Case Study on Entrepreneurship: Larry Page

Business Analysis

The Boundaryless Career: Modern Contemperory Perspective on Career

Human Resource Management

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

Modern Methods of Performance Appraisal

Most traditional methods of performance appraisal emphasize either on  the task or the worker’s personality, while making an appraisal. In order to bring  about a balance between these two, modern methods have been developed. The modern methods of performance appraisal place more  emphasis on the evaluation of work results, i.e. job achievements than the  personal traits. Modern methods tend to be more objective and worthwhile.  These methods are briefly discussed below. 1. Behavioral Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) The problem of judgmental  evaluation inherent in the traditional methods of performance evaluation led to  some organisations to go for objective evaluation by developing a technique  know as BARS around 1960s. It is an approach that has received greater  attention in recent years. It combines major elements of the ‘Critical Incident’  and ‘Graphic Ratings Scale’ approaches. The appraiser rates the employee on  specific job behaviors derived from specific performance dimensions (on a  given Continue reading

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Portfolio Construction Phase in Investment Portfolio Management

Investment portfolio construction refers to the allocation of funds among a variety of financial assets open for investment. Portfolio theory concerns itself with the principles governing such allocation. The objective of the theory is to elaborate the principles in which the risk can be minimized subject to desired level of return on the portfolio or maximize the return, subject to the constraint of a tolerate level of risk. Thus, the basic objective of portfolio management is to maximize yield and minimize risk. The other ancillary objectives are as per the needs of investors, namely: Safety of the investment Stable current returns Appreciation in the value of capital Marketability and Liquidity Minimizing of tax liability. In pursuit of these objectives, the portfolio manager has to set out all the various alternative investment along with their projected return and risk and choose investment with safety the requirement of the individual investor and Continue reading

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Keynesian Theory of Trade Cycles

John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, never worked out a pure theory of trade cycles, though he made significant contributions to the trade cycle theory. Keynes states, “The trade cycle can be described and analyzed in terms of the fluctuations of the marginal efficiency of capital relatively to the rate of interest.” According to Keynes, the level of income and employment in a capitalist economy depends upon effective demand, comprising of total consumption and investment expenditure. Changes in total expenditure will imply changes in effective demand and will lead to changes in income and employment in the country. Therefore, in the Keynesian system fluctuations in total expenditure are responsible for fluctuations in business activity. Now, according to Keynes, consumption expenditure is relatively stable, and consequently it is the fluctuations in the volume of investment that are responsible for changes in the level of Continue reading

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The Insurance Regulatory And Development Authority (IRDA)

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is regulatory and development authority under Government of India in order to protect the interests of the policyholders and to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance industry. It is basically a ten members’ team comprising of a Chairman, five full time members and four part-time members, all appointed by Government of India. This organization came into being in 1999 after the bill of IRDA was passed in the Indian parliament. The creation of IRDA has brought revolutionary changes in the Insurance sector. In the last 10 years of its establishment the insurance sector has seen tremendous growth. When IRDA came into being; the only players in the insurance industry were Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), however in last decade 23 new players have emerged in the field of insurance. The IRDA also successfully Continue reading

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Make-or-Buy Decisions in International Business

International businesses invariably face decisions about whether they make all or just some of the components used in their final product and therefore buy in from other sources (outsourcing) those components they decide not to make. This make-or-buy decision is related to the degree to which a firm is vertically integrated: that is, the extent to which a firm is its own supplier and market. At one extreme a firm can make all of its own inputs and be its own supplier; at the other extreme, it can buy all its inputs and rely on external suppliers. Partial integration implies that some components are made and others bought. A major benefit of making inputs (backward or upstream integration) is the degree of control maintained over cost, quality and timeliness of delivery. Major drawbacks are the cost of investment and expertise needed to provide these inputs. A benefit of buying is Continue reading

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Importance of Ethics in Business Management Practice

To put in simple words, ethics is the principle of moral values which helps you to take actions that are considered as the right thing to do. However, doing what is ‘right’ is not that straightforward. Since everyone has different backgrounds and cultures, we therefore possess different conceptions and perceptions. This causes complication in the process of understanding the meaning of ethics as each person’s point of view on what is ethical varies significantly. Ethics is not a set of rules that should be followed inevitably but is a guideline to lead you to behave with integrity. It includes values such as equity, responsibility, honesty, and fairness. The importance of ethics can be seen from the fact that many of what were considered as ethical behaviors in the past has developed into law today. For example, stealing is known as an unethical act and is against the law as it Continue reading

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