Human Resource Management of eBay in China Essay

Human Resource Management of eBay in China - Essay Example eBay’s failure in China is attributable to its rigid and product-centered approach that did not complement consumer behavior in China. Cultural differences, unique characteristics of Chinese consumers and hence their demands from e-shopping differ vastly from that of American buyers. This problem identification requires the development of appropriate solutions to help eBay tackle the threat of dominant competition in China that is being posed by Taobao. A success in doing so would allow eBay to capture the booming e-shopping market in China which is expected to grow to an astounding $315 billion dollars by 2015 and therefore, presents a monumental opportunity for eBay to move forward with its plans of global expansion. The report proposes an incorporation of the expertise of local managers and workers in the operations of eBay China to remove issues that are being posed by cultural barriers. It should also be noted that this Human Resource Management initiative will also help in cost reduction and minimization. Diversity in a workforce is integral to idea generation and would also help redesign eBay’s business model to suit to the needs of the Chinese C2C market. Drawbacks of the proposed solution are also discussed and it is recommended that further reports are commissioned to assess the validity of the said drawbacks and how they should be minimized. Contents 1.Terms of Reference 3 2.Literature Review 5 3.Problem Identification 7 3.1 Background 7 3.2 Competition from Taobao 9 3.3 Cultural Issues 10 3.4 Unique Characteristics of Buyers 10 3.5 eBay’s Business Model 11 4.Evaluation of Alternatives 11 4.1Employing Local Managers 11 4.2Transferring Core Employees with Chinese Background 13 5.Recommendations 14 6.Reflective Appendix 15 References 17 1. Terms of Reference eBay is a global internet-based business that acts as an intermediary between consumer-to-consumer transactions for a wide range of products that include electronics, automobil es, clothing, sporting gear and several other products falling under various categories. eBay entered the Chinese market in 2003 through its acquisition of EachNet (Zhang et al. 2009) with hopes of gaining a considerable market share and to repeat the success that it had achieved in the U.S. However, as industry analysts would later report eBay failed to compete with the dominant force of Taobao – a local website that was launched by Alibaba in hopes of battling the imminent threat that eBay posed to sellers in China’s booming internet shopping market. While, commentators and analysts have evidently explained the reasons why eBay eventually could not make a significant impact on the online shopping market in China, it is important to note that much of that discussion has been directed towards assessing comparative analyses between the business models of eBay and its adversary Taobao. The purpose of this report however, is to focus specifically on the Human Resource Man agement of eBay in China in order to utilize the evaluations derived from the assessment to propose recommendations and suggestions that could be undertaken by the multinational corporation. The report aims to do so by defining the problems and issues that eBay faced in the Chinese market which posed as obstacles in allowing the organization to capture a considerable market share within the industry in the face of tough competition. These main issues include exploring