Originally pioneered by Harvard business school, case studies are a valuable learning tool for examining strategic issues in business and management studies. They are also a crucial research method used by researchers for providing in-depth insights into complex and multi-faceted phenomenon in relation to strategy appraisal within businesses. The main goal of this assignment is to construct a detailed case study of how a company has dealt with a specific HRM strategic issue it has confronted. The case study will adopt a firmspecific perspective so that very in-depth analysis of the issue can be conducted. The type of firm (and nationality) selected is completely optional, so students can examine a new start-up, a well established domestic firm, or a multinational corporation. The nature of the strategic issue and strategy appraisal process is also completely optional but it must closely relate to human resource management. The types of issues which could be examined include, inter alia: How a firm designs and implements a new performance management system How a strong/weak employer branding enhances/ hinders a firms business performance How team building fails in a NGO How a bad decision making by a CEO leads to crisis The challenges of recruiting and retaining talents for a Chinese firm in the UK Aims and Sources A key aspect of the case study is to critique the nature of how the organisation managed the HRM issue in question. Details should be provided of how the HRM challenge was examined and operationally addressed. Students will offer a discussion on the perceived effectiveness or otherwise of the how the firm has tackled the issue in question. Examples of strategy failure is equally valid to examples of where firms succeeded. Students may wish to critically assess and offer a more advantageous course of action to the approach taken by the company. It is expected that some links to relevant theoretical issues and academic literature will be made; however, students may also wish to draw on more grey literature such as consultancy reports, market research reports, newspaper articles (. the FT/Bloomberg), and published interviews with executives
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