Table of Content

1. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------- P.3

2. Literature Review ------------------------------------------------------- P.4-5

3. Company Background------------------------------------------- P.6

4. Comparison of C&B Strategies ------------------------------------- P.7-8

5. Cultural Background -------------------------------------------------- P.9-12

6. Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------------- P.13

7. References --------------------------------------------------------------- P.14

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1. Introduction

The comparison of human resource practices of Colgate-Palmolive Company in
U.S. and Marks and Spencer (M&S) in Hong Kong the effectiveness of their
HRM strategies.

‘Human Resource Management (HRM) as a distinctive approach to employment management who seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques.’
[Storey, J. (1995) Human Resource Management: A Critical Text. London:
Routledge]

2. Literature Review

2.1 Models of International Human Resource Management

2.1 a “Human resource management issues, functions, policies and practices that result from the strategic activities of multinational enterprises and that impact the international concerns and goals of those enterprises.”

[Schuler, Dowling and De Cieri (1993): integrative framework of international
HRM]

2.1b “The set of distinct a activities, functions and processes that are directed at attracting, developing and maintaining and MNC’s human resources. It is thus the aggregate of the various HRM systems used to manage people in the MNC, both at home and overseas.” [Taylor, Beechler and Napier, 1996: 960]

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Phase 1 | Domestic | Focus of home market & Export | Phase 2 | International | Focus of Local responsiveness | Phase 3 | Multinational | Focus on global strategy, lose cost and pricecompetition | Phase 4 | Global | Focus on both local responsiveness & globalintegration |
2.1c Adler and Ghadar’s based on organizational change perspective 4 phases of internationalization: Table 1: 4 phases of Adler and Ghadar
[Beardwell, J &Claydon,T. 2010 HRM a contemporary approach, 6th edn.
Pearson Education Ltd. P.660]

2.1d Perlmutter (1969) defined three organizational types based on senior management’s cognitions or mindsets: the ethnocentric, polycentric and geocentric organization. Later he defined a fourth mindset namely, the regiocentric. [Beardwell, J &Claydon,T. 2010 HRM a contemporary approach, 6th edn.
Pearson Education Ltd. P.646]

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C&B Offers | Direct | Indirect | Competitive salary and vacation |  | | Bonuses and Recognition Awards |  | | Flexible spending accounts | |  | Childcare Centre | |  | Emergency in-home care for dependentchildren and adults | |  | Tuition Assistance | |  |

2.2 Direct Financial Compensation and Indirect Financial Compensation

Direct financial compensation including wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions provided at regular and consistent intervals. Besides that, the salaries and wages equitable and to be close to market adjustments or increase in cost of living, fair commissions or performance bonuses.

Indirect financial compensation including life, supplementary health, vision, dental, etc., Indirect financial compensation can also include Social Security benefits, retirement plans, employee insurance workers compensations, and can also include paid absence like vacations, sick leaves, holiday leaves, educational leave. Indirect financial compensation is the extent to which money is a motivator to improved performance remains a bit of an unresolved debate.

The following table has shown the direct/indirect financial compensation offers:

EXAMPLE:

Table 2: Comparison of Direct and Indirect Financial Compensation

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3. Company Background

3.1 Company Background of Colgate-Palmolive Company in U.S.
The Colgate-Palmolive Company is the one of famous brand in oral care including toothpaste, toothbrush and teeth white products. It is providing more than 30 different kinds of oral care products around the world. All of the toothpastes under the Colgate brand are FDA-approved (Food & Drug
Administration) and recommended by the American Dental Association.

3.2 Company Background of Marks and Spencer (M&S) in Hong Kong
M&S is a retailer and the headquartered in London was founded in 1884 by Michael Marksand Thomas Spencer in Leeds. It specializes in selling of clothing, home products and luxury food products. The first store in Hong
Kong was established in 1988.

As the below two companies also are retailer when they are established in different country their HR practices will follow which place they are located. The Labor Law must meet the Government requirement. The following part will compare the U.S and H.K. C&B offers.

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C&B Offers | Colgate-PalmoliveCompanyin U.S. | Marks and Spencer(M&S)in Hong Kong | Competitive salary andvacation |  |  | Bonuses and RecognitionAwards |  |  | Stock Ownership |  | --- | Staff Discount | --- | Staff sale 20% discount | Well Being | Medical | Include spouse and children | Staff only | Dental |  |  | Life Insurance | Include spouse and children | Staff only | Travel accident insurance |  | --- | Pet Insurance |  | --- | Flexible spending accounts |  | --- | Childcare Centre |  | --- | Emergency in-home carefor dependent children andadults |  | --- | Tuition Assistance |  | --- | Personal Service (health &wellness, legal andfinancial) |  | --- | Counseling Services |  | --- | Relocation Assistance |  | --- |

4. Comparison of two companies Compensation & Benefits (C&B) Strategies

Table 3: Comparison of C&B Strategies
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4.1 Compare of C&B Strategy

According to table 1, it is reflected that Colgate-Palmolive Company in U.S. providing are fully support to the employee in the indirect financial compensation. Such as insurance and the medical care are covering their spouse, children even the pet. The company also focuses on the employee personal/live problem, we can see that the Colgate-Palmolive Company have push more resources to care the employee. For example: the counseling services and personal relocation assistance.

