Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background of the research
The importance of effective HRM policies for companies conducting business internationally
has grown over the last few years across different markets. Tesco operates across the global
marketplace and faces a wide range of challenges in terms of conducting business operations
effectively. Wikhamn (2019) opined on the fact that with the changing market policies, the
HRM practices of organisation needs to be updated while operating across different
international markets. Thus, HRM practices help organisations towards framing their
business operations in accordance with the market structure across different international
markets. Therefore, the growing importance of HRM policies in terms of conducting
international business for international companies has increased in recent years due to rapid
changes in market policies across international markets.
1.2 Research Rationale
HRM practices are essential for business organisations, especially when conducting business
internationally. Warner (2020) stated that different factors like cultural differences across
international markets, different government policies, and talent development processes across
international markets come into play while conducting business operations internationally.
Thus, organisations, while conducting business operations across international markets, focus
on framing effective HRM policies that can help in tackling these factors effectively, thereby
improving the process of international business operations. Therefore, the major rationale for
this study would be to understand the impact of different HRM policies for Tesco while
conducting business operations across international markets.
1.3 Research Aim
This project aims to involve different HRM practices and bring stability to international
companies.
1.4 Research Objectives
The objectives have been stated below.
Research Objective 1:
To implement comprehensive HRM practises and promote stability within the international
corporate organisation

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Research Objective 2:
To assess the current business plans of global companies and enhance brand positioning
through HRM procedures
1.5 Research Questions
The major research questions, in accordance with the research objectives, are stated below.
Research Question 1: How well can HRM methods help international organisations
maintain their success?
Research Question 2: How do HRM policies differ from already-in-place corporate brand
positioning initiatives in terms of advantages?
1.6 Significance of the research
This research study would certainly help in understanding the most essential HRM practices
and activities that benefit international business organisations towards conducting the
business process across different markets. Different HRM practices that need to be improved
can be further identified through this study, thereby helping to contribute towards the field of
human resource management practices for international business organisations.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
This section of the research proposal would mainly focus on reviewing existing literature
related to the research topic. The traditional literature review method would be implemented
in terms of analysing the findings from already published articles. An effective theoretical
framework for this study would be identified, along with an overview of some empirical
findings related to the research topic. Finally, this section will conclude with a summary and
the major literature gap identified through reviewing the literature.
2.2 Theoretical Framework- General System theory
General system theory is an effective HRM theory for international business organisations
within the marketplaces. Chen, Jiang and Gao (2021) opined on the fact that the major goal of
the system theory is to effectively frame a model of system dynamics and elucidate principles
that can be effectively applied to other business process systems while achieving optimised
equality at all the levels of the business processes. Thus, it can be analysed that general
system theory can be effectively applied as HRM theory in terms of framing the processes
and strategies that have direct implications and relations to other business processes, thereby
helping to achieve optimal business operations across different levels. This theoretical
framework would certainly help the different HRM practices implemented by the
international business organisations that help companies to achieve stability while conducting

5
business internationally. Therefore, this theoretical framework would certainly prove to be
beneficial for this study.
2.3 Empirical Findings
2.3.1 Different HRM policies for international firms for conducting business operations
There are different policies framed by the human resource management team of international
business organisations in terms of conducting business operations effectively across different
international markets. Talent management policies and recruitment and selection policies are
considered to be essential HRM policies for business organisations conducting business
across international markets (Glaister et al., 2017). Moreover, Sukalova and Ceniga (2020),
opined on the fact that culture and diversity management policies of HRM, along with
employee management policies of HRM, are considered to be other essential HRM policies
for business organisations conducting business across international markets. Thus, it can be
analysed that implementation of these HRM policies certainly helps human resource
departments of different organisations to frame operational outlines, conduct expectations
and frame disciplinary actions towards conducting the business operations across
international markets. Therefore, policies like talent management, cultural management and
employee management deliver essential value for organisations towards conducting
international business.
2.3.2 Impact of the HRM policies for international firms for conducting business
operations
Different HRM policies have different impacts on international firms in terms of conducting
business operations. Glaister et al. (2017) opined on the fact that different talent management
policies, along with recruitment and selection policies, help organisations towards recruiting
and managing the best talent pool in accordance with market needs and business objectives.
Thus, it can be analysed that selecting, recruiting and managing the talents through effective
HRM policies positively influences the business performances across different foreign
markets. Moreover, Sukalova and Ceniga (2020), stated that the implementation of cross-
cultural and diversity management policies helps business organisations to better coordinate
with different cross-cultural business partners while operating across foreign markets. Thus,
it can be analysed that the implementation of cross-cultural management policies positively
influences business operations in terms of mitigating cultural gaps that exist while operating
within markets where high cultural differences exist. Therefore, it can be stated that HRM
policies positively influence business organisations in terms of conducting business
effectively across international markets.

