Case Study Protocol

This is an important aspect of research design which involves the guidelines used to structure a case research (Yin, 1994; Ellinger et al., 2009). This provides an outline as to how the research is conducted and the governing rules to ensure reliability and it is consistent with the multiple case study research (Yin, 2009). The following are some components as summarised by Yin (2009, 2003):

 A summary of case study plan, purpose, appropriate literature and subject matter  Field plan, field access, information source and routine reminders

 The case study questions highlight the key protocol which reflects the main investigation that comprise of precise question which would be used by the researcher in gathering information.

 Provides a template for case study report which comprises of a format, presentation template, relevant references and document to the study.

With reference to the protocol, an introductory section is provided for the research participants; this highlights the aim and the objectives of the study, a request to participate in an interview to collect rich information on the transfer of HR practices. The interview protocol contributes in no small measure to this study as it provides strong grounds for reliability and validity. Case study questions are utilised in this study and questions are drawn from the objectives of this study

3.6.2 Criteria for selecting the industry/companies

According to the McKinsey company report (2014), Nigeria is the 26th _{largest economy in}

Africa. Previously, Nigeria was highly dependent on the oil sector which has contributed significantly to the GDP of Nigeria. One of the greatest misconceptions held about Nigeria especially by those outside of Nigeria is that the oil and gas sector is more dominant and is the crux of the growth of the nation’s economy (McKinsey, 2014). The rebasing exercise conducted by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and supervised by the Wold Bank, IMF

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and ADB revealed that the natural resources sector only contributes a smaller share of the economy (McKinsey, 2014).

In this study, a total of four companies were selected from two sectors: telecommunication and banking, and it is noteworthy to mention that all four companies are from different emerging countries. The first two companies are from the financial sector. The Nigerian financial sector has undergone a number of significant changes over the past years and this has reduced the number of banks significantly from 89 to 20, which helped to increase capitalisation (Anaeto, 2016). This led to a rapid expansion of banks’ private sector portfolio. This sector has attracted interest from foreign investors due to its margin and profitability. According to the Marketline (2016) report, the market value of the banking industry reached $167.8 billion in 2014, which is about 13.3% growth of the industry. B-SA Co and B-SP Co are two banks with large market share in this industry since 2011. The market value is projected to be about $269.4 billion, which will lead to an increase of 60.5% from 2014. Nigeria over the past decades has become more prominent in the telecoms market in Africa and the Middle East having over 139 million subscribers in 2015 (NCC, 2016) In 2014, the penetration of mobile was about 78%, which presented an opportunity for further subscription growth (Marketline, 2016). According to the Marketline (2016) and Oxford Business Group (2015), the market volume of the telecommunication industry reached 157,378.9 thousand subscriptions in 2015 which is about 13.3% growth of the industry since 2010. The market volume is projected to be about 210 thousand subscriptions by 2020, which will lead to an increase of 33.8% from 2015. In relation to the market share, T-SA Co is a leading player in the market with a market volume of 41.2% share and the third MNC T- UE Co has a 15.6% market share (NCC, 2015; Marketline, 2016). According to the World Bank report (2014), three sectors account for 80% GDP growth of which the telecommunication industry was one of them.

1. The evidence above is provided to substantiate the selection of the case sectors. The selection of the companies was based of the criteria summarised below: Even though the employee numbers varied across all four case companies, all case companies are classified as large corporations operating in a number of countries globally. 2. Though the core of the business varied across the four case companies, the

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3. The selections of these companies was majorly because of their size and their contribution to the significant growth of the Nigerian economy, which has helped to enhance the employment rate in Nigeria (Marketline, 2015).

4. Finally, there is a lack of studies in this area within these sectors. In recent times, these sectors are beginning to get more attention.

3.6.3 Criteria for selecting the interviewees

In this study, a total of four cases were selected comprising of forty-eight (48) interviews. Just to refresh the definition of a case study; Stake (1995) refers to a case as an individual, a programme or as a part of a firm. Furthermore, he explained that this concept is difficult to define in a specific way as it is intricate. In this context four subsidiaries are considered as the unit of analysis. According to Yin (2003), if a single unit is chosen for different cases, then it is considered a holistic-multiple case design; hence, this research follows this design as it involves four cases.

Table 3.3 provides an overview of the EMNCs investigated.

Table 3.4: Cases investigated

EMNC Nationality Sector Subsidiary

Age No of Staff First Interview s Second Interview s Total no of Interviews T-SA South African Telecom 15 years 5000 2 11 13

T-UE Emirati Telecom 7 years 5000 3 9 12

B-SA South African Financial Services 50 years 2000 2 10 12 B-SP Singaporea n Financial Services 16 years 2000 1 10 11 48 Source: developed for the study

To ensure confidentiality and easy reading, all the cases have been coded “T” for Telecom sector and “B” for the financial sector. “SA” for South African, “UE” for Emirati and “SP” for Singaporean.

