The current report is designed to provide an overview of the demand and supply of human resources in the sporting gear industry. Nike Inc. is used as an example that reflects the general trends in human resource planning in the industry. Following the environmental scan and the SWOT analysis conducted beforehand, the report allocates 0124 – advertising, marketing, and public relations managers as a key group for HR planning. The rationale behind the group choice lies within the indicators and factors identified earlier. The overall rapidly changing preferences of the target population, unstable socio-economic status of the prospective consumers, as well as the growing competitiveness inside the industry and the aging workforce, all make their impact. Including all these issues, Nike needs to ensure the sufficient number and level of expertise of professionals in the field of analysis of consumer behavior with the aim of aligning the company’s performance accordingly.
The report includes an overview of the key group, the factors that influence the HR planning process for the industry in general, and an analysis of demand and supply. The models chosen for the forecasting are the Delphi technique and the succession model. Delphi technique allows for obtaining valid business demand information from HRM experts. The succession model is based on statistical data and includes the analysis of potential internal and external supplies. The analysis shows that Nike’s demand is concentrated on young talented individuals who are able to perform within the lean management framework of the company. The internal supply is favorable since it allows for recruiting the best candidates within the company who have a high level of experience and expertise. The demand and supply analysis aligns with the previously identified environmental factors, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the company.
Industry Key Group Rationale and Description
Within the allocated industry, which is the sporting gear industry, particular specifications indicate the expected vectors of companies’ development, which will trigger the respective human resource (HR) planning strategies. The overall analysis of the industry showed that among the most influential issues are those related to the target population’s social trends and financial stability in the region that might affect the socio-economic status of the prospective buyers. Based on these determinants, it is relevant to identify a key group that deals with companies’ performance planning and competitive environment analysis to identify the product demand trends and the changes in the target population’s buying behavior. According to NOC, the key group’s code is 0124 – advertising, marketing, and public relations managers (Government of Canada, 2016). Since this group deals with the analysis of social determinants that identify consumers’ preference and buying behavior, forecasting for this group’s supply and demand provides opportunities for entities to occupy a leading position among competitors.
Main Drivers of Forecast
The main contributing factors that define the forecast directions are those related to environmental scan and the SWOT analysis for the industry. According to the environmental scan, there are three main factors contributing to the future of HR planning of the main entities in the sporting gear industry. They include ever-changing social trends or preferences, socio-economic status of the target population, and technological innovation. The factor of social trends change is perceived as the most crucial predictor of changes in the overall direction of the industry’s operations (Heroux 320). Moreover, another determinant, which is the socio-economic status of the target population, plays a significant role in the performance of a company because it places constraints on the manufacturer by orienting the production on the prospective buying opportunities of consumers. These issues have to be implemented when forecasting human resources. In particular, the marketing department must be increased and better trained to respond to the environmental changes in a timely manner and guide companies’ performance accordingly.
Moreover, when forecasting HR demand and supply, one should refer to the weaknesses and threats that the sector faces to be able to address them in the future and ensure the stable development of companies. As the analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within such leading companies in the sporting gear industry as Nike and Adidas shows, the industry faces several threatening issues. They include growing competitiveness in the sporting industry, the aging workforce, and the lack of professionally skilled employees. Thus, the forecast of HR supply and demand will exemplify Nike’s employment trends using such models as succession analysis and the Delphi technique.
Analysis of Long and Short-Term Demand and Supply
Demand
The business need for the key group might be identified with the help of the Delphi technique. This method of demand analysis allows for measuring the needs of a company to hire employees within a specific department. Delphi technique allows for obtaining a validated opinion from the experts inside the company who possess necessary data concerning the gaps in human resources (McFarlane 37). By developing a questionnaire and distributing it among the experts, one might analyze the collected data to obtain a full picture of employment demand.
There are a number of issues that influence the HR demand in the Nike company. Since Nike, as well as the sporting gear industry in general, faces a threat of an aging workforce, there is a requirement of the inflow of younger employees. Talent and diversity are also the main targets of Nike’s recruitment policy (“Purpose Moves Us” 13). For the key group, an increase in the number of young talented professionals that would contribute to the companies’ performance direction toward the preferences of the target population is essential within both long and short-term perspectives. The short-term demand is influenced by the internal potential of employees to transfer from other departments. Long-term demand depends on the attraction of employees from the outside of the company through a recruiting campaign and a training program.
