The ability to own and to transfer assets via transactions is at the heart of economic value creation. And to keep track of these business agreements, market participants have always relied on ledgers. But to make sure that these ledgers remain accurate and are not being tampered with by fraudulent market participants, most business networks rely on central, trusted parties, such as banks or other intermediaries, to oversee these business ledgers and to validate each transaction that is taking place within the network. This need for an intermediary has become even more important in the modern age, as assets have increasingly been digitalised and central third parties are required to make sure that a digital asset is not duplicated and spent more than once by the same party. But while the use of such a central intermediary brings the major benefit of introducing trust into the system, it also comes Continue reading
Modern Business Concepts
Industrial Espionage
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines industrial espionage as “an individual or private business entity sponsorship or coordination of intelligence activity conducted for the purpose of enhancing their advantage in the marketplace.” While this definition may imply Industrial Espionage to be more or less the same as business or competitive intelligence, but there is an essential difference between the two – while business intelligence is generally under private sponsorship using an “open” methodology, espionage may be either government or privately sponsored and clandestine. Industrial Espionage is the process of collecting information and data for the purpose of generating revenue. Generating revenue is very important aspect for these people. They are not thrill seeker, if the compensation does not justify the reward they will not bother attempting to collect the required information. Individuals who commit Industrial Espionage are not looking for information for information sake, but for information that will Continue reading
Flexible Working Arrangements – The Future of Work
Flexibility in the organisations is driven by many contributing internal and external components since it has got the popularity of linkage with good people management practices and better performance objectives. Flexible working has been achieving a greater pace in its development and wider usage in small businesses and MNC’s. The society in which we live has seen many radical changes in the last 2-3 decades and it certainly has its impact on the life style of people and the organisations they work (in context of technological and demographic factors). The demographical changes have a heavy influence on the size and composition of the work force the labor market now-a-days consist of an equal composition of male to female work force as opposed to earlier traditional workforce. The issue of women in the work force have become more pertinent due to the potential labor shortages in some sectors even with all Continue reading
5 Challenges Faced by Women Entrepreneurs
Women constitute around half of the total world population. So is in India also. They are therefore regarded as the better half of the society. In traditional societies, they were confined to the four walls of houses performing household activities. In modern societies they have come out of the four walls to participate in all sorts of activities. The global evidences prove that women have been performing exceedingly well in different spheres of activities like academics, politics, administration, social work and so on. Now they have started plunging into industry also and running their enterprises successfully. Women entrepreneur is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal need and become economically independent. There are economical, social, religious, cultural and other factors existing in the society which responsible for the emergency of the entrepreneurs. Al through small businesses owned by women have traditionally focused on fashion, fond and other Continue reading
The Role of External Auditors in Corporate Governance
Corporate governance is a central and dynamic aspect of business. Corporate governance is the relationship among various participants in determining the direction and performance of corporations. The main participants are the shareholders, the management and the board of directors. Corporate governance is the process whereby directors of a company are monitored and controlled. There are two areas considered to be fundamental to corporate governance, one is supervision and monitoring of management performance and the other is ensuring accountability of management to shareholders and other stakeholders. Till now, probably the two most important basic elements of good corporate governance have been “full disclosure” and the presence of independent directors and auditors, who each has their own ways to confirm that the data provided by the corporation are true and fairly stated. The contents of full disclosure are listed out in regulatory demands and professional pronouncements, and companies are expected to fully Continue reading
Food Traceability – Definition, Meaning and Advantages
Food traceability and safety is an up and coming trend. With the slow food, organic, and natural movements more consumers are wanting to know where their food is coming from. Food producers also are making food traceability a trend because each producer wants to know who they can point fingers at when a customer claims that they have become sick from a producer’s food. For most producers, traceability is just one element of any supply-management or quality/safety control system. Tracking an apple from the tree to your mouth is something that each producer needs to know. They need to know where that apple was to make sure that the apple did not go anywhere it shouldn’t have been. So, what exactly is food traceability? How does it work, and what can it accomplish with regards to safety? What is traceability and how does it pertain to our food system? The Continue reading