Co-Creation of Value in Marketing

Back in 1953, Neil Borden introduced the concept of Marketing Mix. In 1960, it was classified into 4Ps – product; price; place; and promotion – in 1960 by Professor McCarthy. Product can be either physical or service; Price is dependent on its value; Place refers to distribution of; and Promotion refers to communication related to marketing of the product. The concept of ‘4Ps’ was mainly used in the past when physical product was dominant in the market. There are two main limitations of the marketing mix – common in all examined domains: (i) a model’s internal orientation; and (ii) lack of personalization. Consequently, the model of exchange was introduced having logic based on exchange of manufactured “goods”. This logic focused on tangible resources, embedded value, and transactions. Over the past several decades, however, new perspectives have emerged having a logic focused on intangible resources: the co-creation of value and relationships. Continue reading

Supply Chain Integration Strategies – Vertical and Horizontal Integration

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is defined as the integration strategies aimed at coordinating functions across suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers to ensure that products and services are produced and distributed at the right volume, location and time with the aim of reducing operational costs, maximizing profits and ensuring satisfaction across the supply chain. Supply chain integration strategies are network-based business models used by organizations to align strategic decisions and processes across the network from supplier/manufacturer end to the customer end in order to achieve competitive advantages, synergy and efficiency in their operations as well as to gain more control in the input and output of their operations. Network-based business models are organizational structures that allow companies to operate as interconnected configurations across its value chain usually consisting of partnerships, collaborations and optimized cross-organizational activities. Vertical Integration Vertical integration is a coordination strategy in which a company owns its supply chain Continue reading

Basel Committee On Banking Supervision

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) was formed in response to the messy liquidation of a Cologne-based bank in 1974. On 26 June 1974, a number of banks had released Deutsche Mark (German Mark) to the Bank Herstatt in exchange for dollar payments deliverable in New York. On account of differences in the time zones, there was a lag in the dollar payment to the counter-party banks, and during this gap, and before the dollar payments could be effected in New York, the Bank Herstatt was liquidated by German regulators. This incident prompted the G-10 nations to form towards the end of 1974, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, under the auspices of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) located in Basel, Switzerland. The Committee was established to facilitate information sharing and cooperation among bank regulators in major countries. The Basel Committee was constituted by the Central Bank Governors Continue reading

Top Performance Appraisal Methods Followed by Companies

Performance Appraisal can be described as a formal process of assessment and evaluation of the employees on an individual as well as group level. The word “formal” is crucial, as it is important that the managers or supervisors review the worker or individual on a periodic basis. Even though, PA is only an element of performance management, it is very crucial for the success of performance management as it directly relates to the strategic plan set by the organisation. Managers may choose from among a number of performance appraisal methods. The type of performance appraisal system used depends on its purpose. If the major emphasis is on selecting people for promotion, training, and merit pay increases, a traditional method of performance appraisal, such as rating scales, may be appropriate. Collaborative methods, including input from the employees themselves, may prove to be more suitable for developing employees. 1. 360-Degree Feedback Evaluation Continue reading

Types of Selling Rates in Foreign Exchange Markets

When a bank sells foreign exchange it receives Indian rupees from the customer and parts with foreign currency. The sale is affected by issuing a payment instrument on the correspondent bank with which it maintains the nostro account. immediately on sale, the bank buys the requisite foreign exchange from the market and gets its nostro account credited with the amount so that when the payment instrument issued buy its is presented to the corresponded bank it can be honoured by debit to the nostro account. However, depending upon the work involved, viz., whether the sale involves handling of documents by the bank or not, two types of selling rates are quoted in India, they are 1. TT Selling Rate (TT stands for Telegraphic Transfer) This is the rate to be used for all transactions that do not involve handling of documents by the bank. Transactions for which this rate is Continue reading

Interest Rate Risk in Banking

The management of interest rate risk should be one of the critical components of market risk management in banks. The regulatory restrictions in the past had greatly reduced many of the risks in the banking system. Deregulation of interest rates has, however, exposed them to the adverse impacts of interest rate risk. Interest rate risk in banking is the potential negative impact on the Net interest income and it refers to the vulnerability of an institutions financial condition to the movement in interest rates. Changes in interest rate affect earnings, value of assets, liability, off-balance sheet items and cash flow. Hence, the objective of interest rate risk management is to maintain earnings, improve the capability, ability to absorb potential loss and to ensure the adequacy of the compensation received for the risk taken and effect risk return trade-off. Management of interest rate risk aims at capturing the risks arising from Continue reading