Final answer:
Fred's transfer to manage his firm's subsidiary in Tokyo represents an ethnocentric staffing approach. The relocation of U.S. clothing manufacturing to China is an example of offshoring. Strategic human resource management is concerned with optimizing hiring and retention relative to organizational size.
Step-by-step explanation:
Fred has been sent from USA (headquarters) to Tokyo to manage his firm's Japanese subsidiary. This is an example of the ethnocentric staffing approach. The ethnocentric approach is when a company uses managers from its home country to manage operations in a foreign country because they are perceived to better understand the company's goals and policies. This contrasts with other staffing approaches like polycentric, where local nationals manage subsidiaries, or geocentric, that seeks the best managers regardless of nationality.
Regarding the past occurrence of relocating U.S. manufacturing clothes factories to China, this is an example of offshoring. Offshoring is the process in which a company moves some of its operations overseas to access cheaper labor markets. It is different from outsourcing, which involves hiring outside contractors to perform tasks a company once performed internally. The decision to offshore can be influenced by factors such as globalization, trade agreements like NAFTA, and the high cost of labor in the developed world.
Lastly, the practice which specializes and focuses on the retention of employees and hiring practices to ensure the least number of firings and the greatest number of hirings relative to the organization's size is often referred to as strategic human resource management (SHRM). SHRM is essential in today's rapidly changing workplace, influenced by technology, economics, foreign competition, globalization, and workplace demographics. Companies are restructuring their organizations to accommodate these changes, sometimes utilizing team-based approaches or altering their management and operational structures.