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

System of Insurance Claims Management

Basis of Claims Management Claims management means and includes all the managerial decisions and processes concerning the settlement and payment of claims in accordance with the terms of insurance contract. It includes carrying out the entire claims process with a particular emphasis on monitoring and lowering the claims costs. The important elements of claims management are claims preparation, claims philosophy, claims processing and claims settlement. The claims philosophy is defined as procedure or specified approach to settle the claims. It contains the claims management principles and also claims handling methods and procedures. The claims philosophy includes the preparation of guidelines regarding the receipt of claims from the insurers or claimants, analysis of the claims, consideration of the possible decision on the particular issues and disputes, evaluating the impact of the claims cost and expenses, relation of claims to the consumer satisfaction, monitoring the claim payment and improving the efficiency of Continue reading

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Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR)

Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) is defined as a business practice that combines the brainpower of two or more trading partners in planning the ways to fulfill the customer demand. They also explained the relationship that CPFR links best practices of sales and marketing, such as category management, to the implementation of supply chain planning and completion process, to increase availability while reducing inventory, transportation and logistics costs. Basically CPFR is an approach that deals with the requirements for good demand management. The most involved industries with CPFR are consumer products and food and beverage. The main objective of Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) is to “optimize” the supply chain process by: Improving accuracy of forecasting demand, Delivering the right product at the right time to the right location, Reducing inventory, Avoiding stock outs, and Improving customer service. But the most important fact on which the achievement of Continue reading

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Marketing Information Systems – Meaning, Components and Importance

Before we discuss about use of Management Information System in marketing we must first be familiar with the term ‘Management Information System’. It is defined as a system or process that provides the information necessary to manage an organization effectively. MIS and the information it generates are generally considered essential components of prudent and reasonable business decisions. Management Information Systems are distinct from Regular information systems in that they are used to analyze other information systems applied in operational activities in the organization. Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the group of information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making, e.g. Decision Support Systems, Expert systems, and Executive information systems. MIS should have a clearly defined framework of guidelines, policies or practices, standards, and procedures for the organization. These should be followed throughout the institution in the development, maintenance, and use of Continue reading

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Reserves – Meaning, Objectives and Types

A reserve is a part of the profit set aside to meet future contingencies and losses. Usually, the whole amount of profit earned by the business is not distributed to the owners or shareholders. A part of the profit is retained in the business either for meeting its unexpected future liabilities and losses or for strengthening financial position. It can be created for redeeming liabilities or replacing  depreciable assets or declaring uniform rate of dividend over years. It is created out of the profit only. If there is no profit in a particular year, no reserve can be created in that year. It is created by debiting the profit and loss appropriation account. It does not reduce the figure of net profit because it is created after determining profit. The reserve, therefore, reduces only the figure of divisible profit. It belongs to the owners and shareholders. It can be distributed Continue reading

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Evolution and Development of Life Insurance in India

Life insurance in the modern form was first set up in India through a British company called the Oriental Life Insurance Company in 1818 followed by the Bombay Assurance Company in 1823 and the Madras Equitable Life Insurance Society in 1829. All these companies operated in India but did not insure the lives of Indians. They insured the lives of Europeans living in India. Some of the companies that started later did provide insurance for Indians, as they were treated as “substandard”. Substandard in insurance parlance refers to lives with physical disability. Pioneering efforts of reformers and social workers like Raja Rammohan Ray, Dwarakanath Tagore, Ramatam Lahiri, Rustomji Cowasji and others led to entry of Indians in insurance business. The first Indian insurance company under the name “Bombay Life Insurance Society” started its operation in 1870, and started covering Indian lives at standard rates. Later “Oriental Government Security Life Insurance Continue reading

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Unit Planning and Merchandise Lists

Unit planning is an operational management tool to plan the merchandise assortment and support. It is directed at determining the amount of inventory the retailer should carry by items and by units and answers the inventory questions of how many product items or assortment and how many units of each items or support to stock. The process of unit planning involves the use of several merchandise lists which constitute a set of operational plans for   managing the total selection of merchandise. Based on the type of merchandise, the retailer carries, one or more of the following three merchandise lists namely, Basic Stock list, Model stock list and Never-out list.  These merchandise lists represent essentially the ‘ideal’ stock for meeting the consumer’s merchandise needs in terms of assortment and support. 1. Basic Stock List The “basic stock list” is a planning instrument retailers use to determine the assortment and support Continue reading

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