Bank – Meaning, Characteristics and Functions

A bank is financial institution, which deals with money and credit. Bank accepts deposits from the public and mobilizes the fund to productive sectors. Bank also provides remittance facility to transfer money from one place to another. Generally, bank accepts deposits from business institutions and individuals, which is mobilized into productive sectors mainly business and consumer lending. So bank is also called a dealer of money. At present context, a bank may engaged in different types of functions such as remittance, exchange currency, joint venture, underwriting, bank guarantee, discounting bills etc. The modern bank refers to an institution having the following characteristics: Bank deals with money: it accepts deposits and advances loans. Bank also deals with credit: it has the ability to create credit by expanding its liabilities. Bank is commercial institution: it aims at earning profit. Banks are the principal source of credit for millions of individuals and families and Continue reading

Case Study of Apple Inc: “Think Different” Branding Campaign

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple on April 1, 1976.   The two Steves, Jobs and Woz (as he is commonly referred to — see woz.org), have personalities that persist throughout Apple’s products, even today. Jobs was the consummate salesperson and visionary while Woz was the inquisitive technical genius. Woz developed his own homemade computer and Jobs saw its commercial potential. After selling 50 Apple I computer kits to Paul Terrell’s Byte Shop in Mountain View, CA, Jobs and Woz sought financing to sell their improved version, the Apple II. They found their financier in Mike Markkula, who in turn hired Michael Scott to be CEO.   The company introduced the Apple II on April 17, 1977, at the same time Commodore released their PET computer.   Once the Apple II came with Visicalc, the progenitor of the modern spreadsheet program, sales increased dramatically.   In 1979, Apple initiated Continue reading

The Current Account Component in Balance of Payments (BoP)

The Current Account Component The Current Account records a nation’s total exports of goods, services and transfers, and its total imports of them. The current account is subdivided into two components (1) balance of trade (BoT), and (2) balance of invisibles (BOIs). Structure of Current Account in India’s BOP Statement A. CURRENT ACCOUNT I. Merchandise (BOT): Trade Balance (A-B) A. Exports, f.o.b. B. Imports, c.i.f. II. Invisibles (BOI): (a + b + c) a. Services i. Travel ii. Transportation iii. Insurance iv. Govt. not elsewhere classified v. Miscellaneous b. Transfers i. Official ii. Private c. Income i. Investment Income ii. Compensation to employees Total Current Account = I + II 1. Balance of Trade (BoT) Balance of payments refers the difference between merchandise exports and merchandise imports of a country. BOT is also known as “general merchandise”, which covers transactions of movable goods with changes of ownership between residents and Continue reading

Classification of Equity Shares in Terms of Anticipated Earnings

In terms of the anticipated earnings of the companies, shares are generally classified on the basis of their market price in relation to one of the following measures: Price/Earnings Ratio is the price of a share divided by the earnings per share, and indicates what the investors are willing to pay for the company’s earning potential. Young and/or fast growing companies usually have high P/E ratios. Established companies in mature industries may have lower P/E ratios. The P/E analysis is sometimes supplemented with ratios such as Market Price to Book Value and Market Price to Cash Flow per share. Dividend Yield for a stock is the ratio of dividend paid per share to current market price. Low P/E stocks usually have high dividend yields. In India, at least in the past, investors have indicated a preference for the high dividend paying shares. What matters to fund managers is the potential Continue reading

Formalized Strategic Planning in Organizations

Strategic planning is an organization’s process of understanding its strategy and making decisions on where to allocate the companies resources in order to peruse the strategy. Using strategic planning can help organizations with many things like improving organizational performance, build teamwork, expertise and foresee future problems and opportunities. If strategic planning were to be used successfully it could benefit public agencies, departments, and major organizational divisions. The strategy is used to carry out the organization’s comprehensive goals. Nature of Formalized Strategic Planning The nature of strategic planning is to understand how a company will work over a period of years in order to work from where it is to where it wants to be by deciding the companies’ institutional directions, intended results, how the results will be carried out to be accomplished and how success can be measured and evaluated, having a strategic plan means the company will be able to Continue reading

Techniques or Tools Used for the Design of Good Plant Layouts

An ideal plant layout should provide the optimum relationship among output, floor area and manufacturing process. It facilitates the production process, minimizes material handling, time and cost, and allows flexibility of operations, easy production flow, makes economic use of the building, promotes effective utilization of manpower, and provides for employee’s convenience, safety, comfort at work, maximum exposure to natural light and ventilation. It is also important because it affects the flow of material and processes, labor efficiency, supervision and control, use of space and expansion possibilities etc. Recommended Reading: Plant layouts – Definition and Objectives In designing or improving the plan of plant layout, certain techniques or tools are developed and are in common use today. The techniques or tools are as follows: 1. Charts and Diagrams: In order to achieve work simplification, production engineers make use of several charts and diagrams for summarizing and analyzing production process and procedure. Continue reading