What human resource management issues did Harry Ramsden's have to deal with as they "went international"? Deep-fried fish and chips have long been a popular snack in England. One of England's premium fish-and-chip shops, Harry Ramsden's, which was founded in Guiseley, West Yorkshire, in 1928, is one of the few that have opened shops at multiple locations. By 1994 the company had eight branches in Britain, with more scheduled for opening, and one in Dublin, Ireland, and one in Hong Kong. Harry Ramsden's managers, however, dissatisfied with this success, wanted to turn Harry Ramsden s into a global enterprise.

To this end, the company had set up its first international operation in Hong Kong. According to finance director Richard Taylor, "We marketed the product as Britain's fast food, and it proved extremely successful." Within two years the Hong Kong venture was generating annual sales equivalent to its most-successful UK operations. Half of the initial clientele in Hong Kong were British expatriates, but within a couple of years, more than 80 percent of customers were ethnic Chinese, illustrating the relative ease with which at least some products and services, such as a country's favorite food, can transfer to another country and culture.

Emboldened by this success, Harry Ramsden's began to open additional overseas branches, in such logical places as Dublin, Ireland, and Melbourne, Australia, as well as in other more exotic locales, such as Singapore, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Walt Disney World in the US, and Japan. In the first experimental shop in Tokyo, Japan, for example, the Japanese took to this product, despite their traditional aversion to greasy food.