Case Study on Entrepreneurship: Larry Page

Business Analysis

The Boundaryless Career: Modern Contemperory Perspective on Career

Human Resource Management

Concepts of Throughput Accounting and Theory of Constraints

Financial Management

Kaizen – Understanding the Japanese Business Philosophy of Continuous Improvement

Operations Management

Role of Leaders in Shaping Organizational Culture

Management Principles

The Nature of Organizational Change

Organizations introduce changes through people. Unless the people are willing to accept the need and responsibility for organizational change, intended changes can never be translated into reality. In addition, individuals have to learn to adapt their attitudes and behavioral patterns to constantly changing environments. Management of change involves both individual and organizational change. Individual change is behavioral change, which is determined by individual characteristics of members such as their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, needs, expectations and skills. It is possible to bring about a total change in an organization by changing behaviors of individual members through participative and educative strategies. Although, the degree of difficulty involved in the change and the time taken to bring about the change will depend on the target of change.  The attitudes towards change are largely dependent on the nature of the situation and the manner in which changes are initiated and executed. Changing individual behavior Continue reading

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Acquisition Strategy Development

Not all firms that make acquisitions have acquisition strategies, and not all firms that have acquisition strategies stick with them. In this section, we consider a number of different motives for acquisitions and suggest that a coherent acquisition strategy has to be based on one or another of these motives. Firms that are undervalued by financial markets can be targeted for acquisition by those who recognize this mispricing. The acquirer can then gain the difference between the value and the purchase price as surplus. For this strategy to work, however, three basic components need to come together. A capacity to find firms that trade at less than their true value: This capacity would require either access to better information than is available to other investors in the market, or better analytical tools than those used by other market participants. Access to the funds that will be needed to complete the Continue reading

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Sources of Finance – Financing a New Business

In case of proprietorship business, the individual proprietor generally invests his own savings to start with, and may borrow money on his personal security or the security of his assets from others. Similarly, the capital of a partnership firm consists partly of funds contributed by the partners and partly of borrowed funds. But the company from of organization enables the promoters to raise necessary funds from the public who may contribute capital and become members (share holders) of the company. In course of its business, the company can raise loans directly from banks and financial institutions or by issue of securities (debentures) to the public. Besides, profits earned may also be reinvested instead of being distributed as dividend to the shareholders. Thus for any business enterprise, there are two sources of finance, viz, funds contributed by owners and funds available from loans and credits. In other words the financial resources Continue reading

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Grid Training – Meaning, Process, and Evaluation

Grid training is basically based on grid organization development developed by Blake and Mouton. It is a comprehensive and systematic Organizational Development  programme which aims at individuals, groups, and the organization as a whole. Grid training  utilizes a considerable number of instruments, enabling individuals and groups to assess their own strengths and weaknesses; focuses on skills, knowledge, and processes necessary for effectiveness at the individual, group, inter-group, and total organizational levels. Its specific objectives are as follows: To study the organization as an interactive system and apply techniques of analysis in diagnosing its problems. To understand the importance and rationale of systematic change. To evaluate the styles of leadership and techniques of participation to produce desirable results. Process of Grid Training The basic content of grid organization development is managerial grid as discussed. The whole orientation is to develop managerial style through the application of behavioral science knowledge. The grid Continue reading

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Drivers of Globalization

The key factors seem to underlie the trend towards the increasing globalization of markets and production are the decline of barriers to trade and investment and the role of technological changes. 1. Decline of Barriers to Trade and Investment Decline in Trade Barriers Many of the barriers to international trade took the form of high tariffs on imports of manufactured goods. However, this depressed world demand and contributed to the great depression of the 1930’s. After World War II, the industrialized countries of the West started a process of removing barriers to the free flow of goods, services, and capital between nations. Under GATT, over 140 nations negotiated even further to decrease tariffs and made significant progress on a number of non-tariff issues (e.g. intellectual property, trade in services). The most recent round of negotiations known as Uruguay round was competed in December 1993. The Uruguay round further reduced trade Continue reading

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Case Study: Apple iMac Ad Campaign

In the late 1990s technology analysts speculated that Apple Computer, Inc.’s fate hinged on its new personal computer the iMac. Apple’s share of the worldwide desktop-computer market had plummeted since 1995, the last year the company had been profitable. Ever greater numbers of consumers were buying personal computers (PCs) that ran on Microsoft’s Windows operating system rather than Apple’s version. Although Apple had pioneered user-friendly computers, the company had not introduced a consumer-targeted computer since 1992. Hoping that its stylish new iMac would propel Apple back into this vast segment of the market, Apple released its iMac ad campaign. The iMac ad campaign consists of a series of seven television commercials. These commercials advance Apple Computers newest generation of personal computers: the iMac. The iMac is a personal computer that is an AIO unit (All In One) and is housed in a translucent white and green case. Apple has attempted Continue reading

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