Avon in Global Markets Essay

1. Referring to this chapter and Chapter 9, appreciate Avons Strategic International Human Resources practices in orbicular markets regarding developing of a global way cadre, HCNs, and stimulateing phoner associates and independent representatives in host countries.Avon Strategic International Human Resources practices in global markets In this day and age the domain of a function is no dourer bound by distance the gap between countries and cultures argon shrinking. Most line of credit refine attempt to take utility of this and expand beyond the b nightclubs of their homeland. The idea of world market sh be is lucrative to most businesses not to mention profitable. such(prenominal) With the peachy involution and lucrative prospects, there is a strong drawing out creates take away for supranational human resource management. Human resource management is the whole process of recruitment and pick of the employees, it has been perceived by some(prenominal) observe rs as a gravestone ingredient and accounts for the success of companies on world markets.Sales forceIn global business, consumer companies assholenot operate efficiently without having trump and most easily- railroad trained gross revenue force (Deresky, 2010, p. 378). and so by getting a local anaesthetic employees with proper dexteritys and adequate ships corporations association benefits the company in an aspect of better understanding of the surrounding surroundings and communication delectationfulness of common language and for this reason, Avon has hired one million million million local door to door representatives to advance their work force and to improve their international market.Recruitment and selectionIn addition, valuingValuing workforce diversity and providing equal probability is important to the company (Deresky, 2010, p. 379). Qualities such as culture empathy, that isthe appreciation and keep of beliefs, determine and behavior, interperson al skills, such as communication and the capacity to build trust, managerial, and decision making abilitiesparticularly under condition of isolation purlieu and some other crucial qualities including self-motivation, ethical standard, relationship building, organizations skills and so on are looked for. This strategy facilitates Avon to identify full potential of the recruits and their competencies.Female chief operating(a) officerAvon is a company which caters to women and is ranrun by women. Having a female in charge serves a fundamental advantage since she crapper better understand the target customers and their need. This, indeed military services Avon to fountainhead implement and execute their goals successfully. Before Andrea Jung took over as CEO the company was struggling with low revenues and high debts. Once Andrea Jung took charge, she has implemented some(prenominal) efficient policies in both US offices and foreign offices that helped to boost up the companys re venue and got rid ofeliminated the debt problems the company was facing. This has entirelyowed the company to restrain its reputation and increase its sales network and entirely while continuinge to beget into advanced markets such as India and China.Good allowAvons dedication to almsgiving has been a part of companys policy for more than one hundred twenty- quintette years. This builds a close relationship between and the company and the fellowship in which it functions. Not to mention brings a It overly ho riding habits greatvery good packaging and a set up for numerous PR campaigns. Avons foundation helps provide funds for canfulcer researches, for scholarships and other charitable programs. In addition to workforce diversity and minority recruitment, the company supports various programs in womens empowerment.Leadership programsLike other companies, Avon runs leadership programs on the job learn seminars on a regular basis. (Deresky, 2010, p. 378). This provides em ployees with the tools, jockeyledge and the ability to impact and inhale their followers and thereby sharpen their skills and knowledge in the effective manner. The programs help in specializationening the area of weaknessesand provide accountability and clear vision.2. guide how Avons business posture has changed in light of demographic and hearty changes in the joined States and abroad. What role has IHRM played in the companys global expansion?Avon has had to adapt its business model collectable to demographic and social shifts. In the United States, for example, resources hold up be make love less identify and the biggest way for a company to gain a competitive advantage is with a well-developed workforce. Technological advancements have in addition created the need for Avon to have an online syllabus in recount to efficiently manage their workforce. Changes abroad have also impacted Avon. For instance, new emerging markets such as India, Russia and China have creat ed new opportunities for the company. However, these countries must be canvas to understand how to establish a workforce as well as the social and demographic constituents that can affect their human resource practices (iei.e. the social role of women restrictions on certain(prenominal) business practices).In the global market, Avon hires and trains the new local workforce in its door-to-door selling model and adapts their distribution strategies to the local unavoidably by including mail, phone, fax, retail outlets, and web sites for working women and to accommodate other ethnical and logistic practices. Human resource management plays a broad role in dealing with knowing who to recruit for the global workforce, what qualifications can be anticipate, how to better motivate them and what levels of increaseivity can be expected from them once integrated into the companys network. The role of IHRM for Avon in global expansion allow 1) Training in both virtual and snip- gr ound seminar 2) Adapting and adjusting the operation to local industrial relations systems.3. Since 70 percent of Avons revenues are generated outside the United States, what testimonys would you provide to the company regarding dealing with a culturally diverse workforce and a multicultural food market in the coming years?Avon is already on the right track in dealing with a multiculturalmarketplace. It currently maintains 5.8 million independent representatives and approximately 42,500 associates in over a hundred countries (Deresky, 2010, p. 378). Avon has a strong brand that is well known internationally. This helps the company attract top-notch employees that truly want to work for Avon. Although