Managing Political Risk in International Business

Political environment could involve a risk to businesses, domestic and foreign. Such risk is called political risk. Political risk is that perception by the businesses that their interests will get deteriorated when certain political upheaval happens. Political risk can occur in both democracies as well as in the totalitarian set ups as well. Political Risks are of different types. There are micro and macro political risks. Micro political risk is the one that affects a particular firm or class of firms. Usually firms owned by one class of businessmen, say, the foreigners from certain country, a particular business family or region/state. Micro political risk risk can be hedged. Macro political risk affects all. There is no sparing of any business, any nationality, any trade or industry. Formulating and Implementing Strategies to deal with Political Risk The following course of action, suggested by John D Daniels and Lee H Radebaugh will Continue reading

Strategy Evaluation allows an Organization to take a Proactive Stance towards Shaping its own Future

In this modern era of 21st Century, it is really hard to imagine any result-orientated or business-orientated organizations to remain in static-quo. Usually those organizations are easily prompted to influences or changes from external environment elements. Based on PESTEL analysis, those external environment elements shall include political environment; economical environment; social environment; technological environment; environmental environment & legal environment. However, the impacts of each environment elements differ from time to time and in order to ensure the sustainability of an organization, it is important for an organization to constantly review their objectives and goals from time to time. Organization constitutes of a group of structured and organized people and with a specific purpose or goal to achieve in mind for the entity. Due to that, strategy plays a very important part in determine the success or failure of an organization. Carl Von Clausewitz once said, “Tactic is the art of Continue reading

Clubbing of Income Under Income Tax

An assessee may reduce his tax liability by transferring his assets in favor of a person who is related to him. As per [Sec 60] to [Sec 64], income belonging to some other person will be taxed in the hands of the assessee in certain situation for the purpose of avoiding tax evasion. This is called   clubbing of income. Transfer of income without the transfer of assets: Income arising to nay person by virtue of any transfer of any income, without transferring the assets is deemed to be the income of the transferor and is taxable in his hands. The transfer may be revocable or not. There is no exception to this rule. Revocable transfer of assets: Any income arising to any person from an asset as a result of revocable transfer of asset shall be deemed to be the income of transferor. As per [Sec62] the income revocable Continue reading

Learning Organization – Characteristics, Benefits and Limitations

The phenomenon of globalization has turned the business world into a global dynamic village for business exchanges. Indeed, competition is becoming increasingly fiercer and simultaneously using Learning Organization as a strategy has become a MUST for companies’ success and development. Adopting such strategy helps organizations to innovate and acquire knowledge in order to survive and thrive in the current rapid changing environment. Some key definitions by distinguished writers on Learning Organization are as follows: “The essence of organizational learning is the organisation’s ability to use the amazing mental capacity of all its members to create the kind of processes that will improve its own”- Nancy Dixon “A Learning Organization is one that consciously manages its learning processes through an inquiry-driven orientation among all its members”- Kim D. “A Learning company is an organization that facilitates the learning of all its members and continually transforms itself”- M. Pedley, J. Burgoyne and Continue reading

Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM)

Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM)  is a strategic management tool used  in the evaluation of strategic options and determination of relative attractiveness of strategies.  The QSPM technique determines which of the selected strategic options is feasible, and it actually prioritizes these strategies. A basic tenet of the QSPM is that firms need to systematically assess their external and internal environments, conduct research, carefully evaluate the pros and cons of various alternatives, perform analyses, and then decide upon a particular course of action. The Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM)  consists of three stages that  are used in the strategies formulation process. The first step is to define key strategic factors. Then, once this has been determined, a SWOT analysis, or other similar form of analysis, is performed to objectively weigh the pros and cons of each strategic factor in numerical form. Finally, based on the information found in the analysis, a Continue reading

Project Financing – Financing Options For Projects

Project advisory services falls under one of the core branches of corporate advisory services. It deals with the decision of financing a project based on its strength of assuring the future cash inflows. In other words Project financing deals with financing a project, which can in turn generate return for its stakeholders and help in repaying the interest and loan on the proposed project. The assets used for undertaking that project are used as collateral for financing that project. The following constitute the differences between project financing and the other types. In project financing, the lenders look at the strength of the project to perform and generate sufficient returns to serve the interest and loan on that project. Even if the assets are taken as collateral, they may not be able to cover the entire loan through the sale of assets. Hence the lenders mainly look about the profitability of Continue reading