Role of Leaders in Shaping Organizational Culture

Management Principles

Organizational Culture – Development and Importance

Management Principles

Five Important Organizational Cultural Models

Management Principles

The Customer Satisfaction Model – Based on American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)

Marketing Management

Rumours in Business Organizations

Business Communication

Case Study: Ahold Company’s Downfall and It’s Causes

Cess van Der Hoeven, Ahold’s CEO, set ambitious expansion targets for the company in 1994. Sales were expected to double every five years. A similar target was set for net profit. This plan would ensure a 15% compound growth in both sales and net profits per annum. Such an expansion called for investment funds. 66.7% of the expansion was to be funded by the company’s cash-flow. The remaining 33.3% was to be funded by external creditors. The earnings Per Share was to grow at 10% annually. Ahold managed to acquire the Stop and Shop chain thus rising to be the 5th largest food retailer in the world. Van Der Hoeven set a target for the company to be the 2nd largest food retailer. This meant overtaking Carrefour, to rank after Wal-Mart. Ahold expanded rapidly between 1994 and 1999 through the acquisition of several supermarkets globally. Initially, the company focused on purchasing regional Continue reading

Abey Francis

Integration of Six Sigma into Enterprise Architecture (EA)

Today, more than ever before, enterprises are increasingly being faced with unparalleled competitive and regulatory demands, along with elevated levels of business uncertainty as they wade through the upsetting waters of contemporary global economy. On yet another front, the convergence of technology witnessed in the 21st century has made many enterprises increasingly concerned with how to productively transition to an enterprise exploiting information technology to its fullest strategic potential. In the light of these concerns, it is obvious that executives must embrace a paradigm shift from the traditional enterprise management approaches to more market-oriented approaches, which underlines the need to balance capabilities, manage risks, improve processes and systems, and engage in agile decision-making with a view to achieve the desired business end-states. As has been witnessed in the company, the organization’s Enterprise Architecture (EA) plays a critical role in this transition, particularly in integrating key processes and systems to enable Continue reading

Abey Francis

Theoretical Perspectives on Culture Shock Concept in International Business

The word “Culture Shock” was first introduced by world-renowned anthropologist Kalervo Oberg in 1960. He used the word culture shock to describe the anxiety resulting from not knowing what to do in new culture. Oberg  defined culture “as occupational disease of people who have suddenly been transported abroad” and suggested that culture shock is “precipitated by the anxiety that result from losing all our familiar signs and symbol of social intercourse.” In other words the term culture shock refers to the situation where an individual migrates from a culture to which he/she is familiar with to an unfamiliar one resulting in new experiences and causing distress and discomfort or sense of loneliness. Oberg’s definition on culture shock was supported by many renowned scholars. For example, Hofstede has also defined culture shock as a “stress of distress following the transfer of a person to an unfamiliar cultural environment. Furthermore, Alder (1975) Continue reading

Abey Francis

Case Study on Business Ethics: Analysis of the Downfall of WorldCom

WorldCom Downfall – Failure to Live up to its Mission Statement WorldCom was a global telecommunication company that, at some point, grew to become the second-largest phone company offering long-distance services. Its mission statement read that “Our objective is to be the most profitable, single-source provider of communications services to customers around the world”. Moreover, the company’s supplier diversity mission statement was defined as to “Create a competitive advantage for WorldCom and contribute significantly to WorldCom’s business success by promoting business practices that provide greater opportunity for a diverse supplier base”. The company, after witnessing a period of growth propelled by various successful acquisitions and mergers, became bankrupt with a damaged image due to its accounting malpractices. It filed for bankruptcy protection on July 21, 2002 before transforming its name to MCI and relocating its corporate headquarters to Dulles, Virginia, from its previous location in Jacksonville, Mississippi. The accounting malpractices Continue reading

Abey Francis

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) – An Overview

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is an approach to the information technology management service. It helps in practical understanding, identifying, and effective framework for planning and delivery supporting IT services in a given business. ITIL was formed in response to increasing dependence of businesses on information technology. ITIL was initially created under the backing of the UK government through CCTA department, which worked together with office of government commerce (OGC). The library is effective in defining structure of an organization through provision of skills of improving organizational information technology. It embraces standardized operational management practices and procedures, which help organizations operate IT infrastructure and achieve high quality service. The agency had set many recommendations to safeguard standard practices for both, government and private sectors in order to facilitate good IT management standards. The quantity of books increased from the initial publication in the year 1989 to about thirty volumes. More comprehensive books Continue reading

Abey Francis

Case Study: The Story Behind the Olympus Scandal

In the 1980s, several Japanese corporations experienced financial challenges as they depended on investments to boost their declining profits. One of the main reasons was that the country’s export had been damaged by the strength of its currency against other currencies, especially the US Dollar. Olympus became one of the number one victims of Japan’s economic situation. Because the company was struggling with its business operations, it decided to use a Japanese concept known as zaitech, which refers to financial engineering in salvaging the situation. Consequently, the company decided to invest in risky businesses and financial derivatives in order to boost its profits. Nevertheless, the business ventures caused huge losses of about 2.1 billion Yen in the early 1990s. It is during that time when the management of the Olympus devised ways of concealing the huge losses from the published financial reports. Although it has been able to hide the Continue reading

Abey Francis