Case Study: Inventory Management Practices at Walmart

About Walmart Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the largest retailer in the world, the world’s second-largest company and the nation’s largest nongovernmental employer.   Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates retail stores in various retailing formats in all 50 states in the United States. The Company’s mass merchandising operations serve its customers primarily through the operation of three segments. The Wal-Mart Stores segment includes its discount stores, Supercenters, and Neighborhood Markets in the United States. The Sam’s club segment includes the warehouse membership clubs in the United States. The Company’s subsidiary, McLane Company, Inc. provides products and distribution services to retail industry and institutional foodservice customers. Wal-Mart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,416 retail units under 53 different banners in 15 countries. With fiscal year 2010 sales of $405 billion, Wal-Mart employs more than 2.1 million associates worldwide. Nearly 75% of its stores are Continue reading

Portfolio Investment Process

The ultimate aim of the portfolio manager is to reduce the risk and increase the return to the investor in order to reach the investment objectives of an investor. The manager must be aware of the portfolio investment process. The process of portfolio management involves many logical steps like portfolio planning, portfolio implementation and monitoring. The portfolio investment process applies to different situation. Portfolio is owned by different individuals and organizations with different requirements. Investors should buy when prices are very low and sell when prices rise to levels higher that their normal fluctuation. Portfolio Investment Process Portfolio investment process is an important step to meet the needs and convenience of investors. The portfolio investment process involves the following steps: Planning of portfolio. Implementation of portfolio plan. Monitoring the performance of portfolio. 1. Planning of Portfolio Planning is the most important element in a proper portfolio management. The success of Continue reading

Case Study of Nokia: Lessons from the Collapse of a Global Tech Leader

The company Nokia was established in 1865 and focused on the manufacture of paper; at the beginning of the 20th century, Nokia became a power industry company. Only at the end of the 20th century, the company’s core business became the development, production, and sales of mobile phones. The company experienced a peak in sales and popularity in the market at the end of the 1990s and in the 2000s but had to face a decline at the end of the 2000s. In 2013, the company sold its business to Microsoft. The main failure that led to the company’s decline was its inability to adapt to the demands of the market, i.e. provide products that would be efficient in the era of the mobile Internet. The company was not prepared for the emergence of new technology (smartphones) and failed to understand the consumers’ needs. The company’s investment in its operational Continue reading

Importance of Capital Investment Decisions

Investment decision otherwise known as capital budgeting decision is  perhaps the most important decision taken by a Finance Manager.  Whatever is the objective of the firm, whether profit maximization or  wealth maximization, capital budgeting decision affects performance of  the firm decisively. These investment decisions have the following  implications for the firm. They define the strategic focus and direction of the business. The capital  expenditure made in new investments may result in entry into new products,  services or new markets. Capital budgeting decisions require large funds and generally have long  repayment periods. The results of capital budgeting continue to impact the  finances of the firm for many years. Due to long project life, assessment  involves number of years of future events leading to difficulty and uncertainty  regarding the accuracy of assessment. Capital budgeting decisions are mostly irreversible. They involve investment in  plant and machinery or new soft wares or technology etc. Continue reading

Concepts of Minimum Wage, Fair Wage and Living Wage

According to economic theory, wages are defined broadly as any  economic compensation paid by the employer to his laborers under some  contract for the services rendered by them. In its actual sense which is prevalent  in the practice, wages are paid to workers which include basic wages and other  allowances which are linked with the wages like dearness allowances, etc.  Traditionally, in the absence of any bargaining power possessed by laborers,  they did not have any say in the determination of wages paid to them. In the Indian context, soon after the  independence, Government of India set up a Committee on Fair Wages in 1948  which has defined various concepts of wages which govern the wage structure in  the country specially in those sectors which can be termed as underpaid and  where workers do not have bargaining power through unions. These concepts  are: minimum wage, living wage, and fair wage. Continue reading

Audit Committee – Meaning, History, Roles, and Responsibilities

Corporate governance plays an important role in disciplining the management of the company like transparency in financial reporting and having robust internal controls. Enormous responsibilities like audit committee, duty of the auditors and induction of non-executive directors to act independently have been inflicted on the management of the company and any deviations will be viewed seriously and action against directors can be initiated by the compliance authorities. Audit committee, which is a group of directors who are not concerned with day-today management of the company but supervising how business is administered, conducted and reported. A committee of directors which is entrusted with the precise duty to evaluate the yearly financial reports of the business is known as the audit committee. An audit committee acts as a link between the board of directors and the auditor which includes the evaluation of the statutory audit report, the suggestion of the auditors, the Continue reading