many would see Avons culturally diverse workforce as a challenge it is genuinely one of Avons greatest strengths. Avons diverse employees are already informed of the cultures with which they are conducting business beca implement the employees share the same culture as the consumers .The employees understand what types of products their culture demands and which they do not. This helps to prevent excess supply or wasted trade efforts on products that are of no interest in certain markets. In addition, with Avons big focus on door-to-door selling their diverse workforce is extremely helpful because these employees are mobile in their native languages and lead be able to excel in conversing with their potential customers in efforts to produce sales. As call downd in the incase study, Avons 5.8 million independent representatives are self-managed Host Country Nationals who know the culture and the ways to do their business in their home sward (Deresky, 2010, p. 379). These representatives help to minimize the culture shock Avon employees would normally experience had they not had any previous experience dealing with a foreign boorish and were expected to conduct business there.Since Avon has employees and representatives hailing from the countries in whic h they are conducting business it makes the sales aspect much easier since there is minimal cultural disconnect between the consumer and the sales personnel. Therefore, my recommendation is that Avon continues its efforts to hire employees from various cultures especially in areas in which Avon currently conducts or plans to conduct business. However, hiring a diverse workforce can prove difficult when poorly managed. Luckily, Avons managers realized that becoming aware of intercultural differences and getting the appropriate preparation play an important role in the development of a productive sales force (Deresky, 2010, p. 377). Avon understands that their employees are the key to success therefore it is imperative that they maintain employee efficiency, productivity, and morale.The company is able to understand this via the four areas of compensation, fringe benefits, professional development, and workforce environment. Employees greatly enjoy thesebenefits as well as working f or Avon, which helps fuel, the companys outstanding performance. My recommendation is that Avon continues their pursuit of maintaining a diverse workforce. The company must ensure they are constantly training their employees in areas such as new product offerings, dealing with various cultures, and performing efficient sales. As Avon looks to continue its expansion they must ensure they understand each marketplace prior to go in and beginning business. In order to expand their multicultural marketplace Avon must work to put together solid research teams that will be in charge of understanding and discovering all facets of a regions economy and population. This will allow Avon to be well on the watch and easily determine which products will be sold in which countries based on the populations preferences.4. Avons future global expansion is contingent on hiring and retaining the best workforce and salespeople in global markets. What training and cross-cultural practices would you re commend to the company to deal with this area?In order for Avon to develop the best global workforce they must consider cultural sensitivity, motivation, ethical-standards, relationship building, and organizational skills (Deresky, 2010, p. 377). Avon can achieve the best global workforce by continuing to provide leadership programs and on-the-job training seminars on a regular basis. If Avon wants to continue expanding globally, they may consider continuing their global geographic (area) structure. This structure allows regional and local managers to address, and solve issues based on their knowledge of the local culture, government regulations, and business transactions (Deresky, 2014, p. 247).The benefits of this structure were intelligible in the case where Avons China General Manager, Ms. Jung, noticed the need to change their distribution strategies in order to adapt to local costumers needs (Deresky, 2010, p. 379). Ms. Jung also noticed the need for international representat ives to gain faster online retrieve to improve training (Deresky, 2010, p. 379). Avon has done a great job thence far in hiring and retaining one of the best workforce and salespeople in the global market. A rising middle class in the emerging markets will help Avon mountain range people they have never reachedbefore. If Avon wants to continue their success, they must consider their cultural environment and continue evolving their training technicstechniques and technology.5. China is expected to be a major(ip)(ip) market for Avon. If you were to advise Avon, how would you develop a competitive IHR plan for the company?Starting with assessing Avons successes in the international realm, it should be noted that Avon approximates 70 percent of the companys revenues come from selling its products in international markets (Deresky, 2010, p. 376). A second important factor that would need to be considered for developing a competitive IHR plan for the company would be to ensure a brand identity existed or could be created in China if it was not present as of theat the time Avon was intend to venture into the country. A brand identity, as defined by Investopedia is how a business wants a brands call off, communication style, logo and other visual elements to be perceived by consumers (Brand Identity, 2014)). It would be obvious to state that Avon should begin to compare and contrast the brand identity of other major personal hygiene and makeup companies that have previously set up shop in China. Evaluating Estee Lauder and LOreal, for example could prove to provide fruitful training on which types of marketing and advertising campaigns may or may not work in global China.While major companies such as these have previously completed the leg work in customer recruiting, Avon could gain much advantagesmany advantages from reviewing these strategies and applying some to their market model within China. Avon would also need to immediately define the knowledge and ski ll set models that managers and sales personnel would need to have in order to be successful in this major foreign market. Working in a country such as China will be much different in many cultural areas as compared to operating within America. Cultural sensitivity issues should be highlighted, as well as motivational factors of what might energize customers to purchase Avons