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

Role of Clearing and Forwarding (C&F) Agents in Exports

Shipping is the most commonly used method of  dispatching  goods to a foreign country. Under shipment, one shall cover all the procedural aspects from the time the product meant for export leaves the factory site till it is loaded on board the ship and the relevant documents are collected from the shipping company. Since the type of work involved is somewhat  specialized   it is usually entrusted to the clearing and forwarding agents. This section focus on role of clearing and  forwarding agents in export assignment. 1. Customs Formalities Goods can be shipped out of India only after obtaining the customs clearance. To obtain the customs clearance, the clearing and forwarding agent should submit a shipping bill in the prescribed form. The shipping bill is to be prepared in quadruplicate. The shipping bills should be accompanied by the following documents. Contract with the overseas buyer in original. Invoice for the Continue reading

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Case Study of Avon: From Direct Selling to Direct Marketing

For years, Avon lady was a fixture in American  neighborhoods.  Selling door-to-door built Avon into the world’s largest manufacturer  of beauty products. Avon operates in 135 countries and besides  the cosmetics it also sells jewelry, home furnishings, and babycare  products. Avon pioneered the idea of hiring housewives for  direct selling cosmetics in the neighbourhood. But in 1980s, as  millions of women began to work outside the home, the cosmetics  maker’s pool of customers and sales representatives dwindled,  and its sales faltered. By 1985, its profits were half what they had  been in 1979. Consumer research showed that many women thought Avon’s make-up was  “stodgy,” its gifts products overpriced, and its jewelry old-fashioned. So the  company created a more contemporary line of jewelry, lowered the prices of  its giftware to offer more items under $15, and expanded its lipstick and nail  polish colours. On the selling side, recruiting sales people had Continue reading

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PESTEL Analysis of Skoda Company

The two cyclists, who were known as Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement, are considered as the founders of Skoda Company. The two cyclists were used to design and produce their own bicycles and eventually it was established as Skoda. In 1925, Skoda was established in Czechoslovakia and gradually, it was expanded towards Eastern Europe by producing cars, farm ploughs, and aero planes other than bicycles. Skoda has to cope with hard times in company history such as war, economic problems and also the changes in the political environment. While the Skoda is grown up internationally, there was a requirement of a strong foreign partner. By, 1990 Volkswagen AG had dominated by joining Skoda. Volkswagen AG is known as the leading car manufacturer in Europe by manufacturing variety of branded products such as Volkswagen, Skoda, and Audi. PESTEL Analysis of Skoda Company The macro environment consist of factors which are lying Continue reading

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Different Business Strategies

Strategic Management deals with the process of translating an organization’s vision into long term goals which will enable it to compete with sustained competitive advantage in its business environment. Business Strategy is an important component of Strategic Management. It deals with how a firm competes along the three dimensions of its competitive space namely customers and markets, products and services, and technologies including skills and capabilities. A firm’s competitive advantage  is determined by the breadth of its target market. The target market could be mass market which means it is attractive to a large number of customers spread across most income and occupation groups(demographic groups). On the other hand, the market could appeal to a narrower range of customers with specific requirements. Let us take a few examples. Internationally WalMart the giant U.S. retailer, Timex the leading watch brand, Gateway in P.C.s are good examples of firms with very large Continue reading

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Changing Face of Outsourcing Industry in India

Starting in the mid 1980’s, the ways of doing business changed forever. The business world was for the first time introduced to the concept of ‘outsourcing’ whatever it thought was not core to profit making. Slowly, through the subsequent decades, we have learnt how to make a sharp demarcation between what makes profits for the business and what is simply undifferentiated cost. As time passed, most businesses came to understand that non-core activities i.e. those things that were not important to the money making machinery in a business could be given to someone else to do. It was a smart thing to do. One could get more time and investment to spend on ‘profit centers’ rather than diluting efforts with the time and management effort needed to manage ‘cost centers’. Moreover, simultaneously moving work to the low cost production locations helped to cut down costs further. This phenomenon gave us Continue reading

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Forex transactions in interbank markets

The exchange rates quoted by banks to their customer are based on the rates prevalent in the interbank market. The big banks in the market are known as market makers, as they are willing to buy or sell foreign currencies at the rates quoted by them up to any extent. Depending buy or sell foreign currencies at the rates quoted by them up to any extent. Depending upon its resources, a bank may be a market maker in one or few major currencies. When a banker approaches the market maker, it would not reveal its intention to buy or sell the currency. This is done in order to get a fair price from the market maker. Two Way Quotations Typically, the quotation in the interbank market is a two — way quotation. It means the rate quoted by the market maker will indicate two prices. One at which it is Continue reading

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