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

International Business Negotiations

In a number of cases the foreign market entry and strategy implementation involve negotiation with the government of the foreign country and / or foreign firm. International business plans “are always often implemented through, face-to-face negotiations with business partners and customers from foreign countries. The sales of goods and services, the management of distribution channels, the contracting for marketing research and advertising services, licensing and franchise agreements and strategic alliances all require managers from different cultures to sit and talk with one another to exchange ideas and express needs and preferences. Executives must also negotiate with representatives of foreign governments who might approve a variety of their marketing actions’ or in fact be the actual ultimate customer for goods’ and services. In many countries governmental officials may also be joint venture partners, and in some cases vendors. International business negotiations are deliberate interactions of two or more social units (at Continue reading

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Project Constraints

A project should possess identifiable goals and a definite starting and finishing point.  Project goals must be defined clearly.   A useful checklist can be developed in relation to project success criteria.   Criteria may be hard and concerned with what the project should achieve, or soft when they will cover how the project should proceed.   The major constraints on the completion of projects are time, resource availability and the need to achieve the required standard of performance/quality for the project. This is also known as Project Management Triangle. Each of these project constraints is linked to the other two. If one or more of the constraints is changed, the remaining ones will also be changed. For instance, decreasing the budget/cost of a project is likely to lengthen its schedule or force the creation of a new, more restrained quality. Or an increase in quality generally results in an Continue reading

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Sales Letters – Meaning and Importance

Although the primary aim of sales letters or offers is publicity yet it is the most important written form of business communication. It reaches out to a large number of people interested in a particular product or service and turn them into buyers. Even if people are not interested in the product, them the aim of this letter is to make them interested in it. Starting with the assumption that the receiver may resist the offer, the sales letter has to be persuasive or powerful enough to make recipient act. They are unsolicited letters, mostly written by professional writers. The effectiveness of such letters depends on the writer’s ability to use language suited to his purpose that is above all to influence the recipient – his thinking, taste and behavior. This is the aim of persuasion. Sales letters are, therefore, persuasive or indirect approach letters. Sales letters are the best Continue reading

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Gross National Product (GNP)

Gross National Product (GNP)  may be defined as the aggregate market value of all final goods and services produced during a given year. The concept of final goods and services stands for finished goods and services, ready for consumption of households and firms, and exclude raw materials, semi-finished goods and such other intermediary products. More clearly, all sales to households, business investment expenditure, and all government expenditures are obviously regarded as final goods. In an open economy (an economy which has economic relationship with the rest of the world in the form of trade, remittances, investment etc-all economies are open economies),  Gross National Product (GNP) may be obtained by adding up: The value of all consumption goods which are currently produced The value of all capital goods produced which is defined as Gross Investment. Gross Investment, in the real sense, here implies the increase in inventories plus gross products of Continue reading

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Types and Methods of Employee Counseling

Types of Employee Counseling In attempting to help an employee who has a problem, a variety of counseling approaches are used. All of these counseling approaches, however, depend on active listening. Sometimes the mere furnishing of information or advice may be the solution to what at first appeared to be a knotty problem. More frequently, however, the problem cannot be solved easily because of frustrations or conflicts that are accompanied by strong feelings such as fear, confusion, or hostility. A manager, therefore, needs to learn to use whatever approach appears to be suitable at the time. Flexibility is a key component of the employee counseling process. Directive Counseling: It is full counseling. It is the process of listening to an employee’s problem, deciding with the employee what should be done and telling and motivating the employee to do it. This type of counseling mostly does the function of advice, reassurance Continue reading

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Insurance – Definition, Principles and Functions

Life is a roller coaster ride and is full of twists and turns. Insurance policies are a safeguard against the uncertainties of life. As in all insurance, the insured transfers a risk to the insurer, receiving a policy and paying a premium in exchange. The risk assumed by the insurer is the risk of death of the insured in case of life insurance. Insurance policies cover the risk of life as well as other assets and valuables such as home, automobiles, jewelry etc. On the basis of the risk they cover, insurance policies can be classified into Life Insurance and General Insurance.  Life insurance products cover risk for the insurer against eventualities like death or disability. General insurance products cover risks against natural calamities, burglary, etc. Insurance is system by which the losses suffered by a few are spread over many, exposed to similar risks. With the help of Insurance, Continue reading

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