Performance Related Pay – Definition, Objectives and Conditions

Rewarding performance is the element of the performance management process which seeks to give employees some kind of return for achieving their targets. This is wider than just financial recompense and includes such things as praise, greater opportunities for training and development, and promotion. Very often one of the things most sought by an employee is the recognition that he or she is doing a good job and where, for example, this is expressed in terms of bonus it is very often the recognition rather than the cash that really matters. It is only when money enters the equation that rewarding performance become very tricky and the emphasis her is therefore on the financial aspects. People very often consider performance management solely in terms of Performance Related Pay (PRP). PRP is a method of remuneration that provides individuals with financial rewards in the form of increases to basic pay or Continue reading

Functions of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

Life insurance business in India was being transacted by private companies until 1956. As a result of the long felt need and in the interest of insuring public, the life insurance business was nationalized in 1956. The nationalization resulted in the establishment of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) by an act of the Parliament. The Corporation was formed and began to function on September 1, 1956 by taking over 170 companies and 75 provident societies. The entire initial capital of Rs.5 crore was contributed by the government of India. The objective of nationalization was described by the then finance minister, C. D. Deshmukh as “to see that the gospel of insurance is spread as far and wide as possible so that we reach beyond the more advanced urban areas well into the hither to neglected rural areas.” The Corporation is a body corporate having perpetual succession with a common Continue reading

Case Study: Business Model of Napster

The Napster brand has had a varied history. Its initial incarnation was as the first widely used service for ‘free’ peer-to-peer (P2P) music sharing. The record companies mounted a legal challenge to Napster due to lost revenues on music sales which eventually forced it to close. But the Napster brand was purchased and its second incarnation offers a legal music download service in direct competition with Apple’s iTunes. The original Napster Napster was initially created between 1998 and 1999 by a 19 year old called Shawn Fanning while he attended Boston’s Northeastern University. He wrote the programme initially as a way of solving a problem for a friend who wanted to find music downloads more easily online online. The name Napster came from Fanning’s nickname. The system was known as Peer to Peer since it enabled music tracks stored on other Internet users hard disks in MP3 format to be Continue reading

Guidelines for Being a Good Leader

The leader leads his people towards the goal. He is the person who can get his people to follow him. He is the one who is looked up to, whose judgment is trusted, and who inspires the people working with him and for him. Good leader should be motivating, inspiring and able to manage people. Leader should be charismatic and being visionary and have ability to acting decisively. There is very complex opinion about leadership either can take it as based on personality and physical traits or based on prescribed behaviors. Leadership can define in terms of power relationship between leaders and followers. As good leaders, they must try to get employees to concentrate around common goal and should have creative vision and strategic plan for an organization. Decisiveness is very important characteristic because every leader has to be taking some difficult decision in job. They have to take decision Continue reading

Historical Cost Accounting – Definition and Criticisms

The historical cost accounting values an asset for balance sheet purposes at the price paid for the asset at the time of its acquisition. The historical cost accounting is the situation in which accountants record revenue, expenditure and asset acquisition and disposal at historical cost: that is, the actual amounts of money, or money’s worth, received or paid to complete the transaction. Historical cost is based on actual transaction rather than forecasts. There are supporting records for all the figures provided in the financial statements. It is also relevant in making economic decisions, as past data transactions are needed for making future decisions. Another defense of historical cost is that ‘historical cost’ has been used throughout history as financial statements which use historical cost are found to be useful. Profit is the excess of selling price over historical cost. Profit is a very well accepted concept of measure of performance. Continue reading

10 Important Types of Innovation with Examples

Innovation is a very diverse term. In general, innovation means exploiting new ideas or change existing ones for the betterment. Innovation focuses on being creative at work. It can be technological, which includes product innovation or process innovation. Also, it can be related to changing business model, exploiting new markets, and developing new processes. The main aim of innovation it so make the business more successful. This can be done by increasing market share of an existing product or introducing a new product or reducing the cost of production. Innovation is important for both employees and the owner of the business. For the owner of the business, innovation helps to keep up with the competition. With the fast growing pace of competition, the organizations have to be on toes to keep an eye on the work of their competitors. The new processes or technologies developed by the competitors can be Continue reading