Business Strategy Case Study: Relaunch of Fiat 500

On 4th July 2007, Fiat Auto the Flagship division of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (FIAT) re-launched its heritage brand the Fiat 500. It was exactly 50yrs after the launch of Fiat 500 on 4th July 1957, which not only helped Fiat in post World War-II recovery but also provided mass motorization to Italians. Luca De Meo, CEO, Fiat Auto, on the re-launch occasion stated that “This is the car that gave ordinary Italians four wheels for the first time; that transformed a country and a company.” In its 18yrs of career between 1957 and 1975, 3,893,294 Fiat 500s were built & sold, which provided millions of Italians and Europeans individual mobility. Post 1970 with beginning of free trade in Europe, Fiat’s market share eroded continuously. Foreign companies such as Volkswagen, Renault, Ford, Peugeot, Honda and Toyota became prominent players in the Italian car market threatening survival of Fiat. The prime Continue reading

SWOT Analysis of McDonald’s

McDonald’s today is one of the largest and the best known global food service retailer with more than 31,000 restaurants in 125 countries serving 49 million customers each day. McDonald’s serves more than one percent of the world’s population. McDonald’s outstanding brand recognition, experienced management, high quality food, advanced operational systems and unique global infrastructure ensure a position that enables them to capitalize on global opportunities. SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis provides a basis for crafting a strategy that capitalizes on the company’s resources, while taking advantage of the best opportunities, and defending against the threats to its well being. Strengths McDonald’s is the market leader in fast food franchise with huge customer base around the world. It has a strong global presence with its nearest domestic competitor being only half its size. Approximately 85% of McDonald’s businesses are owned by franchisee operating full time in more than Continue reading

Types of Corporate Debt Instruments

There are four main classes of long-term corporate debt instruments: Secured debt, Unsecured debt, Tax-exempt debt, and Convertible debt. 1. Secured debt: Secured debt is backed by specific assets. This backing reduces both the lenders’ risk and the interest rate they require. Mortgage bonds, collateral trust bonds, equipment trust certificates, and conditional sales contracts are the most common types of secured debt. Mortgage Bonds: Mortgage bonds are secured by a lien on specific assets of the issuer. If the issuer defaults-fails to make a required payment of principal or interest-or fails to perform some other provision of the loan contract, lenders can seize the assets that secure the mortgage bonds and sell them to pay off the debt obligation. The extra protection that the mortgage provides lowers the risk. In return, that lowers the required return. But the issuer sacrifices flexibility in selling assets. Mortgaged assets can be sold only Continue reading

Accounting Concepts for Preparing Financial Statements

Accounting concepts and conventions as used in accountancy are the rules and principles applied when recording economic events and in the preparation of financial statements, that all accountants abide by. Some of the fundamental accounting concepts that will be discussed are the accruals, matching, prudence, going concern and consistency concepts. Money measurement concept – Accounting normally deals with only those items that are capable of being expressed in monetary terms. Money has the advantage that it is a useful common denominator with which to express the wide variety of recourse’s held by a business. However, not all such resources are capable of being measured in monetary terms and so will be excluded from a balance sheet. The money measurement concept, thus, limits the scope of accounting reports. Historic cost concept – Assets are shown on the balance at a value that is based on their historic cost (that is, acquisition Continue reading

Staffing Function of Management

Staffing function of management consists of manpower planning, recruitment, selection, training, compensation, promotion & maintenance of managerial personnel. “The managerial function of staffing involves manning the organizational structure through proper & effective selection, appraisal & development of personnel to fill the roles designed into the structure”: – Koontz and O’Donnell Need and Importance of Staffing How can the enterprise objectives be achieved if competent persons are not appointed in the organisation? What would be the fate of an organisation that is indifferent to the training requirements of its personnel? How will the managers and operators feel if they are not duly compensated for their sacrifices for the organisation? Will the morals of the people not come down, if nobody in the organisation looks after their welfare? The answers to these questions reveal the need and importance of staffing. The need and importance of staffing function of management  can be assessed Continue reading

Product Concept and Selling Concept in Marketing

The term marketing can be described as the management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. As a philosophy, marketing is based on thinking about the business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. In other definition, Marketing is the process of teaching consumers in terms of choosing the products which brings benefits to them and can be described as an organizational function and a set of process for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in various ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. As for organizations or sales person, marketing is everything that the consumer encounters when it comes to your business. For examples such as advertising, to what they hear, to the customer service that they receive, to the follow-up care that you provide. It’s all known as the part of marketing subjects or criteria Continue reading