INTRODUCTION

HR in Indian Retail The Indian Retail Industry stood at a value of a whooping US $330 billion in 2007 with the likes of Reliance Retail and Wal-mart joining the conglomerates from inside and outside the country. It is estimated that the retail sector will reach around US $600 billion by the turn of this decade. Significantly retail industry contributes about 10% to the GDP of India, and it is the largest source of employment after agriculture in the country.

Scope for employment opportunities: It is small wonder then that retail sector has open the floodgates of employment opportunities to the Indian youth. Statistics reveal that the organized retail sector has increasing employee base burgeoning from 5.4 lakh to an awesome 16 lakh over the last couple of years. About 11.5 lakh jobs in the organized retail sector and 2 million jobs in the unorganized retail sector will be thrown open by 2010 what with the likes of key players in including Pantaloon India, RPG Retail, Lifestyle, Wills lifestyle, Shoppers shop, Trent Ltd, Crosswords Bookstores Ltd., Ebony Retail Ltd. and Reliance Retail Ltd. And the retail sector has abundant opportunities for part time positions as well due to the long working hours.

Compensation packages: In general, hefty salary packages with attractive perks and allowances are offered by the employers luring the talent of this country into the retail industry. Surprisingly the average salary of even a fresher could be up to Rs.20,000/- with an assured average

salary hike of 16% per annum. In some organizations the growth in salary ranges from Rs.60,000/- to Rs.70,000/- annually.

HR practices in some of the most successful retail verticals in India: Apparels: Pantaloon India: Here is a retail giant which hires at least 250 MBAs for operations and merchandising profiles. The candidates go through an induction period and a short training thereon. Individuals are allotted projects for the next five months under the supervision of project guides. They are placed in suitable positions thereafter, with progressive authority and responsibility.

Indian software industry: The challenge for HR professionals in software industry is sheer shortage of high intellectual human capital both in numbers and skills. Recruitment of world class workforce and their retention is a serious challenge posed in HR industry. The yawning gap between the demand and supply of professionals has increased the cost of delivering the technology. The incentive compensation is based on performance keeping the long term organizational objectives in mind. Optimized compensation packages are offered as a motivator for retention of manpower.

Food and grocery: It is estimated that the food and grocery market in India is an astounding $236 billion, and it is the sixth largest grocery market in the world today. No doubt that human resources are an important asset in this food and grocery retail industry. Many top companies have made HR a strategic partner in their operations. One famous example is Nestle, the global giant in consumer packaged goods. Nestle has a strong internally developed employee backing which gives a major push to the company's lead position in the retail industry.

Attrition rates and retention of personnel:There seems to be a high level of attrition in the retail sector which is almost 40% according to a recent study. Front end jobs are facing an attrition rate as high as even 80%. Under the present circumstances, retention and motivation of personnel has become the major concern of HR. A congenial working atmosphere, support learning and training facilities, a highly competitive pay structure are some of the effective retention practices followed by the retail sector. While money is the main attraction for freshers and starters, career satisfaction is the main reason with experienced personals. Assigning the "right project to the right person" is the organizational motto these days with companies setting up Manpower Allocation Cells (MAC) to carry out this agenda. Looking at the current scenario, it could be said that there is an acute shortage of middle level management professionals in the Indian Retail Industry. The current trend is to hire from a smaller organization tempting the incumbent with a better pay package. It is imperative that suitable talent be hired in various areas such as technology, supply chain, logistics, product development and marketing in order to stay abreast of the hectic race for success among MNCs. The call is for HR practitioners to play a more proactive and prominent role in order to retain the high tech skilled employees who are constantly looking for greater gains and prospects in their work. This is the real HR challenge to retain the "knowledge workers" and "knowledgeable workers" by introducing new processes and procedures and still ride high in implementing organizational effectiveness. "Take away my factories, but leave my people, and soon we will have a new and better factory." With growing consumerism, unprecedented awareness, and a youth-hefty customer base, India is perceived as 'Most Promising Land' for the Global and domestic retailers. According to AT Kearney's 2007 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), for the third consecutive year, India remains the top retail investment destination among the 30
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emerging markets across the world. As per the report of McKinsey Global Institute (2007), India is becoming the world's 12th Trillion dollar economy, and further it predicts that India is well on its way to become the world's fifth-largest consumer market by 2025. Currently, India is ranked as the 12th largest consumer market in the world. The Indian retail market is professed as potential goldmine and is attracting a large number of giant international and domestic players in anticipation of explosive growth. The organized retail sector is likely to increase its share from the current 4% to over 20% by 2010, as the overall retail sector grows from $328 billion to $430 billion, as per report by FICCI (2007) on the retail sector. The boom in the retail sector in India and its corresponding spike in demand for talent has under scored the need for effective HR systems. The function of human resources has special significance in retail as the employees operate in a unique environment. In any retail organization, the people who deal with the customers at a one to one level are considered to be the face of the organization. According to a recent study conducted by Wharton (2007) at a Canadian consulting firm on retail customer dissatisfaction, it was found that disinterested, ill-prepared and unwelcoming salespeople lead to more lost business and word-of-mouth than any other management challenge in B.D. Singh and Sita Mishra are Sr. Professor and Asst. Professor respectively in the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, retailing. Thus, there is utmost need for effective HR systems to encourage and develop employees, manage performance, reward recognition which helps to increase the opportunity for employee advancement and to retain engaged employees.

The impact of human resource management (HRM) policies and practices The impact of human resource management (HRM) policies and practices on firm performance is an important topic in the field of human resource management, industrial relations, and industrial and organizational psychology. A number of texts have appeared in recent years promoting the advantages of using high involvement human resource practices (Arthur 1994, Kochan & Osterman, 1994, Levine 1995, Pfeffer 1998, Guthurie
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2001) as well as on the use of High Performance Work Practices, which can improve the knowledge, skills, and abilities of a firm's current and potential employees, increase their motivation, reduce shirking, and enhance retention of quality employees (Jones & Wright 1992). In the existing literature, focus on the issue that human resource management practices is developing rapidly as it helps to create a source of sustained competitive advantage, especially when they are aligned with a firm's competitive strategy (Cappelli & Singh 1992, Jackson & Schuler 1995, Wright & McMahan 1992). In India, the rapid development in this sunrise sector accelerates the need for the right kind of employees who can take care of retail operations. The success of any player in this lucrative sector depends not only on understanding target market and implementing marketing mix strategies but also on how effectively a retailer develops systems of high performance work practices including comprehensive employee recruitment and selection procedures, incentive compensation and performance management systems, and extensive employee involvement and training. An increasing body of work evaluated the links between systems of High Performance Work Practices and firm performance (Arthur 1994, Miller & Cardinal 1994, macDuffie 1995, Huselid 1995). In India, sudden and unprecedented growth in organised retailing poses a challenge to human resources development. Therefore, it would be useful to look at the dimension of human resource practices in retail industry, emerging requirements and challenges and measures to improve work atmosphere in Indian scenario. Although a few studies have initiated their efforts on analyzing HR challenges in Indian retail sector (Chella 2002, Chakraborthy 2007, Abraham & Kumudha 2007), there are gaping holes in the existing research: in particular the factors leading to the type of HR policy carried out in the Indian retail sector is largely neglected. The focus of this paper is on examining the various factors affecting human resources in Indian retail sector and accordingly suggesting measures for HR policy.

FDI IN INDIAN RETAIL SECTOR The Indian parliament has allowed FDI in retail on December 7, 2012. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, feels that this will be beneficial for both consumers and farmers. Agricultural marketing is also expected to be benefited with the introduction of new technologies. He has also stated that this decision had the support of the farmers in Punjab. The Prime Minister has also been responsible for bringing about this policy that aims to make India friendlier for businessmen. With this decision, international companies, especially the supermarkets, will now be able to increase their presence in the multi brand retail sector of India. However, they will not be allowed to own more than 51% stakes in these establishments. This step is being regarded as the most important one in the last 2 decades, especially with regards to reforms in India. As far as regulations are concerned, the Indian government does not really need any approval regarding this matter from the legislators. However, legislative consent has still been sought keeping in mind its importance and value in the overall context.

FDI in retail: Political Controversies There has been a fair share of controversy surrounding the decision to permit FDI in multi brand retail sector. In the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the bicameral Indian legislature, the motion against the decision faced a substantial defeat with UPA, the reigning coalition, receiving the votes of BSP. Previously the proponents of the move were trailing by 14 votes (109 votes for as opposed to 123 votes against) and this was after a debate where the decision to enable 51 percent FDI in the multi-brand retail sector came under attack from the opposition. The government had, on its part, aimed to justify the decision saying it was only for the best interests of India.
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Reasons for promotion of FDI in Retail The major benefit of FDI is that it is both supplementary and complimentary with regards to local investment. FDI lets a company gain better access to top class technology and supplementary funds. They are also exposed to management practices in vogue around the world and also get the chance to become a part of the global market system. The Indian government had commissioned Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) to perform a study on the effect of organized retailing practices on its unorganized counterpart. ICRIER submitted the report during 2008. The study hinted at the advantages that the growth of organized retail will have for various participants like the consumers, manufacturers, and farmers. The government has decided on the basis of the results in other countries and the ICRIER study that this decision will result in a greater influx of FDI in both back and front end infrastructure. It is expected that the agricultural sector will become more efficient and be in a better position to use technology. It is also expected that this decision will result in more and better jobs being created and the best practices around the world will be introduced in India. Both farmers and consumers will see more convenient prices and higher quality in future and this will help both the classes. The government has also put in an obligatory condition for procuring 30 percent in order to provide a fillip to the manufacturing sector in India. Jobs are expected to be available in both rural and urban areas thanks to greater back and frontal operations resulting from more FDI. Present retail entities and traders are also expected to brush up their acts and increase their efficiency as a result of this decision. As a result of this the consumers are expected to receive better services and the producers who provide the source products can also gain better payment.

PROCESS OF FDI IN RETAIL There is no such procedure for short listing the companies. International companies who are willing to invest in either single or multi brand retail can put in their applications with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Here the applications will be reviewed in an effort to determine their suitability as per the stated guidelines. Afterwards the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, Ministry of Finance will consider the applications before providing the final approval.