The C&B offer in Marks & Spencer in H.K. most likely for the staff only. The benefits are not covering their family but it is enough to retain and motivate employee. It seems that U.S. Company C&B offer better than H.K. but we should know that in U.S., if we need to go to the supermarket we need to drive a car and we may buy the foods for 2 weeks. In H.K., we can go to the supermarket on foot and we can buy the food for 1 day. It means the geography problems, so U.S.
Company provide the emergency in-home care for dependent children and adults. 8/14

5. Cultural Background of Colgate-Palmolive Company in U.S. and Marks and
Spencer (M&S) in Hong Kong.

5.1 The Cultural Background of Colgate-Palmolive Company in U.S.
Economic crisis in 1970s & early 1980s:
Economic growth slowed down, profits fell, inflation accelerated & foreign competition intensified. Also, US firms faced pressure to cut costs, improve quality & become more responsive to changes in market demand at the same time they are lack of political and legislative support for trade unions and collective bargaining.

The employers took advantage of the recession and the threat of job losses arising from foreign competition to demand concessions from trade unions & moved from unionised to non-unionised employment relations. Finally, changes led to resurgence of the U.S. economy & its current domination of the processes of political & economic globalisation in 1990s.

Growth in e-commerce, plus the shift from a manufacturing to a service & information economy changed the nature of employees that are in demand.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts: between 2002 & 2012, the most new jobs will be in service occupations, especially education & health services. The number of service jobs has important implications for HRM. Quality HRM can translate into customer satisfaction. To meet their human capital needs, cost is increasingly trying to attract, develop, & retain knowledge workers. The knowledge workers are employees whose main contribution to the organization is specialized knowledge.

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5.1a The Impact of National Culture
For the economic change, the oil shocks and slowing down of economic growth in the 70s. Mass unemployment in the 80s and 90s, it is seriously effects of radical technological change. For example: the emergence of new organizational paradigms such as lean production, HRM Internationalization of capital & investment and the rise of MNCs.

At the same time, emergence of new competitor nations challenging Western dominance Intensification of int’l competition in markets - Ideological challenges e.g the spread of free market & individualism.

To achieve competitiveness in domestic & int’l markets, U.S. has adopted different employment paradigms based on Welfare corporatism model.

At national level – Government policies encourage employers to create more new jobs & reduce unemployment. Make it easier for employers to make use of non-standard employment contracts and make it easier for employers to dismiss workers for reasons of redundancy to increase incentives to work and put more pressure on the unemployed to take work on offer or to retrain.

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| ‘Iron rice-bowl’ of China | Western HRM | Labour contracts |  life-timeemployment forurban workers cradle-to-gravewelfare coverage employee only |  no employmentguarantee state or privatewelfare cover to family |

5.2 The Cultural Background of Marks & Spencer in H.K.
H.K. acted as a ’half-way’ house between a modern Western business & the mainland China context - diminish as China continues to open & modernise, so that I have list the table 2 to show the well-being characterises between China and Western HRM practices.

Table 4: Well-Being characterises between China and Western HRM practices.
In the part 5.1 I have write more details in Western HRM. Now, the following part will more explain the Chinese culture in HK as HK is a modern western business & mainland China context.

As China culture of HRM lack of management skills because the historic
The Cultural Revolution severely disrupted education, training & development – management development & training were banned during the period. Also, central planning meant that managers had little autonomy e.g. all products were sold to the state at a predetermined price, so managers did not have the scope to develop entrepreneurial skills.
The most important things is they were unwilling to take risky decisions.

Problems of labor discipline & low motivation
The Chinese managers often unwilling to discipline staff prefer to avoid overt conflict & maintain harmony and the manager will not motivate the employee in the career development.

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| High | Low | Power /Distance |  Centralized companies. Large gaps in compensation,authority, and respect. |  Flatter organizations. Supervisors and employeesare considered almost asequals. | Individualism |  High valuation on people'stime and their need forfreedom. An enjoyment of challenges,and an expectation of rewardsfor hard work. Respect for privacy. |  Emphasis on building skillsand becoming masters ofsomething. Work for intrinsic rewards Harmony more importantthan honesty. | Masculinity |  Men are masculine andwomen are feminine. There is a well defineddistinction between men'swork and women's work. |  A woman can do anything aman can do. Powerful and successfulwomen are admired andrespected | Uncertainty/AvoidanceIndex |  Very formal business conductwith lots of rules and policies. Need and expect structure. Sense of nervousness spurnshigh levels of emotion andexpression. Differences are avoided. |  Informal business attitude. More concern with longterm strategy than what ishappening on a daily basis. Accepting of change andrisk. | Long TermOrientation |  Family is the basis of society. Parents and men have moreauthority than young peopleand women. Strong work ethic. High value placed oneducation and training |  Promotion of equality. High creativity,individualism. Treat others as you wouldlike to be treated. Self-actualization is sought |

5.3 Table 5: Common C&B practices for Hofstede's Cultural model
Source: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_66.htm
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Conclusion
The project on the Colgate-Palmolive Company in U.S. & Marks and Spencer
(M&S) in Hong Kong listed some relevant to human resource management and outlined their historical development; compare the China and Western HRM, as
H.K’s role of ‘middleman’ between west and east.

Different country establishes various C&B offers, it cannot define how good or how many benefits they are, it should consider those offers are enough to retain and motivate employee.

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Reference

Storey, J. (1995) Human Resource Management: A Critical Text. London: Routledge

Schuler, Dowling and De Cieri (1993): integrative framework of international HRM

Taylor, Beechler and Napier, 1996: 960

Beardwell, J &Claydon,T. 2010 HRM a contemporary approach, 6th edn. Pearson
Education Ltd. P.660, 646

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_66.htm

http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/Corp/WorkWithUs/WhyColgate/BenefitsCo mpensation.cvsp http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/our_plan

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