Supply
As for the HR supply forecasting for Nike, it is relevant to utilize a succession analysis model. This model allows for obtaining information about the possible flows of human resources, including external and internal factors. According to Li, external supply “is affected by various environmental and market factors in most enterprises, which is difficult to forecast” (27). However, internal supply might be examined on the basis of relevant and easily accessible information within a company. In accordance with the Nike company’s lean management framework, its priority is the establishment of highly agile human resource management techniques that are capable of placing the right people in the right positions (“Strengthening Human Resources Management”). Thus, to estimate the supply, it is necessary to predict the internal and external flow of employees.
The information concerning the number of employees in the company and their transitions within the company helps to make necessary supply predictions. According to the company’s report, Nike’s number of employees has grown by 4% for the last year (“Purpose Moves Us” 12). Since the key group reflects numerous departments of the company, this tendency is applicable to marketing employees. As is seen from Figure 1, 40,000 new candidates apply for an internship at the company, and only 1% of them are hired (“Purpose Moves Us” 14). Also, the flow of employees within the company demonstrates that about 3,500 individuals seek promotion and transfer opportunities within the company by means of special developmental programs (“Purpose Moves Us” 15). Importantly, the company explicitly defines its internal supply as a prioritized way of recruiting employees. As it is stated, Nike’s “primary talent strategy is to grow from within” (“Purpose Moves Us” 14). Therefore, the company’s main human resources supply option is internal recruiting.
When discussing the supply forecasting approach for the key group, it is relevant to emphasize the validity of the internal supply. Since the main goal of the company’s improvement in the sphere of advertising, marketing, and customer behavior analysis, it is important to attract people who have experience in performing according to Nike’s standards, values, and mission. Also, these people are expected to have a required set of basic skills that amplify their potential contribution to the development of the company. A specially designed set of development and growth program might help potential candidates to be transferred to the prioritized department.
Summary
When concluding the demand and supply forecast discussion for Nike, one should underline several issues. Firstly, the business demand reflects the trends identified within the environmental scan and the SWOT analysis. Nike reflects the trends in the whole industry and requires young employees with professional skills, talent, and creativity. Also, the company addresses the growing competitiveness within the industry and anticipates the increase in innovative and proactive measures in organizing the operations. For that matter, it is relevant to allocate the key group 0124 since it is responsible for aligning the company’s performance with the market changes and the variations in consumer preferences.
Moreover, the internal supply demonstrates the utilization by the company its strengths, which include highly experienced and skilled employees and the inclusiveness and diversity of human resources. These issues are essential in meeting the demand because they diversify the approaches to decision-making and help the company to meet the requirements of a greater population. The methods of promotion and transferring within the company enable the exchange of experience and ensure the adherence to Nike’s corporate philosophy with fewer expenses on internship training. Overall, the human resource management at Nike efficiently addresses the numerous issues and aligns its development with the most influential factors.
Suggestions
To ensure that the chosen direction of demand and supply forecasting is relevant throughout the HR planning process, it is necessary to implement checking procedures. The managers need to monitor the progress of employment and compare it to the initial requirements. Also, once the short-term goals are achieved, the responsible committees must report the level of achievements and provide data that overviews the anticipated results in the case of the preservation of the initial approach. If any changes in the direction of human resource management need to be made, the analysis and rationale should be reviewed and used as a basis for further planning.
Works Cited
Government of Canada. “0124 – Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations Managers.” 2016, Web.
Herouz, Lise. “Sports Outfitters’ Marketing Strategies: A Comparative Exploratory Study in the U.S. and Canada.” Advances in Economics and Business, vol. 5, no. 6, 2017, pp. 320-327.
Li, Pu et al. “Markov-Based Forecasting Model for Enterprise Human Resources Internal Supply.” Advances in Computer Science Research, vol. 80, pp. 427-430.
McFarlane, Ian. D. et al. “Identifying GM Crops for Future Cultivation in the EU Through a Delphi Forecasting Exercise.” AgBioForum, vol. 21, no. 1, 2018, pp. 35Â43.
“Purpose Moves Us.” Nike Inc., 2020. Web.
“Strengthening Human Resources Management.” Purpose Nike, 2020. Web.