Importance of Financial Statements to External Users

In the presence of globalization, financial statements have become the standard measurement in judging a company’s performance. Financial statements are an overall impression of the company which shows profitability, efficient utilization of assets, settlement of outstanding debts, management of equity, and liquidity position to make economic and business decisions by both internal and external users. The analysis of financial statements is the application of financial activities and additional facts of the business, the examination of historical, present, and possible results and monetary situation to make investing, financing, and commercial decisions. External decision makers of an organization are defined as potential shareholders, clients, creditors (banks), and tax authorities who need a financial record to give decisions about investment, approval of loan application, acquisition of products, and compliance with applicable tax laws and regulations. This article will assess the importance of financial statements to external users in addition to a qualitative factor. Continue reading

Reducing Resistance to Organizational Transformations

Every organization goes through a period of change and development at one time or another whether these be big organization mergers, such as companies being bought out such as when Coca-Cola bought Costa coffee for 3.9 billion pounds, or small changes such as an alteration to a software a company uses or the development and implementation of autonomous machinery that helps create an increase in productivity. It has long been argued that companies should apply a participative dialogical approach to manage these changes to help prevent resistance to these changes. However, there is the possibility that this will be resisted due to psychological reasons or self-interest. This essay aims to find out if psychological reasons or self-interest make it impossible to have a truly open and participative approach to organizational development? While looking at how leadership plays in to preparing and guiding through an organizational development. Despite probable positive results, Continue reading

Abhijit Sen Committee Report on Commodity Futures

In the wake of consistent rise of rate of inflation during the first quarter of calendar year 2007 and responding to the concerns expressed at various forums, Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution, appointed an Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Prof. Abhijit Sen, Member of Planning Commission, to examine whether and to what extent futures trading has contributed to price rise in agricultural commodities. The objectives of the committee were: 1. To study the extent of impact, if any, of futures trading on wholesale and retail prices of agricultural commodities 2. Depending on this impact, to suggest ways to minimize such an impact 3. Make such other recommendations as the Committee may consider appropriate regarding increased association of farmers in the futures market/trading so that farmers are able to get the benefit of price discovery through Commodity Exchanges. In order to examine Continue reading

Competitive Strategies for Business

Competitive strategies are concerned with how a strategic business unit achieves competitive advantage in its domain of activity meanwhile competitive advantage is about how an strategic business units (SBU) creates value for its users both greater than the costs of supplying them and superior to that of rival SBUs. An SBU can have lower costs than its competitors or it can have products or services that are so exceptionally valuable to customers that it can charge higher prices than competitors. There are two basic criteria that can help in identifying appropriate SBUs: Market-based criteria and Capabilities-based criteria. For Market-based criteria, if the parts of an organization are targeting same types of customers through the same sorts of channels and facing similar competitors, they might he regarded as the same SBU. As for Capabilities-based criteria, if they have similar strategic capabilities then the parts of an organization should only be regarded Continue reading

The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE)

The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) was set up by leading institutions to provide a modern, fully automated screen-based trading system with national reach. The Exchange has brought about unparalleled transparency, speed & efficiency, safety and market integrity. It has set up facilities that serve as a model for the securities industry in terms of systems, practices and procedures. The National Stock Exchange of India Limited has played a catalytic role in reforming the Indian securities market in terms of micro-structure, market practices and trading volumes. The market today uses state-of-art information technology to provide an efficient and transparent trading, clearing and settlement mechanism, and has witnessed several innovations in products & services viz. demutualisation of stock exchange governance, screen based trading, compression of settlement cycles, dematerialisation and electronic transfer of securities, securities lending and   borrowing, professionalization of trading members, fine-tuned risk management systems, emergence of clearing Continue reading

Corporate Branding Case Study: ‘Power of Dreams’ Campaign by Honda

In 2002 Honda Motor Company was the number-three Japanese automobile manufacturer in the world, behind Toyota and Nissan. While Honda’s automobile sales in Japan and the United States were considered strong, sales in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe were thought to be weak, even though automobile production in the United Kingdom had been ongoing for a decade. Further, Honda vehicle sales had been declining in these regions since 1998. In response to these problems Honda hired ad agency Wieden+Kennedy London office to create an advertising campaign that would directly address the issues. ‘‘The Power of Dreams,’’ released in 2002, was an omnipresent campaign in the United Kingdom and beyond, using television, direct mail, radio, posters, press, interactive television, cinema, magazines, motor shows, press launches, dealerships, postcards, beermats (coasters), and even traffic cones. It built upon Honda’s company slogan, ‘‘Yume No Chikara,’’ which was first endorsed in the 1940s by Continue reading