HRM Strategies: A Case Study

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International Human Resource Management
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Corporate Strategy
Cotton On Group is a fashion company of Australia and operates its business in
approximately 12 other countries. Its headquarters is in Geelong, Australia. The founder
of Cotton On was Nigel Austin and was founded in 1991. The assignment consists of
the strategies used by the Cotton On Group in relation to its employees. It will also
include the international aspects of its HR. This will include the key elements or
components used by HR.
Human resource management is an important tactic used by companies to increase its
workforce by hiring talented and skilled employees in its business so that the company
can achieve its goals and increase its productivity (Stoian, et. al., 2017). Human
resource is a practice used by companies so as to make various policies and
procedures in its business for its proper business operations and increase goodwill
(Vivares-Vergara, et. al., 2016).
Corporate strategy is the strategy used by the companies to take strategic decisions by
analyzing the businesses of other firms and determining how Cotton On Group can
create value for its business. For developing the corporate strategy, the company shall
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focus on how the other business of Cotton On fit together, how the business impacts its
other firms, how the Cotton On is being structured so as to optimize processes, human
capital and governance. The corporate strategy consists of various components such as
organizational design, allocation of resources, strategic tradeoffs, and portfolio
management. In order to retain and increase the number of employees in the company,
Cotton On should make strategies like providing recognition to the employees, providing
a healthy and secure working environment, decisive impact, etc (Lawrie, et. al., 2016).
Employees of the Cotton On can be retained by providing them a healthy and safe
environment so that they feel satisfied working in the company. This can result in a
higher retention ratio. The HR of the company will provide recognition and reward
employees for their good work. This motivates employees to work hard and influences
other employees as well to contribute effectively in the company so that company
attains higher profit. The strategies of the company as formed by the HR are not the
only reason for attaining success. The capability of the Cotton On’s managerial
leadership also plays a vital role in contributing to the success or failure of the company.
Making strategies though is an important factor for the company so as to achieve higher
revenues.
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The Cotton On is a fashion company and is operating its business internationally as
well. The international aspect of HR of the Cotton On consists of numerous factors like
providing training and development program to the employees, building of teams so that
they work together and accomplish goals and objectives of the company,
encouragement of global collaboration, train the employees to work with the managers.
Human Resource management is the practice of operating the business of the company
in a manner that the policies, methods, and procedures of the company changes
according to the changing environment. It refers to the effective working of human
resource especially in the companies which operates its business internationally as well
so that it creates a cultural awareness and capability to adapt the changes rapidly and
smoothly in the company. The roles and responsibilities of human resource mainly
include recruitment of talented employees, conducting interview according to the job
requirements, hiring of the skilled and knowledgeable employees, providing training and
development program to the hired employees and to the existing employees who
require training, etc. so that the businesses can accomplish their set goals. The human
resource of the company designs policies and procedures to provide the employees a
fair, productive and safe working environment. In order to manage the business in a
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foreign country, the employees are required to be inspired and motivated to work in
collaboration, even though the employees do not live in the same location.
Providing training to the employees in a foreign country is important for accomplishing
the tasks of the job. It is the responsibility of human resource management of
maintaining a productive environment by providing the employees training and ensuring
that employees have required knowledge and skills for the specific job. The human
resource makes proper arrangements to conduct the training to enable the employees
to effectively and efficiently perform their functions. The human resource also ensures
that the Cotton on follows all the rules and regulations as formed by the government of
the foreign country. For instance, the Cotton shall be sure that the employees in the
local and foreign country follow the standards for their safe working.
Creation of global collaboration of organization that helps on the creation of
personnel of both the companies who collaborate to work together. Companies these
days focus on expanding its businesses internationally and human resource
management manages all the firms all over the world to maintain the goodwill of the
company in all the countries. The company does not know much about the internal day
to day operations of the business, they focus mainly on ensuring that the person works
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as a team in collaboration. The company focuses on competitive advantage, economic
survival, and profitability during the times of financial crisis. In the past, the role of
human resource was only to recruit, hire employees, manage incentives and benefits,
and handling of the disciplinary actions, but now, human resource management is a
wider process as they deal with reduction in the employee attrition, controlling the cost
of health care, and they also participates in the community.
It is the responsibility of the human resource managers to work with managers so that
they can hire specialized employees. Earlier, the responsibilities of human resource
management are to recruit, hire personnel, and administer the tasks of the companies.
The companies these days are becoming more global and the human resource
managers work as the partners of the company for the purpose of interviewing and
hiring of new employees in the workplace. The Cotton On Group Company requires
skilled, specialized, and talented employees and for this the human resource managers
work in collaboration with the production line managers.
Human resource managers of the Cotton On Group support business at international
level and influences employees to work as a team so that they contribute to achieving
the goals of the company. The human resource managers of the Cotton On Group
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Company aim to build stronger teams by promoting the cultural diversity acceptance,
conducting the workshops on team building, and motivating and influencing employees
to attain the strategic objectives and goals. By analyzing that in some of the countries,
recognition to the individuals plays a large and vital role, the human resource managers
create awareness in relation to the effective functioning of the teams across the world in
order to maintain the profitability of the company.
