International Human Resource Theories: Coca Cola Case Study

International Human Resource Theories: Coca Cola Case Study IHRM concepts in Coca Colas practices and reasons to transfer employees to the host countries 6 Selecting staff for global assignments in Coca Cola 7 The disadvantages of traditional selection in Coca Cola 8 Abstract This research project explains how the International Human Resource theories are used in Coca Cola as a multinational organization. More over it clarifies the IHRM theoretical side and how the company uses it in its practices. Also it explains both of the strength and weak points of the practical methods. Coca cola is an example of Multinational enterprises (MNEs) as it operates its business in more than 200 countries. Introduction Local Human Resource Management practices are different of international Human Resource Practices, because the core different in the organizational structure. The structure of a Multinational organization as Coca Cola should be different of another American local organization. These differences come from the significant role and senior strategies of the company. This should cause some significant change in the HR practices and functions. Since Coca Cola is a company operates its business around a huge number of countries around the world it began to respond to both of local and international needs. Environment, culture and political differences exist from a region to another. Globalization is the most important factor of the multinational enterprises phenomenon. Coca Cola one of the American companies became a multinational company to take the benefits of new markets and to minimize the labour costs. Haile (2002) mentioned that Bernadin and Russell (1998) and Robbins (1997) all stated that Coca-Cola and Pepsi receive more than half of their revenues from operations outside the United States. These reasons and more encourage the company to operate its business outside the boundaries. While the company started its operations outside USA it considered the environmental, cultural and political change. Also it considered the differences among the multinational employees. Therefore it started to find the methods and the practices which help to avoid any obstacles since the IHRM has new concepts were developed internationally. As a core point, the international human resource practices should be aligned with the predefined strategic business goals. Companys background Coca Cola was invested in May 1886 by Dr. John S. Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia. Currently, its operations are in more than 200 countries, and with diverse work force of approximately 55,000 employees. The local and global strategy The strategic vision of the company is to achieve five strategic goals: Profit, people, value, partners and planet. One of the above strategic is people, which is the most important element in Coca Cola as people are the workforce which operates the whole work. Moreover the company gives its attention to the HRM to control the human functions and roles and to be aligning with the companys senior strategy. In line with the higher objectives of the company, human resources management seriously seeking to get the best management achieve the objectives of the company. For these reasons, IHRM should define know the structure of the company as a global. (The Times Newspaper, 2005, P. 2) The companys structure The home country of Coca Cola is USA it controls both of centralization and localizations functions. Senior decisions at The Coca Cola Company are made by an Executive Committee of 12 company Officers. This committee helped to shape the strategic priorities. The chair of the executive committee acts as a head for the company and chairs the board meetings. He is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and as such he is the senior decision maker. Other executives are responsible either for the major regions (e.g. Africa) or have an important business specialization for example the Chief Financial Officer. (The Times Newspaper, 2005, P. 3) There are seven main regions where Coca Cola operates in as the following: North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Eurasia, Middle East, Latin America. Each region has divided into countries and each country has its own structure the following figure explains the structure of Coca Cola in Great Britain. (The Times Newspaper, 2005, P. 3) IHRM concepts in Coca Colas practices and reasons to transfer employees to the host countries Staff selection, international assignments, international training and development, international compensation, and IHRM in the host Country context are some key concepts of the international practices which Coca Colas HRM is responsible to deal with. And it is important to know the reason of transferring people from a region to another among Coca Cola parent company, host countries and subsidiaries. The reason