Advantages and possible positive impact of FDI in retail The retailing industry is one of the biggest around the world when it comes to the privately owned ones. The industry has seen some major restructuring thanks to the FDI structure becoming more liberal than before. The benefits of FDI in retail, as per experts, carry greater weightage than the cost related implications. With FDI in retail, operations in distribution and production cycles are expected to become better. Owing to factors such as economic operation, the cost of production facilities will come down as well. This will mean a greater choice of products at lesser and justifiable prices for the customers. As a result of FDI, companies will be able to bring in technology and skills from other countries and this will help in infrastructural development of India. This will also help in creating more value for money for the buyers. After FDI in retail, it will be possible to set up a properly organized chain of retail stores as the capital to do so will be there readily. The investment can be regarded as a long term one as the physical capital put into a domestic company is not liquidated easily. This is its main difference from equity capital. ICRIER had also predicted that if FDI in retail was introduced in India during 2011-12 the Indian economy could have grown by 13%, the unorganized sector could have seen a 10% growth and the organized sector could have increased by 45%.
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Disadvantages and possible negative impact of FDI in retail Experts say that while analyzing the positives and drawbacks of FDI in retail both the government and the opposition did not refer to the Parliament Committee report where its effects had been studied in great detail. The committee had taken into cognizance many witnesses, NGOs, individuals, and trade associations to come up with the said report. The Committee visited various corners of India and also went through reports and gathered knowledge about the experience of similar decisions in other countries. It also enquired several government departments regarding the matter. The Committee had surmised in its report that the number of people getting jobs will be lesser than the amount of people losing the same as a substantial amount of marginal and small farmers will be wiped out as a result. Some other problems expected out of this were aggressive pricing and prevalence of monopoly. As per the Committee's report almost 8 percent of India's workforce is employed by the unorganized retail sector. This comes up to roughly 40 million people. It has been stated that FDI in retail will generate 2 million jobs. However, the Committee had stated that it is not a proper indication as it does not take into account the number of people who already work in the retail sector. ICRIER had executed a second study on the effects of FDI in retail during 2011 and in that one it had stated FDI will bring about a fantastic shopping experience for the consumers. It had actually interviewed 300 people from the middle and high income groups. Thus, in effect, the efforts of the Parliament Committee were overlooked for a private organization. Experts have questioned the logic of ICRIER to question 300 people in a country with a 1.2 billion population and more than 40% who can be termed as poor. In a recent Right to Information (RTI) query regarding whether the Center did any study on the matter of FDI in retail, the Commerce Ministry had stated in the negative.

The Parliamentary Committee report on FDI was never discussed at the parliament itself, and this as per experts, is not a good sign as far as the democratic system in India is concerned. As per ICRIER consumerism is positive for economic growth. In 2008 the first survey had dealt with 2020 small and unorganized retailers whereas the total count of such entities in India at that time was 6 million. According to experts, not a single study dealt with the reasons for FDI in retail. Leading economic experts from outside India have also posed the same question. They have also pointed at the labor practices of organizations such as Wal-Mart. Most of these are not exactly healthy for workers as per them. This has also led them to ask if such processes were really required in India. It is being said that the lobby favoring FDI in retail in India has invested at least INR 52 crore and experts opine this could have had a major say in the way things panned out. Political opposition to FDI in retail The main opposition party in India, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was opposed to FDI in retail. As stated by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and prominent leader, Sushma Swaraj, they were okay with FDI in sectors like power and airport. They stated that the UPA never tried to create any consensus regarding the issue or talk with the opposition prior to their campaign in support of FDI in retail. Swaraj has also expressed her worries regarding the possible condition of small traders and farmers once FDI was introduced in retail. She stated that the big retailers were not coming to India because they wanted to be charitable but because they saw India as a major market. Mulayam Singh Yadav, the head of Samajwadi Party, and an opponent of FDI in retail has also questioned the logic of introducing the same only in the bigger cities with more than 10 lakh people. He has asked if the big companies are wary that they may not earn as much in the smaller areas.

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Yadav is critical as his party is an external supporter of UPA. He feels that this decision will only result in unemployment. Trinamool Congress (TMC), a former ally of UPA, had left the coalition during September 2012 as a mark of protest against steps like FDI in retail. The party had stated that it will fight in every possible way against the same. Saugata Roy, a TMC leader has stated that the retailers could end up ruling the country the same way British did 3 centuries back.

Economic analysis of effects of FDI in retail There are two main views regarding how FDI in retail will effect the common people in India and in both of them deregulation is the major issue. The advocates of FDI in retail believe that when the economically affluent have concessions it will lead to greater investments and economic progress, which will in turn help the ones below them. The opponents think that if the market is deregulated then human expenses will shoot up due to lack of an order. However, it is still possible that when the marginal farmers are displaced they can find jobs in the major establishments in other capacities.

FDI in Retail sector in India: How does this affect? Retailing defines the direct interface between the manufacturers and the end users who are basically individual consumers. The retail business owners stock up all goods after purchasing it directly from the manufacturers and then sell it to individual customers keeping a profit margin for themselves. Of late the retailing industry in India has bloomed with much coveted success causing positive impact on the national economy. As per the recent revelations by the popular International Management Consultancy AT Kearney, India has been considered the second most lucrative destinations of the world for retail business.

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In

India,

retailing

industry

is

segregated

into

two

classes-

organized

retailing and unorganized retailing. Organized retailing entails trading conducted by licensed retailers and unorganized retailing includes all types of low cost trading like local shops, small roadside stores and temporary shops or door to door selling of various goods.Until now, according to the Indian retailing laws, Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail market was prohibited. But government is thinking to open the FDI in retail in India which implies that foreign investment in retailing is possible up to 51%. Now the announcement of retail FDI in India has triggered a series of debates on both positive and negative notes and become political issue. So lets discuss these things, what all this means to you through advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages of FDI in retail sector in India:

Growth in economy: Due to coming of foreign companies new infrastructure will be build, thus real estate sector will grow consequently banking sector, as money need to be required to build infrastructure would be provided by banks.

Job opportunities: Estimates shows that this will create about 80Lakh jobs. These career opportunities will be created mostly in retail, real estate. But it will create positive impact on others sectors as well. Read about career options in Retail sector..

Benefits to farmers: In most cases, in the retailing business, the intermediaries have dominated the interface between the manufacturers or producers and the consumers. Hence the farmers and manufacturers lose their actual share of profit margin as the lions share is eaten up by the middle men. This issue can be resolved by FDI, as farmers might get contract farming where they will supply to a retailer based upon demand and will get good cash for that, they need not to search for buyers.

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Benefits to consumers: Consumer will get variety of products at low prices compared to market rates, and will have more choice to get international brands at one place.

Lack of infrastructure in the retailing chain has been one of the common issues in India for years which has led the process to an incompetent market mechanism. For example, in spite of India being one of the largest producers of vegetables and fruits, lack of proper count of cold storages has significantly affected the selling of these perishable items. FDI might help India overcome such issues by channelizing the resources in the right manner.

In the last years, the Public distribution system is proved to be significantly ineffective. In spite of the fact that the government arranged for subsidies, the food inflation has caused its negative impact continuously and it can be handled by FDI.

Disadvantages of FDI in retail sector in India:

According to the non-government cult, FDI will drain out the countrys share of revenue to foreign countries which may cause negative impact on Indias overall economy.

The domestic organized retail sector might not be competitive enough to tackle international players and might loose its market share.

Many of the small business owners and workers from other functional areas may lose theirjobs, as lot of people are into unorganized retail business such as small shops.

However the government is quite stringent on this issue and determined to allow FDI in India. The actual impacts would be observed over time and till then the laymen have nothing but to hope for the best!

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Walmart Lobbying and Political Corruption in Retail FDI: Recent reports presented by Walmart to US Govt. revealed that it spend Rs. 125 cr in lobbying Indian lawmakers to get access to Indian market. These facts are serious, if Govt. is doing all this in favour of bribery and money then results might not be good as it is projected. Since Walmart will continue to mould things in their favour by lobbying and bribery as political corruption is well known in Indian politics. They can be purchased easily.

Foreign Direct Investment in Indian Retail:A Content Analytic Approach to Understanding Past Imperfections & Future Imperatives Retailing in India is evolving rapidly, with consumer spending growing by unprecedented rates at one end along with an increasing number of global retail firms willing to invest in this sector at the other (Chopra, 2006). The sector is on a high-growth trajectory and is expected to grow by more than 27 percent over the next five to six years (Chopra, 2006). The Indian retail market is going through a revolution. Increasing urban demographics, rapid development of shopping malls, an emerging class of brand-conscious consumers, and various influences from the western world are changing the face of the Indian retail industry.

Indias GDP and Growth The gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the primary indicators used to gauge the health of a countrys economy. Indias GDP growth of 9.4 percent in 200607 was the highest posted in over 18 years, reflecting the booming economy of the country (Prahalad, 2007). In 2005, Indias GDP was $690 billion US (more than $3 trillion in Purchasing Power Parity), which was comparable to that of the United States (Biswas, 2006). This rise in GDP, a high growth rate, along with the increasing spending power of Indians, is leading to the phenomenon of consumerism (Halepete and Iyer, 2008).

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Retail Sectors in India Although India has been declared one of the most attractive destinations for retail development (A. T. Kearney, 2007), there has been minimal research on the different retail structures (organized and unorganized) and their challenges in India. Limited research has been done in regard to understanding the Indian market for better positioning of foreign direct investment (FDI). For decades there have been only traditional retail operations in India such as small mom-and-pop stores and friendly neighborhood outlets that sold fast-moving consumer goods and other commodities in a limited variety (Hunter, 2005). It is important to note that this unorganized (traditional) sector accounts for 96 percent of the total Indian retail market. In the 1980s, manufacturer retail chains like DCM, Gwalior Suitings, Bombay Dyeing, Calico, and Titan started making their appearance in larger cities like Delhi and Mumbai and smaller towns like Pune (Bijapurkar, 2007). Multibrand retailers, such as Marks and Spencer, came into the picture in the 1990s (Sreejith and Jagathy, 2007), and the year 2000 saw the emergence of supermarkets and hypermarkets. The growth of organized (nontraditional) Indian retail has been characterized by sprawling shopping centers, multistoried malls, and huge complexes offering shopping, entertainment, and food under one roof (Dominic, 2007). Retailers, however, face several roadblocks. An underdeveloped supply chain, lack of a strong cold chain, and poor warehousing facilities and storage are just a few areas of concern, especially for perishable goods. We have analyzed and categorized the challenges facing foreign direct investment in India. The relevant literature and industry observations formed the data sources for our content analysis concerning the current Indian retail market environment. Sources included academic journals, newspapers, trade publications, and industry Web sites.

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What Formed the Sources for Our Content Analysis? Our analysis included assessment of publications on the development of the Indian retail industry (www.indianground.com, 2008; Gupta, 2005; www.expresstextiles.com, 2005). These publications were mainly published between the years 2000 and 2008 in order to make sure that the most current industry and market activity were captured. Publications included popular Internet sites, industry publications, and reports by

PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, A. T. Kearney, Ernst & Young, and TATA Strategic Management Group. Other sources included blog spots and interviews of executive managers working in retail in newspaper publications like Business Line and The Hindu. The goal of the analysis was to identify evidence reflecting the challenges and threats to the organized (nontraditional) and unorganized (traditional) Indian retail industry constituencies and the infrastructure to support their co-existence in India. The aforementioned sources were analyzed to find recurrent themes on the threats these two sectors face because of the retail boom in India. This process was viewed as a first step toward documenting and understanding channel activity and relationships between the traditional and nontraditional sectors of the Indian retail industry. Data sources were supplemented by the personal and professional experiences of one of the authors, an Indian national and academician. Besides analyzing the industry reports, consumer reviews from various blog sites on the Internet were analyzed to take into account the standpoint of diverse consumers' views on the issue of retail diversification due to foreign direct investment in the Indian market.

