Open Innovation vs. Closed Innovation

Innovation is one of the important catalysts to the sustainable organizational growth and performance. The term of innovation is already used over the century ago and innovation meaning is focus more on the changes or improvement made by the organization either to their product/services, processes and paradigm. Innovation is the use of new technological and market knowledge to offer a new product or service that customer want and the new product must new, lower cost and the attributes of the product are improved with the attributes that never existed in the market before. The concept of innovation also defined as the process of making changes of something established by introducing something new that adds value to customers and contributes to the knowledge store of the organization. In simple words, innovation is described as a change that is made to the product and services and also to the process. Innovation has Continue reading

Case Study: Credit Card Attitudes and Behaviors of College Students

Credit cards have been very big business for several decades. The cards have made the life easier for many people because they do not need to carry large amount of cash for most purchases. However, the credit card industry is intensely competitive, highly fragmented, and growing at the rate of 3 to 4 percent. Many college students are living on the verge of a financial crisis. For this purpose many banks are interested to consider this assertion by examining college students’ credit card use behavior and attitudes. A concurrent purpose was to test the factors associated with students’ attitude toward credit cards. College students’ use of credit cards has recently received increased visibility throughout the media concluded that in addition to credit problems many students do not have a written budget, and of those who do have a budget few young people actually use it. They determined that university students Continue reading

Keiretsu – The Japanese Business Network System

The cooperation may be witnessed in highly competitive business environment. Tata and Fiat have arrangements in relations to cars. Such cooperation is not necessarily restricted to the organizations producing or dealing in same product or services. They may identify some common interest for cooperation between them. A cold drink manufacture may enter into arrangement with a chain of restaurants to offer its beverages to the clients of restaurants. Lately, various credit card companies are entering into arrangements with other businesses to launch co-branded credit cards. Such arrangements help in reaching greater number of customers. The benefits of cooperation are also seen in Japan, where large cooperative networks of businesses are known as Kieretsus. Keiretsu, also known as Kigyo Shudan, is an umbrella term that describes various highly complex and interdependent relations. These are formed in order to enhance the abilities of individual number businesses to compete in their respective industries. Continue reading

Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI)

Organizational Conflicts are resolved mostly through behavioral measures. Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument is one of the tools used to assess an individual’s behavior in conflict situations. Research has shown that there are five basic styles or modes for handling conflict. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument provides a profile of individuals and teams that indicates the gamut of conflict-handling skills which one uses in the kinds of conflict situations one faces. Five basic ways of addressing conflict, namely Avoidance, Collaboration, Compromise, Competition and Accommodation were identified by Thomas and Kilman. This is suited for organizational conflicts. 1. Avoidance Avoid or postpone conflict by ignoring it, changing the subject, etc. Avoidance can be useful as a temporary measure to buy time or as an expedient means of dealing with very minor, non-recurring conflicts. In more severe cases, conflict avoidance can involve severing a relationship or leaving a group. If we avoid discussing Continue reading

International Project Appraisal

International project appraisal also known by a variety of names such as internal company analysis, profiling the organization, capability or resource audit position and strategic advantage analysis, is the process of evaluating a company’s posture relative to its business competition within and outside the country, overall performance and its capability in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Significance of International Project Appraisal The organization’s deficiency should also be compared with those of its successful competitors. Such perceptive self appraisal when matched with environmental analysis facilities management to grasp the opportunities and combat the threats inherent in the environment. International project appraisal has such a vital significance in international corporate planning. Without such am-exercise it will not be possible to formulate economic strategy for an organization on the objective basis. It helps the management in choosing the most suitable niche for the organization. Economic opportunities may bound in different parts of the Continue reading

Unplanned Organizational Change

Not all the forces for organization change are the results of strategic planning. Indeed  organizations often are responsive to unplanned organizational changes — especially  those derived from the factors internal to the organization. Two such forces of unplanned organizational change  are  the changes in the demographic composition of the workforce and performance  gaps. Changing Employee Demographics : It is easy to see, even within our  own lifetimes, how the composition of the workforce has changed. The  percentage of women in the workforce is greater than ever before. More  and more women with professional qualifications are joining the  organization at the junior and the middle management levels. In addition  to these, the workforce is getting older. Many of the old retired  employees from government and public sector are joining the private  sector, thereby changing the employee demographics. With the opening  up of the economy and globalization, the workforce is also continually Continue reading