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Talent Management and Business Development in Retail Industry: TALENT

MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IN RETAIL INDUSTRY:
INTEGRATED QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Article · June 2011
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Talent Management and Business Development in Retail Industry:

TALENT MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS

DEVELOPMENT IN RETAIL INDUSTRY:
INTEGRATED QUALITATIVE AND
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Dileep Kumar M.
Professor, HR and Strategic Management, Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate
School of Business (OYA-GSB), University Utara Malaysia 06010 UUM Sintok,
Kedah, Malaysia, (E-mail: dileep@uum.edu.my, prof.mdk@gmail.com)
Abstract: One of the super performers in Indian economy today is

the retail industry. India is one of the top five global destinations for
retail investment, with more than 21 million people employed in a
sector that contributes 13% to the nation’s GDP. The transformation
of Indian retailing is noticed especially with Indian economy playing
a crucial role globally. From mandi’s to malls, Indian retailing has
come a long way. The retail industry has highlighted India’s potential
as a consumer economy and demonstrated the sheer consumer power
of the urban Indian populace. With the growth in organized retail,
both in metros and second-level cities/towns there is an increase in
need for talented people to plan for merchandise, in logistics, and to
manage the supply chain, information and stores. Retailing in the
organized sector is now being the next biggest employment vehicle
after BPO (business process outsourcing). Industry-specific challenges
include high annual employee turnover, the need to create a compelling
talent brand for job-seekers, and the difficulty of aligning managers
and employees in highly distributed store operations and customer
centric operations affect the retails operations across states. The talent
issue is serious. The gap between supply and demand is resulting in
high levels of attrition, skewed salaries and increased costs of doing
business for the industry. The largest, and most successful, retail
companies are achieving their business objectives by relentlessly
focusing on customer-centric process execution. Greater process clarity
and consistency through right workforce allows these companies to
foster and establish long term, loyal and profitable customer
relationships more effectively. Here talented pool of workforce is very
International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011 179

Dileep Kumar M.

important aspect that to be given prime consideration. Since there is

lot of retail players presence in the competitive arena is observed with
companies will not only need experienced leaders at senior levels, but
also the right talent on the shop floor. Despite the very threat of an
economic slowdown, the demand for people with exceptional abilities
and skills are applicable in retail organizations, as well. To fill the
significant gaps in workers and skill sets, executives and HR
professionals in the retail industry should focus on implementing
strategic talent-management initiatives that attract, identify, develop,
reward, and retain the next generation of business leaders. Talent
management is thus the way to business excellence. This particular
study tries to have integrated approach of qualitative and quantitative
to analyze the influence of talent management factors on business
development.
1. INTRODUCTION
Retailing is one of the pillars of the economy in India and accounts
for about 15% of its GDP (McKinsey 2007). India is one of the five
largest retail markets in the world in economic value.India’s growing
market for consumer goods, already in the top ten could reach $400
billion by 2010—making it one of the five largest in the world
(Bharadwaj, Gautam M. Swaroop, IreenaVittal (2005). Indian
retail industry is divided into organized and unorganized sectors.
Organized retailing, absent in most rural and small towns of India
in 2010, refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers,
that is, those who are registered for sales tax, income tax, etc. These
include the publicly-traded supermarkets, corporate-backed
hypermarkets and retail chains, and also the privately owned large
retail businesses. According Unorganized retailing, on the other
hand, refers to the traditional formats of low-cost retailing, for
example, the local kinara (corner) shops, owner manned general
stores, paan/beedi shops, convenience stores, hand cart and
pavement vendors, etc (Indian Retail News (2011). Recognizing the
short-term and long-term growth of retail in India, a number of
domestic business giants have entered the retail industry or are
planning to do so in the near future. Some like Pantaloon Retail,
Shopper’s Stop and Pyramid Retail have been in the industry for a
decade. Others like Reliance Retail Ltd. (RRL) have just entered and
180 International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011

opened up a number of stores across the country. Still other domestic

players like Birla and Bharti are planning their foray into this sector.
In fact retail in India has also attracted global giants like Wal-Mart
who have also indicated their interest in the sector by forming a
Joint Venture with Bharti. Each of these domestic and international
retail giants have or will introduce a number of modern retail formats
like malls, hypermarkets and supermarkets. Initial consumer
response to these novelties in the retail sector has been very
promising and as the middle-class continues to grow, organized
retail in India is sure to see large returns. In fact, organized retail is
growing at a staggering 35% per year.
SonamVij (2006) pointed out that India is changing very fast
and by 2025, the per capita income will increase to $ 1200. Adding
another $ 200-300 and with incomes going higher people will start
consuming more. In 20 years 60 pc of India’s population will be
below 23 years of age, which means that two thirds of the populace
would not have any concept of what a ration shop was and would
only know of shopping malls. The retail business needs to evolve
very fast to keep up with that. Sanjay Jog (2005) pointed out further
that Retail sector has opened 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.
Relating the Indian retail scenario to effective employee
engagement, “Talent Management” has become one of the most
important catchphrases in Corporate HR today. In the volatile
business scenarioone who supports an organisation by formulating
and executing efficient plan or strategy is part of talented human
Dileep Kumar M.

