¶ … bee researching the Chiquita Brand book Dreher, G. Dougherty, T. (2002). Human resource strategy: A behavioral perspective general manager. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Written Assignments Draft HRM Systems/Practices - You gathered data make decisions a set HRM systems practices recommend management. The increased competition in the globalized economic environment determines companies to rely on their human resources in order to add value to their products and services and to gain competitive advantage. In addition to this, the modifications influenced by environmental factors determine companies to develop flexible strategies that allow them to adapt to such changes. Therefore, companies must take into consideration several aspects when developing their strategy.

Although technical and financial resources are very important for the company's activity, human resources play a very important role in reaching the company's objectives. The diversity of the human resources is able to encourage and support innovation. Therefore, it is required that companies develop and implement strategies that focus on improving the potential of human resources.

Strategies regarding human resources should be able to address the necessities of the company, the necessities of employees, adapted to the requirements of the market. The literature in the field provides numerous theories and examples of theoretical models that can be successfully applied within companies' human resources strategy.

Company Presentation

The Chiquita Brand is one of the most well-known companies in the world. Although most people think the company is a bananas producer, Chiquita provides a wide selection of fruits. In addition to this, the company distributes natural fruit ingredients, healthy snacks, and nutritious blends of convenient green salads.

Although the initial company was established in 1870 Chiquita was registered as a trademark in the United States in 1947. Since its establishment, the company has significantly developed its activity, by developing its range of products and services, by expanding the geographical area it addresses, and by increasing its number of customers.

Products and Brands

Chiquita provides a wide variety of fruits like bananas, pineapples, grapes, melons, avocados, and others. The company also provides a variety of superior quality vegetables, fresh cut fruits, juices, beverages, packaged foods, salads, and fruit ingredients.

The company's brands include Chiquita, Fresh Express, Chiquita Minis, Chiquita Fruit Bites, and Chiquita Fruit Smoothies.

Company Operating Model

Chiquita has modified its operating model in order to adapt to the changes produced within the environment. The objectives that the company intended to reach are represented by:

Supporting stability and growth

Diversify profit streams

Reduce volatility

Improve the ability to deliver strong results

Maintain the company's position on the market

In order to reach these objectives, Chiquita was determined to continuously improve its structure. The company built a more efficient organization on global level and focused on assigning experienced people on management position. As one may observe, the company's human resources strategy focuses on granting high importance to management positions and on the quality of personnel.

In addition to this, Chiquita considers that the company's efficiency can be improved by diversifying the product range. This led to a more efficient supply chain. The company's banana and salad businesses were used by Chiquita as strategic points in order to improve profitability levels (Chiquita, 2009). This means that the company managed to limit its dependency on certain products or regions. Instead, Chiquita can focus on customers and their needs and requirements.

Therefore, the company's strategy is oriented towards customers. As a consequence, the human resources strategy must be aligned with the general strategic direction of the company. In order to be aligned with these objectives, the human resources strategy must also be oriented towards consumers. This means that the strategy must rely on improving customer satisfaction. This is related to employees working in production and on sales people. Given the objectives that must be reached by the company, it is recommended to develop a motivational system based on financial rewards.

The company also intends to build an organizational culture based on innovation. In other words, Chiquita understands the fact that in order maintain a strong position on the market it is necessary to develop new products and services that attract customers. This can be achieved by encouraging innovation. Regarding the human resources strategy, it is recommended to stimulate the entrepreneurial initiatives of individuals or groups within the company.

It is recommended that Chiquita develops and implements corporate entrepreneurship practices. This is because the size of the company, the large markets it addresses, the high number of customers that purchase Chiquita's products require that the company develops a strategy that is based on innovation and entrepreneurship (Ramachandran et al., 2010).

Competitive advantage

When developing the company's human resources strategy it is necessary to take into consideration the competitive advantage that the company...

Based on this factor, the company establishes what type of skills is needed from employees. In this case, the competitive advantage of Chiquita is based on food safety and quality. This means that the company requires experienced employees. Also, it is recommended that the company invests in training programs in order to increase the professional level of its workers. This way, employee loyalty can increase.
Strategic Recommendations

The human resources strategy that should be developed and implemented by Chiquita must take into consideration the following issues: people development and performance management, retention and reward, resource management, HR information, employee relations and communication.

The effectiveness of the human resources strategy is ensured by:

The strategy should be oriented towards developing the business

Several analyses must be made by professionals regarding the situation of Chiquita

The strategy should be able to be transformed into applicable programs

It must be integrated within the general strategy of the company

Refers to the stakeholders' interests

Resourcing strategy

The resourcing strategy in the field of human resources refers to hiring and retaining the right people for each position and employing them in order to best fit their skills and the needs of the company. In addition to this, the resourcing strategy deals with developing and implementing reward systems that are considered more appealing than those provided by the competition. The organizational culture influences the resourcing strategy.

Therefore, at Chiquita, the resourcing strategy must determine the number of people that the company must employ in order to satisfy its needs, to identify the skills and behaviors that should characterize the company's existing and potential employees, and to determine the changes that must be implemented by the company in order to improve organizational culture (Armstrong, 2006).

The resourcing strategy is based on:

Human resources planning

Resourcing plans

Retention strategy

Talent management strategy

In order to encourage innovation and to create competitive advantage, it is recommended that Chiquita focuses on developing a sustainable talent management strategy (Pettinger, 2004). Although the company should continuously train its employees, Chiquita must also ensure that it benefits from a large talent pool. In this strategy, the recruitment and selection process plays a very important role. During this process, the procedures must be able to identify candidates that are able to improve their potential and to prove their loyalty towards the company.

However, the company must ensure the satisfaction of such employees. This can be achieved by providing career development opportunities. As mentioned above, it is recommended that the company encourages and supports entrepreneurship and innovation. This strategy should be applied in all areas of the company. Each department can employ talented people.

The strategy that must be implemented by Chiquita focuses on the following aspects:

Rewards system -- the company must establish clear goals and objectives for each position. These objectives must be in accordance with the general strategy of the company. The rewards system must take into consideration positive and negative motivation. In addition to this, it is recommended to focus on financial stimulation.

Team working -- the company must ensure that employees are involved in team work. The labor processes within the company must be organized so that it encourages group work. At the same time, the company could support individualistic manifestation in certain areas. This is intended to increase flexibility, innovation, and creativity (City University, 2010). As a consequence, it is expected that productivity will increase.

Learning -- it is recommended that Chiquita builds an organizational culture based on continuous learning also. Such a culture determines employees to improve their professional standards. This is also useful in developing a sustainable research and development activity. This is important when trying to maintain competitive advantage.

Performance management

The organizational culture that Chiquita should develop is intended to establish performance levels. The company is famous for providing high quality products. In order to achieve such quality standards it is necessary that the resources of the company are employed on high performance standards. In order to maintain such standards, it is recommended to develop and implement a pay for performance system.

This also requires continuous investments in the training of personnel. Even if the company aims at hiring experienced people, it is necessary to focus on the professional development of employees. This would also help increase employee loyalty.

The main objectives that must be addressed by the performance management strategy are represented by:

Improving organizational and staff performance

Improving conflict management

Improving staff skills

Improving diversity

Improving the rewards system

In addition to this, the human resources strategy at Chiquita should also focus on improving leadership and management capabilities. This can…