All these issues point out to the indubitable fact that the human resource in Taiwan is coming closer to the labor force in the highly developed western economies and that additional efforts will have to be made in order to succeed in the island.
Another human resource issue that is important to be mentioned is given by the different cultural values of Taiwan and the American multinational. Divided by language, religion and customs barriers, Taiwan is closer to the Japanese culture than the American one. This will unavoidably mean that our organization has to hire several human resource specialists to make a transition from the Japanese HR issues to the U.S. implementation of human resource policies. Some other issues that have to be understood by our company refer to the decision making process, which is generally done in groups; a decision once made is supported by all individuals, regardless of their personal opinions. Then, the Taiwanese employees are not focused on performance, but are more interested in doing their work and receiving their paycheck. This means that motivations through promotions and recognition might be difficult to implement. Third, the Taiwanese people are warm people, meaning that the employees and their managers tend to emphasize greatly on interpersonal relations and a pleasant working environment is key to a successful business outcome. This is different from the United States where performance and task completion come before human relations (Gross).
4. Nike in Taiwan
The process implemented by shoe and apparel manufacturer Nike in opening manufacturing plants in Taiwan is generally undisclosed to the public. Nike is a private company and as long as permitted, they preferred to keep several aspects of their business unrevealed. However, it is known that the company did not literally open plants in Taiwan, but contracted existent organizations and offered them work. Also, what has to be mentioned is that Nike outsourced all of its manufacturing operations, the United States headquarters only handling administration, design and marketing. Despite the continuous criticism to which it has been subjected, the number one shoe producer succeeded in the international market due to a diversification of its manufacturing plants, which allowed it to simultaneously benefit from the comparative advantages of various regions, while minimizing their shortages.
Nike was initially accused...
The American organization developed the plants in Taiwan and made them amongst the most sophisticated ones run by Nike (Boje). This was possible due to the technological capabilities of the country (most of them coming from Japan), as well as the technical skills of the workforce.
5. Conclusions
Our company benefits from the advantages of globalization by seizing the opportunities presented by the opening of a manufacturing plant in Taiwan. The country has been revealing increasing levels of economic prosperity throughout the recent years, meaning that the employee expenditure is continually increasing. However, relative to the United States, the costs with the human resource would be significantly lower. Additionally, the personnel in Taiwan are already trained and highly capable to adapting its workload to the requirements of the American corporations. These features, alongside with the employee training and compensation programs introduced, as well as the competition to retain the best skilled employees, point out that the workforce in Taiwan is developing at a rapid pace and is closer than ever to becoming similar to the labor force in the developed western economies. Additionally, one must also address the differences in cultural features, such as a reduced focus on performance and the overall acceptance of a made decision.
Shoe and apparel manufacturer Nike Inc. benefited from the comparative advantages of Taiwan before the country's economic growth became so obvious, but they have however encountered some challenges, such as the accusations of running sweatshops. The eastern Asian island is well on the way to becoming a respectable and strong workforce, but this also means that the foreign investors are less attracted to the region.