resource. Few key words circle around talent management is the

right recruitment right way of development and right appraisal of
performance which lead an organisation towards fidelity and
accuracy. The primary goal of an HR department is there by to
improve the decisions that organizations make about people. It is
assumed in this study that effective ‘technology base’ and its
application in recruitment, training and development and
performance management system, can support the Human Resource
wing to have better grip on this buzzword talent management. This
particular study concentrates on the application of technology in
HR functional level that support to business excellence.
2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study orient towards the taken management approaches of
industries. In order to explore the relationship the research posed
several research questions.
1. How talent management technology relates to functional
efficiency?
2. How Strategic leadership influence the functional
performance?
This study should prove to be valuable and benefit scholars in
terms of talent management concept expansion in Indian business
context and also assist and illustrate human resource practitioners
and managers at all levels how to establish and implement talent
management system effectively in order to gain competitive
advantage in fierce global competition.
3. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Success of organization is based upon the talent management in
today’s competitive marketplace. Talent management is about the
processes, systems and strategies and their implementation of those
unified strategies which are designed to enhance the productivity
of the workplace by developing the improved processes for
attracting, development, utilization and retention of skilled people


matches with the current and upcoming business needs. It is widely

accepted that human resources adds value to the organizations. The
most suitable way to attain competitive advantage for organization
is to keep human resource as a strategic business partner in such a
way that it improves the business performance. It is possible by
managing the talent effectively, associates it with the change
management and adaptability of employees that how they respond
to change. It not only considers the influencing strategy of the
organization but at the same time contributes with some value
addition which impacts effectiveness (Lawler, 2008).
4. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To understand the talent management effort of Human Resource
Department in retail firms in India;
2. To investigate relationship between talent management
andbusiness development in retail firms in India.
3. To analysis the influence of talent management and business
development in retail firms in India.
5. METHODOLOGY
Qualitative method an in-depth interview was employed in order
to achieve the objectives of the study. Key informants were HR
Dileep Kumar M.

practitioners in 12 leading retail malls in Bangalore India. The

authors experience that it is necessary to adopt an interpretivist
methodology to discover what Remenyi et al. (1998) called ‘the details
of the situation to understand the reality or perhaps a reality working
behind them’ – the social constructionism. Based on this argument,
it is necessary to explore the subjective meanings motivating
companies’ actions in their actual working environment. Two types
of triangulations which were data and methodology were employed
for investigating some hidden data. Data triangulation was used to
make a distinction between time, space and persons concerning the
phenomenon at different dates and palaces and from different
persons, whilst at the same time, methodological triangulation in
terms of documentary analysis and in-depth interview were
employed to cross check data derived from the field (Denzin and
Lincoln, 2000, 2003).
6. TALENT MANAGEMENT
Goffee and Jones (2007) define talent as handful of employee whose
ideas, knowledge and skills give them the potential to produce the
disproportionate vale from the resource they have available from
them. Tansley et al. (2006) point out that talent can be considered as
a complex amalgam of employees’ skills, knowledge, cognitive
ability and potential. Employees’ values and work preferences are
also of major importance. Whilst, Ingham (2006) considers people
who are in the key position, the leader team, the individual who
has the scarce capability or make particular contribution to the
organization is talent.
Aston and Morton (2005) indicates that there “...isn’t a single
consistent or concise definition” of talent management.
Notwithstanding this criticism, talent management is becoming a
critical area for an organization’s success in the recent weak economy
(The Conference Board, 2003). Newhouse, Lewis, and Jones (2004)
define talent management as: “ensuring that a sufficient supply of
talent is available across the organization to achieve competitive
advantage, enhanced corporate performance, and maximizing the


productivity of an organization’s talent pool. It involves process

consulting which includes forecasting openings and needed resources,
using assessments for selection and development, placing employees
onto appropriate projects, planning for and measuring the return on
investment of personnel programs, utilizing technology
advancements, and more. Talent management spans the entire talent
life cycle from entry to exit, from placement to promotion.
According to Schweyer (2004: 22), talent management can be
defined as the sourcing (finding talent); screening (sorting of
qualified and unqualified applicants); selection (assessment/testing,
interviewing, reference/background checking etc. of applicants); on
boarding (offer generation/acceptance); retention (measures to keep
the talent that contributes to the success of the organisation);
development (training, growth, assignments, etc.); deployment
(optimal assignment of staff to projects, lateral opportunities,
promotions etc.) and renewal of the workforce, with analyses and
planning as the adhesive, overarching ingredient.
7. WHY TALENT MANAGEMENT IS IMPORTANT?

The question of talent management is of attention to a wide range
of stakeholders beyond human resource (HR) academics and
professionals. Indeed, the Economist Intelligence Unit (2006) found
that most CEOs explicitly argued that talent management was too
important to be left to HR alone, while a Boston Consulting Group
(2007) report identified talent management as one of five critical
challenges for HR in the European context. The BCG findings were
based not only on those capabilities that executives expect to be
most important in managing human capital, but tellingly are also
those they perceive their organisations to be weakest at. Thus, the
area is likely to be relevant, inter alia for scholars and practitioners
in the fields of strategic management, human resources and
organizational behaviour.
In fact, a number of surveys reveal that many large organizations
are already suffering a chronic shortage of talented employees.
Dileep Kumar M.

