Essay on "HRM Strategic"

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In this context of an incremental emphasis on marketing and human resource efforts, a conflict has aroused between the promoters of the two groups, who fail to recognize the superiority of one over the other. The aim of this report then is to comment on this conflict, best summarized by following statement:

Marketing-oriented models of strategic management, such as Michael Porter's competitive strategy, in the context of best-fit theory have has been challenged by other HRM strategic theorists who suggest that HR strategy can be usefully understood as building unique 'clusters' of human and technical resources that generate enviable levels of performance' which can provide a sustained competitive advantage (p.87).

2. The Competitive Advantage

Given the information presented throughout the introductory section, it is safe to say that the purpose of this report is that of revealing which of the two types of endeavors -- marketing strategies and human resource strategies -- are better able to create competitive advantages and as such support the sustained development of the respective economic agents.

Before launching such an endeavor however, it is necessary to reveal the actual meaning of a competitive advantage. In a most simplistic formulation, a competitive advantage is represented by any element which can be used by the company in a battle against the competition, such as low retail prices, an increased commitment to customer satisfaction or the high quality of the products manufactured and sold. In a more formal presentation however, a competitive advantage is depicted as the "unique source of value that the organization offers its customers. It explains why an identifiable group of customers […] will prefer its products or services to those offered by other organizations" (Phills, 2005, p.57). The importance of the competitive advantages is given by the fact that these elements represent the core of the competitive strategy, or the efforts undertaken by the entity in overcoming the competition and ensuring success.

The report continues with the analysis of representative models of both marketing as well as human resource strategies. It then includes the findings in a table which assigns points of importance to each of the models. The category registering the highest score will be considered the most adequate strategic approach to creating competitive advantages, and as such increasing the company's chances of succeeding in this highly dynamic business environment. Based on this analysis, the final conclusions will also be drawn.

3. Strategic Marketing

In its most generic form, marketing is understood as a set of sustained efforts that strive to identify and serve customer needs in a means that generates revenues for the organization (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong and Saunders, 2008). The client's needs are identified and satisfied through a series of marketing efforts, all which reveal abilities to generate competitive advantage. The following lines strive to reveal some of these models.

Market research is probably of the utmost importance for the company in generating competitive advantage. The research conducted by the marketing team plays the pivotal part of identifying new needs as they are manifested by the current and prospective customers; the research can also reveal means by which these needs could be satisfied. Additionally, the research of the market identifies marketing strategies implemented by the competition and as such constitutes the basis for the future development of even more competitive actions. The modern challenge of market research is that the actions include far too many technologies, due to which customers are required to press several buttons or "jump through voice-activated hoops" (Rylander and Provost, 2006); this feature significantly reduces its benefits in the meaning of increasing the frustrations and dissatisfaction of the customer base.

Secondly, there are the media campaigns. A media campaign has the ultimate goal of enhancing the company's communications with the customers, but the particularity that only the message of the company is send throughout the campaign; nevertheless, the message sent by the organization is a strong one and appeals to the customer base through the fact that it states the company's ability to serve the particular needs of the clients (Bartels and Nelissen, 2002). Better put then, the media campaign strives to familiarize the current and prospective clients with a new product or service of the organization which has the ability to satisfy their needs. Supported by the technological revolution, the media campaign has expanded its presence and some examples in this sense refer to advertising on multiple media channels, such as television, radio stations, the internet, street banners and so on.

Interactive marketing is also the result of the technological revolution and it is generally applicable within the virtual environment. Several companies have implemented such endeavors in the form of television aired advertisements that leave the viewer wondering what happens next in the commercial; examples of companies which used this technique include Nike or Schweppes. The viewers were invited to log on to the website to find out what happens next. Once here, they would also be introduced to other advertising materials. The applicability of interactive marketing remains reduced, but is expected to increase throughout the next years (McQuade, Waitman, Zeisser and Kierzkowski, 1996).

More and more economic agents allocate incremental budgets to marketing efforts within the virtual community. This marketing model is constructed on the implementation of technological advancements within the business life and has the major downside of not appealing to all categories of consumers. Yet, its popularity is significantly increasing. Online marketing improves the communications with customers and appeals to customers all around the globe, regardless of geographical or temporal limitations. Today, online marketing practices are becoming more aggressive and are beginning to bother the customer, meaning that future actions will have to introduce ethical decisions within the practice (Gauzente and Ranchhoh, 2001).

4. Strategic Human Resource Management

The specialized literature has yet to offer a universally accepted definition of human resource management. Nevertheless, it is safe to assume that the concept refers to the totality of practices, policies and strategies implemented in the relationship with the organizational staff members, with the ultimate intent of stimulating the personnel to increase their productivity levels. HRM objectives are generally achieved once the individual goals of the employees are united with the overall goals of the economic agent. There are four primary dimensions of human resource management, generically referred to as organizational integration, employee commitment, flexibility and quality (Clark, 1993).

The organizational culture is one of the most important tools of an effective human resource management strategy. Similar to the broader concept of HRM, the concept of organizational culture has yet to be pegged to a clear and universally accepted definition. Julia Vorholter however pinpoints to the fact that the corporate culture "consists of a clearly identifiable but constantly changing group of members […] having material, social, and spiritual components […], being shaped by the organization's members, but at the same time influencing the members so that some elements of the culture remain stable over long periods of time [and] being influenced by external factors such as time, space and the institutional environment" (Vorholter, 2009, p.16). Through all of its components, the organizational culture has the overall benefit of creating a context which stimulates organizational performances; the limitation relies however in the increased levels of complexity.

Offering incentives to the staff members is probably the most important part of the human resource management policies and strategies. Examples of employee incentives include premiums and bonuses, flexible working schedules, promotional opportunities, acceptance of cultural diversity, healthcare coverage, employee empowerment and so on (Bruce, 2002). The main means in… READ MORE