products. Perhaps time sensitivity issues could be a point of training for managers and sales representatives as well. Questions such as how much time should be spent on trying to convince a customer to purchase products or when is a good time of day to try and sell to customers should be analyzed as well.?All of theseissues should be strategized and should be provided as in-depth training to employees and managers similar before deploying teams of representatives into the streets of China. It will be equally important, when developing a competitive IHR plan to ensure employees are consistently referring back to Avons five values and principles, which complicate trust, respect, belief, humility, and integrity (Deresky, 2010, p. 377). Having the ability to reach back to these impression values and principles, sales representatives will succeed by remembering the values and traditions that helped to make Avon successful in other countries.6. What is the role of IT in Avons markets, in particular in developing areas? What are the implications for training its representatives?The new culture technology internet and email have practically eliminated the corporeal cost of communications (Karlgaard, 2004). Business activities and marketing activities cannot be realized without the use of information technology, marketing managers cannot make quality decisions, and marketing strategies cannot be intentional and cannot be oriented business policies. Therefore in the modern enterprises all important managerial positions must be connected to computer networks and use information technology. Th e evolution of e-marketing has enabled Avon to include all its marketing activities online and has enabled them to contact their customers chop-chop and easily in order to meet their needs, wishes and requirements. This has helped Avon to maintain a long relationship with their customers, and fulfill their needs, and increase their loyalty toward the products of the organization.Furthermore, the availability of a great amount of information with in short period of time can be obtained at an instant through the use of information technology. In business, information is the most precious commodity in the market. A pPlethora of information can be acquired through electronic and communication media by use computers, information technology and information systemthrough information systems. Hence it is very resourceful to enterprises and therefore Avon is as well taking an advantage to gather the necessary data on the market about customers, their needs and habits and process data in to information. Consequently, usage of information. Information technology also helps Avonto lower down their costs, proper time managementimprove efficiency, producing produce quality products, and go on advance the companys innovation. This is contributed all is due to the consumer information still that provides the knowledge on consumer behavior that which helps the company reducing reduce uncertainties for marketing decision making and thereby assist in price settings, promotions, selection of target market as well as sales channels.The biggest strength of iInformation tTechnology is the ability to set about fast inquickly grow in developing markets. Avon use utilizes information technology for its training practices to its employeesemployee training programs. Instead of gathering all every representative in the office, Avon can upload training seminars videos online so that the employees can carry out training while they are home. The companys distribution strategies may have to be adopted to the local needs because of working women or other cultural and logistical considerations and include mail, phone, fax, retail outlets, and Web sites (Deresky, 2010, p. 379). Therefore, UsageThe usage of technology in marketing has enabled Avon to grow rapidly and has led to marketing development through networks. It has it as well also enabled rapid and efficient communication, transfer of information over distance, basis of virtual organizations, shipment of goods, and direct payment via internet and so onas well as many others.All these element of new form of business that e-business have been easily adopted due to the actions of the company activities surrounding and marketing conditions in order to meet better customers needs and requirements. It is now internal method for Avon to control its operations. In conclusion, the iInformation tTechnology strengths of Avon allows Avon the company to have communication and information access on the fly anywhere in th e world at a low cost. The IT infrastructure also allows the Avon team to quickly train the local Salesforce sales force and process orders with very low aplomb down. The implication of training representative in development areas, such strategy allows to bring Avons products straight to the consumer. The new representatives help Avon to conjure orders, distribute orders, promote products and therefore create a strongstrong brand name recognition worldwide.7. What do you think are Avons prospects in India, addicted that the per capita spending on beauty there is only $1, compared to between $ ampere-second and $200 in developed markets?Avons prospects in India look to be positive. India is one of the largest growing markets besides China, and they have a very large population when compared to other major counties such as Japan, United Kingdom, southerly Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, and capital of Singapore. With the huge population in India, there are more than 370 million women between the ages of 15-64, which indicates a high customer base (Deresky, 2010, p. 379). The population in India is also growing at about a 1.3% each year. When compared to Singapores per capita spending, India has bright prospects despite their low per capita spending because of their. This is due to their huge population. Another reason India looks like a positive prospect is due to the untapped market, which can drive long-term growth. The company throwed new anti-aging products aiming to reach 93% of the countrys population by 2015. The Avon also planplans to launch personal grooming products for men, which is another untapped market.ReferencesBrand Identity. (2014). Retrieved from Investopedia http//www.investopedia.com/terms/b/brand-identity.asp Deresky, H. (2010). International Management Managing Across Borders and Cultures, Text and Cases (7th ed.). Prentice Hall. Karlgaard, R. (2004, November 19). Peter Drucker On Leadership. Retrieved from Forbes http//www.forbes.com/20 04/11/19/cz_rk_1119drucker.html