Challenges of HR in Indian retail industry Before figuring out the measures of improving HR practices in India, let us have a look at some of the challenges in HR practices.

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HR practices need up gradation Since Indian retail industry is burgeoning at a tremendous pace, its Human Resource HR practices need deep introspection. Let us find out the challenges of HR in retail industry in India and measures to overcome these effectively. The Indian retail industry is accelerating rapidly. The rising consumerism and increased disposable income have propelled the growth of Indian retail sector at a rate of 30 per cent annually. In addition, according to a McKinsey report, with the rise of Indian Consumer Market, retail industry in India is estimated to grow four times by 2025. The above statistics highlight the fact that retail industry in India is going to witness a challenging task of managing its HR practices. Since retail industry is highly manpower oriented, its HR practices require deep analysis. HR means managing the employees and includes all the management decisions and practices that directly affects or influence the people working for the organization. Moreover, the emergence of international retail players in India has also driven the need for a better HR strategy in place. Sharing his views about the challenges of HR in retail industry in India, Deepanshu Khurana, CEO, i360 says, The attrition rate of retail industry is very high and the working culture of the industry is very stressful, thus to overcome these challenges, organizations must incorporate innovative HR practices. For example, monetary benefits should be given to the employees from time to time, motivating them continuously, communicating them with encouraging words, will help them retain for longer period of time.

Unskilled manpower: The organised retailing is a massive man power oriented industry that recruits a large pool of employees. However, there is a huge scarcity of skilled retail professionals. This can be attributed to the fact that retail has never been considered as a prominent profession in India as there were very few retail professional courses till few years back. Retail has always been considered to be a family business which one

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generation passes on to another. However, retail has achieved the status of a profession and some courses are now available for retail profession aspirants.

SOME ASPECTS OF WALMART RETAIL Part 1: the analysis of corporate strategy and HR strategy at Wal-Mart. From this case material we could also see that Walmart purchased massive quantities of items from its suppliers to form scale economy, and with the efficient stock control system helping make its operating costs lower than those of its competitors. It also imported many goods from China, the world factory for its low cost. So in a word the company-level strategy of Walmart is low cost and low cost, with little differentiation strategy. Managers engage in three levels of strategic planning (Gary Dessler, 2005): the corporate-level strategy; the business-level strategy and the function-level strategy. The functional strategy should serve the overall company strategy so the corporate strategy could be implemented more effectively and efficiently. As for Walmart, its corporatelevel strategy and business-level strategy, as we analyzed above, is the low cost leadership. Then well focus on its functional strategy, especially its HR strategy. Besides the above factors, Walmart builds its low cost leader on employment policies that help it to achieve extraordinarily low employment costs. Through low-cost HR activities, Walmart tried to maintain its predominate competitive advantage.

Part 2: The analysis of HR policies at Walmart and its integration with Corporate Strategy. The basic premise that underlying SHRM is that organizations adopting a particular strategy require HR practices that are different from those required by organizations adopting alternative strategies (Jackson&Schuler, 1995). Generally, there are three SHRM theoretical models in the study of this discipline: the universalistic best practices,
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the contingency perspective of best fit and the resource-based configuration perspective. Here I would not deliberate on all these three models to examine the HR practices at Walmart, but just choose the contingency perspective of best fit. With this view, the individual HR practices will be selected based on the contingency of the specific context of a company. Like the Walmart has different corporate strategy with those retailers with differentiation strategy, which actually cultivates the primary contingency factor in the SHRM literature. Whats more, we should be reminded that the individual HR practices will interact with firm strategy to result in organizational performance, and just for this interaction effects make the universal best practices may not apply so well in a specific company. In the above part we have put great emphasis in identifying and analyzing the primary contingency factor of Walmarts corporate strategy, so in the following part well examine the fitness of HR practices in Walmart with this theoretical model, which is obviously also the integration process of HR practices with the contingency variables to some extent. As there are the HR policies and activities (such as how the company recruits, selects, and trains and rewards employees) that comprise the HR system itself, here we could illustrate the integration just by the sequence of the HR activities. From the recruitment Walmart has tried its best to reduce the cost considering so big number of its employees. For example, the New York Times (January 2004) reported on an internal Walmart audit which found extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations requiring time for breaks and meals. The cheap price of children labors and minors make it earn more cost competitive advantage over other companies. Walmart also faced a barrage of lawsuits alleging that the company discriminates against workers with disabilities, for the recruitment of these guys means providing more facilities for them and the lost of efficiency to some extent. From training perspective, Walmart refers to its employees as associates, and encourages managers to think of themselves as servant leaders, that is, to encourage them to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organizations values and integrity. An organizations strategy necessitates behavioral requirement for success, and the use of HR practices in the organization can reward and
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control employee behavior, therefore the organization should implement HR practices that encourage the employee behaviors that are consistent with the organizations

strategy (Delery, John E; Doty, D Harold, 1996). Through this training and encouragement, Walmart tried to adjust the employee behaviors and competencies to what the companys strategy requires, that is to low down cost more. This logic also is embodied in its lock-in of its night time shift in various stores. Through this enforced policy, Walmart tried to prevent shrinkage behavior of its employees, to eliminate unauthorized cigarette breaks or quick trips home. From the performance management perspective, Walmart made very high demanding standards and job designs. The New York Times reported Walmart had extensive violations of state regulations requiring time for breaks and meals. And there are so many instances of minors working too late, during school hours, or for too many hours in a day, for the performance appraising just force them to do so. In the Career management, Walmart also goes great lengths to reduce cost, there are many cases that women sued Walmart for its discriminated policy against women by systematically denying them promotions and paying them less than men. Women are pushed into female departments and are demoted if they complain about unequal treatment just for more cost reduction against its competitors. From the compensation management perspective, Walmart has also showed very aggressive HR policies and activities to fit the low-cost strategy. Walmart imported $15 billion worth of goods from china, not only for the strategic consideration of supplier chain economy, but also Walmart has some factories in china, whose products are branded with Walmart name. With this method, Walmart pays much less to Chinese labors in this world-factory and earn some advantages, so we could just see how the Walmart corporate strategy is just intensely integrated with its HR policy. In 2002, operating costs for Walmart were just 16.6 percent of total sales, compared to a 20.7 average for the retail industry as a whole, which supported greatly the overall strategy. Walmart workers in California earn on average 31 percent less than workers employed in large retail as a whole. Actually, with other operating and inventory costs set by higher level management, store managers must turn to wages to increase profits, and Walmart
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expects the labor costs to be cut by two-tenths of a percentage point each year. So these aggressive HR polices, are just the most fittest. From the employee benefit and safety perspective, Walmarts HR policies are also well aligned with the corporate-level strategy. At Walmart, workers eligible for benefits such as health insurance must pay over the odds for them. In 1999, employees paid 36 percent of the costs. In 2001, the employee burden rose to 42 percent. While in the US, large-firm employees pay on average 16 percent of the premium for health insurance. Unionized supermarket workers typically pay nothing. Walmart was frequently accused of not providing employees with affordable access to health care, but the top managers and HR managers know their focus was just to try their most to implement the low-cost strategy. Finally, from the labor relations perspective, Walmart couldnt have done better to show us how the contingency model of best fitness works. Sam Walton sought to bring great value through aggressive discounting to customers, to implement its low-cost strategy. Because unionized supermarket workers typically pay nothing, Walmart has strong anti-union policy. Allegations of firing workers sympathetic to labor organizations have been made, all new employees are shown a propaganda video tape which said joining a union would have bad implication for them, and the employees should never sign a union card. In the UK it was reported in the Guardian that Walmart is facing the prospect of a bruising legal battle with the GMB trade union in a row over collective bargaining rights, for the union would not accepting Walmart withdrew a 10% pay offer to more than 700 workers after they rejected a new package of terms and conditions, which included giving up rights to collective pay bargaining. Here there may be some doubt why Walmart has recently allowed unionization in their stores in China, where unionization is mandatory. But actually this mandatory rule is made a long time before Walmart walk into china, so why Walmart give up its persistence in not having a some unions, and its former reason to China government is that it did not have any unions in its global working. So how do we see Walmarts compromise if that constitutes a compromise? It has been argued that doing business in China is particularly difficult because of the higher relative importance of personal relationships (guanxi), as opposed
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to the specification and enforcement of contracts in the West (Davies et al, 1995). Walmart China has tried every effort to develop good relationships with China government and other influence groups. So Walmart made this exception of have unionizations is just in accordance with its corporate strategy and HR strategy. If it ignores the Chinese governments firm rule, its cost would just outweigh what it would save by organizing no unions in its labor relations management. And also it forgets not its basic corporate and HR strategy, for in china Walmart provides little power for workers and the unions are controlled by the state. So from this we could further understand how Walmart would adjust its HR policies and activities to fit its corporate strategy contingency.

