Adidas Human Resources Management Case Study

Assesment 2

Brent v/d Wielen

Introduction

The MNE used in this assessment is Adidas. Adidas is a German sports shoes, clothing and accessories designer and manufacturer.

HRM data Adidas Figure 1: Adidas gender diversity (Adidas n.d.)

In Adidas 51% of all employees and 28% in management positions is female (see figure 1). The presence of female employees in top management positively effects innovation. Women in top management are also beneficial due to a difference in managerial behaviour. Women in lower level hierarchical jobs are more motivated and more committed to the organization as a result of female managers (Deszö and Ross, 2012). International human resource management should be aware of this, especially when recruiting new personnel, because it might be beneficial to have women in management positions.

Figure 2 Adidas employees generations (Adidas, n.d.)

Figure 2 shows the generations to which Adidas employees belong. 36% is from gen Y, 6% is baby boomer and 58% is gen X. There are differences in what generations expect and value in work. Therefore, management techniques should differ from 20 years ago. For international human resource management this

(2012) state ‘The term ‘’outsourcing’’ was developed to describe this process of contracting with an external firm to provide products or services that would otherwise be completed internally’. Offshoring is that certain part of a firm’s business is relocated to another country, mostly to lower costs. The company still owns the offshored business, but it is staffed with foreign employees (HCNs or TCNs) (Briscoe et al., 2012). Therefore, the difference between outsourcing and offshoring is that outsourcing can be within the same country, but is done by a 3rd party, while in contrast offshoring is relocating a firm’s business to another country (but still owning it) and staffing it with HCN or