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

Characteristics of High Performance Culture

A high performance culture is a culture where the standout culture traits are can do spirit, pride in doing things right, no-excuses accountability, and a pervasive result oriented work climate where people go to the extra mile to meet or beat stretch objectives. In a high performance culture there is strong sense of involvement from the part of the company employees and emphasis on individual initiative and creativity. Performance expectations are clearly delineated for the company as a whole, for each organizational unit, and for each individual. Issues are promptly addressed- a strong bias for being proactive instead of reactive exists. Focus on what needs to be done, the culture is permeated with a spirit of achievement and has a good track in meeting or beating performance targets. Most important characteristics of high performance culture are; A clear line of sight exists between the strategic aims of the authority and Continue reading

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Types of Inventory System (Q and P Models)

The term inventory derives from the French word inventaire and the Latin word inventariom which simply means a list of things which are found. The term inventory includes materials which are in raw form, or are in process, in the finished packaging, spares and the others which are stocked in order to meet all the unexpected demands or distribution in the future. This term usually refers to the stock at hand at a particular period of time of all those materials which are in raw form, those goods which are in progress of manufacture, all the finished products, merchandise purchased products for resale of those products, tangible products which can be seen, touched, measured or are countable. In a connection with the financial statements and records of accounting, the reference may be to the amount assigned to the stock or the pile of goods owned by an enterprise at a Continue reading

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Commercial Credit Analysis: Debt Covenants

Conditions imposed on facilities extended by banks, also known as covenants (here Debt Covenants) are imposed by bankers upon a borrower to: Preserve the financial strength of the borrower. Maintain the borrower’s ability to refinance itself – the borrower (being a limited company or a business) continuing as a going concern. Control the assets – prevent the borrower from selling assets thereby ensuring that assets are not dissipated, Ensure that the borrower does not do something that would be detrimental to the interests of the Bank. Debt covenants, therefore, are from a banker’s perspective extremely important in  the structuring of a loan.While a risky, unsound loan will not become good by covenants, they will afford some comfort and a degree of control including providing warning signs should the financial position of the company deteriorate. The amount of covenants that can be imposed on a borrower would depend on: The antecedents Continue reading

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The Role and Responsibilities of Finance Managers

Role and responsibilities of a finance manager have undergone a remarkable transformation during the past four decades. Not too many years ago, finance manager had a very limited role in a business enterprise. Finance manager was responsible only for maintaining financial records, preparing reports on the company’s status and performance and arranging funds needed by the company so that it could meet its obligations in time. Finance manager, as a matter of fact, was regarded as specialized staff officer in the company concerned only with administering sources of funds. Finance manager  was called upon only when his specialty was needed. For example, when the company experienced the problem of dearth of funds, the management expected the finance manager to locate suitable sources of funds and procure additional funds. However, the finance manager transcended his traditional role of garnering external funds for the enterprise following technological changes in major industries, increased Continue reading

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The Importance of Advertising in Marketing Communication

Advertising has four characteristics: it is persuasive in nature; it is non-personal; it is paid for by an identified sponsor; and it is disseminated through mass channels of communication. Advertising messages may promote the adoption of goods, services, persons, or ideas. Because the sales message is disseminated through the mass media – as opposed to personal selling – it is viewed as a much cheaper way of reaching consumers. However, its non-personal nature means it lacks the ability to tailor the sales message to the message recipient and, more importantly, actually get the sale. Therefore, advertising effects are best measured in terms of increasing awareness and changing attitudes and opinions, not creating sales. Advertising’s contribution to sales is difficult to isolate because many factors influence sales. The contribution advertising makes to sales are best viewed over the long run. The exception to this thinking is within the internet arena. While Continue reading

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Beyond Budgeting Approach

A traditional budget is usually prepared by reviewing past year’s budget and actual expenses, with addition or deduction towards extra business activities or reduced business activities planned and also by effecting changes towards changing factors, such as growth, inflation etc. It is basically to tie managers to predetermined actions in order to achieve the planned budget. It is usually based on organizational hierarchy and centralized leadership. In a business that operates in a very dynamic, rapidly changing, and innovative environment, traditional budgeting is inappropriate to exercise. Budget is a barrier for the business because the vibrant market demands flexibility, fast response, innovation, process improvement, customer focus, and shareholder value. And it is the limitation of the traditional budgeting not to be able to fulfill these demands. The dynamic driven business should keep up with the change and adaptive to recent development to achieve success. Hence Beyond Budgeting approach introduced. The Continue reading

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