Case Study on Entrepreneurship: Larry Page

Business Analysis

The Boundaryless Career: Modern Contemperory Perspective on Career

Human Resource Management

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

Learning Curve – Definition and Meaning

In many of the manufacturing processes the average costs decline substantially as the cumulative total output increases. This is the outcome of both  labor  and management becoming more knowledgeable about production techniques with growing experience. “There is an element of learning involved through experience.” Practice makes a man perfect. Doing the work repetitively makes  labor  more efficient. Productivity is enhanced and these lessons of enhanced productivity lead to greater efficiency which in turn will result in overall reduction in the average cost of production. Learning Curve in Economics According to  James L. Pappas and Mark Hirschey “The learning curve (also known as experience curve) phenomenon has an effect on average costs similar to that for any technological advance that provides an improvement in productive efficiency.” Learning through experience in production enables the firm to produce output more efficiently and economically at each and every level of output. Above figure shows Continue reading

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Manpower Planning

It is very natural that, the continual positive development of any business owe to its effective planning. Making all the necessary preparations and appropriate arrangements proactively basing upon what is expected to happen in future and performing a series of tasks and activities accordingly in a systematic and organized way is one of the important functions of management, which necessitates an effective and proactive planning process. Proper planning and designing an effective organizational structure by assigning an assortment of responsibilities to the concerned employees may help the business organizations to accomplish their set of objectives. Putting the right person at the right place and at the right time is essentially much important to any business as it comprises of a wide and comprehensive range of activities in relation to “the management of man“. Manpower planning, not only focuses on the effective utilization of existing human elements but also concern in Continue reading

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Case Study: Competitive Advantage of Hewlett Packard (HP)

Hewlett Packard popularly called HP is a company that provides technology solutions to consumers, businesses and all forms of institutions worldwide. The company later expands its operations to IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing services. The company is known throughout the world by operating in more than 170 countries around the world. The mission of the company is to facilitate how technology and services can assist individuals and institutions in addressing their problems and challenges so as to realize their dreams. The company applies new thinking and ideas come out with basic and valuable experiences with the technology with her IT corporation headquarter in Palo, Alto, California, USA. The company has been maintaining a lead among her contemporaries due to the effective strategic planning of the company and this has been jealously guided by the company in virtually all her businesses. How Competitive Continue reading

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Understanding Akerlof’s “Lemon Market Theory”

The Lemon Market Theory (LMT) explained by Nobel Prize winner George A. Akerlof in 1970 in his seminal paper, “The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism” describes how markets that sell good products is never identified because of poor quality supplying markets, as sellers of the poor quality products are provided incentives to sell their products. Incentives such as guarantees, warranties and brand names oppose the quality uncertainty issue. The Lemon Market Theory also focuses on the information asymmetry or unbalanced information between the buyer and seller, where the entire set of sellers take the credit for the quality of the product or service rather than granting the individual quality reward to the appropriate seller who provides the good quality ones. This result in extinguishing the existence of good quality sellers from the market because their product’s quality or service is never recognized or identified and they Continue reading

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Types of Foreign Bonds

Yankee Bonds Yankee Bonds are US dollar denominated issues by foreign  borrowers (usually foreign governments or entities,  supranationals and highly rated corporate borrowers) in  the US bond markets. Yankee bond has certain peculiar  features associated with the US domestic market. SEC  regulates the international bond issues and requires  complete disclosure documents in detail than the  prospectus used in Eurobond issues. Foreign borrower will have to adopt the US accounting practices and the  US credit rating agencies will have to provide rating for  these bonds. These bonds are sponsored by a US  domestic underwriting syndicate and require SEBI (Securities  and Exchange Board of India) registration prior to selling them in  the domestic US market. Reliance Industries Ltd. has  been the most successful corporate to tap this instrument  with a 50-year, $50 million Yankee Bond issue. Samurai Bonds These are bonds issued by non-Japanese  borrowers in the domestic Japanese markets. Borrowers  are Continue reading

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GE/McKinsey Matrix

GE/McKinsey Portfolio Matrix Model   GE/McKinsey Matrix  is the business portfolio framework developed by General Electric with the help of McKinsey and Company,  an American global management consulting firm. GE Business Screen includes nine cells based on long-term industry attractiveness and business strength/competitive position. Factors that Affect Market Attractiveness: There are several factors which can help determine attractiveness. These are listed below: Market Size Market growth Market profitability Pricing trends Competitive intensity / rivalry Overall risk of returns in the industry Opportunity to differentiate products and services Segmentation Distribution structure (e.g. retail, direct, wholesale) Factors that Affect Competitive Strength: There are several factors which can help determine the business unit strength. These are listed below: Strength of assets and competencies Relative brand strength Market share Customer loyalty Relative cost position (cost structure compared with competitors) Distribution strength Record of technological or other innovation Access to financial and other investment resources Continue reading

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