of sending staff for international assignment in Coca Cola is to achieve three major goals within short and long terms: to fill positions, develop the management and to fulfil Coca Colas development. (Hartono 2009) The following table shows the reasons of transferring staff from the parent country of Coca Cola to the host countries (e.g. china). Why does Coca Cola transfer staff from the parent country (USA) to the host countries Transfer of technical or Managerial knowledge, training of subsidiary managers, or lack of qualified local personal (Position Filling) Level of education in host country is low Subsidiary is young Subsidiary is Greenfield establishment Gain international experience develop global awareness (Management Development) MNC is more internationalized MNC is large Control and coordination of subsidiary operations (Organizational Development) Uncertainly avoidance in home country is high Level of cultural distance between home country and host country is high Level of political risk in host country is high Subsidiary is large Subsidiary is majority-owned Subsidiary is higher in corporate reporting chain Subsidiary is young Subsidiary is under-performing improvement of communication channels between head quarter and subsidiary (Organizational Development) Level of cultural distance between home and host country is high Level of political risk in host country is high Subsidiary is young Selecting staff for global assignments in Coca Cola Hartono (2009) argued that studies explained that selecting employees for global tasks to achieve international specific jobs is difficult. Also wrong selection may lead to significant problems. Therefore Coca Cola developed its own system for careful selecting employees, in this system the company determines carefully the appropriate persons for each assignment. (Slavenski 2003) In Coca Cola they always give enough time to assess employees they wish to go for an international assignment. First step is to receive applications from the employees who find that he is qualified for the task. Then conduct five hours assessment for all the applicants to identify the following nine skills: 1. Organizing and planning 2. Perception and analysis 3. Decision making 4. Oral communication 5. Decisiveness 6. Adaptability 7. Interpersonal skills 8. Written communication 9. Perseverance Second step is to determine the best applicants who have succeed in the first assessment and ask them to return next day for the organizational orientation, also there is three days of training for the line managers who are responsible for this selection. In Coca Cola usually the third step is an interview to select one of three applicants to do the international assignment. Comparing with the old approach of selecting staff to do a global task there are a significant change in the way and technique used currently in Coca Cola. According to Slavenski (2003) he stated that These results indicate that the new method of interviewing is more effective than traditional interviewing. Hence, the assessment/hiring ratio was lowered from 3: 1 to 2:1. T hat is, for every two people assessed in the center, one could be selected. The cost savings amounted to about $48,000 per center or $4,000 per candidate. The disadvantages of traditional selection in Coca Cola Selecting people who have equivalent skills, information, and organizational expectations is more complex than it earliest appears. Someone who has been successful somewhere else in a related position may not always be a good selection. Old selection in most organizations is not as useful as it could be because it is not based on an analysis of job necessities, rather than being prepared and logical, it is unofficial and incompatible, making it hard to compare and assess candidates, it may involve unrelated, and sometimes unlawful, it allows the candidates small chance to express actual job skills and it is based on poor inspection and records and generally relies on the interviewers ability to bring to mind complex information about number of candidates. Lxr- ÃŽ ±: Molecular Link in Epidermal Microenvironment Lxr- ÃŽ ±: Molecular Link in Epidermal Microenvironment ABSTARCT The nuclear receptor LXR-ÃŽ ± is a transcriptional regulator involved in numerousepidermal processes including proliferation, differentiation, permeability barrierformation, inflammatory responses, skin development and homeostasis. Owing to itscrucial for multiple cell types in the skin, its activation in one skin cell type mayinfluence its expression and activation in other, thereby having a functional impact. Inthis study we investigated the effects that LXR-ÃŽ ± activation in keratinocytes would exerton LXR-ÃŽ ± expression in melanocytes. For this, we cultured melanocytes from theclinically healthy subjects and them nurtured with the media from the LXR-ÃŽ ± activated (by both Ascorbic acid and Atorvastatin along with 22-R