Energy Value-Stream Mapping (EVSM)

A typical Value Stream Mapping (VSM) tool classifies the various industrial processes into value adding and non-value adding with a goal to identify and eliminate the non-value added (waste) activities. Based on the concept of Value-Stream Methodology, Energy Value-Stream mapping (EVSM) is being developed where energy components along with cost are added to evaluate with respect to time.  Energy Value-Stream mapping (EVSM) identifies the level of energy utilization and wastage in each step and hence determines the opportunities for energy conservations. Implementing this tool by incorporating electrical energy and fuel consumption provides with an ability to view the impact that process improvements have on reducing energy consumption and vice versa. Additionally, it can also deliver tangible and sustained results when used as a part of company’s improvement strategy and a structured analysis with a balanced set of data can reveal areas of energy improvements and optimization. In order to generate Continue reading

Money Market in India – Development, Features and Instruments

Money market is an important segment of the financial market (system) as it provides avenue for equilibrating the short term (ranging from overnight up to an year) demand for and supply of funds. It also plays an important role in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy, as it acts as a medium through which the central bank can influence the short term liquidity and interest rates in the financial system. As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) definition, a Money market is “a market for short terms financial assets that are close substitute for money, facilitates the exchange of money in primary and secondary market”. Indian money market was highly regulated and was characterized by limited number of participants. The limited variety and instruments were available. Interest rate on the instruments was under the regulation of Reserve Bank of India. The sincere efforts for developing the money market were made when the Continue reading

Mckinsey’s 7S Framework

The Mckinsey’s 7S Framework  suggests that there is a multiplicity of factors that influence an organization’s ability to change and its proper mode of change. Because of the interconnections of the variables, it would be difficult to make significant progress in one area without making progress in the others as well. There is no starting point or implied hierarchy in the shape of the diagram, and it is not obvious which of the seven factors would be the driving force in changing a particular organization at a certain point of time. The critical variables would be different across organizations and in the same organizations at different points of time. History  of Mckinsey’s 7S Framework The 7S Framework was first mentioned in “The Art Of Japanese Management” by  Richard Pascale  and  Anthony Athos  in 1981. They had been investigating how Japanese industry had been so successful. At around the same time Continue reading

Concept of Distribution Channels in Marketing

The Importance of Distribution Most producers use intermediaries to bring their products to market. They try to develop a distribution channel (marketing channel) to do this. A distribution channel is a set of interdependent organizations that help make a product available for use or consumption by the consumer or business user. Channel intermediaries are firms or individuals such as wholesalers, agents, brokers, or retailers who help move a product from the producer to the consumer or business user. A company’s channel decisions directly affect every other marketing decision. Place decisions, for example, affect pricing. Marketers that distribute products through mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart will have different pricing objectives and strategies than will those that sell to specialty stores. Distribution decisions can sometimes give a product a distinct position in the market. The choice of retailers and other intermediaries is strongly tied to the product itself. Manufacturers select mass merchandisers Continue reading

Culture – Definition, Characteristics and Elements

Anthropologists and sociologists define culture as “Ways of Living “, built up by a group of human beings, which are transmitted from one generation to another. A culture acts out its ways of living in the context of social institutions, including family, educational, religious, governmental, and business institutions. Culture includes both conscious and unconscious values, ideas, attitudes, and symbols that shape human behavior and that are transmitted from one generation to the next. In this sense, culture does not include one-time solutions to unique problems, or passing fads and styles. As defined by organizational anthropologist Geert Hofstede, culture is “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one category of people from those of another”. In addition to agreeing that culture is learned, not innate, most anthropologists share two additional views. First, all faces of culture are interrelated: Influence or change one aspect of a culture and Continue reading

Industrial Distribution Channel Design

It is very important that a distribution channel is properly aligned to satisfy the  needs of channel members and also for the success of any industrial marketing  strategy. A good industrial channel creates the communication and physical  supply linkages with existing and potential customers. Channel designing in industrial markets is a  dynamic process that consists of either developing the new channels or  modifying the existing ones. Designing an appropriate industrial distribution channel and managing it is a tough and  continuing task. A well designed channel structure helps to achieve the desired  marketing objectives. A channel structure consists of types and number of  middlemen, terms and conditions of channel members, number of channels. The  various steps that are involved in industrial distribution channel design in industrial markets are given in the following  figure. Let us understand each of the stages of industrial distribution channel design process in detail: 1. Analyzing the Continue reading