To consider the recent survey based on 33,000 employers from 23

countries, 40% of them had difficulty in searching and hiring the
desired talent (Manpower Inc., 2006) and roughly 90% of nearly
7,000 managers revealed that talent acquisition and retention were
becoming more difficult (Axelrod et al., 2001). McKinsey (2007a) also
revealed the global survey concerning the organizational challenges
of global trends by asking executives from 93 countries in all main
regions of the world, to choose the three trends that will most affect
their companies over the next five years. The results reveal that the
most significant trend cited by 47% of the executives is the
intensifying battle for talented people. Executives in the developed
countries of the Asia-Pacific region such as Australia, Hong Kong,
Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea,
Taiwan, and in developing countries are even more concerned about
the completion for talent that their counterparts in North America
and Europe are (McKinsey, 2007b). Ramadevi (2005), states that 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.
Success can no longer be measured alone by the amount of
money a company has. The talent it possesses in the form of its
employees’ skills and competencies, leading to organizational
capability, has become the key to success in today’s highly
competitive business environment (Lockwood 2006: 2; Lawler III:
2008: VII). So why is talent so important? According to Cheese (2008:
39-40), the following reasons can be identified:
1. Talent generates high performance, which in turn attracts
new talent and creates the means to reward it.
2. Talent drives improvements in productivity, quality,
innovation and customer satisfaction, which in turn feed
into the bottom-line results.
Without talent, the industry is thus doomed. While the industry
offers well qualified individuals such as graduates exciting and

rewarding career opportunities, it also needs a vast number of

operational staff. Low entry barriers and high turnover pose
particular HR challenges to management in this area (Haven-Tang
& Jones 2006: 91).
8. PROCUREMENT AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

Despite a tough economic climate, labor remains a retailer’s second-
largest cost after merchandise. Yet, Gartner (2008) sees continued
and steady investment in workforce management technologies. In
spite of the tendency to slash staff budgets first during tough
economic times, customer-centric retailers are using technology to
improve store processes and provide a strong foundation to build
and scale their businesses from when the economy turns around.
Gartner (2008) research on e recruitment in retail sector indicates
that the best functionality and flexibility that can support the
business process requirements for store staffing are coming from
niche e-recruitment vendors. These applications improve recruiting
and hiring efficiency by:
• Standardizing the job application process for cross-channel
consistency across retail enterprises
• Reducing the time to process and screen applicants through
use of electronic forms
• Reducing the time to fill vacancies/length of vacancies
• Reducing sourcing costs (advertising, job boards, career
fairs) by identifying best sources for attracting qualified
applicants
• Improving manager productivity by screening and
prioritizing applicants, thus reducing time spent reviewing
and interviewing candidates
• Minimizing screening costs associated with background
checks (such as criminal records, tax issues, drug tests,
certifications and so on) until needed in the hiring process.
Dileep Kumar M.

Most importantly, e-recruiting applications help retailers

improve the effectiveness of management through the use of
screening and assessment tools that can rank candidates and can
predict a candidate’s expected success as well as longevity before
hiring. Better matching of applicant skills, availabilities and
preferences improves efficiency and reduces churn for retailers.
HR Interactive (2009) while substantiating the benefits of
e-recruitment process indicates that online recruitment facilitates
just-in-time hiring. When an organisation needs a candidate it can
access the database of job portals, screen resumes and send a mass
mail. It can also shortlist people based on skills, location, salary and
availability and move on to the interview stage.
• The Web knows no geographical boundaries. The entire
globe is your audience. The Internet is specially useful if
you are sourcing overseas talent and that too from multiple
countries.
• The Internet is a 24 x 7 medium; positions can be uploaded
instantaneously. Response time is phenomenally
compressed.
• Compared to traditional recruiting methods such as
newspaper Ads, or career fairs, the cost of advertising on
the Net is almost 1/10 of offline cost.
• You save a lot on indirect costs such as courier, phone calls,
especially, long distance calls and stationery. In most cases,
the Internet can effectively substitute costly traditional
communication media.
• Reduce your Manpower Recruitment cost.
A conceptual paper on Managerial challenges of e-recruitment:
extending the life cycle of new economy employees by Smith and
Rupp (2004), examined the application of technology to recruiting
and retaining knowledge workers in an e-commerce, information
intensive environment. The authors reported that e-recruitment as
a general process is job specific and offers computer-assisted

screening interviews and statistical prediction to aid in reducing

recruiting costs, time-to-hire and employee turnover [96].
Hadass (2004) in his research on the effect of internet recruiting
on the matching of workers and HR Managers developed a model
of recruitment in which job seekers have private information about
their qualification for different jobs and firms possess imperfect
screening technologies. The implications of the model were
empirically examined using personnel data from US-based
multinational manufacturing firm with more than 15000 employees.
The adoption of e-recruitment was modeled as reducing application
costs to workers and improving screening technology for firms. He
concluded that firms may adopt e-recruitment strategies because of
the direct reduction in recruiting costs and because of competition
among HR Managers for qualified hires [41].
While substantiating the above research findings on e- recruitment
Dhruvakanth B Shenoy, (2009) indicates that the traditional
boundaries that separated print media, job boards, recruitment
advertising agencies, recruitment consultancies and technology
companies are breaking down. Resume databases have been
increasing manifold and the availability of a database (number of
candidates) is much higher than what manual recruitment modes
can offer. The growth in the e-recruitment industry has been fuelled
with the adoption of technology by prospective employers and
Internet penetration. Organizations have cut costs by almost 80 per
cent over traditional recruitment modes by moving over to the online
recruitment process.” Manual recruitment process has its own
limitation in terms of time, cost, technology, wider platform and
ease of applications.
RaghuveerSakuru, (2009) further states that the costs involved
in manual recruiting process include advertising costs, the cost of
hiring a placement agency, administrative expenses and the cost of
time. Recruiting online would ideally be more focused, fast paced,
effective and give higher RoI (Return on Investment) on the
administrative expense.” By breaking geographical boundaries,
Dileep Kumar M.

