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

Cost Reduction in Managerial Economics

The Institute of Cost and Works Accounts of London has defined cost reduction as “the achievement of real and permanent reductions in the unit costs of goods manufactured or services rendered without impairing their suitability for the use intended”. Thus, cost reduction is confined to savings in the cost of manufacture, administration, distribution and selling by eliminating wasteful and unnecessary elements from the product design and from the techniques and practices carried out in connection with cost control. Cost Control and Cost Reduction According to the Institute of Cost and Works Accounts, London, “cost control, as generally  practiced,   lacks the dynamic approach to many factors affecting costs, which determine the need of cost reduction.” In fact, cost control also known as cost management or cost containment; it controls the costs of the organization at the given level. Besides, cost control emphasis on ensuring that the cost does not exceed Continue reading

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Case Study: eBay’s Business Model

Founded on 1995 by Pierre Omidyar, eBay was considered a pioneer in the online auction industry whereby people are brought together on a local, national and international basis to serve the purpose of creating a person-to-person community where ever individual could have an equal access through the same medium which is the Internet. eBay offers wide varieties of products and services for bargain hunters, hobbyists and collectors and sellers, changing the way people engage in trading hence eBay had changed the face of e-commerce from its inception. Today, eBay is continuously the brand preference with over 39 market presence and with $60 billion of the total value of sold items on the site’s trading platform. Basically, eBay introduced several crucial innovations tailor-made for the internet at the business level, a strategy which was conceived to be an improvisation. The online auction business model is where eBay served as the value-added Continue reading

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Inflation: Meaning, Causes, and Effects

Inflation can be characterized as a rise in the general value level and therefore there is a fall in the estimation of cash. Inflation happens when the measure of purchasing power is higher than the yield of merchandise and ventures. Inflation additionally happens when the measure of cash surpasses the measure of enterprises accessible. Regarding whether the falling the estimation of cash will influence the elements of cash relies upon the level of the fall. Fundamentally, alludes to an expansion in the supply of money or credit with respect to the accessibility of stock and venture, bringing about higher costs. In this manner, expansion can be estimated as far as rates. The rate increment in the value list, as a rate for every penny per unit of time, or, in other words, years. The two fundamental cost lists are utilized when estimating inflation, the Producer Price Index(PPI) and the Consumer Continue reading

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Major Criteria to Assess the Performance of Employees

The starting point for the performance appraisal process is identifying specific performance goals. An appraisal system probably cannot effectively serve every desired purpose, so management should select the specific goals it believes to be most important and realistically achievable. For example, some firms may want to stress employee development, whereas other organizations may want to focus on pay adjustments. Too many performance appraisal systems fail because management expects too much from one method and does not determine specifically what it wants the system to accomplish. The next step in this ongoing cycle continues with establishing performance criteria (standards) and communicating these performance expectations to those concerned. Then the work is performed and the supervisor appraises the performance. At the end of the appraisal period, the appraiser and the employee together review work performance and evaluate it against established performance standards. This review helps determine how well employees have met these Continue reading

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Concept of Planned Shopping Centers

The expansion of suburbia brought with it planned residential  developments. These new sub divisions were connected by many new city streets  and through fares along which retail businesses could be established. The notion  of the planned shopping center was born. Developers could plan multi store  facilities that would serve the needs of these new  neighbor  hoods with grocery,  drug, and apparel goods. With the availability of large tracts of relatively cheap  undeveloped land located many miles from the inner city, but close to these new  living areas, large  centers  could be designed that would offer one stop shopping  to entire clusters of residential areas. The last thirty years witnessed the  widespread development of multiunit retail strip  centers  and the construction of  multiacre shopping malls/theme parks. Several important issues surround the choice of locating a retail business  in a planned shopping center. One important consideration is the nature of the  business Continue reading

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Factors Influencing International Compensation

Recently, the dilemma between sector and cultural predictors of compensation policies has become a public concern, and is extremely important in the background of internationalization. Even some well-known cultural traditions at working styles of many countries, examples like the Industry Wide Bargaining of Germany, the Lifetime Employment of Japan and the Wide-range Social Safety Net of France, now are facing the threats of being damaged owing to the big pressures from economic globalization. As a result, multinational employers are facing unprecedented challenges when choosing a job due to the pressures of economic globalization and market economy. The growth of global economy plays a major role in general business, especially in the areas of human resource management. It has been at the agenda of company leaders to chase the qualification of global mind-sets by which they used to meet the challenges brought by the trend of globalization of economy and create Continue reading

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