Singapore, a young yet developed nation, had a rapidly ageing population as well as a growing shortage of nurses. As a major public healthcare provider, it was imperative for the National University Hospital (NUH) to attract and retain an adequate number of nursing staff to meet the mounting demand in healthcare services and to take on the hospital's plans for service expansion. The LUV-ing Nurses Movement was introduced in 2013 with the strategic intent of creating an energising and engaging practice environment in which nurses would stay and grow with NUH. "LUV", an acronym for "Listen, Understand, and Value", encouraged nursing staff to provide the best "LUV-ing" care to patients.

Singapore Safety Glass, a 27-year-old manufacturer of customised glass solutions for buildings, had built a reputation on its high product quality. Faced with increased competition from China, and the tightening flow of foreign labour supply into Singapore, how should the company change its business model and people management practices to sustain and grow its business?

The case study discusses the human resource strategy of a fast-growing company in the highly competitive beauty spa industry in Malaysia. It examines how the founders' personal values and philosophies are expressed in the human resource policies and practices and the influence of these on the company's customer service delivery and service culture. HerbaLine's focus on excellent customer service enabled the founders, Mr. Low Chee-Kwong and Ms. Liu Kim-Hwa, to position the beauty spa operator as a viable alternative to expensive, high-end international beauty chains and low-cost, no frills individually-operated beauty salons. The success of their service strategy is reflected in the growth of the beauty spa operator from one outlet in 2000 to 55 outlets in 2014. With a vision to expand HerbaLine beauty spa to every major town in Malaysia, the founders embarked on a new a profit sharing scheme for high performing employees to reward performance and to sustain and grow the high levels of employee commitment and excellent service delivery that underpinned the company's growth. Could this be the motor that would enable the company to double its number of outlets to 100 by 2024?