Part 3: the role of the HR manager in this company? So in the above part we have assessed how various human resource practices and systems of Walmart fit the organizations competitive corporate strategy. Then what the role of HR managers in this company, who are HR professionals with strategic and other skills required to build a strategy-oriented HR system. As managers in one of the functional departments of Walmart, they have tried their best to fit the corporat e strategy to low down cost. They made some rules and policies, for example, they implement anti-union policy in its stores to reduce extra-costs from union workers; they help implement lock-in policies; they tried to resist disability people for the efficiency loss; they discriminate women by giving them much fewer money and opportunities to be promoted, and actually the male workers in Walmart also got much lower salary compared with industry average level. Walmart HR managers also tried to adjust the employee behaviors and competencies to what the companys strategy requires through the actions and policies of the firms strategy-supporting HR system, and some of which we have listed. So in the above paragraph, we have analyzed the role of HR mangers in Walmart using the best fit model, in the next we would attempt to analyze their role from two other models. Huselids (1995) work reflects what has come to be known as the
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universalistic or best practice approach to SHRM, which assumes that there ar e certain best HRM practices that will contribute to increased financial performance, regardless of the strategic goals of the firm. In this case, for example, Walmart HR managers refers to its employees as associates, and encourages managers to think of themselves as servant leaders, that is, to encourage them to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organizations values and integrity. All such kinds of HR policies just are universal best practices adopted by HR department in all good companies. No matter Walmart adopted low-cost strategy or differentiation strategy, these policies and practices would bring no extra cost, but would motivate employees to contribute more to the corporate, and even help to form even good corporate culture, to reduce much more lawsuits and form good relationships with the community and government. And then there is also a call for a configurational approach to SHRM, and this theoretical model argues that there are specific ideal types of HRM systems that provide both horizontal and vertical fit of HRM practices to organizational structure and strategic goals. More specifically, there are certain, specific systems of HRM practices that result in the highest internal consistency and complementarity (horizontal fit), as well as congruence with organizational goals (vertical fit). In the part 2, we have seen how Walmart HR managers have coordinated a systematic type of HRM policies to complement each other, to be congruent with organizational goals (Gerald R.Ferris, 1999). Part 4: some advices to improve the employment practices at Walmart. Actually from the above analysis of the role of HR managers, we knew from different theoretical SHRM models, there are still many things for HR managers to improve. The resource-based view focuses on firm resources that can be sources of competitive advantage within the industry. Three basic types of resources can provide this competitive advantage (Barney, 1991). Human capital resources include such things as the skills, judgment, and intelligence of the firms employees. So from the case material we just most information concerning how Walmart exploited its workers by various HR policies to low down the cost to the minimum level, which would certainly reduce the loyalty and dedication of those human resource in the company. And besides
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referring to its employees as associates, and encourages managers to think of themselves as servant leaders, there seems little training and other activities taken to develop its valuable human resources, while human capital and learning could be a core source of sustainable competitive advantage (Nile & Jeffrey, 2004). As for the specific training and develop methods and forms, it would depend upon the specific and proper time, place and the right store. But whats worth mention is the HR managers should pay more dynamic and long-term attention when it calculates the future benefits of such HR practices. As for the present employment practices, even with the contingency model of best fit, there may still many opportunities for improvement. Its really hard to be measure whether Walmarts aggressive actions to bring cost down really get its strategy in the long term. The workers are complaining its discrimination and low compensation policies, and they bring many charges against Walmart in the world. The government and other communities are just turning more and more sensitive to Walmarts way of aggressive acting, all these bring big damage, or even bigger cost, to Walmarts reputation and may very well affect its ability of long-term profitability. It imported so much goods from China, and it even possess some sweat shops in less developed countries to produce products with Walmart brand, which cultivate many problems such as business ethics, followed by the opposition of its consumers, the final source of profit. So it seems Walmart HR professional would harvest more by seeing the long-term potential cost, and with more advanced management tools.

Table 1 lists these broadly identified issues. These broader issues were categorized into four major categories. These categories are illustrated in Figure 1. Table 1. Main Problems Faced by the Retail Sectors in India The organized retail industry in India is faced with stiff competition from the unorganized sector. There is a shortage of quality real estate and infrastructure in the country.
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1 2

3 4 5

Opposition to foreign direct investment from small traders affects the retail industry. Very high stamp duties on transfer of property affect the industry. The shortage of retail space in central and downtown locations also hinders the growth of retail industry. The presence of strong pro-tenancy laws makes it difficult to evict tenants, which poses problems. Land-use conversion is time-consuming and becoming complex. Settling property disputes consumes lot of time. Rigid building laws make procurement of retail space difficult. Nonresidents are not allowed to own property except when they are of Indian origin. There is a prohibition of foreign investment in the real estate business. Customs duties are levied on the import of goods in India. Indian youth consider sales associate jobs to be blue collared. State laws for business are different and are shaped by religion rather than global business logic

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Figure 1. Categorization of the Problems in the Indian Retail Sectors

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Discussions on changing in Indian retail Availability of retail space. Traditional Indian shops have been small, about 1000 sq. ft. Many of the inner-city buildings are old and dilapidated and unfit for global retailers. Obtaining land to establish retail stores in Tier I (metropolitan) cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi is a significant issue in India. In many places, land titles are disputed and unclear with regard to ownership (Khanna and Palepu, 2006). There are many limitations on retail land use. Many buildings have been constructed illegally, and business is being conducted from residential premises. These problems have forced new entrants in the retail areas to seriously consider Tier II (nonmetropolitan) cities such as Kolkata and Mangalore (Halpete and Iyer, 2008). This is forcing retailers to build in the outskirts of the city and hope that people come to them (Kottoli, 2006). This demand for legal space has contributed to the increase in rentals. Malls in Delhi and the national capital region are commanding a premium now with the increase in the demand for legal, quality retail space. Rentals have increased in the last year because of a shortage in the supply of legal retail space.Recently, mall rentals have shot up by 50-100 percent to touch a high of Rs 8001200 ($24; [$149.00]) per square foot per month in some places.

Establishing supply chain logistics. India lacks a strong supply chain when compared to Europe or the United States (Kottoli, 2006). The existing supply chain has too many intermediaries, which at present include Manufacturer National distributor Regional distributor Local wholesaler Retailer Consumer. This implies that global retail chains will have to build a supply chain network from scratch. In addition to fragmented supply chains, the trucking and transportation system is antiquated. The concept of container trucks and automated warehousing has yet to take root in India. This might result in significant losses/damages to merchandise during shipping (Chopra, 2006). Transportation and distribution are seriously affected by the poor infrastructure of airports, road systems, power lines, and ports. Transporting goods from one end of India to another by road takes over 40 days. Poor infrastructure is likely to slow down the development of the retail industry (Choi, 2006). Essentially, organized global retail chains will break the traditional symbiotic relationship that exists between small
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producers and small retailers. Also, in the new retailing format, due to unequal terms of trade in a monopoly-like situation, small producers and suppliers are likely to suffer most (Biswas, 2006).

Shortage of talent. Despite the large population that exists in India, a serious shortage of experienced human resources exists for retailing of all types (Gopal and Srinivasan, 2006). The number of people experienced in managing complex supply chain issues, people who have basic merchandising skills, and those with store planning skills are very few in India. As a result, most of the existing retail stores have poorly organized merchandise, inadequate inventory or excessive inventory leading to lost sales and increased capital requirements. Global retail giants will have to spend substantial resources in terms of time and money to train the local workforce and bring them on par with their global standards. The Retailers Association of India (RAI) estimates that an additional 2 million workers will be needed in the next two years this is to meet the requirements of the existing planned expansion in the retail sector. Hiring and training in large numbers in such a short time will be a challenge for even the biggest retailers.

Political challenges. India is a federal state with a national government at the center and state governments ruling the states (Gupta, 2005). This means that there are multiple sets of political and governmental clearances needed for retailers. Having a national license from New Delhi, the capital city, will not suffice. New retail entrants will also need clearances from various state governments, city corporations, and district administrations. Negotiating these will prove to be a challenge for global retailers. Global retailing companies tend to have different ethical standards; they may be against giving bribes or supporting local political candidates common practices in India (Dey, 2006). Adhering to these standards in India will surely cause problems for their local operations. Thus, while global retailers may be eyeing Indian markets eagerly for that elusive first-mover advantage, success in the Indian retail segment will be a hard-won battle a battle not

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against competition, but against the business environment (Gadgil, Joshi, Prasad, Manoharan, and Patil, 1997).

CHALLENGES DUE TO ENTRY OF FDI IN INDIAN RETAILS SECTOR To begin with, it is alright to invite 26% FDI in retail sector. But, we have already had experiences in other sectors and so in order to capitalize on opportunities, higher percent of FDI, say up to 74%, can be permitted in the retail sector. Retail is the best example, where transparency, technology, and competition are playing a vital role in improving efficiency of the system. "Survival of the Fittest" can be the policy in a perfect competitive environment. When a Communist country like China can welcome FDI, India need not lag behind to seek FDI in retail sector.

Many influential people have commented that it is too early to allow FDI in retail sector. Does it make any difference, if the sector is first allowed to grow in size and then FDI is permitted in this sector?

BENEFITS OF INWARD FDI 1 Stimulation of National Economy Capital inflow and increase in GDP stimulate domestic investment 2 3 Stability of FDIs as compared to investment portfolios and loans Infrastructural Development Technology transfer & Technology diffusion in particular Greenfield investment can stimulate new infrastructure development and technology. Increase in productivity Stimulate competition Stimulate domestic exports Raise Wages , stimulate employment ethical transparent etc.
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THE FORCES THAT STIMULATE FDI FLOW ARE strong stable political situation. progressive government policies. liberal economic polices strong economic growth high productivity demand for technology transfer of technology abundant availability of resources. abundant availability of labor force. abundant availability of cheap skilled labor. opportunities for mergers. opportunities for acquisitions adaptable labor force large domestic demand availability of innovations.etc

HR PRACTICES WHICH ARE AFFECTED BY TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION & DIFFUSION

Employment security: Employment security is different from job security. Employment security is fundamental to the implementation of most other high-performance management practices, such as selective hiring, extensive training and development, information sharing, and delegation. Employment security assumes flexibility and means that employees are not quickly laidoff for reasons such as economic downturns or the strategic mistakes of senior management, over which employees have no control. The policy focuses on maintaining
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total employment and not on protecting individuals from the consequences of their individual behavior or incompetence on the job.

Selective hiring of new personnel: Firms need to build long-term commitment to retaining their work force. This can be achieved through more rigorous recruitment and selection and greater investment by firms in training and developing their work force. Many organisations need to change their philosophy to regarding people as assets rather than costs (Fruin, 2000). Employment security policies need to reflect more careful staff selection and leaner hiring. Leaner staffing can result in a more productive work force with fewer people doing the work, increased flexibility and employees working closer to the customer. People are often happy to be more productive if they know they have a secure long-term job with a career. More importantly, firms need to take a long-term strategic view to HR resources rather than a short-term operational cost-cutting approach (Fisher and Dowling, 1999).

High compensation contingent on organizational performance: The level of salaries sends a clear message to the firms work force if they are regarded as truly valued and valuable to the organization. Compensation can take many forms such as pay increases, share ownership, stock options, profit sharing, paying for skills acquisition and individual or team incentives. If compensation takes the form of promotion, it should be based on skills and competencies and not on the position which the employee or manager occupies in the hierarchy. When employees are owners, they are more inclined to act and think like owners. Ownership schemes without training, information sharing, and the delegation of responsibility will have little effect on performance because even if people are more motivated by their share ownership, they dont have the skills, information, or power to do anything with that motivation. Paying for skill acquisition encourages people to learn
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different jobs and thereby become more flexible. In principle, any compensation system should be aligned with organisational strategy.

Extensive training and development: Training is an essential component of high-performance work systems because these systems rely on front-line employee skill and initiative to identify and resolve problems, to initiate changes in work methods, and to take responsibility for quality. This requires a motivated work force that has the knowledge and capability to perform the core tasks. Knowledge and intellectual capital are becoming increasingly important if firms are to be successful in highly competitive global markets.

