Geographical Expansion of Personnel and Managing Staff Issues

The Justification for Choosing Ireland

While exploring options for a country to set up a coffee business branch, Ireland will always be among the most lucrative opportunities. Coffee consumption is part of the culture of the Irish. In fact, when one types 'Irish drinks' in Google search or other search engines, among the drinks that will come first is the Irish coffee. The latter depicts the dominant coffee culture and tradition in Ireland which can be explored. Statistics on the extent to which coffee is consumed worldwide indicates that Ireland is among the world's top 20 coffee consumers. The statistics indicate that in Ireland, per capita coffee consumption stands at 4.88 kilograms. Just is the case in the other parts of the United Kingdom, there is a boom of coffee consumption translating to increased demand for the item (Gerbens and Nonhebel, p.187, 2002).

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Traditionally, the Irish are known to be tea lovers. However, people have abandoned tea over time and favored coffee. Coffee preference, as well as consumption on a large scale, rest in coffee shops and cafe. At the moment, the trend is that people take tea in their homes, but while on their daily errands, they go to cafe for coffee. As the case is in the majority of coffee drinking nations, in Ireland, coffee taking trendsetters are major cities. It is in the regard of major cities being the trendsetters that Dublin City is preferred. It is from Dublin City that the love of coffee has gone around the whole island (Gerbens and Nonhebel, p.185, 2002).

According to Kearney (1988, n.b), the Irish have a culture of treating themselves to dates after work as a way of relaxing their minds after a busy day. Particularly in the evening, they like meeting in places of a different atmosphere from their working places. These are mainly cozy hotels with serene and aesthetically pleasing environment. Hank and Patty can find an excellent opportunity for growth in the habits of the Irish because it will be lousy to treat them on the mouth-watering fine coffee beans from Gumutindo Coffee and an environment that is both relaxing and with an East African feel to it. By so doing, the Hank and Patty will also have complied with their commitment to ethos by buying from Gumutindo Coffee, a Fairtrade supplier in Uganda that focuses on enabling farmers in Uganda to earn an independent income and to run their farms.

Gerbens and Nonhebel (p.185, 2002) contend that the value of the market of a coffee shop in Ireland in 2015 was $111.5. The value is increasing year in year out. It is predicted that due to the increasing coffee cafes popularity, the coffee market will realize the growth of 20% by 2019. The growing market does guarantee not only demand but also a good supply network for other minor inputs used in the preparation of coffee.

The choice of Dublin City is informed by the need for a supportive infrastructure for the logistical aspect of the business. Lennon (p.957, 2015) contends that Dublin City has one of the best utility service and infrastructure in the world today. The good transit systems are critical for the smooth logistical operations of a business. Adequate and efficient transit systems also promise a timely and uninterrupted supply of inputs. The roads are also a means through which prospective customers will be accessing the premises from the different parts of Ireland.

Impact of the Geographical Expansion of Personnel and Managing Staff Issues

The geographical expansion will have an effect of exposing the business to a different culture and ideas. Due to the aspect of diversity which the business will be experienced, the decision of Hank and Patty to go international will have a profound impact on personnel and the way they manage their activities. Hank and Patty, therefore, need to understand the effect of opening a branch in a different country on staff to know better how they will equip the business for the global environment that it is edging towards. The following is a discussion of some of the impacts.

Diversity in Recruitment

As the business edges towards globalization, it will start interacting with stakeholders and customers from varied cultures, social background, and languages. As a result, Hank and Patty will have to start hiring employees who have an equally diverse background. The rationale behind hiring employees with a different background is to make sure that they have people on staff with which customers can relate well with. Also, having the diverse team brings forth new ideas as well as influences in the business (Kapoor, p.7, 2001).

Emphasis on Professional Development

Another impact the opening of a branch in a different country is an increased emphasis on professional development for employees. Professional development involves providing workers with opportunities for realizing their goals that are career related. Hank and Patty, for instance, can help their workers attain some professional development by offering resources for enabling them to get a degree, send them to networking or conference events. It is essential to organize for the professional development for employees when a business wants to go international because the venture helps both the business and the employees. The organization enjoys the added expertise for dealing with a new market which has variables not known in the former market. The employees, on the other hand, feel that they are growing together with the organization (Kapoor, p.8, 2001).

Emphasis on Employee Training

Kapoor (p.8, 2001) opines that just like the need for professional development, expanding a business in another country calls for more focus on employee training. The training, however, dwells on the new needs in their job. For instance, the business can organize for foreign language classes. The emphasis on training employee is meant to earn the new business a competitive advantage in the foreign market by giving its employees diversity.

Laws Management Across Jurisdictions

Expanding the business to another country will also have the effect of the business has to understand as well as put into application the laws of a different jurisdiction that affect the business operation. If the business hires employees from the location of the new branch, for example, the minimum wage requirements can, working hours, as well as tax requirements, can change. Having a good understanding of the laws is vital to the business since a breach of any can severely impact the financials of the business as well as its reputation (Kapoor, p.9, 2001).

Conclusion

From the wide research of the study, one can indeed say that the idea of Hank and Patty to expand the business by opening another branch in a foreign country is viable. However, it cannot go without saying that it will not be a smooth ride. There are two sides to the study findings: that which supports the implementation of the idea, and that which opposes it.

The contra opinion to the idea of opening a branch in Ireland is the financial implications. Even though the business is not doing poorly from the look of profitability ratios, a lot of doubt for the success of the venture is brought in by the discouraging size of capital which is just $100,000. The $26,800 net profit is also not so encouraging of the idea of expansion. With the small capital, it is expected that the rate at which the business is making a profit can quickly generate capital to a level which is sufficient for expanding the business.

On the side of findings that support expansion, the first one is the market niche and the strategic choice of Ireland which promises a ready market for coffee. The coffee culture in Ireland is quite promising, and if it is coupled with the entry strategies discussed in the study, it gives the business a competitive advantage. Given the research, the opinion for the expansion outweighs the contrary opinion. The research suggests that Hank and Patty look for a way to get more funding to make their idea real.

References

Gerbens-Leenes, P.W., and Nonhebel, S., 2002. Consumption patterns and their effects on land required for food. Ecological Economics, 42(1-2), pp.185-199.

Kapoor, B., 2011. Impact of globalization on human resource management.

Kearney, R., 1988. Transitions: narratives in modern Irish culture. Manchester University Press.

Lennon, M., 2015. Green infrastructure and planning policy: a critical assessment. Local Environment, 20(8), pp.957-980.