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

Personnel Administration Data Systems (PADS)

Personnel Administration Data Systems (PADS)  provide data needed to carry out the personnel administration responsibilities of an employer. As the government legislates additional protections and social programs, these responsibilities have increased and are growing. Affirmative action requirements in USA, health and safety regulations and pension plans regulation are many new sources of the employer’s responsibilities. Payroll and personnel planning data system (PPDS) are closely related to PADS, all using the employee master file. Not only accessing the file, but updating of file is often organized on a coordinated basis. Data items in the employee file are updated by the payroll system not for self but also for PADS and PPDS. Payroll provides the most effective way to capture the new data for this updating activity. Three types of Personnel Administration Data Systems (PADS) Personnel status reporting systems (Files used are Employee file, Job file). Personnel action systems (Files used are Continue reading

Abey Francis

Offshore Financial Centers (OFCs)

Any international business unit, whether manufacturing or trading is always looking for funds for their operations. Every company cannot take funds from its home country due to strict regulations or interest cost or taxes. All over the world the business community is in search of locations where their investments are safe and the funds can be taken out without any barriers and invested comfortably for any ventures in any part of the world. Currently, Mauritius, Malta, Panama, Man’s Island, Cyprus, Seychelles and Hawaii are a few centres attracting offshore banks. Since 2003, the Government of India has permitted banks to set up offshore banking operations in Special Economic Zones. Hence, the system of offshore banking has become part of international business. Offshore banks are banking units set up by foreign banks in territories where the restrictions and regulations are limited and the intervention of the country of location is minimal. Continue reading

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Role of Luck in Strategic Management

While some firms hope to yield above expected normal returns from implementing business strategies, they must however be consistently conversant with the future value of those strategies than other firms playing in the same market. Other firms gain advantage in strategy implementation which is either a manifestation of these special insights into the future value of strategies, or a manifestation of a firm’s good fortune and luck, as sometimes, the price of the strategic resource acquired may be based on expectations on the return potential of that strategy However, unexpected greater organisational profits can simply be unexpected, a surprise, and a manifestation of a firm’s good luck and possibly not its ability to accurately anticipate the future value of a strategy. Even well-informed firms can be lucky in this manner. Some organizations’ actual returns on strategies could be greater than the expected returns; this resulting difference is often regarded to Continue reading

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Case Study: iTunes Strategic Innovation

iTunes is a media player computer program used for playing, downloading, saving, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop or laptop personal computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices. iTunes can connect to the iTunes Store to purchase and download music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, podcasts, movies and movie rentals , and ringtones. It is also used to download application software from the App Store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. iTunes has been criticized for not being able to transfer music from one portable device to another. iTunes was introduced by Apple Inc. on January 9, 2001. The Strategic Innovation Behind iTunes Over the past decade, Apple Inc. has been extremely successful in formulating and implementing a coherent and focused strategic vision. Its success is evident not just in the company’s bottom line results but also Continue reading

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Use of Personality Tests in Employee Selection

Personality or temperament tests are designed to measure basic aspects of an applicant’s personality, such as degree of introversion/extroversion, emotional stability and motivation. Personality tests are the most difficult tests to evaluate and use in employee selection. This is because the concept of personality itself is hazy and the relationship between performance on the job and personality is often vague or nonexistent.   In addition, the applicant can easily fabricate answers. Consequently, personality tests tend to have very limited value in employee selection and their use may be extremely difficult to justify if challenged by EEO authorities.   Finally, some tests may include questions that could be regarded by applicants as an invasion of privacy.   Questions about religious beliefs and sexual orientation, for example in the USA have been construed as both invasive and discriminatory and have resulted in heavy financial penalties. However, this has not stopped their use Continue reading

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Indian Banking Sector Reforms: Disclosure Norms

Banks should disclose in balance sheets maturity pattern of advances, deposits, investments and borrowings. Apart from this, banks are also required to give details of their exposure to foreign currency assets and liabilities and movement of bad loans. These disclosures were to be made for the year ending March 2000. In fact, the banks must be forced to make public the nature of NPAs being written off.   This should be done to ensure that the taxpayer’s money given to the banks as capital is not used to write off private loans without adequate efforts and punishment of defaulters. A Close look: For the future, the banks will have to tighten their credit evaluation process to prevent this scale of sub-standard and loss assets.   The present evaluation process in several banks is burdened with a bureaucratic exercise, sometimes involving up to 18 different officials, most of whom do not Continue reading

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