What Is Big Data?

Around the late 1990s the term “Big Data”, was launched at the Silicon Graphics Inc although it did not become a massive buzz word until 2011. Big Data can be defined as a term, used to described the huge datasets, which consist of both structured and non-structured data.  These data sets can be very complex, however with techniques and various types of tools, this can enable the collecting, storage, cleansing, extract of the data to be analyzed. The analyzed data can offer great benefits to various types of industry. There is a massive market for companies for all types of industries to know what people want.  For example, the television company might what to know what types of programs people like to watch?   This means the company could stream the data from a live feed such as Facebook or twitter.  As the internet, has grown people are now communicating at Continue reading

Social Recruiting – Using Social Media in the Recruitment Process

Social recruiting or otherwise known as the  Social media recruitment is the next big thing on the cards. A lot of companies have started using Web 2.0 applications for recruitment purposes. Web 2.0 is the second generation Internet-based services which is different from the first generation static Web sites with little interaction. Popular Web 2.0 applications include the social media/networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc), blogs, podcasts (Podcast Alley, iTunes), video sharing sites (YouTube, FlickR), mobile apps, etc. Today LinkedIn and Facebook has become a powerful tool in recruitment. LinkedIn is a social networking website meant specifically for networking amongst working professionals. Social recruiting widens reach and helps segmentation, targeting and positioning of potential jobseekers. They also increase the accuracy of profile searches.  Instead of simply recruiting the person with the best-looking CV, social media can ensure that that person is also the best fit for the company. Big companies Continue reading

The Performance Prism

The Performance Prism is a second generation performance measurement and management framework that has been developed by Neely, Adams and Kennerley to further aid organisations in their pursuit of measuring the overall performance of their operations. The creators of this model suggest that for organisations operating within almost any given industry, the most important aspect of management is to deliver on the expectations of the stakeholders associated with that organisation. The Performance Prism is designed to help with the complex relationships that organisations often possess with their various stakeholders within the context of its operating environment. It provides an innovative and holistic framework that directs management attention to what is important for long term success and viability and helps organisations to design, build, operate and refresh their performance measurement systems in a way that is relevant to the specific issues that they face within their given industry. This model attempts Continue reading

Qualitative Characteristics of Financial Statements

The financial statement should contain information “sufficient in quantity and quality to satisfy the reasonable expectations of the readers to whom it is addressed”. According to the sentence, it is means that the financial statement should contain useful and meaningful information which included quantity and quality so that the reader who we make the financial statement to the person knows and understand it. How we achieve the quality information? Actually there are four qualitative characteristics of financial statements. The four characteristics are understandability, relevance, reliability, and comparability. First, understandability is including taking into consideration users’ abilities, and aggregation and classification of information. Relevance is including having predictive value and confirmatory value. Next, Reliability is including faithful representation, being natural, free form material error, complete, and prudent. Comparability is including consistency and disclosure. All the characteristics are attributes that make the information provided in financial statements are useful to users. Understandability Continue reading

Business Level Strategies – Cases of Wal-Mart, Apple, Zara and Ikea

Business Level Strategy is concerned more with how a business competes successfully in a particular market. It relates to strategic decisions about the choice of products, identifying and fulfilling the needs of customers, building competitive advantages over competitors, exploiting or creating new opportunities etc. Business level strategies are essentially positioning strategies whereby businesses tend to secure for themselves an identity and position in the market. The aim here is to increase the business value for the corporate and stakeholders by increasing the brand awareness and value perceived by the customers. They can either focus on pricing or product differentiation to increase the perceived customer value. Customers are the foundation of successful business-level strategy – Who will be served by the strategy? What needs shall the strategy satisfy? How will the strategy satisfy those needs? The low cost strategy emphasizes having the lowest costs, not necessarily the lowest price, in a Continue reading

Purchase Management – Meaning, Importance and Objectives

Purchase Management is a function of materials management in a company. Their basic function is procuring the inputs for production function. This function encompasses suppliers in the market external to the organization and several internal to the organization. Till recently, the purchasing process simply involved placing an order with the supplier who offered the lowest price. Nowadays, increase in competition and market demand and scarcity of resources have forced organizations to reexamine their purchasing activities. The purchasing department functions have expanded considerably and include activities such as verifying the credentials of suppliers, inspecting the quality of the material to be purchased, ensuring the timely delivery of the material, etc. While the value of purchased items varies from industry to industry, it adds up to more than fifty percent of sales in all industries. Purchase management is regarded as a significant activity in many organizations because of the high cost involved Continue reading