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

Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA)

Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) method was introduced by Geoffrey Boothroyd since 1960s on automatic handling. This enables the use of  gathered data of previously done mistakes, speeding up the development process and accomplishing new philosophies and technologies to further ensure that the activities that are quicker and more precise in generating results can really reach this target. All aspects of design, development, manufacturability, total parts, assembly time, cost and modularity are considered in this analytical process. This process mainly focuses on enhancing the product to allow improvements in the manufacturing, quality, reliability, cost, time to market, and many other fields. Integration of discrete but highly interrelated issues of manufacturing processes and assembly occurs in DFMA. Through its use companies can make the full use of manufacturing processes that exist while minimizing the number of parts in an assembly. Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) is a system that Continue reading

Abey Francis

Building a Successful Corporate Culture

Building a strategy-supportive corporate culture is important to successful strategy execution because it produces a work climate and organizational esprit de corps that thrive on meeting performance targets and being part of a winning effort. An organization’s culture emerges from why and how it does things the way it does, the values and beliefs that senior managers espouse, the ethical standards expected of organization members, the tone and philosophy underlying key policies, and the traditions the organization maintains. Culture thus concerns the atmosphere and feeling a company has and the style in which it gets things done. Very often, the elements of company culture originate with a founder or other early influential leaders who articulate the values, beliefs, and principles to which the company should adhere, and that then get incorporated into company policies, a creed of values statement, strategies, and operating practices. Over time, these values and practices become Continue reading

Abey Francis

Project Management Knowledge Areas

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. Project management is accomplished through the application and integration of the project management processes of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. The project manager is the person responsible for accomplishing the project objectives. Managing a project includes: Identifying requirements Establishing clear and achievable objectives Balancing the competing demands for quality, scope, time and cost Adapting the specifications, plans, and approach to the different concerns and expectations of the various stakeholders. Project managers often talk of a ‘triple constraint’ – project scope, time and cost – in managing competing project requirements. Project quality is affected by balancing these three factors. High quality projects deliver the required product, service or result within scope, on time, and within budget. The relationship among these factors is such that if any one of the three Continue reading

Abey Francis

Mergers and Acquisitions – Synergies through Consolidation

Synergy implies a situation where the combined firm is more valuable than the sum of the individual combining firms. It is defined as ‘two plus two equal to five’ (2+2>4) phenomenon. Synergy refers to benefits other than those related to economies of scale. Operating economies are one form of synergy benefits. But apart from operating economies, synergy may also arise from enhanced managerial capabilities, creativity, innovativeness, R&D and market coverage capacity due to the complementarily of resources and skills and a widened horizon of opportunities. An under valued firm will be a target for acquisition by other firms. However, the fundamental motive for the acquiring firm to takeover a target firm may be the desire to increase the wealth of the shareholders of the acquiring firm.  This is possible only if the value of the new firm is expected to be more than the sum of individual value of the Continue reading

Abey Francis

Euro Notes and Euro Commercial Paper

Euro Notes Euro Notes are like promissory notes issued by companies for obtaining short term  funds. They emerged in early 1980s with growing securitization in the international financial  market. They are denominated in any currency other than the currency of the country where  they are issued. They represent low cost funding route. Documentation facilities are the  minimum. They can be easily tailored to suit the requirements of different kinds of  borrowers. Investors too prefer them in view of short maturity. When the issuer plans to issue Euro notes, it hires the services of facility agents or the  lead arranger. On the advice of the lead arranger, it issues the notes, gets them underwritten  and sells them through the placement agents. After the selling period is over the underwriter  buys the unsold issues. The Euro notes carry three main cost components: Underwriting fee; One time  management fee for structuring, pricing and Continue reading

Abey Francis

Is Management is an Art or a Science?

Is management characterized as an art, as a science or both? In order to investigate the nature of Management, it would be useful firstly to define it. According to Drucker “Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant. This is what organization is all about, and this is the reason why management is the critical, determining factor”. Nowadays, practically everyone works for a managed institution, large or not, business or not. Our living actually depends on management. The ability we have to contribute to society, depends firstly on the way, the institute we work for, is managed and furthermore on our own abilities, devotion and effort. For years now, there has been a great debate on whether management can be characterized as a science or as an art. Management as an Art Art is Continue reading

Abey Francis