online recruitment gives maximum reach. On the contrary, to get

similar benefits through the manual recruitment process one has to
devote more resources.
9. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND TALENT

MANAGEMENT
Christine Mullie, Russ Hill (1998) a performance management
system is the process of using information to achieve superior
corporate performance. For retailers it means having the information
to monitor corporate and store performance, quickly take action,
and improve operational efficiency. By implementing an integrated
performance management system, retailers can ensure the managers
across the various functional business units have real-time access
to the information they need, to make effective decisions. An
integrated performance management system can also help senior
executives ensure that functional, departmental, and employee
objectives are in alignment, and that corporate priorities are
continually reflected throughout the organization.
Kaplan and Doctor David Norton (1993) indicate that
Cross-organizational integration is the toughest and most
fundamental requirement of a performance management system.
Because managers scattered across departments and within varying
levels of an organization may be working from personalized
scorecards, dashboards, and reports, it is necessary to have a system
in place that can integrate all of this to ensure all departmental and
regional objectives are in synch with the overall corporate objectives.
By enabling managers to see the breadth and totality of company
operations, and by allowing the linkage of top-level business metrics
down through to the employees in the stores, and to site-specific
operations, an integrated performance management system can help
retailers accomplish this monumental task.
Vasundhra Singh (2007) Evaluating employee performance
requires a systematic approach and a streamlined process. With the
advent of technology, performance appraisal software’s are

becoming common in organisations. Performance management

software is also helping to dramatically improve HR’s ability to carry
out effective people relationship management (PRM), and improve
their organization’s employer brand. It enables companies to move
away from subjective people management to objective and efficient
people management to the great benefit of the employee/candidate.
The performance appraisal softwares are used to:
• Integrate organisational goal and competency management
• Professional and career development strategy
• Employee evaluation form
• Automated performance management workflow
• E-mail reminders
• Report generation and compatibility with the HR system
and software’s.
Mayasoman (2007) further argues that technology has become
synonymous with information technology, as hardly any other
technological development of the past would have impacted all
spectrum of business as information technology has impacted.
Irrespective of the kind of business you are in deployment of
information technology in one form or the other is a foregone
conclusion. To manage and deploy technology in an effective way,
all business organizations would need knowledge workers.
Managing of these knowledge workers is the responsibility of HR
function. Hence the integration of technology and HR is an absolute
must. Integration of technology and HR would not only mean
harmonious co-existing but would also mean one enhancing and
complementing the other i.e., technology is used to enhance
effectiveness of HR and HR functions helps in adopting and
managing change which technology deployment brings in.
Research conducted by John Bersin of Bersin& Associates (2011)
showed that the involvement of top executives in driving or actively
participating in the talent management strategy is critical to its

Dileep Kumar M.

success. In the context of Asian culture, proactive role or role

modeling and demonstrated commitment of top executive and
senior leadership in the organization are utmost importance to
ensure snowballing effect for a successful implementation of the
talent and competency based human capital management
throughout the organization.
Effective retail store management depends on satisfied,
motivated, and loyal employees who will be productive, maintain
assigned work schedules, and develop tenure with the firm. In order
to attract and keep satisfied and productive employees, retail store
managers must know which dimensions of management and
behaviour that more taken into consideration. Lindsay Edmonds
Wickman (2008) here in this context indicates that glitzy store
windows and snappy marketing campaigns make retail jobs seem
simple: stock, smile and sell. But beneath the surface there’s a web
of factors that influence retailing and make accurate employee
performance measurement a real challenge. When there is a
downpour, customers stay home. When the economy dips, they hold
on tighter to their wallets. And when oil prices rise, they don’t travel
as far from home. All of these external factors affect the retail industry
and make performance management improvements elusive.
However, if organizations understand these factors, they can assess
employee performance based on realistic sales targets and the total
customer experience. Then talent managers can make whatever
behavior suggestions or corrections are necessary for improvement.
Retailers who do this will have a competitive edge because
employees will feel invested in their work, turnover will decrease
and, ultimately, sales will rise.
10. DEVELOPMENT AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

Lamoureux, Kim. (2007) states that leadership and management
training and executive education account for the single largest
spending area in corporate training today (35%). While it is not
surprising that executives, senior managers and high-potentials are
top recipients of that training, there is a trend underway that is


pushing leadership training down the ranks. Businesses that are

currently facing talent shortages realize that to remain competitive
they must focus on developing and retaining talent at all levels.
A recent study on high impact leadership development focused on
identifying best practices and trends in leadership development
processes reports: “Organizations are clearly feeling the pinch of
our changing demographics and see leadership development as a
critical function to keep the (talent) pipeline filled. Furthermore, there
is now a widespread understanding that “leadership” plays a critical
role at all levels of the organization.”
For the retail sector, during the last half-century there have been
major economic and structural changes, with the key drivers
including; technology, globalization, international competition,
productivity growth, dramatic shifts in patterns of expenditure and
changing life styles (Wilson, et al 2004). In the human resources
setting, talent development refers to managing employees within
an organization and planning for their training, development,
performance management, and succession planning. Giving due
importance to talent development Warhurst et al, (2003) report that
retail sector is reporting serious skills shortages, particularly
customer handling and communication skills, there are also reported
deficits in the personal attributes, however conceived, of job
applicants. Many firms report recruitment difficulties and the
retention of some types of staff is also an issue.
Dench, et al (1997) indicates that increasing emphasis is being
placed on the quality of customer service offered and this has
impacted upon the skills and qualities demanded of sales assistants.
They argue that whilst sales assistants’ jobs were traditionally
regarded as low skilled occupations, these roles are now becoming
increasingly complex and there are a wider range of tasks to perform.
Substantiating the above discussion Skillsmart, (2002) states that
as retailers strive to delight their customers and to reduce their cost
bases, a knowledgeable, skilled change oriented and highly
productive workforce will be key to future success.’ It should be
Dileep Kumar M.