Continuous improvement HR programs: During the last 10 years many organizations have managed significant increases in the productivity area by leveraging a range of systems and technology enhancement strategies aimed at cutting costs and increasing outputs. In many organizations these efforts have been technologically and bottom-line driven using increased automation and robotics, business process reengineering, downsizing, shifting manufacturing operations offshore and outsourcing other manufacturing and service delivery functions. Now many Australian organizations are looking to improving their

productivity and competitive advantage through their people. Faced with intensified and complex competitive pressure, firms have closely examined their organizational structures, and especially how they organize employment. This change of focus to the human side of the business has necessitated the implementation of continuous improvement HR programs.

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Reduced status distinctions and barriers: The fundamental principle of high-performance management systems is that organizations perform at a higher level when they are able to tap the ideas, skill and effort of all of their people. But neither individuals nor teams will be encouraged to contribute their minds and physical energy to the organization unless people receive signals that they are both valued and valuable. In order to help make all organizational members feel important and committed to enhancing organizational operations, therefore, most high-commitment management systems attempt to reduce status distinctions that separate individuals and groups and cause some to feel less valued. This can be accomplished through the use of language and labels, physical space, and dress, and secondly by reducing the organizations degree of wage inequality, particularly across levels.

Sharing of financial and performance information: The sharing of information on issues such as financial performance, strategy, and operational measures conveys to the organizations people that they are trusted. People who are motivated and trained cannot contribute to enhancing organizational performance if they dont have information on important dimensions of performance and, in addition, training on how to use and interpret that information. Information sharing is not widespread in organizations because information is power, and sharing information diffuses that power. However, if people dont know whats going on and dont understand the basic principles and theory of the business, they cannot be expected to positively affect performance. Sharing information with employees, works councils and joint consultative committees can assist with providing training in using the shared information to make better business decisions. This benefits both the organization and its people. Unions can play a positive and proactive role by coalescing the opinions of various work groups thereby representing one voice to management who would

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otherwise have to grapple with multiple opinions and interests of several diverse work groups.

Communication in global markets: Rapidly changing developments in new technologies have facilitated global communications. Increasingly, many organizations are embracing the new technologies such as email to communicate more effectively with selfmanaged work teams and problem solving groups assigned to addressing organizational problems on a global basis. The objective is that eventually all employees will have a close working relationship with the customer. Checking international Websites is a part of the daily routine as managers search for economic, political, social, or environmental events that may impact upon their business. The use of corporate intranets that contain critical and sensitive information about every aspect of an organizations operations, transgress international boundaries and are now commonplace. Companies need global representation, people from multiple cultures who can work in multicultural teams talking about strategy, and that strategy has to be global in content.

Efficient and effective use of new information technologies: Technology and global communications make it possible to gather information instantaneously, to manage products, people and services like never before. The transition from the industrial to the information age has forced international human resource managers to use the new information technologies to search world wide to identify and recruit global talent to address the business needs of the 21st. century. Applicants are invited and encouraged to apply for jobs advertised on the corporate Website and video conferencing from corporate headquarters is used to conduct initial interviews with prospective applicants in other countries. Faced with the challenge of upgrading employee skills, talents, and leadership capabilities enterprise-wide, companies are using modern technology to support broadly
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expanded recruitment and training processes. The processes now cover all or most employees, positions in all functions and wherever the company does business, and an escalating array of developmental activities all defined by the human resources competencies that the company needs today and in the years ahead. Technological change can impact a variety of organizational factors. Technological change can affect task size, complexity, and the physical characteristics of the job. These changes can also significantly change the nature and amount of autonomy, control, and supervision of the task. Not only do specific task characteristics change, but roles are affected and change may produce role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload. Informal group relationships and relationships between the supervisor and subordinates will be altered. The organization's corporate culture will affect how the change is viewed and in turn be affected by the change itself. In like manner, organizational problem solving and decision making will affect how the new technology is adopted and used, and will be affected by the features of the new technology. Organizational communication can be dramatically changed by the implementation of new technologies, especially communication technologies. Career development paths and job security can be significantly affected by the adoption of a new technology. The change process itself is the mediating factor in how the workforce views the technological change. The change process includes the quality and amount of the training for the new technology, the participation of the workforce in the decision-making process about the change, the commitment of upper management, and the ability of change agents to take risks. Proper management of the change process can increase acceptance of the new technology. The final part of the model summarizes the perceived impacts on the employees themselves. Personal benefits are the positive personal effects of technological change. These include improving one's career in the organization and increasing one's marketable skills. Job improvements may include more personal control, increasing challenge, and providing the opportunity to work on more important tasks. Job stress may be due to role issues (conflict, ambiguity and overload) and damaged coworker relationships. Personal insecurity includes anxiety about the future of one's job and anxiety about one's ability to
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adapt to the new situation. Previous research using the survey on U.S. companies (Levi, Slem & Young, 1991) has confirmed the relationships outlined in this model of the impact of technological change. This model suggests that workforce cooperativeness in the technological change process is likely to be associated with beliefs about technological change. If the workforce believes that the introduction of advanced manufacturing technology will make their jobs more difficult, damage coworker relationships, and threaten the existence of their jobs, their fears or concerns may lead to resistance to the new technology. Conversely, if the workforce believes that the new technology will make jobs easier, enhance careers, and leads to greater sense of control over the workplace, then they will likely facilitate the implementation of new technology. Recruitment policies

Recruiting permanent staff - rather than temporary - and making better use of experience and home-grown skills;

Offering permanent staff key hour working times (e.g. lunchtimes on weekdays).

Flexible working

Introducing flexible working arrangements and part-paid sabbaticals rather than implementing redundancy programmes, allowing them to manage costs and preserve the talent they need;

"Annualisation" of working time - i.e. hiring staff to work an allotted number of hours throughout the course of the year. This means working a higher number of hours during the peaks in season and less time at quieter times. This measure removes some of the need to recruit seasonal staff during busy periods such as Christmas.

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Succession planning

Developing better succession planning, which is becoming a priority for retailers keen to ensure their teams are fit for purpose, particularly in the future;

More emphasis on internal rather than external replacement and a desire to create and maintain a pool of talent.

Training and career development

"Upskilling" the workforce, by selecting and training employees who have the greatest potential to contribute to sales;

Creating a more structured career path to ensure staff have the necessary skills; Developing training initiatives (by retailers and the industry as a whole rather than by the Government).

Managing shop floor employees

Managing employment costs through proactive management of hours that staff are working in stores;

Refining shop floor staff rosters to ensure there is minimal over-staffing, while ensuring there are sufficient assistants to match levels of service to customer demand.

Remuneration

Re-evaluating the benefits of commission-based remuneration, which some retailers are reintroducing;

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Developing more competitive reward packages and pension schemes to encourage loyalty.

Operations

Substituting operational technology for labour, such as shelf-ready packaging to minimise the time staff need to spend on tasks;

Moving functions and tasks which are usually carried out by employees to customers, such as use of self service checkouts;

Developing alternative channels with lower labour costs, such as online sales.

Ongoing changes to HR strategies in retail The RTT acknowledged that not all changes to HR strategies in retail have been initiated or motivated by the recession and have been evolving and contributing to the overall improvement of the sector's HR reputation for some time. The group discussed the following: Graduate training schemes The RTT agreed that graduate training schemes are an area where retailers lead the way. According to The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2008, there are nine retailers in the list of organizations which offer the best opportunities for those leaving university. Although there has been some scaling back of vacancies (as outlined above) retail continues to be attractive to graduates. According to High Fliers, applications for graduate positions in retail in 2009 have increased by 20.4 percent with an average of 86.9 applications per vacancy, almost double the average for all graduate posts (44.9 applications per vacancy).

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Other training schemes BAA's Retail Academy is an education and training organisation based at Heathrow Airport and offers retail and catering employees based there the opportunity to study for apprenticeships, NVQs and a foundation degree in retail operations and people management. The Fashion Retail Academy (FRA) opened in September 2006 with the aim of nurturing and developing the skills required to work in fashion retail. It is funded by a publicprivate partnership - with sponsorship from Arcadia Group, Marks & Spencer, Next and Tesco - and is one of the first of the Government's Skills Academies.

What are the benefits of changing HR practices? As well as the desired effect of enhancing value for consumers and the competitive advantage this provides in the challenging retail market, the RTT highlighted a number of other benefits that changing HR practices can provide. For example, the introduction of more flexibility in working patterns can benefit the retailer and employee alike by creating a leaner, more adaptable workforce as outlined above (see flexible working above). The retailers which are continuing to recruit also have the opportunity to hire the best individuals from the employment pool. Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics said: "There is an opportunity for stronger retailers to pick up good staff from failing competitors and for talented individuals from other sectors to be redeployed to the sector." At the same time, greater attention to the selection of candidates can help make retail more customer-focused, while hiring shop floor staff that have the potential to contribute most to service and sales can create value for retailers. The RTT also agreed that enhanced motivation, by ensuring the right people are in the right roles, contributes to conversion rates and helps to enhance retailers' brands.
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Businesses with staff who embody its culture and brand from the head office to the shop floor are the ones who - on the whole - are performing better. Employees can help to bring brands to life which consumers then "buy into" and, through good service, establish a point of difference between the strong and weak performers.

What are the risks of failing to get HR and operational policies right? In addition to potentially missing out on the benefits as outlined above, the RTT points out that declining levels of service can have a detrimental effect on a retailer's reputation. According to John Dawson of the Universities of Edinburgh and Stirling: "The shape of retail's employment structure means the broad base of the pyramid looks like an obvious place to cut costs, but this method of cost reduction can come at the expense of service and productivity." There is also the potential loss of future leaders. If the "recruitment tap" is turned off, even over a short space of time, it is possible to lose a whole layer of management in years to come. The war for talent remains - and will do so in the future - so the career offer has to be compulsive and compelling. "All too often the biggest challenges facing retail employers is finding and then retaining talented individuals in the labour market," adds Richard Lowe of Barclays Retail & Wholesale Sectors.

FDI in multi-brand retail: The gateway finally opens The recent decision by the Government to allow foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail is understandably the talk of the town. There are various points of view regarding the impact it will have on the retail sector in specific and the Indian economy in general, but the decision is a big step in the direction of strengthening organized retail in the country. To get the complete picture, it is important to understand the situation which exists currently and how the new regulations are going to change the retail landscape.

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Till recently, FDI in retail (except under single-brand product retailing, with conditions) was not allowed in India. In other words, for a company to be able to get foreign funding, products sold by it to the general public needed to be of a 'single-brand'. The government has now opened a gateway for foreign funding into the sector. In 1997, FDI in cash-andcarry (wholesale) with 100% ownership was allowed under the Government approval route. It was brought under the automatic route in 2006. 51% investment in a singlebrand retail outlet was also permitted in 2006. FDI in multi-brand retailing was prohibited in India. This was changed to increases FDI in single-brand retail to 100% while creating a path for FDI in multi-brand retail to the tune of 51%. Cities with populations of more than 10 million are eligible for this. With yesterday's announcement, 51% FDI has been permitted in multi-brand retail - with certain caveats, and also subject to final the approval from respective states to allow implementation within these states.

