Sean John Clothing is a very successful contemporary clothing brand launched in 1998 by the US Hip Hop star Sean John "Diddy" Combs. For ten years now, Sean John has made its mark on the fashion industry and made Sean John Combs one of the most successful African American entrepreneurs in the USA. The brand is recognized by its handsome aesthetics and features the high standards of quality which are acclaimed by both young and mature consumers.
The company is currently manufacturing a part of its production in the Honduras and is willing to expand its business in the Caribbean Basin mainly because of the closeness with the USA compared to China or other southern Asian countries. However, several issues were faced by the company in 2003 with the Honduran manufactories. Indeed, as many clothing brand such as Nike or Gap in the 1990's, Sean John faced several allegations of illegal work and employees' exploitation.
From now on, the company is willing to increase its presence in that region and actively participates at its development while operating at reasonable cost. Over and above, the summit of Americas which will take place in Trinidad and Tobago will be a good opportunity to strengthen its position in that region and especially in Jamaica.
Even if the company holds its own specific needs and challenges, a country as Jamaica presents a unique landscape in which important operations will be accomplished. Thus, the challenges are complex for Sean John and analyze and understand its future workforce is more than crucial. Indeed, "in this era of escalating globalization, intercultural differences remain a significant challenge confronting multinational organizations" (Lockwood, 2004; Society for Human Resource Management, 2005).
[...] Sean John's management: skills required in order to understand the workforce in this area The overview of Jamaica depicts a multi cultural and multi racial society and community, Sean John needs then to develop its sensitivity to a diverse workforce. Hofstede (1994) defines culture as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another". He asserts that culture depends on five cultural dimensions: Power distance, Individualism, Masculism versus Feminity, Uncertainty Avoidance and Long Term Orientation. [...]
[...] Finally, Sean John as an African American owned company decided to based its Caribbean operations upon a mix of African and Asian philosophic concepts: firstly the South African Ubuntu's concept which is promoting “compassion, reciprocity, dignity, harmony and humanity in the interests of building and maintain community with justice and mutual caring” (Nussbaum, 2003); secondly, the Chinese Confucian theory which is promoting harmony in human relationships. Find the Right person for the right position Eric Krell (2005) asserts that the task to find the right people to work with, fitting the right people to the right job and positioning the right personalities are not far to be easy. [...]
[...] The Approach and strategy followed by Sean John in Jamaica “Better recruitment and selection strategies result in improved organizational outcomes. The more effectively organizations recruit and select candidates, the more likely they are to hire and retain satisfied employees” (Rioux & Bernthal, 1999) Sean John, in order to successfully recruit in Jamaican, needs to go through several steps which will build on its ability to manage a diverse workforce; they are depicted by Lockwood (2005). Firstly, the company will go through the of melting pot and think that “everybody is the then recognizing the differences as assets for finally, be able to manage a direct workforce and build a corporate culture. [...]
[...] Conclusion International Human Resource Management is definitely a tool which can lower the negative effects of an acquisition by formulation a clear strategies and taking account of diversity of the populations and the wonderful assets that represents those differences. We suggested a mix of geocentric and polycentric strategies in order to successfully taking account of the diversity of the Jamaica while promoting the local staff development and minimize the “imperialist image” too much often given to American multinationals. Create awareness of the diversity of a region is more than insufficient if a company plans to go global. [...]
[...] Hands-on Management: Given the fact that the level of education level is lower in Jamaican than some other countries in the Caribbean, Sean John should adjust the level of delegation within the enterprise, train its workforce and require frequents double checking. Emotionality: The strong slavery background and more recent multinational imperialist actions are making Jamaicans more emotional than some other Caribbean. Hence, Sean John will need to carefully communicate the goals of the companies and avoid any kind of approach which might be seen as imperialistic or disrespectful especially towards the majority in the island, the Black people. [...]
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