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

Competitiveness for Globalization – Country and Company Competitiveness

Strategic management of a global company requires an understanding and analysis of international business environment in order to assess opportunities and threats. The management has to formulate alternative strategies to exploit the opportunities provided by the environment by using company strengths. Many MNCs having the strength of technology and the environment of developing countries provide the opportunities of high quality and low priced products. Therefore, it is necessary to study the competitiveness of global business. The comparative cost theory concludes that the countries can specialize in producing certain products in which they have the competitive advantage of producing goods at low cost. It means that the customers in all the countries can have the goods at low price. Comparative cost theory also indicates that the countries which have the advantage of raw materials, labor, natural resources in producing particular goods can produce the goods at low cost with good quality. Continue reading

Abey Francis

Case Study: Business Strategy Analysis of Wal-Mart

Sam Walton, a leader with an innovative vision, started his own company and made it into the leader in discount retailing that it is today. Through his savvy, and sometimes unusual, business practices, he and his associates led the company forward for thirty years. Today, four years after his death, the company is still growing steadily. Wal-Mart executives continue to rely on many of the traditional goals and philosophies that Sam’s legacy left behind, while simultaneously keeping one step ahead of the ever-changing technology and methods of today’s fast-paced business environment. The organization has faced, and is still facing, a significant amount of controversy over several different issues; however, none of these have done much more than scrape the exterior of this gigantic operation. The future also looks bright for Wal-Mart, especially if it is able to strike a comfortable balance between increasing its profits and recognizing its social and Continue reading

Abey Francis

Product and Process based Functional Organizations

Product Functional Organizations Product functional organization establishes each product or group of related products as an autonomous unit in the framework of the organization. In product functional organization structure, each product has a separate identity although it functions under the control of the Chief Coordinating Executive.   Each product department has several functions broadly divided into finance, marketing, personnel and production, which are also coordinated with the chiefs of the respective functions.   The main advantage of product functional organization is qualitative production under the supervision of expert personnel to produce a particular product. For instance, a company may be producing modular kitchens, healthcare products, consumer electronics, computers, etc., which are managed by the respective engineering expert in the areas of their product.   Overall control and supervision by higher executives is essential for the maximum utilization of existing resources without incurring wastage.   It means rationalization is exercised with Continue reading

Abey Francis

Over The Counter Exchange of India (OTCEI)

Over The Counter Exchange of India (OTCEI) was incorporated in October 1990 under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 with the objective of setting up a national, ringless, screen-based, automated stock exchange. It is recognized as a stock exchange under Section 4 of the Securities Contracts (Regulations) Act, 1956. It was set up to provide investors with a convenient, efficient and transparent platform for dealing in shares and stocks; and to help enterprising promoters set up new projects or expand. their activities, by providing them an opportunity to raise capital from the capital market in a cost-effective manner. Trading in securities takes place through OTCEI’s network of members and dealers spanning the length and breadth of India.  Over The Counter Exchange of India was promoted by a consortium of financial institutions including: Unit Trust of India. Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India. Industrial Development Bank of India. Industrial Continue reading

Abey Francis

Different Exchange Rate Systems

Countries of the world have been exchanging goods and services amongst themselves. This has been going on from time; immemorial. The world has come a long way from the days of barter trade. With the invention of money the figures and problems of barter trade have disappeared. The barter trade has given way ton exchanged of goods and services for currencies instead of goods and services. Different countries have adopted different exchange rate system at different time. The following are some of the exchange rate system followed by various countries: A. The Gold Standard Many countries have adopted gold standard as their monetary system during the last two decades of the 19th century. This system was in vogue till the outbreak of World War 1. Under this system the parties of currencies were fixed in terms of gold. There were two main types of gold standard: 1. Gold specie standard: Continue reading

Abey Francis

Predicting Financial Distress and Corporate Failure

The financial failure of a company can have a devastating effect on all seven users of financial statements e.g. present and potential investors, customers, creditors, employees, lenders, the general public, etc. As a result, users of financial statements as indicated previously are interested in predicting not only whether a company will fail, but also when it will fail e.g. to avoid high profile corporate failures at Enron, Arthur Anderson, and WorldCom, etc. Users of financial statements can predict the financial position of an organization using the Altman Z score model, Argenti A score model, and by looking at the financial statements i.e. balance sheet, income statements, and cash flow statements. Business failure is defined as the unfortunate circumstance of a firm’s inability to stay in the business. Business failure occurs when the total liabilities exceed the total assets of a company, as total assets are considered a measure of the Continue reading

Abey Francis