noted that the shortage of such skills is not retail sector specific but
is a general concern within many sectors. However, within the retail
sector it is particularly acute because the industry is highly
dependent upon communication and customer service skills.
The main skills and abilities required of sales assistants are
reported as:
1. Customer service skills;
2. Basic literacy and numeracy;
3. Selling skills and product knowledge;
4. Computer literacy and IT skills;
5. A knowledge of consumer law and other regulations such
as those relating to health and safety;
6. Taking reasonability and initiative; Personal characteristics:
the right attitude, a desire to work with and serve the public.
(London West, 2001: 2).
Talent management needs to continue to train and develop high
performers for potential new roles, identify their knowledge gaps,
and implement initiatives to enhance their competencies and ensure
their retention (Cairns, 2009). Hills (2009) suggest five strategies for
effective succession planning: (1) aligning succession planning with
business strategy; (2) assessing leadership potential based on the
3Cs of fit – competence, connection and culture; (3) involving talent
in the succession planning process; (4) using a mix of experience,
outside or executive coaching and formal learning experiences in
talent development and; (5) drawing from a wider net of potential
successors.
O’Leonard, Karen. (2008) indicates that most organizations
provide some form of tactical training on the policies and procedures
side of performance management. This includes employee
performance appraisals, compensation and reward systems, HR
policies and other areas of employee health, safety and welfare.
While these are important, many companies overlook the more

strategic people management skills that have been proven to yield

higher benefits and result in business impact. Three of these areas
include the manager’s role in: (a) bringing HR policies to life,
(b) facilitating employee learning and development; and
(c) coaching, mentoring and on-the-job training.
Bersin & Associates (2008) indicates that as a result of the
increased focus on growing competitive advantage and driving
organizational performance, many companies have turned to a
“talent-driven” learning approach. This approach focuses on
building longer-term competitive advantage by providing targeted
or prescribed learning programs that are organized around job roles
and career paths and focus on developing “deep rooted
competencies, behaviors and culture.
11. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Human Resources functional area provides a critical component
to any retail organization: well trained and skilled associates to
provide excellent customer service, both internally and externally.
While sometimes one of the last areas addressed in process
improvement initiatives, often it is found that root causes of
problems that occur could be addressed through Human Resources
activities. The following results of the study are according to the
qualitative data’s analysis which is generated from the ten Indian
Retail companies in India. Findings on the key issues explored in
this study are presented below.
12. TALENT MANAGEMENT AND PROCUREMENT

The present qualitative analysis indicates that the technology driven
recruitment and selection process can bring better output to the
business development.
One of the functions of HR department of in any industry is to
hire skilled labor force specific functional role. For example, in the
retail sector, the company has to hire good sales executiveswith sales
pitch necessary for the success of the retail sales operations. If one
Dileep Kumar M.

employee shows good records in a particular region, indicates the

fitness of a person in that specific location. The role of front line
managers needs to be specially emphasized here. The entire process
of retailing can be made successful through the services of the front
line employees who meet the customer and convince the customer
about the product and services. In this occasion the company reaps
the real benefit through talent management policies and procedures.
Confronting with theacute competition and growing need for
talented managers, it is extremely important that HR managers needs
to identify and attract potential high performers, starts from the
recruitment and selection process itself. The talent management
effort calls for the HR managers to play a more proactive and
prominent role in order to get the high skilled employees. In this
context the role of technology in the recruitment and selection of
employees need to be analyzed into.
“It’s our experience is that e-recruiting tools support our firm to save a
lot of time and money and energy in the talent search leaving the
outmoded recruiting channels like print media. The situation in retail is
that we are getting huge number of application for various verticals. It
is humanly impossible to sort out each resume and screen out the best
talent. Application of e-recruitment methods supports us to get best of
the talent within few minutes. So tell us, do we go with traditional resume
analysis or without saving time, energy and cost, adopt technology driven
talent management system?” (Interview with HR Head).
When a company is looking for new employees, they tend to
use different channels in order to find the most suitable personnel.
The channels could be educational institution, TV/magazine
advertising, agency or any other channels which etc., to find the
right personnel. The requirement of the retail firm varies since it
requires personnel at various levels (entry level or middle level).
The company may consider various recruitment sources to fill the
positions. For example, in a retail company, when they are looking
for entry level sales personnel, they tend to reply on educational
institutions, advertisements and employee recommendations.
Moreover, when a retail company is looking for middle-management