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There are still some apprehensions on how this policy will be implemented due to the given caveats. However, it does signify a strong positive outlook for this sector. The retail sector in India has been plagued with problems at all the areas of its life cycle back end, technology, supply chain, real estate and human resources. There has been a lack of investment in all of these areas. Consequently, the retail sector has not been able to match the pace of other growing sectors in India. There has been a lack of investment in the logistics of the retail chain, leading to an inefficient market mechanism. Lack of Storage infrastructure has been one of the most alarming of these infrastructure gaps. The technology being used in Indian retail is largely obsolete and does not meet international standards, resulting in poor efficiency at the supply side and average consumer experience on the demand side. Intermediaries often bypass the mandi norms and their pricing lacks transparency. The public procurement and distribution system calls for a lot of improvement. In spite of heavy subsidies, overall food based inflation has been a matter of great concern. FDI will be a powerful catalyst to the required growth in the retail industry and, in long term, will prove beneficial to all the major stakeholders. The new policy can benefit both foreign retailers and their Indian partners. The benefits to foreign players will be access to local market knowledge and an increased consumer base, while Indian companies will benefit by global best management practices and technological know-how. There will be investment in storage and transportation infrastructure, technology and supply chain operations. The increased flow of capital, if used effectively, will benefit both the farmers and the consumers. Farmers will benefit from the better price indexing and direct selling to the retailer. The consumer, in addition to having a better shopping experience, will benefit from the competition and the resultant reduced prices. The real estate retail industry will benefit immensely due to increase in demand and increased investor confidence. We can also expect increased transparency in the retail real estate sector. Additionally, the country will flourish in terms of quality standards and

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consumer expectations, since the inflow of FDI into the retail sector is bound to pull up the quality standards and cost-competitiveness of Indian producers in all the segments. In the light of above, it would be prudent to encourage FDI in retail further. Of course, sufficient consideration should be given to the interests of SMEs, farmers and consumers while finalizing this decision. With this move, along with the caveats, the Government has indeed taken an important step. From a retail real estate point of view, it will be open up immense opportunities in the medium and long term, as the demand for quality real estate will rise. Currently, some retailers are cash-strapped and this will provide a sort of bail-out option to them. Overall, the investment by local and new international retailers that are likely to flow into the sector will definitely also take the form of investments into real estate at the front end in terms of retail store spaces and of the back end in terms of better quality warehouses. The new international entrants will be willing to take longer term bets and invest in stores which will be sustainable over the long haul. Competition will increase as Indian retailers shape up and intensify their expansion plans - which had been fairly low over the past few years. Also, it will increase the interest and confidence level of real estate developers to set up quality shopping centres. They now have reason to set behind them their experiences post 2008 and can once again consider investing in this asset class with a clear vision to long-term profit. From the day the Government of India notified FDI in Retail allowing foreign companies to have 51% stake, there has been a flurry of opinions both for and against allowing Big Retailers like Walmart an entry into India. Though most of the opinions have been in support of the move there have been a few voices of caution against the entry of Big Box Retail. Most of the debate arguing why Kiranas wont be hit or farmers will benefit, are sadly backed by very limited empirical evidence in terms of similar experiences in other countries. Let us look at some the biggest arguments in favor of FDI and examine why they might well turn out to be pipe dreams:

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1. Walmart will provide better prices to Farmers One of the biggest arguments in favor Big Box Retail has been that this will eliminate multiple layers of middlemen thereby giving better prices to the farmers. In theory this does sound very plausible, but in practice by eliminating layers of middleman Big Box retail manifests itself instead as the single biggest middleman leading to an Oligarchy very few Big Box retailers providing limited choice for both the farmers and end consumers. Empirical evidence in developed countries tells us that in reality the farmers get squeezed by Big Retailers and get paid very poorly for their produce: Farmers in Punjab have supposedly benefitted by indulging in Contract Farming for Bharti-Walmart, Pepsi Co(Lays Chips) etc. But there have also been reports of big firms entering into contract farming agreements with the farmers and then going back on their commitment when the produce is available cheaper from other sources. Tesco in the UK has been beset with multiple allegations of harming farmers interests. It has been fined 10 million pounds for price fixing of dairy products. In a study of the Nicargaun agricultural market a Michigan State University found prices paid by Walmart are significantly lower than those paid by the traditional market. 2. Walmart will not threaten local Kirana stores as they will build stores far away from urban centers The business model of Walmart in the US has been to build massive stores in the suburbs offering free parking to shoppers. Real Estate availability and low car ownership makes that model unviable in India. That doesnt Walmart will employ same strategy in India. Look at Tesco in the UK, almost every street/area has a small Tesco store which resembles a local Kirana Shop. Why will not Big Box retail adopt that model in India? Lately Walmart in the US plans to open smaller shops called Mini-Express which resembles to take on local mom n pop stores.
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3. Walmart will provide additional employment One of the biggest arguments in favor of Walmart has been that it will provide additional employment. Entry of big retail is touted to create millions of additional jobs. This again is not supported by experiences in the west. Indian Retail largely dominated by family owned Kirana stores already employs more than 4 million people. In addition to these a significant number of people work in the supply chain and distribution areas. Government only talks about the jobs Walmart is expected to created but does not consider the jobs that will be lost due to shutting down of thousands of Kirana stores. What this means is that in the near future an owner of Kirana store may end up becoming a minimum wage labourer in a Big Box Retail store!

Net effect will only be job losses as various studies show: University of California study suggests that for every new retail job created by Wal-Mart, 1.4 jobs are lost as existing businesses downsize or close. Hunter College study on the impact of Walmart found a new store kills three local jobs for every two they create. With their large entrenched supply chain in China, Big Box Retail will have a devastating effect on local manufacturing can be devastating. Studies indicate US has lost large number of manufacturing jobs to china ranging anywhere between 200,0006 to 1.2 millions7 jobs. Walmart worldwide employs about 2 million employees for an annual sale of $405 billion. That means a revenue generation of about $200,000 per employee. Indian Retail sector generates about $400 billion annually and employees close to 4 million people. Surely this means lesser number of people will be employed going by global standards

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4. Walmart will provide better wages to workers It is argued that Walmart will help get workers get better pay. This is far from the truth. Walmart is a cost competitor driving down costs of suppliers, farmers and employees to ensure low prices can be offered to consumers and large profits for the shareholders. Walmart is known to provide one of the lowest paying jobs. Empirical evidence and studies show this: Wal-Marts average annual pay of $20,774 is below the US Federal Poverty Level for a family of four . Wal-Mart employees earn 20 percent less than retail workers on average. Walmart not only drives down wages of its own employees but also reduces wages in supporting industries. National Employment Law Project (NELP) study shows that Walmarts outsourcing depresses wages In U.S. Warehouses.

5. Walmart will bring in much needed FDI Walmart is touted to bring in the much needed FDI into India by making it mandatory to invest $100 million into the country. This looks to be very good proposition but there are lot of ifs and buts: Will this investment be made via Mauritius route to ensure no taxes can be levied on any future transactions? Like it happened in the case of Dabhol and 2G scam tainted telecom companies, which were touted as FDI turned out to be a big NPA on Indian banks as the proposed FDI dollars were in reality rupee loans! How much of this money will be used to invest in building fresh capacity versus buying out existing Indian loss making retailers? This will help the rich businessmen the most.

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Most importantly over the year how much of money from India will be taken away by Walmart as profits for its US Shareholders?

6. Walmart will provide technology I find this particular argument hilarious. What is the propriety technology that Walmart will bring? Indian IT services firms are some of the biggest providers of technology services to the likes of Walmart. Why cant existing Indian Retailers get access to the same technology?

7. States have the freedom to prevent entry of Big Box Retailers This is one of the biggest canards being spread by the government. India is a signatory to the Bilateral Investment Promotion & Protection Agreement (BIPAs) which makes it mandatory for the state governments to let the likes of Walmart operate. It simply means if Reliance Retail or Foodworld has shops in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee cannot ban foreign retailers alone! In addition a Kerala HC judgment struck down the previous Left Front government decision to ban Indian Big Retail under the Shops & Establishments act If Walmart truly provided all the benefits being claimed why does our government shy away from telling us that Walmart is banned in many big cities of the US like New York, San Francisco, San Diego and so on? By eliminating middleman, distributors and small time retailers, Walmart has become the single biggest middleman gobbling away all the profits from the farm to the fork, thus helping the founder Sam Waltons family earn a combined wealth in excess of $100 billion which is roughly equal to the wealth of the bottom 40% of Americans combined. Do we in India want emulate the US and help accelerate this wealth of the Waltons at the cost of our farmers, consumers and Kirana shop owners is the big question.

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LITRETURE REVIEW
Introduction The middle of 2008 saw a dramatic sea change in the HR practices of many UK retailers. Driven by the need to cut their cost bases as market conditions took a turn for the worse, numerous retail businesses took decisive action to streamline their operations and reduce staff numbers and costs, both through natural wastage and enforced redundancy programmes. As a result, the new jobs market in retail had drastically declined by October 2008, both in head offices and on the shop floor. However, there are now signs of significant change. In line with the drop-off in demand for goods not being as bad as had originally been feared, retailers are now re-evaluating their HR strategies. There are signs that they are taking on or replacing more staff, rather than continuing to shed employees, particularly at head office and middle management level rather than at the junior end of retail employment. For many large retailers the streamlining operation is now complete and the stronger businesses are more focussed on creating initiatives to retain staff and attract the best young blood, without further reductions in headcount and with an understanding of how they can motivate their staff and create flexibility where it is needed. In order to inform the discussion the RTT invited Clare Kemsley, managing director of recruitment consultancy Hays Retail to address the panel for the White Paper topic debate. Retailers face a number of challenges in this new-found task of attracting and retaining key staff:

There is a perception that the sector's "people reputation" is poor. Despite retail being the second largest employer in the UK (employing 11% of the UK workforce, some 2.8 million people as of March 2009 according to the British
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Retail Consortium) its people policies and standing as a key industry sector are not consistent with its size.

The Hays Retail Salary Survey (2008) revealed that 53% of employees questioned did not consider there was scope for career progression within their organisation. "Churn" (staff moving from employer to employer) is synonymous with the retail sector and there is often perceived to be a lack of career progression within organisations, meaning employees move jobs regularly in order to increase their experience and pay, and move up the career ladder.

There is a lack of consistency across the industry as a whole. Although there is benchmarking of employees within individual companies, the diversity of retailers due to the size of the business or part of the sector in which it operates makes it difficult to do this more widely, as happens in other industries through professional qualifications. This means there is little benchmarking that says "this individual is a good store manager" and is at a better, worse or similar level to their peers.