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Figure 1: Strategic Use of HRM for improving business performance

(OECD, 2022)

2.4 Literature gap
Existing literature has not mainly focused on providing insight and analysis related to the
impact of HRM policies on improving the brand images of the international organisations
while operating across international markets. This certainly forms one major literature gap
identified through reviewing the studies effectively.
2.5 Summary
Overall, it can be summarised that different HRM policies like talent management and
cultural management policies certainly benefited business organisations in terms of
conducting business across international markets. Furthermore, it has been found that the use
of the General System Theory would certainly prove beneficial as a major theoretical
framework for this study.
Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1 Research Philosophy
There are different types of research philosophies available for researchers in terms of
conducting an effective research study. However, this study has focused on utilising
positivism research philosophy. Park, Konge and Artino (2020) opined on the fact that
positivism research philosophy focuses on quantitative data values in terms of understanding
trends and patterns related to the research study. Thus, it can be implicated that the use of
positivism research philosophy certainly benefited the researcher towards setting the research
process that can help in understanding the common patterns and trends related to HRM

7
policies. Therefore, the use of a positivism research philosophy would certainly prove
beneficial for the researcher.
3.2 Research Approach
In terms of the research approach, the study would focus on the deductive research approach.
Patel and Patel (2019) highlighted the fact that deductive research approaches help
researchers to identify causal relationships between different concepts and variables related to
the research study. Thus, the use of the deductive approach would help the researcher to
understand the relation between different factors and HRM policies implemented by business
organisations. Therefore, the use of deductive research approaches would certainly prove
beneficial for this study.
3.3 Research Design
This study would focus on using descriptive research design in terms of framing the research
methods and data collection process. Doyle et al. (2020) opined on the fact that descriptive
research design benefits researchers towards obtaining information that effectively identifies
and relates the situation and phenomenon related to the research study. Thus, it can be
analysed that the use of descriptive research design would benefit the researcher towards
framing the data collection process that can collect information related to organisational
situations and HRM policies. Therefore, the use of a descriptive research design would
certainly prove beneficial for this study.
3.4 Research Methods
In terms of research methods, the study would mainly focus on applying primary research
methods. Adams and McGuire (2022) opined on the fact that primary research methods help
to collect authentic and real time data related to research topics. Thus, it can be analysed that
the use of primary research methods would help the researcher towards getting authentic and
real time information related to HRM policies for international business organisations.
Therefore, the use of primary research methods certainly proves to be beneficial towards
conducting the study effectively.
3.5 Data collection process
Online surveys would be conducted in terms of collecting data from the participants. Survey
questionnaires would be framed and would be sent to the participants. Online Google survey
forms would be used for creating the surveys and distributing them to the official email ids of
the participants.
3.6 Data Sampling and Data Analysis

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In terms of data sampling, simple random sampling would be used in terms of selecting
participants from the companies while conducting the data collection process. Overall, 100
participants will be selected from 5 international companies, namely Tesco, GSK, Walmart,
AstraZeneca Plc and Tesla. Survey questionnaires would be effectively distributed among the
participants. Once the data would be collected, analysis of the data will be carried out through
statistical analysis using excel.
3.7 Ethical considerations
The research study would focus on maintaining effective, ethical integrity while conducting
the research process effectively. A consent form would be delivered, and prior consent would
be taken before collecting information from the participants. Furthermore, university
guidelines would be followed throughout the research study.
Chapter 4: Conclusion
This research proposal has successfully achieved its purpose of proposing the overview of the
research study that would be conducted effectively. The proposal has highlighted that the
main aim of this research study has been to involve different HRM practices and bring
stability to international companies. Based on this research aim, two major research
objectives and research questions have been framed. The overall research study would
certainly focus on achieving these research questions and objectives. The proposal has
effectively reviewed different literature and identified that existing literature has not mainly
focused on providing insight and analysis related to the impact of HRM policies on
improving the brand images of the international organisations while operating across
international markets. The research proposal has further provided an overview of the selected
research methods to conduct this study effectively. It has been found that the research study
has focused on selecting primary research methods, and data collection has been conducted
through survey questionnaires. Moreover, the proposal identified that statistical analysis had
been carried out during the research study in terms of conducting the data analysis of the
collected data.

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