positions, they are likely to use employment agencies, competitors,

advertisements and current employees. These recruitment processes
can be very costly. It takes a great deal of time to set up an effective
recruitment process. Therefore, the company has to carry out this
job out in an unconventional way. Most importantly, e-recruiting
applications help retail HR managers to improve the effectiveness
of management through the use of screening and assessment tools
that can rank and predict candidates with expected success as well
as longevity before hiring. Better matching of applicant skills,
availabilities and preferences improves efficiency and reduces churn
for retailers. Through e-recruitment tools the resumes can be
formatted and received in a standard format. Resume summaries
as per the desired fields can be arranged and printed within short
span.Further with the tools of e-recruitment, the applicant tracking
is simple and more efficient. The firms which follow traditional
selection process can be very costly because they have to pay for the
postage of sending out application forms to candidates and they
may also have to pay for the travel expenses for candidates’ journey
to interview. The e-recruitment strategy makes the preliminary
automated screening process of the applied candidates and reduces
the cost of selection process by calling only eligible employees for
further process.
“The retail skector, especially in India, is facing acute competition from
local companies and even from global companies. We carefully see that
our firm should always be in competitive edge to capture the business
opportunities in market. We would adopt best of the technology whether
is local or global, whatever the software of hardware, considering the
long term advantage it may give to the firm in talent acquisition and
performance.” (Interview with HR Head).
Especially, calculating the cost of turnover in retail varies by
business model, scope of operations, geography and type of position
envisages importance of e-recruitment strategy to improve
the recruitment and hiring efficiency for business excellence.
E-recruitment solutions for hourly, field-based workforces are
different from salaried recruiting solutions typically offered by HR
Dileep Kumar M.

management system (HRMS) or ERP vendors. Adopting the right

approach will result in massive savings and increased productivity.
13. TRAINING AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

The present qualitative analysis indicates that the training and
development process can bring better output to the business
development.
Training is one of the most important activities business firms
have to engage with for sustainable performance and productivity
from employees. Providing employees with training and
developmental opportunities encourages good performance,
strengthens job-related skills and competencies, and helps
employees keep up with changes in the workplace. In the sales
department training is extremely important since the sales
executives’ faces variety of customer-interactive situations.
Effectively handling the customers required problem solving, critical
thinking, innovative approach, and people skills. Especially, the
retail sectors is concerned sales executives are in the front lines and
their abilities to take care of the customer’s needs and wants often
makes the difference between success and failure. Sales executives
whom offer differentiated customer experience, by delivering
excellent customer relationship during the sales process are the assets
to any organization. Successful retailers must ensure their employees
are held to certain standards of behavior. Retaining employees
through great training programs guarantees high yield return on
investment. In order to get right result the HR managers needs to
adopt continuous learning and development programs. To what
extent the retail firms are adamant in extending right kind of learning
and development programs and investing in employee
empowerment, which decides the human resource effectiveness.
“Strong talent management leads to greater workforce productivity and
other benefits. The companies across the sectors are realizing that they
cannot be successful unless they have a good strategy for developing
talent. The managers in Human Recourse Division keep track of the


fluctuations happening in the external and internal environment, conduct

job analysis and feedbacks from the front end to the back end, and evaluate
the current skill and expertise to handle the customers and business
stakeholder, provide them with proper training and development activities
to reach the desired destination. It’s not fussy game but a strategy through
development”. (Interview with HR Head).
Retail is a highly competitive and dynamic environment.
Effective talent management in retail form depends on the approach
of the top level management on the learning and development
opportunities that extended to their managerial and operational
members. A professional approach to learning and increasing skill
levels is vital for individuals, managers and business owners. Here
the training programs are inevitable. In general, retail training aims
to increase skills to deal with customers. Many retail chains and
companies have formal training programs for management trainees
that include both classroom and on-site training. Training time may
range from one week or may last more than one year, giving trainees
experience during all sales seasons. Retail training depends on a
certain blend of counseling, continuing education about the
nonprofit, and a focus on customer service. During the trainings
candidates are exposed to Simulated Environments in Selling, Role
plays and Theatrical activities, Language, Communication skills,
Front end and Back end operations, Self Development & Realization
Workshops, Grooming & Etiquette, Dining Skills and much more.
The talent management programs which extend such modules
produce better result in business growth and development. The retail
industry requires better skilled and more flexible workers and yet
the logistics of delivering training and providing for continual
learning in the retail environment present enormous challenges
(Harris and Church, 2002). Retail industry is a mix of many
operations. The executives of retail firm oversee people at work in
many functional area viz., sales related workers, cashiers, customer
service representatives, stock clerks and order fillers, sales engineers,
and wholesale sales representatives. They prepare work schedules
and assign workers to specific duties etc. Training of workers and
Dileep Kumar M.

executives in a retail firm is required at different levels - Floor,

Executive & Managerial. Effective management and maintenance
of talent of executives through training and development efforts
can reduce the task of the shop foloor level supervisors and the
employees can handle their job without much direction and control.
The HR function is here closely knit with the talent identification
and maintenance for efficiency and productivity.
14. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND TALENT

MANAGEMENT
The present qualitative analysis shows that the adequate
concentration on performance management process can bring better
output to the business development. This indicates that the
significance of performance appraisal, being a major and pivotal
HR activity, is to be emphasized for the growth, development and
success of any organization.
The performance management process is intended to drive the
achievement of key business results is typically designed to ensure
that individual, group and enterprise goals and expectations are
clearly defined, focused on key priorities, and well connected to the
drivers of results. Performance management processes are critical
to the development of high performing enterprises. Performance
Management is one of the key processes that, when effectively
carried out, helps employees know that their contributions are
recognized and acknowledged. High Performance Retail is about
the implementation and execution of proven best practices for
breakthroughs in performance on the front lines, where
breakthroughs in performance are defined as: significant and
sustainable increases in sales and bottom line profits; accompanied
by aligned, positive and committed people; and exceptionally
satisfied and loyal customers.
“Our organization always showed the correlation between high leadership
abilities of the executives and employees scores on our leadership scoring
process,” “We don’t believe in any form of casual approach to build up


the leadership among executives and employees. Its performance related.

