Process Benchmarking – Definition and Steps Involved

Benchmarking involves comparison of one firm’s processes with that of other firm while reengineering is concerned with redesign of operational processes. Benchmarking involves thorough research into the best practices followed by other organisations in the industry where the company operates and it helps in breaking down the organisations’ activities down to process operations and modifies them to the best-in-class for a particular operation. The word benchmarking has been derived from the set of activities used by cobblers to mark the size of the foot of their customers. For measuring the size of the foot they used to ask the customer to put their foot on the “bench” so that they can “mark” the foot using a pen. In Benchmarking processes of one company are compared with the processes of the industry leader to see the practices and the ways in which these industry leaders operate and to modify their own Continue reading

Ethical Issues in Marketing

Ethics are defined as the set of principles that guide a person’s conduct towards being morally right. When a person is faced with some moral dilemma, the choice that the person makes largely depends upon the values and ethical principles that person holds. It is over and above just being legal. Due to being dependent upon the personal values and principles a person holds, an ethical code of conduct cannot be described in absolute terms. Like in all the disciplines of life, recognizing and quantifying what is ethical in marketing and what is not is difficult. In a broader sense, ethics in marketing mean implementing standards of moral rights and wrongs and of fairness in the marketing practices of an organization. The main objective of any business is said to be shareholders wealth maximization. In order to achieve this objective, the organization has to perform better than its competitors and Continue reading

Credit Policy in Receivable Management

Concept of Credit Policy The discharge of the credit function in a company embraces a number of activities for which the policies have to be clearly laid down. Such a step will ensure consistency in credit decisions and actions. A credit policy thus, establishes guidelines that govern grant or reject  credit to a customer, what should be the level of credit granted to a customer etc. A credit policy can be said to have a direct effect on the volume of investment a company desires to make in receivables. A company falls prey of many factors pertaining to its credit policy. In addition to specific industrial attributes like the trend of industry, pattern of demand, pace of technology changes, factors like financial strength of a company, marketing organization, growth of its product etc. also influence the credit policy of an enterprise. Certain considerations demand  greater attention while formulating the credit Continue reading

Logistical Organization and Development

Prior to the 1950s, functions now accepted as logistics were generally viewed as facilitating or support work. Organizational responsibility for logistics was dispersed throughout the firm. This fragmentation often meant that aspects of logistical work were performed without cross-functional coordination, often resulting in duplication and waste information was frequently distorted or delayed and lines of authority and responsibility were typically blurred. Managers recognizing the need for total cost control began to reorganize and combine logistics functions into a single managerial group. Structuring logistics as an integrated organization first appeared in the 1950s. The motivation behind functional aggregation was the belief that grouping logistics functions into a single organization would increase the likelihood of integration. The paradigm (model) was that functional proximity would facilitate improved understanding of how decisions and procedures in one area affect performance in other areas. The belief was that eventually all functions would begin to work as Continue reading

Performance Appraisal

Organizations are run and steered by people. It is through people that goals are set and objectives realized. The performance of an organization is thus dependent upon the sum total of the performance of its members. According to Peter Drucker, “An organization is like a tune; it is not constituted by individual sounds but by their synthesis.” The success of an organization will therefore depend on its ability to measure accurately the performance of its members and use it objectively to optimize them as a vital resource. The performance of an employee is his resultant behavior on the task which can be observed and evaluated. It refers to the contribution made by an individual in the accomplishment of organizational objectives. Performance can be measured by some combination of quantity, quality, time and cost. People do not learn unless they are given feedback on the result of their action. For learning Continue reading

Criteria for a Good Layout

The layout of a plant or facility is concerned with the physical placement of resources such as equipment and storage facilities, which should be designed to facilitate the efficient flow of customers or materials through the manufacturing or service system. The layout design is very important and should be taken very seriously as it can have a significant impact on the cost and efficiency of an operation and can involve substantial investment in time and money. The decisions taken with regards to the facility layout will have a direct influence on how efficiently workers will be able to carry out their jobs, how much and how fast goods can be produced, how difficult it is to automate a system, and how the system in place would be able to respond to any changes with regards to product or service design, product mix, or demand volume. In many operations the installation Continue reading