The high profile of the sector, with several High Street names announcing job losses which often make front page news, has led to a decline in the number of entry level candidates applying for positions in retail in the current environment, which is contrary to other industry sectors where the number of candidates per vacancy has risen significantly. However, demand for graduate placements in retail remains strong.

There is a risk of too much cost cutting affecting customer service. However, the sector as a whole is now responding positively to the current environment, with many retailers seizing the opportunity to use the recession as an opportunity to remove under-performers, upskill their more effective employees and build better teams for the future.

There are many tactics and strategies available to retailers to enable them to do this and it is interesting to note that retailers are not avoiding recruitment of

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permanent staff in favour of temporary resource. Instead the focus is on using permanent employees more effectively. What changes are retailers making to their HR strategies and operational practices to adapt to the recession?

What changes did retailers initially make to their HR and operational strategies as an initial reaction to the recession? Until the middle of 2008, retail employment levels remained relatively robust, albeit at a lower level than the long term average. This was despite the impending recession which was beginning to feed through to retail sales, as illustrated by the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor, which started to record negative like-for-like growth in March last year. However, as the graph above illustrates, a sea change occurred after the middle of 2008. Retail employment fell slightly in the second and third quarters, then contracted significantly in the fourth quarter of the year. The RTT discussed a number of the changes which were happening at this time, with cost cutting being the key driver for these measures. They included:

Reviewing the levels of head office and shop floor personnel. National statistics show that employment has fallen more heavily in the retail sector than in the economy as a whole in the current recession: a decline of 2.6 percent year-on-year compared with a 1.4 percent fall in employment across the UK economy, as of the end of the first quarter of 2009. Retail insolvencies and the related job losses will have had some impact on this figure too;

"De-layering" management organisation structures; Reducing graduate trainee intake. According to The Graduate Market in 2009 (published by High Fliers Research, June 2009) graduate vacancies in the sector have reduced by 29.5 percent compared with retailers' original recruitment targets

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published in September 2008. However, graduate applications to retail have increased (Source: Hays Retail).

What changes are retailers making now to HR and operations practices? After the initial focus on streamlining businesses through cost-cutting, retailers' concerns about their cost bases began to ease. New currency hedging arrangements were more favourable than some retailers had originally expected and the RTT Retail Health Index in July 2009 indicated that costs are now having a positive or neutral affect on the sector's health. The RTT agreed that there has been a shift away from cost reduction strategies to changes aimed at adding value. In some cases, this is a continuation of the best practice which retailers had been developing in their HR and operations in a more buoyant economy. Many of these strategies are being quietly developed and implemented, particularly by the stronger performers which are waiting for the opportunity to capitalize on an upturn when it happens, and want to continue to attract and retain the best talent. Tim Denison of Synovate said: "Changes in HR and operational practices are happening, but as something of a 'silent reformation' which retailers are reluctant to publish, so that they can continue to maintain their competitive advantage." The RTT highlighted a number of ways in which retailers' strategies are changing:

Controversy over allowing Foreign retailers

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A horticultural produce retail market in Kolkata, India; produce loss in these retail formats is very high for perishables Critics of the Indian retail reforms announcement are making one or more of the following points:,

Walmart's efficiency at supply chain management leads to "direct" procurement of goods from the supplier. In addition to eliminating the "middle-man", due to its status as the leading retailer, suppliers of goods also bend over backwards to drop prices in order to assure consistent cash flow. There is the fear that this may not benefit the farmer, or the suppliers of Walmart.

The small retailer and the middle man present in the retail industry plays a large part in supporting the local economy, since they typically themselves procure goods and services from the area they have their retail shops in. This leads to increased economic activity, and wealth redistribution. With large, efficient retailers, the corporate profits are not spent in the areas where they're generated, hence killing the local economy.

Walmart will lower prices to dump goods, get competition out of the way, become a monopoly, then raise prices. We have seen this in the case of the soft drinks industry. Pepsi and Coke came in and wiped out all the domestic brands.

Supporters claim none of these objections has merit. They claim:

Organized retail will need workers. Walmart employs 1.4 million people in United States alone. With United States population of about 300 million, and India's population of about 1200 million, if Walmart-like retail companies were to expand in India as much as their presence in the United States, and the staffing level in Indian stores kept at the same level as in the United States stores, Walmart alone would employ 5.6 million Indian citizens. Walmart has a 6.5% market share of the total United States retail. Adjusted for this market share, the expected jobs in future Indian
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organized retail would total over 85 million. In addition, millions of additional jobs will be created during the building of and the maintenance of retail stores, roads, cold storage centers, software industry, electronic cash registers and other retail supporting organizations. Instead of job losses, retail reforms are likely to be massive boost to Indian job availability.

KPMG - one of the world's largest audit companies - finds that in China, the employment in both retail and wholesale trade increased from 4% in 1992 to about 7% in 2001, post China opening its retail to foreign and domestic innovation and competition. In absolute terms, China experienced the creation of 26 million new jobs within 9 years, post China announcing FDI retail reforms. Additionally, contrary to some concerns in China, post retail reforms, the number of traditional small retailers also grew by 30% over 5 years.

India needs trillions of dollar to build its infrastructure, hospitals, housing and schools for its growing population. Indian economy is small, with limited surplus capital. Indian government is already operating on budget deficits. It is simply not possible for Indian investors or Indian government to fund this expansion, job creation and growth at the rate India needs. Global investment capital through FDI is necessary. Beyond capital, Indian retail industry needs knowledge and global integration. Global retail leaders, some of which are partly owned by people of Indian origin, can bring this knowledge. Global integration can potentially open export markets for Indian farmers and producers. Walmart, for example, expects to source and export some $1 billion worth of goods from India every year, since it came into Indian wholesale retail market.

Walmart, Carrefour, Tesco, Target, Metro, Coop are some of over 350 global retail companies with annual sales over $1 billion. These retail companies have operated for over 30 years in numerous countries. They have not become monopolies. Competition between Walmart-like retailers has kept food prices in check. Canada credits their very low inflation rates to Walmart-effect. Anti-trust laws and state regulations, such as those in Indian legal code, have prevented food monopolies from forming anywhere in the world. Price inflation in these countries has been 5 to 10
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times lower than price inflation in India. The current consumer price inflation in Europe and the United States is less than 2%, compared to India's double digit inflation.

The Pepsi and Coke example is meaningless in the context of Indian beverage market. More competition is lacking because of limited demand. Indian consumer has limited interest in soft drinks. Soft drinks represent less than 5% of Indian beverage market. Indian consumer prefers milk-based, tea and coffee and these account for 90% of Indian beverage market. In these markets, Coca Cola and Pepsi have plenty of competition. The next most important market in India is bottled water, that outsells combined soft drink sales of the Pepsi and Coca Cola. Bottled water, milk, coffee and tea market in India are big markets, and have plenty of domestic brands, European brands like Nestle, as well as Pepsi and Coca Cola. Organized retail too will have numerous brands and strong competition.

Comparing 21st century to 18th century is inappropriate. Conditions today are not same as in the 18th century. India wasn't a democracy then, it is today. Global awareness and news media were not the same in 18th century as today. Consider China today. It has over 57 million square feet of retail space owned by foreigners, employing millions of Chinese citizens. Yet, China hasn't become a vassal of imperialists. It enjoys respect from all global powers. Other Asian countries like Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia see foreign retailers as catalysts of new technology and price reduction; and they have benefitted immensely by welcoming FDI in retail. India too will benefit by integrating with the world, rather than isolating itself.

With 51% FDI limit in multi-brand retailers, nearly half of any profits will remain in India. Any profits will be subject to taxes, and such taxes will reduce Indian government budget deficit. Many years ago, China adopted the retail reform policy India has announced; China allowed FDI in its retail sector. It has taken FDI-financed retailers in China between 5 to 10 years to post profits, in large part because of huge investments they had to make initially. Like China, it is unlikely foreign retailers will

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earn any profits in India for the first 5 to 10 years. Ultimately, retail companies must earn profits with hard work and by creating value.

States have a right to say no to retail FDI within their jurisdiction. States have the right to add restrictions to the retail policy announced before they implement them. Thus, they can place limits on number, market share, style, diversity, homogeneity and other factors to suit their cultural preferences. Finally, in future, states can always introduce regulations and India can change the law to ensure the benefits of retail reforms reach the poorest and weakest segments of Indian society, free and fair retail competition does indeed lead to sharply lower inflation than current levels, small farmers get better prices, jobs created by organized retail pay well, and healthier food becomes available to more households.

Inbuilt inefficiencies and wastage in distribution and storage account for why, according to some estimates, as much as 40% of food production doesn't reach consumers. Fifty million children in India are malnourished. Food often rots at farms, in transit, or in antiquated state-run warehouses. Cost-conscious organized retail companies will avoid waste and loss, making food available to the weakest and poorest segment of Indian society, while increasing the income of small farmers. Walmart, for example, since its arrival in Indian wholesale retail market, has successfully introduced "Direct Farm Project" at Haider Nagar near Malerkotla in Punjab, where 110 farmers have been connected with Bharti Walmart for sourcing fresh vegetables directly, thereby reducing waste and bringing fresher produce to Indian consumers. Indian small shops employ workers without proper contracts, making them work long hours. Many unorganized small shops depend on child labour. A well-regulated retail sector will help curtail some of these abuses.

Organized retail has enabled a wide range of companies to start and flourish in other countries. For example, in the United States, an organized retailer named Whole Foods has rapidly grown to annual revenues of $9 billion by working closely with farmers, delighting customers and caring about the communities it has stores in.

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The claims that there is no consensus is without merit. About 10 years ago, when opposition formed the central government, they had proposed retail reforms and suggested India consider FDI in retail. Retail reforms discussions are not new. More recently, retail reforms announced evolved after a process of intense consultations and consensus building intiative. In 2010, the Indian government circulated a discussion paper on FDI retail reforms. On July 6, 2011, another version of the discussion paper was circulated by the central government of India. Comments from a wide cross-section of Indian society including farmers' associations, industry bodies, consumer forums, academics, traders' associations, investors, economists were analyzed in depth before the matter was discussed by the Committee of Secretaries. By early August 2011, the consensus from various segments of Indian society was overwhelming in favor of retail reforms. The reform outline was presented in India's Rajya Sabha in August 2011. The announced reforms are the result of this consensus process. The current opposition is not helping the consensus process, since consensus is not built by threats and disruption. Those who oppose current retail reforms should help build consensus with ideas and proposals, if they have any. The opposition parties currently disrupting the Indian parliament on retail reforms have not offered even one idea or a single proposal on how India can eliminate food spoilage, reduce inflation, improve food security, feed the poor, improve the incomes of small farmers.

