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

Factors Determining Financial Structure of a Company

Capital structure refers to the mixture of long term funds represented by equity share capital, preference share capital and long term debts. As a matter of fact, capital structure planning is one of the major tasks which involve determination of the right proportion of different securities. Each Corporate security has its own merits and demerits. Too much inclusion of any one kind of security in the capital structure of a company may prove unprofitable or subsequently risky. Therefore, a prudent financial decision should be taken after considering all the factors in view. Capital structure should always be made in the interest of equity shareholders because they are the ultimate owners of the company. However, the interest of other groups, including employees, customers, creditors, society and government should also be duly considered. In this way, efforts should be made to have capital structure most advantageous. Within the constraints, maximum use should Continue reading

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Inter bank deals in forex trading

Primary dealers quote two-way prices and are willing to deal either side, i.e. they buy and sell the base currency up to conventional amounts at those prices. However, in interbank markets this is a matter of mutual accommodation. A dealer will be shown a two-way quote only if he / she extends the privilege to fellow dealers when they call for a quote. Communications between dealers tend to be very terse. A typical spot transaction would be dealt as follows: BANK A : “ Bank A calling. Your price on mark — dollar please.” BANK B : “ Forty forty eight.” BANK A : “ Ten dollars mine at forty eight.” Bank A dealer identifies and asks himself for B’s DEM/USD. Bank A is dealing at 1.4540/1.4548. The first of these, 1.4540, is bank B’s price for buying USD against DEM or its bid for USD; it will pay DEM Continue reading

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Concept of Industry Shakeout

Industry Shakeout marks a discontinuity or turning point, as the industry goes through a major upheaval. Some of the greatest risks which companies face are during times when the industry is witnessing a shake-out. An industry shakeout occurs when the rate of industry growth slows down as demand approaches saturation levels. A saturated market is one where there are few first-time buyers left. Most of the demand is limited to replacement demand. As an industry enters the shakeout stage, rivalry between companies becomes intense, with excess productive capacity and severe price discounting. Many firms exit the industry at this point. Industry shakeout provides an opportunity for those firms that are dedicated to success in this particular industry to consolidate their power, often by acquiring the assets of firms exiting the industry. At the growth stage of industry life cycle, a company should try to grow in pace with the growth Continue reading

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Export Pricing

Pricing for export is different than domestic pricing. Additional consideration needs to be given to the cost of modifying product or support materials for the foreign market, the logistics of getting the product to the foreign market, insuring the product, financing costs, transportation and other costs unique to exports such as long-distance communication costs and exchange rates. As pricing strategy is a key component of an export-marketing plan, the pricing structure has to be an integral part of the marketing objectives. These will vary depending on the target overseas markets. For example, a firm might regard the foreign market as a secondary market and consequently have lower expectations regarding market share and sales volume. Pricing decisions are naturally affected by such views. An exporter must thoroughly evaluate all the variables that have a bearing on the price for the product/service may not sell. On the other hand, too low a Continue reading

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Cost-Benefit Analysis in Industrial Pricing

To formulate an appropriate industrial pricing strategy it is very essential to have an  analysis of the costs and benefits of the industrial product from the customer’s  point of view. The benefits can be grouped into soft and hard benefits. Soft benefits includes  those benefits which are very difficult to assess, such as customer training,  warranty period, customer services, company reputation etc.  Hard benefits are the physical attributes of the products such as production rate  of machine, rejection rate of component and price/performance ratio. The costs for an industrial customer mean price plus other expenses that are  incurred in purchasing and using the product. For example, the cost of a new oil  refinery machine purchased by oil mill includes price, freight, installation,  energy usage, repair and maintenance. The cost of production stoppage due to  failure of machine may also be included while calculating the machine cost  though it is difficult Continue reading

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Importance of Price to Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio)

Price to Earnings Ratio The most popular ratio used to assess the value of the equity is the company’s price equity ratio abbreviated as P/E ratio. It is calculated as the ratio of the firm’s current stock price divided by the earnings per share (EPS). The inverse of the P/E ratio is referred to as the earnings yield. Clearly the price earning and the earnings yield are required to measure the same thing.   In practice earnings yield less commonly stated and used than P/E ratios. P/E Ratio =   Market Value per Share/ Earnings per Share (EPS) Since most companies report earnings each quarter annual earnings per share can be calculated as the most recently quarterly earnings per share times four or as the sum of the last four quarterly earnings per share figures. Most analysts prefer the first method of multiplying the latest quarterly earnings per share value Continue reading

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