Participative Management – Workers Participation in Management

Human Resource Management

Case Study on Entrepreneurship: Larry Page

Business Analysis

The Boundaryless Career: Modern Contemperory Perspective on Career

Human Resource Management

How to Meet Costa Rica’s 2026 VASP Requirements Without Expanding Headcount

General Business Articles

Concepts of Throughput Accounting and Theory of Constraints

Financial Management

Case Study: An Analysis of Apple’s Product Development Process

New product development is a high risk proposition for firms to start as it involves high level of risk in targeting a budding market segment where customer wants are hidden and service or product requirements are implicit. On the other hand, new products often create considerable opportunities for firms to differentiate their offering (product or service) and helps in attaining a lead from competitors through differentiation. This lead can be termed competitive advantage. A successful new product launch creates industry wise unique standards, which may become barriers of entry for new firms trying to penetrate. It also helps in refreshing the minds of the engineering personnel; sales force and give them a sense of accomplishment. It also provides opportunity for corporate renewal and redirection to the firm for its long run planning. A study of the US market reveals that nearly 30,000 products are introduced yearly in the packaged goods Continue reading

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Prerequisites for a Good Incentive Scheme

‘Incentive’ may be defined as any reward of benefit given to the  employee over and above his wage or salary with a view to motivating him to  excel in his work. Incentives include both monetary as well as non-monetary  rewards. A scheme of incentive is a plan to motivate individual or group  performance. It is true that monetary compensation does constitute very important  reason for the working of an employee. But this compensation alone cannot  bring job satisfaction to the workers. One cannot expect effective performance  from a worker who is dissatisfied with its job, even if he is well paid.  Sociologists and industrial psychologists also view that the financial aspect is  not the only dominant motivating force. Confidence in the management, pride  in the job and in firm and concern for the overall good cannot be brought by a  bonus. Hence the modern authorities on management science have recognized Continue reading

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Word-Of-Mouth Marketing – Meaning and Importance

In the present age, when skipping of television commercials is merely a matter of pushing a button of television remote and traditional advertisements reach fewer number of people, marketing professionals are increasingly moving away from mass media to word-of-mouth marketing. In addition to the traditional word-of-mouth communications, emerging marketing channels like blogs, buzz, viral and e-mails are gaining popularity as the new electronic word-of-mouth. While a positive word-of-mouth accelerates the acceptance of brands in new markets and reduces brand promotional expenses in existing markets, a negative word-of-mouth may hamper a brand’s acceptance and tarnish its reputation. Since word-of-mouth marketing has been playing a major role in marketing of organizations and some of its aspects are still evolving and have strong potential in future marketing campaigns of organizations, the focus of this article would be to explore issues related to word-of-mouth marketing in developing a strategic marketing plan for an organization. Continue reading

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Price Analysis and Theory of the Firm

To understand the concept of market and its various conditions, it is necessary to study the  theory  of the firm. This is discussed as follows: The basic, assumptions of the theory of the firm are as follows: The objective of a firm is to  maximize  net revenue in the face of given prices and technologically determined production function. A price  increase  far a product raises its supply, whereas prices increase for a factor  reduces  its demand. The theory of the firm deals with the role of business firms in the resource allocation process. It uses aggregation as a tactic and attempts to specify total market supply and demand curves. The firm operates with perfect knowledge of all relevant variable involved in making a decision and it acts rationally while doing so. Originally the theory assumed that the firm is operating within a perfectly competitive market. But it has now been Continue reading

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Initial Public Offering (IPO) Process

A corporate may raise capital in the primary market by way of an initial public offer, rights issue or private placement. An Initial Public Offer (IPO) is the selling of securities to the public in the primary market. It is the largest source of funds with long or indefinite maturity for the company. Requirement of funds in order to finance the business activities motivates small entrepreneurs to approach the new issue market. Initial Public Offer (IPO) is a route for a company to raise capital from investors to meet the expenses for its projects and to get a global exposure by listed in the Stock Exchange. Company raising money through IPO is also called as company ‘going public’. From an investor’s point of view, IPO gives a chance to buy shares of a company, directly from the company at the price of their choice. Initial Public Offering (IPO) Process First Continue reading

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ERP Support and Maintenance

You have some decent computerized applications running in your enterprise. But you feel that you are actually leveraging the benefits of automation. Your inventory levels have not come down and items in slow moving category are on the rise. You are not getting the required Management Information Reports (MIS) as you would like to get. You realize that it is time to have a fresh look at your systems. You may approach a company that offers ERP consultancy as well as ERP support services. Generally these kinds of companies have expertise in business process re-engineering, project life cycle management. They may offer ERP support services like Enterprise Information Technology Policy, Planning, Requirements Analysis, Product configuration, Product Integration, Test and Evaluation etc. Based on your consultant’s recommendation, you may go for ERP implementation. There are many companies approved by ERP vendors who undertake ERP configuration, customization and implementation. These companies bring Continue reading

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