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

The Customer Satisfaction Model – Based on American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)

Marketing Management

Product Types in Marketing Management

A product is something that must be capable of satisfying a need or want, it includes physical objects, personalities, places, organizations and ideas.  Product may be classified broadly into two major categories namely consumer goods and industrial goods. 1. Consumer Goods Consumer goods are those goods meant for use by the ultimate household consumer and in such form that they can be used by him without further commercial processing. Consumer goods are generally divided into three sub-categories according to the method in which they are purchased namely convenience goods, shopping goods are specialty goods. Convenience Goods: There are goods which the consumer usually purchases frequently and with the minimum efforts. Usually they have easy substitutes and the unit value will be low. The consumer may not have much of a preference for a particular brand. E Shopping Goods: These are goods which the consumer purchase less frequently and the unit Continue reading

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The Skills and Knowledge of Succesfull Negotiators

Negotiator is the key person for the profitable survival of the organization in a competitive world. Negotiation as an art requires certain inherent qualities of an individual that makes the negotiator more dynamic and natural. Skillful managers must assess many factors when managing international business negotiations. The successful management of intercultural negotiations requires that manager go beyond a generalized understanding of the issues and variables involve. The negotiator must have the knowledge about the following things. Value: Business negotiators must make sure that they have an intelligent understanding of the facts that are the basis for any negotiation. Failure to gather & understand the relevant facts that support optimal deal making will result in a failed negotiation or negotiations where value or resources are left on the table. Process: Any negotiation that does possess a vigorously defined negotiation process and lacks a management infrastructure runs the risk of a sub-standard Continue reading

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Role of Job Analysis in Human Resource Management

The purpose of a job analysis in human resources is to collect information about a job by analyzing the duties, responsibilities, tasks and activities of the job. A job analysis should identify the types of technologies and equipment that are to be used on the job and point out the types of education and experience that are required for the job to be done successfully. This information is used to prepare a job description, which states the specific duties and responsibilities of a person in the job. Human resource managers also use the job analysis data to conduct other human resources activities, such as recruitment and selection, performance evaluation, and the design of training and career development programs. To successfully plan for the future, organizations working on a strategic plan need to conduct a job analysis for their current positions and possible future positions. This will help them to determine Continue reading

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Concepts of Windows and Corridors for New Ventures

A window is time horizon during which opportunities exist before something else happens to eliminate them. A unique opportunity, once shown to produce wealth, will attract competitors, and if the business is easy to enter, the industry will become rapidly saturated. Bicycles did not become viable commercial products until people needed them as transportation. When that need occurred, hundreds of bicycle manufactures rushed to take advantage of the “window of opportunity.” Literally every successful product and service has had an optimal period of time for commercialization. Those introduced too early have usually failed, and those introduced too suffered from crowded markets. A brief period of opportunity opened for electronic spreadsheets when micro-computer hit the fast growth curve. Several entrepreneurs entered the market with good spreadsheet products. The first, VisiCalc was designed for the Apple PC. VisiCalc was quite successful, and later versions for Ms-Dos systems were even more successful. But Continue reading

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Steps Involved in Drafting a Research Report

A research report must be well drafted so that it is seriously taken by others and all that have to be said are well said. Reader orientation, purpose orientation, time orientation, technology orientation, etc are all needed. The steps in writing a research report are presented below. 1. Organization of Thought Organization of thought as to how the report be presented is the most fundamental starting point in the journey of preparation of a research report. Ideas come before the mind eye. These are thought over again and a frame of presentation is planned. This plan does not in itself constitute style, but it is the foundation. 2. Acquaintance with the Research Full acquaintance with research is needed. This is facilitated by notes. It is desirable to make notes on separate cards or slips called form-facet. Accuracy and Adequacy are required – The second facet of mastery over notes consists Continue reading

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Intermittent Manufacturing Systems

In Intermittent manufacturing systems, the goods are manufactured specially to fulfill orders made by customers rather than for stock. Here the flow of material is intermittent. Intermittent production systems are those where the production facilities are flexible enough to handle a wide variety of products and sizes. These can be used to manufacture those products where the basic nature of inputs changes with the change in the design of the product and the production process requires continuous adjustments. Considerable storage between operation is required, so that individual operations can be carried out independently for further utilization of men and machines. Examples of intermittent systems are: machine shops, hospitals, general office etc. Characteristics of intermittent  manufacturing  systems are: Most products are produced in small quantities. Machines and equipment are laid out by process. Workloads are generally unbalanced. Highly skilled operators are required for efficient use of machines and equipment. In-process inventory Continue reading

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