Money Market – Definition, Features and Instruments

As per the definition of Reserve Bank of India, money market is “a market for short terms financial assets that are close substitute for money, facilitates the exchange of money in primary and secondary market”. Indian money market was highly regulated and was characterized by limited number of participants. The limited variety and instruments were available. Interest rate on the instruments was under the regulation of Reserve Bank of India. The sincere efforts for developing the money market were made when the financial sector reforms were started by the government. Money markets are the markets for short-term, highly liquid debt securities. Examples of these include bankers’ acceptances, repos, negotiable certificates of deposit, and Treasury Bills with maturity of one year or less and often 30 days or less. Money market securities are generally very safe investments, which return relatively; low interest rate that is most appropriate for temporary cash storage Continue reading

Case Study of Global Knowledge: Technology as an Effective Ingredient of Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Case Summary: Global Knowledge, a worldwide leader in IT education and enterprise training solutions, needed a solid and scalable platform for delivering its virtual classroom e-Learning training programs. The company currently offers over 700 courses in 21 countries and in 13 languages every day for such leading companies as Cisco, Microsoft, Nortel, Oracle, Legato, Enterasys and Compaq in addition to a broad array of industry curriculum and certifications.   Over the last 2 years, Global Knowledge has begun offering a broad menu of these classes as instructor-led, virtual e-Learning courses but needed a technology platform to effectively address their customers’ virtual training needs around the world. Global Knowledge customers, located throughout the world, attend virtual classes through various connections — dial up modem, DSL, cable modem and corporate LANs behind firewalls.   The courses are equivalent to traditional instructor-led classroom courses — complete with subject matter experts as instructors; live Continue reading

Concepts of Merchandising and Merchandise Planning in Retail

Retail Merchandising Merchandising is a process involving developing, securing and managing the merchandise mix to meet the firm’s marketing objectives. The merchandise ­mix stands for the retailer’s total offering, be it goods or services or both. The merchandising process is a three tier structural set of activities. The following configuration gives the idea of merchandising process. The first stage or tier is to do with developing the merchandise-mix which is composed of two elements namely product and service-mix. The second stage or tier is securing the merchandise-mix which involves two highly skillful and  specialized  activities namely the buying process and the procurement process. Here, the retailer determines “from where”, “when” and “how” to get products into the stores. The third and the final stage or tier in the merchandising process is managing the merchandising-mix which is to do with planning and controlling the merchandise to ensure efficient, profitable operations. Retail Continue reading

Job Rotation – Definition, Objectives, Benefits and Importance

Job Rotation is a management approach where employees are shifted between two or more assignments or jobs at regular intervals of time in order to expose them to all verticals of an organization. It is a pre-planned approach with an objective to test the employee skills and competencies in order to place him or her at the right place. In addition to it, it reduces the monotony of the job and gives them a wider experience and helps them gain more insights. Job rotation is a well-planned practice to reduce the boredom of doing same type of job everyday and explore the hidden potential of an employee. The process serves the purpose of both the management and the employees. It helps management in discovering the talent of employees and determining what he or she is best at. On the other hand, it gives an individual a chance to explore his Continue reading

Concept of Bridge Finance

Bridge financing  is a method of  financing, used to maintain  liquidity  while waiting for an anticipated and reasonably expected  inflow of cash. Bridge financing is commonly used when the cash flow from a sale of an asset is expected after the cash outlay for the purchase of an  asset. For example, when selling a  house, the owner may not receive the cash for 90 days, but has already purchased a new home and must pay for it in 30 days. Bridge financing covers the 60 day gap in cash flows. Another type of bridge financing is used by companies before their  initial public offering, to obtain necessary cash for the maintenance of operations. These funds are usually supplied by the  investment bank  underwriting  the new issue. As payment, the company acquiring the bridge financing will give a number of  stocks  at a  discount  of the issue price to the underwriters Continue reading

Managing Director (MD) under Companies Act

Section 2(26) of the Companies Act, 1956 defines a managing director as, “a director who, by virtue of  an agreement with the company, or of a resolution passed by the company in general meeting, or by its  Board of Directors, or by virtue of its Memorandum or Articles of Association, is entrusted with  substantial powers of management which would not otherwise be exercisable by him, and includes a  director occupying the position of a managing director, by whatever name called.” From the above definition it is clear that a managing director is also a director, but he enjoys  substantial powers to act as the chief executive under the control and supervision of the Board. Thus, he  is both a director and manager. As a director he takes a seat in the Board meeting and participates in the  policy-making function. As a manager or chief executive, he is responsible for the Continue reading