Corporate Governance can be defined as the organizational structure of a company. It encompasses the overall processes, operations and policies by which a company is controlled and functions. According to James McRitchie corporate governance is most often viewed as both the structure and the relationships which determine corporate direction and performance. Within the governing body of a corporation there are various stakeholders. Stakeholders are individuals which are of great importance to the company because they contribute directly or indirectly to its economic activity. Stakeholders retain different degrees of importance within an organization depending on their title or function which are some of the following: shareholders, the board of directors, employees, customers, creditors and suppliers. All together this group of individuals defines a corporate community in which day to day business is conducted and must be sustained in order for the company to survive. Similar to any other community, where there Continue reading
Modern Management Concepts
Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) and Human Resource Management (HRM)
Today’s economy is experiencing its ups and downs very quickly: rising competitiveness and fast changing technologies create pressure to the companies that want to stay at the top of their markets. This is not going to slow down, so the need for tools of success is arising. At the same time we are moving away from the belief that “entrepreneurs are born, not made”. That is why the wanting, believing, hoping, planning must be followed by doing. As already Confucius said: “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps”. It is time for action and one form of it that suits different businesses nowadays is — Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE). Corporate entrepreneurship is the process whereby an individual or group of individuals, in association with an existing organization, create a new organization or instigate renewal or innovation within that organization. There Continue reading
Artificial Intelligence vs Human Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is the art of programming computers in order to produce intelligent behavior, whereas brain theory is the study of the brains function, to understand how the brain functions, the stimulations that go within and how outputs are produced via mathematical modeling and computer stimulation. It can be argued that both contain similar characteristics for functionality, both works together, this can be seen through artificial intelligence used to understand the roles of brain mechanisms. Furthermore both are involved in high cognitive task, such as reasoning, problem solving and decision making. Although some philosophers have accepted that machines can do everything that humans can do, some disagree with this view arguing that such high sophisticated behavior such as love, emotions discovery and moral decisions can only be carried out by humans. AI for many years has been pursuing the study of intelligent behaviour, but using artificial methodology. Intelligence can be Continue reading
Business Process Reengineering (BPR)
History of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Concept In 1990, Michael Hammer, a former professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), published an article in the Harvard Business Review, in which he claimed that the major challenge for managers is to obliterate non-value adding work, rather than using technology for automating it. This statement implicitly accused managers of having focused on the wrong issues, namely that technology in general, and more specifically information technology, has been used primarily for automating existing work rather than using it as an enabler for making non-value adding work obsolete. Hammer’s claim was simple: Most of the work being done does not add any value for customers, and this work should be removed, not accelerated through automation. Instead, companies should reconsider their processes in order to maximize customer value, while minimizing the consumption of resources required for delivering their product or service. Continue reading
Business Analytics – Meaning, Use and Scope
Business Analytics deals with the methodologies employed by organizations to enhance their business by making optimized decisions with the use of statistical techniques that might involve data collection and analysis. Business analytics might require many complex techniques that need advanced statistics. Applying Business Analytics, it may be possible to find how a territory or a region reacts to certain product variations or added features. This information can be very useful in devising new product line with features that are likely to maximize sales in a particular region for a set of target audiences. A proper analysis of data might also tell about things like recurring customer support issues and thereby proactive steps can be taken before it grows out of proportion. Business Analytics is often used by marketing folks in predicting and analyzing consumer behavior. This is done by applying statistical analytical techniques on historical data of customer transactions. Without Continue reading
Leadership and Followership
All-important social accomplishment requires complex group effort and, therefore, leadership and followership. Leader-follower relationship is two way, leader as well as followers have great capacity to influence the relationship. Just as a leader is accountable for the actions and performance of followers, so followers are accountable for their leaders. Followers support leaders when necessary and help them correct their actions, just as leaders must support followers and help them to correct their actions. This is partnership and both sides must be proactive. Organizations are successful or not partly on the basis of how well their leaders lead, but also in great part on the basis of how well their followers follow. Courageous followers help leaders stay on track and manage their decision-making processes in the right direction. Responsible and effective followers have a critical role in maintaining the desired partnering dynamics. In his book The Courageous Follower, Ira Chaleff points Continue reading