Emergence of New Structural Designs of MNE’s

As companies grow in size, product lines, and dependence on foreign operations, complications of communication, responsibility and control become more complex. So, new structures continue to evolve to deal with this complexity. Proctor & Gamble (P&G) restructured its operations in 1999. P&G formed a unique concept of ‘Global business Product Units’ (GBUs) and 5 such units were established. With the 5 GBUs P&G wants to build its global brand equity as part of its ‘global strategic thinking’. At the same time 7 Market Development Organizations along the lines of major regions of the world were made to facilitate flexibility in the sphere of local actions. Thus it ‘thinks global, acts local’. There are numerous cases like this. But few general forms are alone dealt here. Network Organizations Network-based organization models have been characterized as reflecting an integrated worldwide strategy through globally distributed but interdependent resources and activities. The world is Continue reading

The Reasons for Mergers and Amalgamations

A number of mergers, take-overs and consolidation have take place in the recent times. The major reason for mergers and amalgamations, is the liberalization of economy. Liberalization is forcing companies to enter new business, exit from others, and consolidate in some simultaneously. The following are the other important reasons for mergers or amalgamations: Economies of scale:  An amalgamation company will have more reasons at its command that the individual companies. This will help in increasing the scale of operations and the economies of large scale will be available. These economies will occur because of more intensive utilization of production facilities, distribution network, research and development facilities, etc. these economies will be available in horizontal mergers were scope of more intensive use of resources is greater. Operating economies: A number of operating economies will be availed with the merger of two or more companies. Duplicating facilities in accounting, purchasing, marketing, etc. Continue reading

Case Study on MIS: Information System in Restaurant

Case Summary: A waiter takes an order at a table, and then enters it online via one of the six terminals located in the restaurant dining room. The order is routed to a printer in the appropriate preparation area: the cold item printer if it is a salad, the hot-item printer if it is a hot sandwich or the bar printer if it is a drink. A customer’s meal check-listing (bill) the items ordered and the respective prices are automatically generated. This ordering system eliminates the old three-carbon-copy guest check system as well as any problems caused by a waiter’s handwriting. When the kitchen runs out of a food item, the cooks send out an ‘out of stock’ message, which will be displayed on the dining room terminals when waiters try to order that item. This gives the waiters faster feedback, enabling them to give better service to the customers. Continue reading

Income Elasticity of Demand – Concept and Types

The income elasticity of demand shows the responsiveness of quantity demanded of a certain commodity to the change in income of the consumer. The income elasticity of demand is also defined as the ratio of the percentage change in the demand for a commodity to the percentage change in income. Income elasticity of demand can be expressed as follows: Income elasticity (ey) = Percentage change in quantity demanded / Percentage change in income For example, consumer’s income rises from $ 100 to $ 102, his demand for good X increases from 25 units per week to 30 units per week then his income elasticity of demand X is: ey = 5/25 x 100/2 = 10. It means that 1 percent increase in income results 10 percent increase in demand and vice versa. The income elasticity may be positive or negative or zero depending upon the nature of a commodity. As a Continue reading

Case Study: Business Strategy of Sony Corporation

Founded on May 7, 1946 in Tokyo, Japan, one of the most successful technological corporations in the world: Sony was created under the two legendary men: the physicist Masaru Ibuka and the physicist Akio Morita (Sony, 2013). They made the decision to set up a company repairing and producing electrical equipment and established Sony under the name under the name Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. which is Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, known as Totsuko. At that time, Totsuko was just a small company with capital of 190,000¥ (~ 2000 $) and around 20 employees compare to giant corporations in Japan such as Toshiba, Hitachi, Sharp, Matsushita with tremendous capital, facilities and labour capacity. Although in 1946 Japan was just recovered from the wartime, while the other giants still possessed enough resource and experience to control the Japan market, Totsuko had no machinery and little scientific equipment and using only their own Continue reading

Popularity of Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Higher education – the area a young individual decides to graduate/post-graduate in – is perhaps one of the most important choices a person makes during his/her lifetime. A choice at this juncture determines the course of one of the largest investments in terms of time, money and commitment a person could make. Such an important decision needs considerable thinking on the part of the individual. ‘Why do I want to do this educational programme?’ is a question that needs to be answered. At a later point in life, some individuals may feel repentance on his/her wrong choice of higher education at the degree/P.G. level. The ‘too-late’ realization with a feeling of disillusionment is a direct outcome of unconsidered early-life decisions relating to higher education and subsequent career/profession. When faced with the question of what to do in life, the result usually may fall into two categories: He/she may do what Continue reading