Bonus Issue of Shares – Meaning, Benefits and Motives

BONUS ISSUE OF SHARES When we invest the share capital in a business, we do so with the expectation of getting back not only our invested capital, but also a proportionate share of the surplus generated from operations, after all the other stakeholders have been paid their dues.   Thus, collectively the business owes its shareholders, their invested capital as well as the surplus generated from operations.   But in reality, while the business may pay us annual dividends, seldom is this surplus fully distributed away as dividends.   Thus, the surplus which is retained in the business is still owed to us.   This retained surplus is also reflected as retained earnings or reserves in the Balance sheet of a company.   Together, share capital and reserves are known as equity or the net worth of a company. Over a period of time, the retained earnings of a firm Continue reading

Difference Between Letter of Credit and Guarantee

A letter of credit is a written undertaking issued by buyer’s bank to pay a certain sum of money within a stipulated period against a specified set of documents. It is a conditional undertaking. It undertakes to pay a certain amount of money on presentation of stipulated documents and the fulfillment by the exporter of all the terms and conditions incorporated in the L/C. The Letter of credit is a separate and distinct contract from the underlying sale contract, and the bank is not responsible for the fulfillment of the terms of the sale contract. The essential and basic provisions of the sale contract must be incorporated in the letter of credit. In addition, the amount of credit, its expiry date, the tenor of the draft to be drawn, party on whom the draft is to be drawn, the documents to be presented, brief description of the goods, must be Continue reading

Case Study of Eastman Kodak: Secret of Success in Business

Kodak is one of the oldest companies on the photography market, established more than 100 years ago. This was the iconic, American organization, always on the position of the leader. Its cameras and films have become know all over the world for its innovations. Kodak’s strength was it brand — one of the most recognizable and resources, that enabled creating new technologies. Kodak is not just selling their still image films, Kodak have quite number of product lines  and service to offer (Product diversification), such as digital images, printer cartridges, paper kits and innovative big sign boards, which Kodak sells globally. Further, Kodak’s quality goal and overall objective is to achieve Total Customer Satisfaction. This is accomplished by utilizing appropriate process improvement techniques (e.g. Zero Defects, Supplier Certification, Lean, Six Sigma, etc.) in a manner that delivers improved productivity and the optimal deployment of resources. Kodak achieves their objective through Continue reading

Portfolio Diversification with a Number of Securities

The benefits from diversification increase, as more and more securities with less than perfectly positively correlated returns are included in the portfolio. As the number of securities added to a portfolio increases, the standard deviation of the portfolio becomes smaller and smaller. Hence an investor can make the portfolio risk arbitrarily small by including a large number of securities with negative or zero correlation in the portfolio. But in reality, no securities show negative or even zero correlation. Typically, securities show some positive correlation, which is above zero but less than the perfectly positive value (+1). As a result, diversification (that is, adding securities to a portfolio) results in some reduction in total portfolio risk but not in complete elimination of risk. Moreover, the effects of diversification are exhausted fairly rapidly. That is, most of the reduction in portfolio standard deviation occurs by the time the portfolio size increases to Continue reading

Role of Development Banks in Indian Economy

Capital Formation: The significance of Development Finance Institutions or DFIs lies in their making available the means to utilize savings generated in the economy, thus helping in capital formation. Capital formation implies the diversion of the productive capacity of the economy to the making of capital goods which increases future productive capacity. The process of Capital Formation involves three distinct but interdependent activities, viz., saving financial intermediation and investment. However, poor country/economy may be, there will be a need for institutions which allow such savings, as are currently forthcoming, to be invested conveniently and safely and which ensure that they are channeled into the most useful purposes. A well-developed financial structure will therefore aid in the collections and disbursements of investible funds and thereby contribute to the capital formation of the economy. Indian capital market although still considered to be underdeveloped has been recording impressive progress during the post-interdependence period. Continue reading

Workplace Diversity – Meaning and Impacts

Today’s workforce is made up of many types of people. Organisations can no longer assume that every employee has similar beliefs or expectations. Organizations exist to serve human needs. An organisation is only effective as the people who operate it. People are considered the most important resource in any organisation. They are the basic foundation of an organization and the basic unit of change within organisation. The human resource approach focuses on the interaction between people and the organization. If communication between employees is poor, organization will suffer. When coordination and interaction within the organization is good, both employees and business will benefit. Workplace diversity refers to the division of the working force into separate categories that have a apparent unity or harmony within a given cultural context and that impact potentially beneficial or harmful outcomes of employments such as job opportunities, workplace treatment prospects of promotion of employees, irrespective Continue reading