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

Offshore Derivatives Instruments – Participatory Notes

Offshore derivatives instruments (ODIs) are investment vehicles used by overseas investors not registered with the SEBI for an exposure in Indian equities or equity derivatives. They may not be registered with SEBI, either because they do not want to, or due to regulatory constraints for which they are not allowed to. It is a registered FII that makes purchases on behalf of these investors and the FII s affiliate issues those ODIs. ODIs include equity-linked notes, capped return notes, participating return notes, etc. Participatory notes are a preferred route for High Net worth Individuals (HNIs) and hedge funds from abroad to make investment in Indian capital market. P-Notes, mostly used by overseas HNIs, hedge funds and other foreign institutions, allow such investors to invest in Indian markets through registered Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). Participatory Notes (P-Notes) is one of the categories of ODIs. The underlying asset class could be stocks, Continue reading

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PEST Analysis – External Business Environment Analysis

A PEST analysis is a way to analyze the general external environment of an organization. Every organization has an external environment. The external environment is quite important because it is the environment in which a company operates. PEST analysis is a useful tool for understanding the “big picture” of the environment in which industry is operating, and environmental understanding will bring the advantage of the opportunities and guide to minimize the threats. PEST components are Political, Economic, Social and Technological. The PEST analysis is used to identify forces in the macro-environment that are affecting the business at present and are likely to continue to affect the business in the future. Macro-environmental analysis is interested in factors in the wider environment that influence the demand for the product or service offered by a company; demand for the product or service; the manner in which the product or service is distributed; the Continue reading

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Introduction to Computer Programming Languages

A programming language allows a programmer to develop the sets of instructions that constitute a computer program. Many different programming languages have been developed, each with its own unique vocabulary; grammar, and use. Machine Languages Machine Languages (or first-generation languages) are the most basic level of programming languages. In the early stages of computer development, all program instructions had to be written using binary codes unique to each computer. This type of programming involves the difficult task of writing instructions in the form of strings of binary digits (ones and zeros) or other number systems. Programmers must have a detailed knowledge of the internal operations of the specific type of CPU they are using. They must write long series of detailed instructions to accomplish even simple processing tasks. Programming in machine language requires specifying the storage locations for every instruction and item of data used. Instructions must be included for Continue reading

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Definition of Development Banks

Development banks are those financial institutions engaged in the promotion and development of industry, agriculture and other key sectors. In the words of A.G. Kheradjou “A development bank is like a living organism that reacts to the social-economic environment and its success depends on reacting most aptly to that environment”. Kheradjou assigns an important task to the development banks. He feels that these banks should react to the socio-economic needs. They should satisfy the developmental needs of the economy and their success is linked to the satisfactory growth of the economy. In the views of William Diamond “A development bank has the opportunity to promote enterprises i.e.   to conceive investment proposals and to stimulate others to pursue them or itself to carry them through, from ‘conception’ to ‘realization’. In principle, a development bank is well suited to assume this kind of role. Yet, enterprise creation is fraught with costs Continue reading

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Porter’s Generic Strategies – Cost Leadership Strategy

Cost Leadership is the  strategy that focuses on making the operations more efficient and cutting costs wherever possible. It may result from scale/scope efficiencies, tight overhead control, careful selection of customers, standardization and automation. Cost leadership aims at having the lowest costs in a market. This makes the company best placed to survive a price war and generates the highest margins if a price war does not occur. The largest retail chain in the world, Wal-Mart also believes in cost leadership. According to Michael Porter (1980), the low cost leadership strategy attempts to increase market share by emphasizing low cost relative to competitors. “gives the firm  defense  against rivalry from competitors because its lower cost means that it can still earn returns after competitors have competed away their profits through rivalry.    A low cost position defends the firm against powerful buyers because buyers can exert power only to drive Continue reading

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New Employee Orientation

Human resource management is the focal point of modern day organizations as they gear towards enhancing their competencies in a highly competitive environment. As such, organizations have had to contend with numerous challenges ranging from changing technology to the lack of adequately skilled workers. Strategies, which ensure that organizations perform at their very best are a high-end commodity and all professionals involved are hard at work in order to devise the most effective of them. Human capital is critical in enhancing an organization’s core competency. Therefore, right from the initial stage of recruitment to full assimilation into the workplace, human resource departments ensure that human capital is developed efficiently. Inductions and orientations have become significant in human resource development and a constant feature in most training programs. As the words suggest, such programs serve to acquaint the employee with their new working environments and ensure that they adjust amicably. Definition Continue reading

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