Rimi Latvia: Growing (Store?) Managers Faster

The Rimi case underscores the difficult recruitment and retention landscape in the retail industry, specifically store management, and requires students to develop creative solutions to these challenges. At the same time, the case illustrates the need for clear objectives in management training programs, and the importance of evaluating the success (and possible weaknesses) of training initiatives. It requires students to identify costs-versus-benefits of training, which is becoming increasingly more important as human resources managers are called upon to justify training investments. Finally, the case provides an important regional context – Latvia and the Baltic – that to date has been relatively ignored.

• Decide what the strategic focus of the Grow Faster program should be, and support that decision with an assessment of internal and external forces.
• Make recommendations as to how the Grow Faster program can be improved.
• Develop a plan to evaluate the Grow Faster training program going forward.
• Design a customized employee value proposition.