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

Organizational Culture – Development and Importance

Management Principles

Five Important Organizational Cultural Models

Management Principles

Capacity Expansion Strategy

Growing an existing business often involves expansion of capacity, in terms of plant, human resources, technological infrastructure, R&D facilities, etc. Any major capacity expansion is a strategic decision that involves significant resource commitments and is often difficult to reverse.  So such a decision has to be made carefully. Capacity expansion strategy is often narrowly applied to manufacturing. But in many businesses, there is no or little manufacturing. So, capacity needs to be understood in terms of the investments made in the most critical area of the value chain. Thus, in the pharmaceutical industry, capacity has to be defined in terms of scientific manpower and sales force. In a software development company, capacity has to be understood in terms of the number of programmers employed. In a Business School, capacity may be defined as the number of professors available to teach students. According to Michael Porter, the decision to expand capacity Continue reading

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Different Security Attacks on RFID Systems

Like other information systems, RFID systems are vulnerable to attack and can be compromised at various stages. Generally the attacks against a RFID system can be categorized into four major groups: attacks on authenticity, attacks on integrity, attacks on confidentiality, and attacks on availability. Besides being vulnerable to common attacks such as eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle and denial of service, RFID technology is, in particular, susceptible to spoof and power attacks. This section illustrates the different kinds of attacks on RFID systems. Eavesdropping: Since an RFID tag is a wireless device that emits a unique identifier upon interrogation by a RFID reader, there exists a risk that the communication between tag and reader can be eavesdropped. Eavesdropping occurs when an attacker intercepts data with any compliant reader for the correct tag family and frequency while a tag is being read by an authorized RFID reader. Since most RFID systems use clear text Continue reading

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Social, Societal, and Socially Responsible Marketing

Nowadays companies are required to take care of long term and overall interests of customers. As a number of social issues like the global environmental issues, the exhaustion of natural resources, and the infinitely increasing numbers of population have appeared companies’ effort for long-term interests of customer increases demands for social benefits. A number of health and social issues are concerned with behavior causes that are the result of voluntary behavior. The production and operation should take the long-term benefits of society into account as a whole as well as the interest of consumers which is the common ground of the social marketing concept. The corporations have to find out what target groups want and need and derive maximum satisfaction from customers while they enhance and maintain welfares in the community. The main concept of social marketing is providing a way of dealing with such problems by changing the behavior Continue reading

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The Concept of Financial Innovation

Financial intermediaries have to perform the task of financial innovation to meet the ever-changing requirements of the economy and to help the investors cope with the increasingly volatile market. Because of this reason there is a necessity for the financial intermediaries to innovate unique financial instruments. The following are the major reasons for financial innovation: Low Profitability: Profitability refers to the ability of a financial institution to maximize profits. The profitability of the major financial institutions have been declining in the recent times. So, the institutions are compelled to seek new products, which fetches high returns. Competition: The entry foreign and private players in the financial services sector have led to severe competition in the industry. This has compelled the institutions to innovate the financial instruments. Economic Liberalization: Economic liberalization such as, deregulation of exchange controls and interest rate ceilings etc, have made the industry more innovative. Customer service: To Continue reading

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What Is Price Perception?

Price perception is one of the leading variables when it comes to consumers buying process. Economists, market researchers have already undergone researches and predict that in buying decision price are the driving forces. Several studies explain and determine and explain the same fact thereby concluding the fact with decision making. The determinants of price perception can be both rational and psychological factors. The other factors may become psychological factors and prestige. The key variable to explore and explain consumers’ price perception is the degree of understanding the psychological process of consumers’ price perception. When a firm has seasonal demand, the discrepancies are observed between the supply and demand. Generally the firm has excess supply at the time of low demand and scarcity when there is high demand. If the firm commercializes goods and faces seasonal demands, it can minimize the effect through good management of production and storage. The problem Continue reading

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Dealing With Customer Complaints

The Customer is always right!   There are occasions when the customer is right, however there are also times when the customer is not entirely right or when their behavior in making a complaint is such that they need to be appropriately challenged so that the substantive issue is dealt with. Tactics for Dealing with Customer Complaints When dealing with customer complaints, mangers can use tactics  based on a five-category scheme called conflict-handling modes: competing, compromising,  collaborating, accommodating and  avoiding. Competing: (It has been decided that enough is enough, if the customer sues, you’ll meet them in court) Repeat what you have said Remind them that they can have their goods back Warn the customer that you will not continue the conversation if they become abusive Note what is said (possibly need to use in court) Keep calm yourself and remain professional Recognize when the conversation has gone on long Continue reading

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