hydroxycholestrol) keratinocyte. The DOPA staining verified the growth of melanocytes and the validationfor viability was done by flow cytometry. The results so obtained supported ourspeculation that LXR-ÃŽ ± activation in the normal healthy melanocytes may lead to theirapoptosis. Therefore, LXR-ÃŽ ± may be a critical player in keratinocyte and melanocytebiology and could be a potential target for skin disease management. INTRODUCTION Epidermal melanocytes form a functional and structural unit with neighboring keratinocyte. There is apparently a close relationship between melanocytes and keratinocytes that is important for melanocyte survival and differentiation. and that may involve keratinocyte-mediated cytokines [1]. Growth factors produced by adjacent keratinocytes regulate the proliferation and differentiation of melanocytes [2-5]. Therefore, changes in keratinocytes function might have a significant effect on melanocyte survival [6, 7]. The LXRs in skin physiology and pathology have evolved rapidly in recent years as they modulate epidermal proliferation, carcinogenesis, differentiation and permeability barrier function, which identifies them as promising drug targets for the treatment of skin diseases. The nuclear receptors LXR-ÃŽ ± and LXR-ÃŽ ² are expressed in murine and human keratinocytes [8, 9]. LXR activation also stimulates epidermal lipid synthesis, lamellar body secretion and lipid processing in th e stratum corneum [10]. LXR-ÃŽ ±activators stimulate keratinocyte differentiation and also promote epidermal permeability barrier homoeostasis [10]. Activation of LXR-ÃŽ ±by oxysterols stimulates keratinocyte differentiation, thereby, making LXR-ÃŽ ±important in keratinocytes differentiation as well [11, 12]. LXR-ÃŽ ±is also known to play a key role as metabolic checkpoint that modulates cell proliferation in skin. At proper dosage, synthetic LXR agonists are safe on endothelial cells and may even transrepress inflammatory reactions [13].It has also been found that LXR-ÃŽ ± might be playing an important role in pathogenesis of pigmentary disorders like psoriasis [14, 15]and vitiligo [16]. Changes in the expression of this receptor in various diseased conditions of skin make it a candidate gene worth investigation, as it may be critical players in keratinocyte and melanocyte biology and homeostasis [17]. In this article we characterize the effect of alteration in expression of LXR-ÃŽ ± in the keratinocytes influence the survival of the melanocytes. In our previous studies we have already explored the effects of agonists and activators of LXR-ÃŽ ± on its own gene expression in keratinocytes. We here report the effect of melanocytes viability following LXR-ÃŽ ± activation with Atorvastatin+22R hydroxycholestrol and Ascorbic acid +22R hydroxycholestrolin cultured keratinocytes, with both the cell types derived from of the same the skin biopsy METHODS Selection of the subjects and clinical evaluation This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. A total number of 6 controls were enrolled, after their informed consent. The age range was 18–40 years. Skin grafts were collected in the phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and immediately transported to the laboratory in ice. Cellular models employed Fresh biopsy specimens were obtained under aseptic conditions in phosphate buffer saline with antibiotics (penicillin and streptomycin). Keratinocyte Cultures: Culturing of keratinocytes derived from skin biopsies of clinically healthy subjects were carried out in Keratinocytes Specific Media containing no antibiotics. The treatment with Atorvastatin+22R hydroxycholestrol and Ascorbic acid +22R hydroxycholestrol was performed. Cells in one of the wells were incubated with 30Â µM Atorvastatin and the other well was treated with 0.2mg/ml Ascorbic acid or 12 hours [18]. Then 10 Â µM 22R hydroxycholestrol was added to both the wells and cells were then incubated for 48 hours. Melanocyte Cultures: Culturing of melanocytes derived from skin biopsies of same clinically healthy subjects was carried out in Melanocyte Media Promocell containing no antibiotics. Then the media from the above mentioned treated keratinocytes was transferred to the respective melanocytes cultures for consecutive three days. Cell identification Keratinocytes: To verify that the cells cultured from the skin biopsies exhibited the characteristic signatures of keratinocytes, Melanocytes :DOPA staining To verify that the cells cultured from the skin biopsies exhibited the characteristic signatures of melanocytes, DOPA staining was performed following a modified method previously described [19]. RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis Total RNA was isolated using the Tri Reagent kit (Ambion, Austin, TX, USA), and cDNA was synthesized using the First-Strand cDNA Synthesis kit (Fermentas, St. Leon-Rot, Germany) following the manufacturers’ protocols. Semiquantitative