Human resource is treated as an important part of the organization. It consists of
various functions such as staffing, managing, organizing, controlling, and directing. The
human resource management plans with the support of the top executives of the
company about the operations of the business as to how the business can be improved,
how can the productivity of the employees be increased, what are the strategies
company can adapt to raise its profits. The HR manager makes all the policies and
strategies in relation to the necessary topics which are vital for achieving the goals of
the company and to increase the goodwill of the Cotton On Group. The HR of Cotton on
Group is planning to expand its business in the foreign market and for that hires the
skilled and talented employees to operate the business there. It is the responsibility of
the HR manager to recruit the employees for the performance of the work in the
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international market. HR professional manages all the operations of the Cotton On
Group in the local and foreign market for achieving better results. It organizes the
training programs for the newly hired employees and for the existing employees who
need training so that the employees work hard, effectively and efficiently and
contributes in the accomplishment of the goals. The HR manager controls all the
functions of the company in order to ensure that the company performs its functions
properly. It is the duty of the HR manager to direct the employees to move on the right
path and attain the goals of the company. The HR professional is a wider area as HRs
of the company not only just recruits new employees and provides them training but
also plays a vital role in forming the policies, procedures, and strategies in the company
for its proper functioning and follows the regulations of the company as formed by the
government (Mendy, 2018).
Human resource management focuses on all the core areas of management like
marketing management, financial management, production operation management, and
logistics management. This refers that the HR functions are required in all the
departments of the company (Baxter, et. al., 2016). It is a constant process and requires
the efforts of HR on a continuous basis and accomplishes the goals and objectives of
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the company smoothly. It is the duty of the HR to establish a corporate strategy in the
organization and focuses on the implementation of the HR strategy. The role of HR is
to recruit and select new employees according to the job profile, provides the training
and development, provide a safe and secure working environment to the employees,
take care that employees are being given proper benefits and compensation. It is the
responsibility of the HR to maintain the relationship with its employees in order to
reduce the attrition rate and retain employees (Phillips, et. al., 2017). The HR shall
follow all the legal compliances and provide the employees with all the legal rights. Non-
compliances by the HR can result in unfair practices in the employment, dissatisfaction
in the working environment, and creates an unsafe environment which results in
reduced profitability and low productivity of the company (Vassal, et. al., 2016).
The key elements of HR strategy of Cotton On Group includes alignment of the
human resource and organizational requirements, development of effective strategies of
HR, evaluation of the performance of the organization as a whole, effective
development of the organizational design and structure, development of the strategy,
reward strategy, to set the culture in the organization, and strategic way and method of
resourcing.
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Alignment of the human resource and organizational requirements means that the
business strategies are the main focus of the HR policy and so as to merge the needs
and requirements of human resource and the organization a question comes up, the
internal capabilities of the company will be able to accomplish the goals of the
organization. The HR of the company is being criticized for not achieving the goals and
objectives of the company. The development of the effective strategies of HR means
that the HR plays a vital role of consultant and in various situations and conditions they
indulge in the board meetings of the company. The HR strategy is used to monitor the
teamwork and progress which helps the Cotton On Company in abiding of the laws. The
evaluation of the performance of the organization helps in determining the overall
performance of the HR. The HR professional has to record the employees’ progress. He
has to manage and record the timing, attendance, working hours, and job profile of the
employees. It is the duty of the HR manager to evaluate the performance of the entire
organization by recording and managing the performance of the employees (Jamali, et.
al., 2015). The development of organizational design and structure is the HR
strategy in order to structure and design the organization effectively which helps in the
systematic formatting of the company. The proper structure of the company aids in
higher profitability of the company. Development of the strategy works out in three
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forms, namely individual, team, and group. Individuals can be developed by providing
them with proper training. Reward strategy also called a strategy of providing
compensation and benefits. It is the duty of the HR professional to decide the incentive,
increment, and compensation. The setting of the culture in the organization helps in
developing the prestige and goodwill of the Cotton On Group’s atmosphere,
environment, and setting of the climate right. Strategic method and way of
resourcing help in identifying the components related to the company. It is the
procedure and function of the selection of the right people, attracting them by providing
higher wages and incentives in order to retain them, and assessing them. The HR of
Cotton On Group needs to hire qualified and experienced employees so that they can
help the company in achieving the targeted goals and satisfies the customers by
providing them high-quality products (Bondarouk, et. al., 2016).
In the international market, the HR of the Cotton On Group will hire an experienced and
trained employee who contribute in the operations of the company and attains higher
profits which result in higher foreign currency and helps in the developed economy of
the country. The HR of the company makes policies and procedures to increase sales in
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the foreign market. Proper planning of HR helps in generating higher revenues and
increased profitability of the company.
The corporate strategy helps in developing the goals and objectives of the organization
and aid in increasing higher profits in foreign currency. It helps in increasing the goodwill
of the Cotton On Group Company. It is the duty of the HR of the company to make sure
that the company produces higher quality goods and delivers it through the proper
delivery channels. The HR makes policies and practices in the company for the better
performance by the employees which result in increased profitability of the employees.
It is the role and responsibility of the HR to take care of the recognition of the
employees and provide them with rewards for their work. The HR manager makes
strategies for the employees which helps them in increasing their efficiency. The HR of
the company plays an important role in the development of the company by providing
employees with higher incentives and keeping them satisfied (Modak, et. al., 2017).
It is concluded that HR is an important tool in the company who conducts all the
activities in the company for the achievement of better organizational goals. The HR of
Cotton On Group is making policies for expanding its business in the international
market and conducting research for analyzing the laws of the foreign country.
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