Our ability to accomplish is a direct function of a performance culture
that we have in place. The initiatives are run with the support
of technology application. This approach is giving maximum return of
investment in the managerial decision making process in terms
of productivity”. (Interview with HR Head).
The retail business environment is experiencing major shifts in
the competitive and economic landscape. The retail industry is one
of the most difficult of all sectors to manage high turnover, rapid
product cycles, and low margins. Retail organizations face many
workforce management challenges, including increased competition,
spiraling labor costs, stable prices, high turnover, and heightened
exposure to labor law liability. Motivating employees to perform
well and achieve goals is the constant challenge of every retail
manager. A performance management system linking with intrinsic
and extrinsic factors of employees and employers, can successfully
incite action and inspirethem to work harder and achieve better
results.
“We as one the retail leading firm believe that by recognizing and
rewarding deserving candidates with promotions and other awards,
companies can nurture an atmosphere in which talent flourishes. We
apply strategies like mentoring, coaching and objective feedback
continuously to achieve employee’s empowerment through talent
management initiatives”. (Interview with HR Head).
Effective retail store management depends on satisfied,
motivated, and loyal employees who will be productive, maintain
assigned work schedules, and develop tenure with the firm. One
way to review the performance and potential of staff is through a
system of performance appraisal. It is important that members of
the organization know exactly what is expected of them, and the
yardsticks by which their performance and results will be measured.
In order to attract and keep satisfied and productive employees,
retail store managers must know which dimensions of management
and behaviour that more taken into consideration. The objective
assessment and feedback through continuous performance
Dileep Kumar M.

assessment can guarantee better retail operations and business

development. Robert Kreitner, Angelo Kinicki, (2002) in this context
indicates that employees of present era need instructive
and supportive feedback and designed rewards if they are to
translate their knowledge into improved productivity and superior
quality.
15. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
15.1. Hypothesis
1. There may have significant relationship between talent
management and business development in retail firms in India.
2. The talent management practices may have significant influence
on retail firms in India.
This particular research was conducted to analyze the
influence of three factors, recruitment, and development and
performance management on talent management effectiveness. The
questionnaire was pilot tested with 50 HR executives from retail
industry. The sample collected from the metro cities like Delhi,
Mumbai, Pune, Baroda, Kanpur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar,
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai Cochin, and Calcutta, by
ensuring regional representation. Since the proportion of HR
executives in the retail firms and region varied the study followed
proportional probabilistic sample size. The study considered 120
HR executives.
The study did content and construct analysis by making use of
extensive literature and previously validated constructs. It
establishes further the incorporation of the representativeness of
the items in the questionnaire for adequate data collection. Cronbach
Standardized Alpha was estimated to assess the reliability of the
items selected for the study. As the relationship varied from 0.80 to
0.91 the reliability test passed. All the 3 factors and the items in the
questionnaire have secured a reliability score above .60 and thus all
the 3 items were considered for the study.

Table 1
Validity and Reliability of Coping
Sl. Sub Variables Construct M α % of Var. Factor
No. Talent explained Loading
Management
Factors
1. Procurement Standardize job application 9.12 0.84 76.2 0.80
process
Reduce time 0.81
Reduce cost 0.86
Improve efficiency 0.88
More option for getting 0.90
talented profile
High strategic importance 0.80
2. Development Enhanced competitiveness 8.22 0.86 77.2 0.91
Talent augmentation 0.86
Better decision making 0.88
High self confidence 0.85
More involvement in work
More business orientation
3. Performance Better feedback 9.41 0.85 76.4 0.90
Management Continuous improvement 0.88
Better Workflow 0.82
Operational efficiency 0.81
Competitive edge 0.80
Target orientation 0.83
Career orientation 0.81
Table 2
Regression Analysis: Procurement, Development and with
Functional Effectiveness
Dependent Variable Independent Variable:

Talent Management ↓ Adjusted R2
↓ Business Development
Procurement 0.070** 0.21
Development 0.071** 0.20
Performance management 0.079** 0.20
The major hypothesis stated includes “talent management

factors may influence business development in retail industry”.
Multiple regression analysis (Table 2) was used for examining
Dileep Kumar M.

whether each Business Development is influenced by 3 talent

management dimensions. All regression models are significant at
the 0.01 level. Here the finding is in line with talent management
factors may influence business development in retail industry. Thus
the second hypothesis stated is well accepted.
16. RESULT AND DISCUSSION (QUANTITATIVE)