RT-PCR Semiquantitative RT-PCR was used to determine the gene tran- scriptional expression. PCR amplification was performed using the GeneAmp PCR System 9700 (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). All primers were synthesized by Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA). The primer sequences used are given in Table S2. PCR amplification of cDNA was performed in a reaction mixture containing 10X polymerase, 2 ll cDNA template and sterile RNAse-free water added to a total volume of 25 ll. All PCR reagents were from Fermentas. We first amplified a housekeeping gene encoding b-actin, to monitor RNA quality and cDNA synthesis and to ensure that equivalent amounts of cDNA were used in all PCR amplifications. All PCR products were analysed by separation on a 2% agarose gel stained with ethidium bromide. Annexin V staining Cultured melanocytes after culturing in conditioned media were were processed as previously mentioned [20] before being used for Annexin V staining (Roche, Mannheim, Germany), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. RESULTS Identifications of melanocytes Melanocytes were cultured with conditioned media from treated keratinocytes (both cell types derived from from skin biopsies of the same patient). After getting pure cultures, these cells were characterized by DOPA staining (Figure 1). LXR-ÃŽ ± mRNA expression We checked the expression profile of LXR-ÃŽ ± gene in melanocytes cultured in the conditioned media was compared to the controls (Figure.2). The aim was to detect any change in gene expression of LXR-ÃŽ ± and its effector genes . Results revealed the higher presence of LXR-ÃŽ ± mRNA expression in melanocytes cultured in bot the treated conditioned media compared to controls. Effect on the apoptosis Experiments were performed and it was interesting to find that there was an increase in the apoptosis of melanocytes nurtured with the media transferred from the keratinocytes treated Ascorbic acid + 22-R hydroxycholestrol i.e. 26% compared to 17.6% in the melanocytes nurtured with the media transferred from the keratinocytes treated Atorvastatin + 22-R hydroxycholestrol whereas the control non- treated melanocytes showed 10% apoptotic cell population (Figure 3). DISCUSSION The role multivalent LXR-ÃŽ ± has recently been described in many skin diseases. A marked expression of LXR-ÃŽ ± has been observed in cells adjacent to dermal papilla, speculating that it may correlate with site of hair melanocytes [21]. Important genes involved in regulation of both keratinocytes and melanocytes are target genes of LXR-ÃŽ ±; it can be speculated that LXR-ÃŽ ± might be playing the important role in pathogenesis of varied skin disorders and homeostasis [17]. Studies have previously shown that chronic activation of LXR-ÃŽ ± in pancreatic ÃŽ ²-cell provoked lipid dysregulation and concomitant apoptosis. To verify the speculation, the cultured melanocytes from the clinically healthy subjects were nurtured with the media from the LXR-ÃŽ ± activated (by both Vitamin C and Atorvastatin alongwith 22-R hydroxycholestrol) keratinocyte media. The DOPA staining in Figure 1 shows the viable melanocytes which were further validated by FACS and the results so obtained supported our speculation that LXR-ÃŽ ± activation in the normal healthy melanocytes may lead to their apoptosis, as LXR-ÃŽ ± is known to inhibit cell proliferation and enhance apoptosis (Figure 3). We have already reported that the LXR-ÃŽ ± expression was present in human melanocytes and keratinocytes [15, 16]. In this study, we compared the expression of LXR-ÃŽ ± in conditioned media from keratinocytes treated with Ascorbic acid + 22-R hydroxycholestrol and Atorvastatin + 22-R hydroxyc holestrol compared to the control and found that mRNA expression of LXR-ÃŽ ± was significantly higher in both the treated groups as compared to the control.So, it can be said that there is an LXR-ÃŽ ± imbalance in the genesis of skin disorders. Although future studies will reveal whether LXR-ÃŽ ± dysregulation in skin cells contributes to the diseased state in vivo, the data presented here suggest a potential target for the development of a successful method of regulating the diseased skin conditions. Not only LXR-ÃŽ ± has a robust anti-inflammatory activity in skin, but they also modulate epidermal proliferation, differentiation and permeability barrier function. The abnormal increase in LXR-ÃŽ ±expression in the pancreatic islets of obese and diabetic animal models and the ability of LXR-ÃŽ ±ligands to induce cell dysfunction suggest the involvement of chronic LXR-ÃŽ ±in cell apoptosis [22] . Keeping in view, the findings reported here coupled with earlier reported findings, it is not unlikely that LXR-ÃŽ ± transcriptome may be of crucial importance, not only in understanding of genomic basis of skin disorders it could be useful in designing futuristic therapy for these skin disorders.