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

Global Product Division Structure of MNE’s

Global Product division structure contains the functions necessary to the specific goods or services a product/service division produces. The parental organization has headquarters divisions for different major product categories with respective resources, human and others. Overseas subsidiaries producing a particular product or class of product have to report to headquarters division responsible for that product or class of products. Global Product Division Structure locates manufacturing and value creation activities in appropriate global locations to increase responsiveness to competitive opportunities, efficiency, quality, or innovation. Global product divisions are responsible for Global Product Design and operate in divisional, cluster, or holding company formats. Global Product divisions have little in common. They are highly independent of each other. Following figure gives a simple model of Global Product Division Structure. Ford adopts this structure, abandoning its Global Geographic Structure. Today most of the multinational enterprises with their diverse acquisitions world-wide have diverse product portfolios. Continue reading

Abey Francis

Rights of Mutual Fund Investors

There are certain rights enjoyed by the investors with respect to service standards that they can expect from mutual funds: Investors are entitled to receive dividends declared in a scheme, within 30 days. Redemption proceeds have to be sent to the investor within 10 business days from the date receipt of such request by the AMC. Delays in this respect will lead to the AMC paying a penal interest on the proceeds at a rate specified by SEBI from time to time. (The current rate is 15% and is to be borne by the AMC or sponsor and not the fund). If an investor fails to claim the dividend or redemption proceeds he has the right to claim it up to a period of 3 years from the due date at the then prevailing NAV. After the expiry of this period, investors will be eligible to receive the NAV prevailing Continue reading

Abey Francis

International Asset Protection

Company’s investments and other assets in foreign countries may face the risk of expropriation. Governments are therefore concerned about the protection of the interests of their national companies in the foreign countries. The potential risk was more before the worldwide liberalization set in the 1980s. Important protective measures in this respect include the following: Coercion and Pressure Until the Second World War, home countries used military force and coercion to ensure that host governments would give foreign investors prompt, adequate, and effective compensation in cases of expropriation, under a concept known as the international standard of fair dealing. It may be noted that the home countries of the companies involved were developed ones and the host countries were developing nations and these host countries had little to say about this standard. In a two conference held at The Hague in 1930 and at Montevideo in 1933, participating developing countries got Continue reading

Abey Francis

Positioning Strategies in Marketing

Positioning is the strategy of differentiating your product from that of the competition, in the mind of the prospect. A positioning strategy may be developed from the product’s attributes, its specific uses, the type of uses, the product class or category, or the competition. Each of these represents a different approach to developing a positioning strategy. However, all of them have the ultimate objective of developing or reinforcing an image in the minds of the audience. Following are steps of positioning strategies: 1. Positioning by Product Characteristics/Consumer Benefits a) This is a commonly used strategy and consists of associating an object with a product characteristic or customer benefit. “Colgate is a cavity fighter.” The ability to fight cavities is a product attribute that translates into a consumer benefit. b) Sometimes, a new product can be positioned with respect to product characteristics that competitors have ignored. “The toothpaste with clove oil.” Continue reading

Abey Francis

Functions of Finance Manager

The twin aspects, procurement and effective utilization of funds are crucial tasks faced by a finance manager. The financial manager is required to look into the financial implications of any decision in the firm. Thus all decisions involve management of funds under the purview of the finance manager. A large number of decisions involve substantial or material changes in value of funds procured or employed. The finance manager, has to manage funds in such a way so as to make their optimum utilization and to ensure their procurement in a way that the   risk, cost and control are properly balanced under a given situation. He may not, be concerned with the decisions, that do not affect the basic financial management and structure. The nature of job of an accountant and finance manager is different, an accountant’s job is primarily to record the business transactions, prepare financial statements showing results Continue reading

Abey Francis

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Total Quality Management (TQM)

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Business process can be defined as a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome. It is a structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specified output for a particular customer or market. Improving business processes is important for businesses to stay ahead of competition in today’s marketplace. Over the last 10 to 15 years, companies have been forced to improve their business processes because customers are demanding better products and services. Many companies begin business process improvement with a continuous improvement model. The Business Process Reengineering (BPR) methodology comprises of developing business processes are simplified rather than being made more complex. Job descriptions expand and become multi-dimensional – people perform a broader range of tasks. People within the organization become empowered as opposed to being controlled. The emphasis moves away from the individual and towards the team’s achievements. The Continue reading

Abey Francis