People strategy towards SME growth: case study of Hannan Medispa

The purpose of the case study is to provide insight into the need of strategic human resource and its impact on the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This case study focuses on the Hannan Medispa, a local SME industry player in beauty industry that has the potential to grow into ‘Unicorn’. In the highly fragmented and competitive beauty industry within the country, the founder of the company had createda niche for themselves by developing a business strategy based on the principle of "providing excellent services to consumers who require facial beauty care services." With the company's emphasize on excellent customer service, the founder, Dr Hannan Yusoff, has been able to position the Hanna Medispa as a viable alternative to expensive, high- end international beauty chains at an affordable price. The company's sales increased as a result of the excellent services, and new Hannan medispa branches were established in a short period of time. As the number of branches grows, so does the company’s number of employees. The founder was concerned about an inconsistency customer service within the branches and the employee turnover. He can also feel the growing gap between employerand employee relationships that need to be bridged. He aspires to establish positive andharmonious working relationships at Hannan Medispa, to ensure that everyone who works at the Hannan Medispa gets along for the sake of company success.
The founder believes that the company's ground employees are the major contributor of the fast growth that the company experienced. On the other hand, he also wants to ensure that each Hannan Medispa branch is managed efficiently and their employee delivering outstanding service for their valued customers. Thus, in order to offset these challenges, the company has developed a new growth strategy, focusing on human resources. The implementation was good with high employee engagement at the company. However, as employees become the key competitive advantage within the industry, this is a wake-up call for human resource (HR) development in gaining momentum to play a more strategic role. Thus, to enable Hannan Medispa to hold the grip and launch its next growing phase, the founder needs to develop new people strategy for the long-term growth. Could this be the major driven factor that drives the company to double its number of branches in the future?