Types of Demand

Supply and demand is perhaps one of the most fundamental concepts of economics and it is the backbone of a market economy. generally resulting in  market equilibrium  where  products  demanded at a price are equaled by products supplied at that price. Demand depends on the  price  of the commodity and refers to how much (quantity) of a product or service is desired by buyers. The quantity demanded is the amount of a product people are willing to buy at a certain price; the relationship between price and quantity demanded is known as the demand relationship. Read: Concept of Demand in Managerial Economics The different types of demand are; i) Direct and Derived Demands Direct demand refers to demand for goods meant for final consumption; it is the demand for consumers’ goods like food items, readymade garments and houses. By contrast, derived demand refers to demand for goods which are needed Continue reading

9 Important Elements of a Quality Culture

Indeed, quality culture starts with top management. There need to be top management leadership to drive this culture of quality across the organization. For this to happen, business leaders and managers must have the commitment in setting up quality control programmes, strategic planning for quality and provide resources for quality. In addition, top management leadership role is also a distinguishing element of a quality culture. Adopting a democratic leadership style where workers are not punished for errors and failures and that continuous learning is what prevails in the organization. Management attitudes should be towards treating employees as members and remove barriers of superiors or subordinates. This suggests to everyone that the work of all members of the company is important and adds value to the final outputs. Members of the organization should focus on the purpose for which they are all here to get better and better at creating that Continue reading

Enterprise-Wide Computing – Meaning, Importance and Issues

Current breakthroughs in information technology have enabled the worldwide usage of distributed computing systems, leading to decentralize management of information. This has been supported by and has become inflamed great competition in business through faster and more precise data storage and retrieval and information processing. A number of organizations have accomplished high efficiency, comprising ease of use and lesser costs in operations by adopting a client/server computing structure. Furthermore, system integration and interoperability issues are being intensified as institutions and organizations are moving from mainframe based processes towards an open, distributed computing environment, and this situation is pressing corporations into an accelerated construction of extensive distributed systems for operational use. Technological transformations are at this point is happening and accelerating very fast that it may increase the computational power just same as the creation of desktop and personal computers did. Soon a lot of demanding computer applications will no longer Continue reading

Case Study on Information Systems: Integrated Customer Ordering Service at Marks & Spencer

Marks and Spencer is one of the leading retail organizations in UK which sell stylish, quality and great value clothing and home products , also quality food. They are one of the most popular brand among people not only in UK but globally. They have more than 600 stores in UK and constantly increasing many more around the world. It was founded when in 1884, Michael Marks opened a stall at Leeds Kirkgate Market. In 1901, its first registered store was located at Derby street, Manchester. By 1924 they started expanding and the head office moved from Manchester to London. Implementation of new policies and maintenance of services and value kept on adding to the success of Marks and Spencer. In 1998, it became the first retailer to earn a profit of £1 billion. The organisation commonly called as M&S has always followed the principles of Quality, Value, Service, Innovation Continue reading

Process of Performance Appraisal

One of the most important things to remember about performance  appraisals is that its effectiveness will be highly influenced by its purpose. For  example, a programme, which is developed, to focus on employee development  and training needs may not be suitable for making major decisions about  salaries. Likewise, it is possible that the organization, management and  employee may all have different goals for the performance appraisal process. Performance  appraisal involves ‘identifying, evaluating and developing employees’ work  performance with the dual purpose of achieving the organization’s goals and  objectives whilst also ensuring the employee receives recognition, feedback and  development’. The process of  performance appraisal  starts with employee planning and  ends with an evaluation of employee progress. The process of performance appraisal  consists broadly two steps. First, complete the performance appraisal  form; secondly, participate in a performance appraisal interview and discussion.  These two sages comprise the following levels in the appraising performance Continue reading

Protocols used for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

Voice over Internet Protocol known as VoIP is a relatively new technology whose transmission is based on Packet Switched Networks. It allows making voice calls over the internet broadband connections instead of the using conventional PSTN landlines. It allows calling on another computer and as well as other telephone numbers and mobiles. It therefore provides all the services like a telephone with the addition of some other facilities due to the internet media. VoIP services can be seen as the commercial realization of the Network Voice Protocol which came into being in 1973. VoIP services are increasing at an exponential rate due to the low cost calls. It only requires the setup of the data network transmissions and the call services can be used on this data network which lowers the cost of the VoIP calls very low as compared to other services. The development of standards or ‘protocol’ for Continue reading