Chapter 6 mini case study 2: The foundations of strategic human resource management

Motorola’s HR strategy

Motorola has been creating industry-leading products since the launch of its first mobile phone,

in 1983. As a result of rapidly changing technologies and increased competition in Europe and

Asia during the 1990s, the HR function (‘HR leadership team’) in Motorola developed a new

HR strategy with goals that included linking HR practices to the requirements of key

stakeholders (i.e. customers and shareholders), developing the culture so that it was

consistent with the company’s brand identity, and gaining the commitment of all employees.

HR put culture at the heart of the strategy. The HR function identified that the company culture

needed to change if the company was going to respond effectively to increasingly competitive

global markets. By 2011 the company was better known for filing patents on an incremental

basis: ‘No one had thought of Motorola as being particularly innovative in a long time, despite

the firm’s best attempts…The company failed to pursue the innovations that led to

fundamental change in its key markets’ (Lerner, 2012: 1-2)

Activity

1. To what extent does this case illustrate a contingency approach to SHRM and how

successful does this appear to have been?

Sources

Hamel, G. (2012) What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious

Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Lerner, J. (2012) The Architecture of Innovation: the economics of creative organisations,

Oxford; Oxford University Press

Morgan, M., Levitt, R. E. And Malek, W. (2007) Executing Your Strategy: How to Break it Down

and Get it Done, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Ulrich, D. and Brockbank, W. (2005) The HR Value Proposition, Boston, MA: Harvard

Business School Press.

Chapter 7 mini case study 2: Resource-based and institutional perspectives on

strategic human resource management

Roshan: a telecommunications success story

Roshan, the Afghan cellphone company, began operations in 2003 in an environment where

there was virtually no telecommunications infrastructure. At that time basic

telecommunications was prohibitively expensive and practically inaccessible. Nine years

later and the company has 5 million subscribers in a service area that covers over half of

Afghanistan. Presently the company accounts for 5 per cent of the Afghan government’s

overall domestic revenue. To date the company has attracted well over $400 million in direct

foreign investment. The company’s values are based on maintaining commitment and focus

on the customer, conducting business with integrity, and respecting the customs, cultures,

and traditions of Afghanistan while engaging in corporate social responsibility. The company

works in partnership with the Government and NGOs to provide high-quality programs that

maximize benefits for the Afghan people and it has won awards for its commitment to CSR.

The company is also committed to the welfare of its employees and their families. The role of

HR is focused on recruiting ‘exceptional women and men’ from across Afghanistan, building

capacity through training programmes that maximize potential, and developing programmes

that support employee growth.

Today Roshan is a pioneer in brand building, and is spearheading the development of the

advertising industry in a war-torn country. Approximately 10 per cent of Roshan’s budget is

spent on security, primarily to protect its employees (especially those working in the field).

The company has Afghanistan’s first purpose built customer call centre and was the first

company in Afghanistan to receive ISO Certification for its customer care team. In June 2012

the company was awarded ‘Best in Customer Service’ at the Asia Communications Awards.

In setting up the company the political, social, and economic challenges were considerable.

The focus on recruiting skilled employees was made difficult by the fact that 70 per cent of

the population are illiterate. The company initially recruited 16 people who spoke English and

had very basic computer skills but who also had the potential to become engineers. As

Auerswald (2012:58) comments, ‘Building an Afghan staff entailed a sustained commitment

to on-the-job training that ultimately paid off’. Today Roshan continues its commitment to

training and developing its 1,200 employees, of which 97 per cent are Afghan nationals and

20 per cent are women. The company also indirectly employs another 30,000 people

throughout Afghanistan.

In September 2012 it was announced that the Ministry of Telecommunications and

Information Technology (MCIT) has issued Roshan with a license that will enable the

company to further expand and develop its already market-leading, innovative data

packages via the 3G platform.

Activity

1. How has Roshan been able to build and sustain competitive advantage?

2. What appear to be the core capabilities of Roshan?

Sources

Auerswald, P. E. (2012) The Coming Prosperity: How Entrepreneurs are Transforming the

Global Economy, New York, NY: Oxford University Press

Sajad (2012), ‘Roshan secures 3G license for Afghanistan’, Khaama Press, 22nd September.

http://www.khaama.com/roshan-secures-3g-license-for-afghanistan-255/ [accessed 16th

January 2018]

http://www.roshan.af/Roshan/About_Roshan/About_Roshan.aspx [accessed 16th January

2018]

https://www.roshan.af/en/personal/community/ [accessed 16th January 2018]

http://www.roshan.af/Roshan/About_Roshan/Careers/Working_for_Roshan.aspx [accessed

16th January 2018]

http://www.roshan.af/Roshan/About_Roshan/About_Roshan.aspx
http://www.roshan.af/Roshan/About_Roshan/Careers/Working_for_Roshan.aspx