A study by Global Insights research found that modern retailers such as Walmart create jobs directly, indirectly and induced effects. In Dallas-Fort Worth area of the United States, with a population of about 2 million people, Global Insights found that Walmart alone had helped create about 6,300 new net jobs with an average salary of over $21,000 each For India's urban population of over 400 million, an average salary of less than $2,100 per year, this scales to over 12 million new jobs. Other multibrand retailers, such as Mitsukoshi of Japan, employ a much higher number of sales support employee per store, than Walmart, to suit local consumer culture. The Global Insights study also found that the modern retail such as Walmart were a key contributor in creating new net jobs and maintaining exist working culture.

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OBJECTIVE OF RESEARCH

1. To study the FDI entry in Indian retail influences the HR management. 2. To study the FDI will establish employment in Indian retail. 3. To study the challenges of HR management of Indian retail due to entry of FDI. 4. To analysis the changes in HR management of Indian retail after entry of FDI.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is used to search answer of research questions an attempt has been made to describe the nature of people, selected for the study of samples, data collection and technology used to analyze and present the data required. Methodology in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. The advanced learners dictionary of current English lays down the meaning of research. As a careful investigation or inquiry specially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge. Some people consider research as a movement, movements from known to the unknown. It is actually a voyage of discovery. We all possess the vital instinct of inquisitiveness for, when the unknown confronts us, we wonder and our inquisitiveness makes us probe and attain full and fuller understanding of the unknown. This inquisitiveness is the mother o all the knowledge and the method, which man employs for obtaining the knowledge of whatever the unknown, can be termed as research. Methodology is way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. Learning more about the new areas is the heart of research methodology. The research methodology has many dimensions and research method do constitute a part of the research methodology. In this research I have used exploratory research design. Exploratory research can be defined asAnalysis is a research tool used to determine the presence of certain words or concepts within texts or sets of texts. Researchers quantify and analyze the presence, meanings, and relationships of such words and concepts, then make inferences about the messages within the texts, the writer(s), the audience, and even the culture and time of which these are a part. The use of content analysis as a means of exploratory study is widely supported in the literature, particularly for qualitative research (Huberman and Miles, 1994). The goal of this analysis was to identify evidence reflecting the current state of
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retailing, as well as challenges and opportunities for sustained operations for retailers in the Indian market. These findings were grouped to reflect distinct emergent themes in Indian retailing and are discussed in the results section.

Exploratory Research Design : It is also known as qualitative research, it seeks to discover new relationship it aims a defining the main problem and including the identification of the relevant variables and the possible alternative solutions it can further be divided into different parts.

Data Collection Method: The most important and necessary thing is collection accurate data to achieve useful results. Questioning and observations are two basic methods of collecting data marketing research. . Questioning as the name suggest is distinguished by the fact that data are collected by asking question to people who are thought to have the desired information. It may be asked in person or in writing. Under observations researchers asked no objects actions in which they are interested may be manually or mechanically. Sampling Size: The number of respondents included in the study was 100 for convenience in evaluating and analyzing the data. Respondents from different retails like walmart, spencer, bigbazzar, & vishal mega mart.

Sampling Type: Random sampling.

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DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Q1. Do you agree with Indian government decision of allowing FDI in Indian Retail is right? 1. Yes 2. No 89 11

11

YES NO

89

Q2. What do you think FDI entry influences HR management in Indian Retail? 1. Yes 2. No 98 02
2

YES NO

98

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Q3. What the effect on practice HR of Indian Retail? YES Increases competition Increases investment on HR Increases working Pressure on HR Decrease job stability 80 51 89 78 NO 20 49 11 22

89 90 80 70 60 50 YES 40 30 20 10 0 Increases competition Increases investment on HR Increases working Pressure on HR Decrease job stability 20 11 22 NO 51 80 78

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Q4. Do you agree with working of HR is very challenging due to increases competition in Indian Retail? 1. Yes 2. No 93 07

YES NO

93

Q5. Do you agree with increases financial risk due to Increases investment on HR in Indian Retail? 1. Yes 2. No 85 15

15

YES NO 85

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Q6. Do you agree with maintain work efficiency of HR due to Increases working Pressure on HR in Indian Retail? 1. Yes 2. No 65 35

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

65

35

YES NO

YES

NO

Q7. Do you agree with Indian retail effectively survive due to Decreases job stability of HR in Indian Retail? 1. Yes 2. No 25 75

75 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 YES NO 25 YES NO

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Q8. What do you think HR working manner will be change after entry of FDI in Indian Retail? 1. Yes 2. No 95 05

YES NO

95

Q9. Do you agree with Indian retail implement & diffusion of technology with working of HR? 1. Yes 2. No
70 60 50 41 40 30 20 10 0 YES NO YES NO 59

59 41

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Q10. What do you think Indian retail built pressure on HR to improve their skills after entry of FDI in Indian Retail? 1. Yes 2. No 87 23

87 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 YES NO 23 YES NO

Results of Analysis The FDI debate has opened up many issues that deserve the proper attention of policy makers before the Indian retail sector is fully opened to foreign investors. The coexistence of both sectors poses innumerable issues that have formed the basis of debates and discussions between policy makers, consumers, and government officials. Our content analysis revealed several issues.

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FINDINGS & IMPLICATIONS

This analysis was based on a surveys and recent literature review of information available on unorganized (traditional retailing) in India. Organizing the retail sector is the need of the hour. But it has to be understood that change will bring with it a lot of upheaval and "teething problems." The local retail players large as well as small need to be given support and time to adjust to a changed environment. For retailers to succeed in India, they need to invest in more efficient supply chains, cold chains, and increased farmer relationships, which all call for the greater investment that can come through FDI. Increasing real estate prices also calls for heavy investment, and the inflows are slow. The results of this study indicate the likely impact of the entry of global players into the Indian retailing industry. It also highlights the challenges faced by the industry in the near future.

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CONCLUSION
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail may have created a lot of fracas in the industry, but it is likely to have a positive impact on the salaries of people employed in the sector. Industry players feel that the overall perks and compensation could increase by 15-25 per cent from current levels. Industry experts say that the packages paid by Indian employers have to be at par with the foreign players or else the sector could see a rise in attrition rates. At present, attrition rate in the sector is at 25-30 per cent and is usually due to low packages, poor working environment and odd timings. However, according to Indian Staffing Federation (ISF), apex body of the flexi staffing industry, FDI has the potential of creating around 4 million direct jobs and almost 5-6 million indirect jobs over the next decade. The RTT agreed that although the current changes have resulted in a slightly leaner retail workforce, it will be a more motivated, professional, loyal and higher quality one. In turn, this will encourage a greater number of high calibre people into the industry in the future, ultimately leading to all-round improvements in retail for employees, businesses and consumers. These changes are a real chance for retailers to bury the past and attract the best. The current economic environment has provided the opportunity for the retail industry to learn and experiment with HR structures, adding to what had already been in progress before the recession, which in turn presents an opportunity to make the business stronger. However, this is a "silent reformation" which retailers aren't keen to shout about because it forms an important part of their competitive advantage. Helen Dickinson of KPMG comments: "In some ways the sector puts itself at a disadvantage. This is because retailers recognise that how they use their people can create competitive advantage - and hence are unwilling to share best practice - and it is not benefiting from knowledge that could be gleaned from other industries."

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At the same time the lack of standard qualifications across retail is also detrimental. Government policy in this area is ineffectual and needs to be improved. Despite these issues, the current environment provides the opportunity for businesses whose people strategy was "not fit for purpose" to raise their game. As the slowdown in retail has been less pronounced than in some sectors, such as construction and the automotive industry, it has the benefit of having the flexibility to be able to do this. The current climate is forcing the retail sector to catch up. The RTT believes that the responses of many retailers are already improving the overall reputation of the sector as an "employer of choice". Those who embrace this opportunity to motivate, train and upskill employees will be the winners of the future.

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SUGGESTION

So from all those above content we know the human resource management is of strategic importance to retail like Walmart, which is also the definition of SHRM. So the top managers besides the HR executive should pay more attention to the everyday employment management, after all, the issues that are related with employment are what they must face every day. So they should play more positive roles in training and using their human resources, and maybe cultivating better organization culture, all of which may prove more cost-saving, and correspondingly help realize Sam Waltons simple philosophy of bringing more value to customers.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCE: 1. Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17, 99120. 2. Davies, H., Leung, T.K.P., Luk, S.T.K. and Wong, Y.H. (1995), "The benefits of "guanxi", The value of relationships in developing the Chinese market". Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 24, pp. 207-14. 3. Delery, John E; Doty, D Harold (1996), Modes of theorizing in SHRM: tests of universalistic, contingency, and configurational performance predictions,

Academy of Management Journal; Aug 1996; 39, 4;p 802-835. 4. Gary Dessler(2005), Human resource management, tenth edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, p 76-78. 5. Gerald R.Ferris, Wayne A. Hochwarter (1999), Human Resource Mangement: some new directions, journal of management, 1999, Vol,25, No.3, 385-415. 6. Jackson & Schuler(1995), Understanding human resource management in the context of organizations and environments. In M.R.Rosenzweig &

L.W.Porter(Eds.), Annual review of psychology, vol.46:237-264. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews. 7. Michael E. Porter(1980), Competitive Strategy, the Free Press, p33(Chinese edition). 8. Nile W. hatch& Jeffrey, H. dyer, Human capital and learning as a source of sustainable competitive advantage, Strategic Management Journal, 2004, vol 25, 1155-1178. 9. Anshuman Magazine managing director, C. B. Richard Ellis (2006). 10. Boudreau 1991, Jones & Wright 1992, Kleiner 1990.

WEBSITE http://propertybytes.indiaproperty.com/ http://propertybytes.indiaproperty.com/

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ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNAIRE

Q1. Do you agree with Indian government decision of allowing FDI in Indian Retail is right? 3. Yes 4. No

Q2. What do you think FDI entry influences HR management in Indian Retail? 3. Yes 4. No

Q3. What the effect on practice HR of Indian Retail? 1. Increases competition 2. Increases investment on HR 3. Increases working Pressure on HR 4. Decrease job stability

Q4. Do you agree with working of HR is very challenging due to increases competition in Indian Retail? 3. Yes 4. No

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Q5. Do you agree with increases financial risk due to Increases investment on HR in Indian Retail? 3. Yes 4. No

Q6. Do you agree with maintain work efficiency of HR due to Increases working Pressure on HR in Indian Retail? 3. Yes 4. No

Q7. Do you agree with Indian retail effectively survive due to Decreases job stability of HR in Indian Retail? 3. Yes 4. No

Q8. What do you think HR working manner will be change after entry of FDI in Indian Retail? 3. Yes 4. No

Q9. Do you agree with Indian retail implement & diffusion of technology with working of HR? 3. Yes 4. No

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Q10. What do you think Indian retail built pressure on HR to improve their skills after entry of FDI in Indian Retail? 3. Yes 4. No

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