The major hypothesis stated includes (H1 and H2) “talent
management practices may have significant influence on retail firms
in India”. The findings have shown positive correlation between
talent management factors and business development opportunity
at 0.01 levels. The study substantiates many findings of past
researches on the relationship between talent management and
business development in retail sector in specific. The study tries to
experiment with both qualitative and quantitative measurements
in order to analyse whether the findings make any difference, related
to the influence of talent management factors on business
development. Both the approaches made it very clear that talent
management influence the business development opportunities in
retail industry. The present study clearly indicates that the three
dimensions selected for the study talent management viz., the
recruitment (0.070**), development (0.071**) and performance
management (0.079**) is having high significance in the study
(Table 2). The result obtained through the qualitative research once
again proved through the application of quantitative research.
Talent Management - the process of optimizing the “talent” in an
organization — that is, the people who make any organization
function. Talent management is an integrated approach to assessing,
selecting, developing, positioning and retaining key individuals in
an organisation. It is an approach to the management of human
capital and knowledge as assets, in a dynamic manner that supports
business strategyWhile the concepts behind talent management are
as old as organizations themselves, new technologies can
fundamentally alter the way we handle these ideas in practice. Talent
management consolidates all the strategic employee development

processes spanning the employees’ career with the company: from

hire to retire, including recruitment, education, career development,
and performance management. It also encompasses the company
view of employee development, identifying and tracking high
potential employees to ensure future leaders can be effectively
promoted from within and that successors are identified for key
positions. A strong Talent Management Strategy enables the
organization to find the best people, leverage their talent in the right
place and right time, align employees and teams to corporate goals,
maximize the impact of training, and retain and promote top
performers. It is specially emphasized in this discussion that the
incorporation of technology in the HR process especially, in the
recruitment and performance management system can support
better decision making among the HR functional level managers.
17. IMPLICATION
Talent management is the single biggest challenge faced by a high-
growth industry. And, if a company is growing at double the
industry’s rate of growth, there’s the additional problem of getting
good quality people in large numbers. Retail industry is one of the
high growth industry which faces high challenge in talent acquisition
and management. The call is for HR practitioners to play a more
proactive and prominent role in order to retain the high skilled
employees who are constantly looking for greater gains and prospects
in their work. The three processes which identified in this research
paper need more attention from the CEO level to have strategic people
orientation. Organizations that formally decide to “manage their
talent” undertake a strategic analysis of their current HR processes.
This is to ensure that a co-ordinated, performance oriented approach
is adopted. Or else, the development of business in a competitive
and volatile business scenario is a mirage to retail firms in India.
18. CONCLUSION
Today, many retail organizations are struggling with lack of
HR processes and technologies. In order to bring sustainable
Dileep Kumar M.

change in the business process the organization put clear cut HR

process with the application of technology. The future of talent
management is lies in solutions premeditated from the ground
up to provide business-centric functionality on a unified talent
management platform. Commencing a talent management plan
can also be used to fascinate the types of employees that the
organization wants to join in organization. A best analysis if
the organisational fit can be judged through talent management
initiatives. Talent management steps will enable the organization
learn what kinds of people work best and contribute best in the
organization; where developments can be made. Technology
driven recruitment process, Training and development,
Performance Management System and Talent Management plan can
work hand in hand to improve the overall environment of the
organization.
19. RECOMMENDATION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
The study limited to 120 HR executives and interviews which
conducted with limited number of top level executives. In order to
arrive at better result and wider applicability, the study
envisages more focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews
in the area of talent management in retail sector. Future studies to
be organized in to such firms where technology driven Talent
Management process are ongoing, so that the effectiveness of
such activities cam better compared with traditional firms. In the
present research a satisfactory survey is insufficient because
satisfying does not mean applying. A further evaluation will
enhance knowledge of key success factors in talent management.
The study envisages an integrated approach of both qualitative
and quantitative approaches with wider population should be
conducted simultaneously for generalizability and transferability
findings.
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Talent Management and Business Development in Retail Industry: TALENT

Article · June 2011

DILEEP KUMAR MOHANACHANDRAN

Kaizen and Kanban application in Rusayl Industrial Estate View project

Tourism View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

TALENT MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS

Abstract: One of the super performers in Indian economy today is

International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011 179

important aspect that to be given prime consideration. Since there is

opened up a number of stores across the country. Still other domestic

resource. Few key words circle around talent management is the

3. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

182 International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011

matches with the current and upcoming business needs. It is widely

4. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

practitioners in 12 leading retail malls in Bangalore India. The

184 International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011

productivity of an organization’s talent pool. It involves process

7. WHY TALENT MANAGEMENT IS IMPORTANT?

To consider the recent survey based on 33,000 employers from 23

rewarding career opportunities, it also needs a vast number of

8. PROCUREMENT AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

Most importantly, e-recruiting applications help retailers

screening interviews and statistical prediction to aid in reducing

online recruitment gives maximum reach. On the contrary, to get

9. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND TALENT

becoming common in organisations. Performance management

International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011 191

success. In the context of Asian culture, proactive role or role

10. DEVELOPMENT AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

192 International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011

pushing leadership training down the ranks. Businesses that are

strategic people management skills that have been proven to yield

11. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

12. TALENT MANAGEMENT AND PROCUREMENT

employee shows good records in a particular region, indicates the

positions, they are likely to use employment agencies, competitors,

management system (HRMS) or ERP vendors. Adopting the right

13. TRAINING AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

198 International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011

fluctuations happening in the external and internal environment, conduct

executives in a retail firm is required at different levels - Floor,

14. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND TALENT

200 International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011

the leadership among executives and employees. Its performance related.

assessment can guarantee better retail operations and business

15. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Dependent Variable Independent Variable:

The major hypothesis stated includes “talent management

whether each Business Development is influenced by 3 talent

16. RESULT AND DISCUSSION (QUANTITATIVE)

processes spanning the employees’ career with the company: from

change in the business process the organization put clear cut HR

206 International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011

Management in Retail,. K. Joshi & Suman Bhatnagar (2011), ICOQM, June

International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011 207

Lamoureux, Kim. “High Impact Leadership Development – Market Overview

208 International Journal of Trade in Services, 3(2) July-December 2011

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