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

Understanding Different Types of Supply Chain Risk

There have been many different definitions of supply chain risk, but it can be broadly defined as the variation in the distribution of possible supply chain outcomes, their likelihood, and their subjective values. However, this definition has since been expanded upon to account for all the different departments and functions that operate within a supply chain. This leads to an overall definition of supply chain risk as any risks for the information, material and product flows from original supplier to the delivery of the final product for the end user. Simply put, supply chain risk refers to the probability of a risk event occurring the supply line and when the product goes on sale. Furthermore, risk sources are the predominant causes of risk events, which are the environmental, organizational or supply-chain variables which cannot be predicted with certainty and which impact on the supply chain outcome variables. Identifying Supply Chain Continue reading

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The Behavioral Science Approach to Management

The behavioral science approach to management  focuses on the psychological and sociological processes (attitude, motivations, group dynamics) that influence employee performance. While the classical approach focuses on the job of workers, the behavioral approach focuses on the workers in these jobs. Workers desisted the formal and impersonal approach of classical writers. Behavioral approach started in 1930. This gave rise to the Behavioral  science approach to management. Two branches contributed to the Behavioral approach. Human Relations Movements:  The human relations movement refers to the approach to management and worker productivity that takes into account a person’s motivation, satisfaction, and relationship with others in the workplace.  The human relations movement grew from the Hawthorne studies. Development of Organisational Behavior: Pioneers of the human relation movement stressed inter-personal relations and neglected the group behavior patterns. This led to the development of field of organisational  behavior. It respects a more. Interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional approach Continue reading

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Case Study: Tata Salt’s Advertisement Campaign

The ‘Meine desh ka namak khaya hai’ TATA advertisement campaign in 2002 offered viewers an instant connection.   In India, salt and loyalty have been associated from time immemorial.   ‘Namak halal” and “Namak Haram” are commonly used terms for honest and dishonest people respectively. According to cultural connotations, after consuming salt at a person’s house the one who has consumed the salt should not cheat his/her host.   The campaign connected with the consumer at an emotional level. TATA Chemicals Ltd (TCL) started manufacturing salt in 1939 after establishing a solar salt works at Mithapur, Gujarat.   It pioneered the concept of iodized and vacuum-evaporated salt in India in the early 1980s and created a need that was not felt by consumers before. Interestingly, the opportunity came accidentally, when in 1983, the company needed fresh water for its boilers that produced soda ash at its Mithapur plant in Gujarat. Continue reading

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Capital Structure of a Company

The assets of a company can be financed either by increasing the owners’ claims or the creditors’ claims. The owners claim increase when the firm raises funds by issuing ordinary shares or by retaining earnings; the creditors’ claims increase by borrowing. The various means of financing represent the financial structure or capital structure of a company. The term capital structure is used to represent the proportionate relationship between debt and equity. Equity includes paid-up share capital, share premium and reserve and surplus (retained earnings). The company will have to plan its capital structure initially at the time of its promotion. Subsequently, whenever funds have to be raised finance investment, a capital structure decision is involved. Capital structure of a company refers to the mix of sources from where the long-term funds required in the business may be raised. A demand for raising funds generates a new capital structure a decision Continue reading

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Difference Between a Team and a Group

The terms team and group are often used interchangeably in management subjects, but there are some differences between these two concepts.  A group is a collection of individuals who coordinate their individual efforts. On the other hand, at team is a group of people who share a common team purpose and a number of challenging goals. The notable  difference between a team and a group is that: A group may be formal or informal where as a team is necessarily formal. A group may or may not have a common goal to work towards but a team efforts are clustered towards the attainment of organizational objectives. A group can be organizational or social. A team is mostly organizational. A group is an aggregate of persons with close inter relationships. A group is a cluster of two or more individuals who interact with each other on a relatively enduring basis, identify Continue reading

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Alignment – A Strategic Management Concept By Kaplan & Norton

Alignment is a  key factor in effective implementation of strategy. Most large organizations are divided into business units which are out of sync and work at cross purposes.  The challenge is to coordinate the activities of these units and leverage their skills for the benefit of the organization as a whole. Kaplan & Norton  call this alignment on their book “Alignment:  Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies.” “Most organizations attempt to create synergy, but in a fragmented, uncoordinated way,”  Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton. By aligning the activities of its various business and support units, an organization can create additional sources of value in various ways. Financial synergies can be generated through centralized resource allocation and financial management. Value can also be created if corporate headquarters can operate internal capital markets better than external market mechanisms and share knowledge across business units, in a manner that Continue reading

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