Reaching The Summit And Beyond Hong Kong Broadband Networks Innovative Approach To Talent Management Case Solution

i. Internal environment of HKBN

The internal environment of an organization pertains to the factors that internally affect the company including the employees, leadership, management of the company, organizational structure, corporate culture, vision, mission, objectives, strategic goals, and other factors that internally affect the organization (Bailey, Mankin, Kelliher, & Garavan, 2018). 

The internal environment of HKBN is very well managed by the company. The company culture of HKBN is competition fueled and growth oriented which is reflected in its mission, vision and core values. The management of HKBN values its talent and believes them to be the key factor in the HKBN’s success. The talent engagement practices of HKBN are beyond par. Its innovative talent management policies including its various talent engagement programs, alignment of the employee compensation with its organizational goals, performance management, team building and the entrepreneurial mindset fostered by the company’s core values and organizational culture are the key to its distinct competitive advantage, which is reflected in the company’s growth and profitability. The talent management strategy for HKBN is best practice which has led to the distinct competitive advantage i.e. the highly skilled and high performing talent.

There is a recent development in HKBN’s ownership: the company has been through a management buy-out. Simultaneously, the senior executives of HKBN became co-owners of the company by talent buy-in. Consequent to which, HKBN has a new strategic direction i.e. going public with the mission of maximizing the company value in three to five years’ time by leveraging the key resource of the company i.e. its talent base. 

The challenge faced HKBN’s management team in pursuing this strategic direction is leveraging its key resource i.e. talent to achieve the new mission of the company given the unfavourable economic conditions.

ii. External environment of HKBN    

External environment of an organization includes the political, economic, social, technological, and legal environment faced by an organization (David & David, 2017). As compared to the internal environment, the challenges posed by external environments are greater and not controllable by the organization, however, an organization must take an active and proactive approach to change its strategic direction in response to changes in the external environment (Rees & Smith, Strategic Human Resource Management : An International Perspective, 2017). 

HKBN operates in a highly fluctuating external environment as the political, social and legal environment is very prone to turbulence in the two jurisdictions it operates in i.e. Hong Kong and China. Besides, the economic and technological environment are also prone to changes and innovations (Ashdown, 2014). However, at this point, the major challenges faced by HKBN with respect to its external environment are mainly on the economic front. Increasing operations costs due to high inflation levels and exchange rate fluctuations have increased the costs of doing business for HKBN.

It is extremely important to address this problem as it can be a key factor in hindering the strategic growth for HKBN. HKBN should continuously and proactively keep monitoring the external environment to tweak its strategy in response to the changes in the external environment to maintain its long-term agility and keeping its competitive advantage (Porter, 2008).

2. Implications behind the problem

The management buy-out and talent buy-in program has some clear advantages for HKBN in terms of enhanced performance and alignment of individual and organizational goals (Zheng, Yang, & McLean, 2010). However, there are some factors that may pose serious implications for HKBN in achieving the organizational goals. Some of the key implications are discussed below: