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

Strategic Implications of Business Life Cycle Analysis

Life cycle analysis relies on the belief that there are predictable relationships among the stages of business unit life cycles on one hand, and certain elements of strategy on the other. The typical business life cycle curve is analogous to the life cycle of products. During pre-introduction and introduction, the firm is investing heavily to build sales growth through product awareness and refinement, with emphasis on the latter. Thus profit margin is negative until growth begins to occur. If sales growth proceeds at a high enough rate, then unit profit margin will swing positive during the growth phase. Typically the firm’s emphasis is shifted from product refinement to building market share, thus increasing the length and slope of the curve during this phase. As more and more competitors enter the market, however, share is whittled away. Consequently the product’s growth rate begins to level off and the product enters the Continue reading

Abey Francis

Non Traditional HR Approaches: Investment in Disabled Employees

Before we move on to the core of the issue, we must define what disability or being disabled means  “Someone who is disabled has an illness, injury or condition that tends to restrict the way they live their life, especially by making it difficult for them to move about.” Thus, the employee, who is working for the organization, will be termed disabled if he/she is suffering from an injury or illness which affects or restricts them from performing their job effectively. There can be two types of disabled employees 1. Disabled – while employed: i.e. the person was fit and sound during the start of employment relationship, however, during the tenure of his/her service he turned disable, which can be either: On-the-job: This is during the work hours while working at premises. Off-the-job: This is not at work premises, but surely after the start of employment relationship. 2. Disabled – Continue reading

Abey Francis

Data Mining – Meaning, Processes and Models

Data mining involves the use of sophisticated data analysis tools to discover previously unknown, valid patterns and relationships in large data sets. These tools can include statistical models, mathematical algorithms, and machine learning methods such as neural networks or decision trees. Consequently, data mining consists of more than collecting and managing data, it also includes analysis and prediction. The objective of data mining is to identify valid, novel, potentially useful, and understandable correlations and patterns in existing data. Finding useful patterns in data is known by different names (e.g., knowledge extraction, information discovery, information harvesting, data archaeology, and data pattern processing). The term “data mining” is primarily used by statisticians, database researchers, and the business communities. The term KDD (Knowledge Discovery in Databases) refers to the overall process of discovering useful knowledge from data, where data mining is a particular step in this process. The steps in the KDD process, Continue reading

Abey Francis

Forward Exchange Contracts

A forward exchange contract is a mechanism by which one can ensure the value of one currency against another by fixing the rate of exchange in advance for a transaction expected to take place at a future date. It is a tool to protect the exporters and importers against exchange risks. The uncertainty about the rate which would prevail on a future date is known as exchange risk. From the point of an exporter the exchange risk is that the foreign currency in which the transaction takes place may depreciate in future and thus the expected realization will be less in terms of local currency. The importer also faces exchange risks when the transaction is designated in a foreign currency. In this case the foreign currency may appreciate and the importer may be compelled to pay an amount more than that was originally agreed upon in terms of domestic currency. Continue reading

Abey Francis

Corporate Entrepreneurship

Corporate entrepreneurship (also called intrapreneurship) is defined by Guth and Ginsburg as “the birth of new business within existing organizations, that is, internal innovation or venturing; and the transformation of organizations through renewal of the key ideas on which they are built, that is, strategic renewal. A large corporation that wants to encourage innovation and creativity within its firm must choose a structure that will give the new business unit an appropriate amount of freedom while maintaining some degree of control at headquarters. Burgelman proposes that the use of particular organizational design should be determined by (1) the strategic importance of the new business to the corporation and (2) the relatedness of the unit’s operations to those of the corporation.   The combination of these two factors results in nine organizational designs for corporate entrepreneurship. Designs for Corporate Entrepreneurship Direct Integration: A new business with a great deal of strategic Continue reading

Abey Francis

Advertising in the Ubiquitous Age

Ubiquitous computing, which is also referred to as pervasive computing, is about the notion that as a result of continuous advances in engineering, information technology, communications, integrated circuit chip technologies and sensors etc. computer technology devices will become smaller, cheaper, more capable and better able to weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they become indistinguishable from it. It was Mark Weiser, chief scientist of Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Centre, who first presented the concept of ubiquitous computing, the third wave in computing and predicted that technology will recede into the background of our lives as computers evolve into quite, invisible servants that will help people to calmly do all kinds of tasks in a manner that will prevent them from becoming overloaded by interactions with computing. Thus, computers will extend the human unconscious and enhance their ability to productively control, interact and sense their environment. Unlike the Continue reading

Abey Francis