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The interviews were conducted with subsidiary managers, HR managers and line managers of the four subsidiaries who were willing to participate in the interview following introduction letters (see appendix A sent with a brief of the aim of the research.

Case Selection

Selecting cases randomly is not a preferred way, as suggested by Eisenhardt (1989), rather a focused strategy should be adopted in case selection (Patton, 1990). The cases selected for this study were based on the grounds that rich data regarding the area would be provided. The respondents were selected owing to the fact that their professional and personal experiences would be provided; also considering their position within the company. These MNCs are reputable ones from emerging countries. Moreover, the respondents added value to this research due to their background and years of experience in handling human resource issues. The respondents’ profiles are summarised in table 3.4.

Table 3.5: Respondent profile

EMNC Gender Position Years of

experience

Nationality

1 T-SA-N Male HR analyst (Expatriate) 15 South African

2 T-SA-N Male HR director (Regional) 10 Nigerian

3 T-SA-N Male HR Advisor 12 Nigerian

4 T-SA-N Female Financial Analyst 8 Nigerian

5 T-SA-N Male Branch Manager 9 Nigerian

6 T-SA-N Male Advertising and Media Executive 7 Nigerian

7 T-SA-N Female Operations Manager (Regional) 5 South African

8 T-SA-N Male Operations manager 8 Nigerian

9 T-SA-N Male Training Manager 6 Nigerian

10 T-SA-N Female Head of IT services 4 British

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12 T-UE-N Male Operations Manager 5 Emirati

13 T-UE-N Female Training Manager 6 Nigerian

14 T-UE-N Female Operations manager 6 Nigerian

15 T-UE-N Female HR Manager 5 Nigerian

16 T-UE-N Male Financial Analyst 4 Emirati

17 T-UE-N Male Head of IT services 4 British

18 T-UE-N Female HR Advisor 7 Nigerian

19 T-UE-N Male HR director 5 Nigerian

20 T-UE-N Female HR analyst 6 Nigerian

21 B-SA-N Female HR manager 6 Nigerian

22 B-SA-N Male Branch Manager 7 Nigerian

23 B-SA-N Male Financial Analyst 9 South African

24 B-SA-N Female HR Advisor 6 Nigerian

25 B-SA-N Female HR Grievance/Compliance officer 9 Nigerian

26 B-SA-N Male Financial Controller 6 Nigerian

27 B-SA-N Female Regional Manager 8 British

28 B-SA-N Female HR Generalist 7 Nigerian

29 B-SA-N Male Operations Manager 5 Nigerian

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31 B-SP-N Male Regional manager 10 British

32 B-SP-N Female HR Generalist 6 Nigerian

33 B-SP-N Male Regional Financial Controller 8 Singaporean

34 B-SP-N Female HR Manager 10 Nigerian

35 B-SP-N Male Operations Manager 6 Indian

33 B-SP-N Female HR Advisor 6 Nigerian

37 B-SP-N Male Head of Operations/IT 10 British

38 B-SP-N Male Financial Controller 8 Nigerian

39 B-SP-N Female Branch manager 7 Nigerian

40 B-SP-N Male HR Analyst 5 Nigerian

Source: developed for the study

Certain criteria were followed in selecting the cases in order to ensure the success of this research.

First of all, the MNCs selected are all from emerging countries. This is due to the focus of this research on multinationals from emerging countries which is part of the significance of this study.

Secondly, semi-structured interviews were conducted with subsidiary managers, HR managers, line managers and other managers in the top management positions as they would be more aware of the issues of the transferability of HRM policies and practices and the process of transfer.

Thirdly, there were issues of accessibility. It is usually an uphill task to assess companies in developing countries. Ghauri (1992) also noted that it could be difficult to negotiate access and even moving on to identify suitable respondents who would provide useful information regarding the area of study. This is crucial in case selection. In order to overcome this challenge, prior contact had to be established via LinkedIn, friends, colleagues and relatives so as to provide access to the EMNCs and to make data collection possible.

91 Interviews conducted

Earlier on, it was noted that a total of 48 interviews were conducted in the four MNCs studied. It is also noteworthy to mention that after the first series of interviews, the second series was conducted in the same companies. After the pilot interviews, the interview questions were revised to include additional questions to help exhaust the themes.

The second series of interviews conducted, for which additional respondents were interviewed, was done to ensure validity (see details in the following section). However, there has always been a debate around the issue of how many interviews are enough. Ritchie et al. (2003) explained that gathering more data does not necessarily provide more information; they explained that the reason for this is that an occurrence in a data set or code is an important aspect of an analysis. Manson (2010) also added that in qualitative research, the frequency of an occurrence is least important as a single occurrence in a data set could be useful in providing a better understanding of the development of the study. On the contrary, Morse (1995) noted that some studies claim to have reached saturation limits but are unable to prove this. In conclusion, some researchers suggest that a least number of fifteen samples should be achieved for all qualitative research (Bertaux, 1981; Guest et al., 2006). Although these numbers are suggested, this claim has no empirical backing.