Alternative Objectives of Business Firms

The traditional theory does not distinguish between owners and managers’ interests. The recent theories of firm, which are also called managerial and behavioral theories of firm, assume owners and managers to be separate entities in large corporations with different goals and motivation. In this section, some important alternative objectives of business firms, especially of large business corporations are also discussed. 1. Baumol’s Hypothesis of Sales Revenue Maximization According to Baumol, “maximization of sales revenue is an alternative to profit maximization objective“. The reason behind this objective is to clearly distinct ownership and management in large business firms. This distinction helps the managers to set their goals other than profit maximization goal. Under this situation, managers maximize their own utility function. According to Baumol, the most reasonable factor in managers utility functions is maximization of the sales revenue. The factors, which help in explaining these goals by the managers, are following: Salary and other earnings of managers are more closely related to seals revenue than to Continue reading

Tandon Committee Report on Working Capital: Norms and Recommendations

In 1974, a study group under the chairmanship of Mr. P. L. Tandon was constituted for framing guidelines for commercial banks for follow-up & supervision of bank credit for ensuring proper end-use of funds. The group submitted its report in August 1975, which came to be popularly known as Tandon Committee Report on Working Capital. Its main recommendations related to norms for inventory and receivables, the approach to lending, style of credit, follow ups & information system. It was a landmark in the history of bank lending in India. With acceptance of major recommendations by Reserve Bank of India, a new era of lending began in India. Tandon committee’s recommendations Breaking away from traditional methods of security oriented lending, the committee enjoyed upon the banks to move towards need based lending. The committee pointed out that the best security of bank loan is a well functioning business enterprise, not the Continue reading

Case Study: L’Oreal’s Customer- Based Brand Equity (CBBE) Model

Customer-Based Brand Equity is defined as the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand. The Customer-Based Brand Equity Model approaches brand equity from the perspective of the consumer — whether this be an individual or an organization. Understanding the needs and wants of consumers and organizations and devising products and campaigns to satisfy them are at the heart of successful marketing. BRAND SALIENCE: Created in France, L’Oreal Paris brings the sophistication and elegance derived from its French heritage to women and men all over the world. L’Oreal Paris offers leading-edge products that out-perform the competition to people who care more about the way they look. Our passion for innovation, performance, style and a sense of premium is encapsulated in the ‘because you’re worth it’ philosophy. Our core values are supported by our strong investment in scientific research and technology. Over a third Continue reading

Compensation Strategies for Different Workforce Generations

Employees are the most valuable assets of any organization. The main purpose of human resource management (HRM) is to manage the development and performance of people employed in an organization. Some of the important tasks of HRM include attracting and retaining employees with the right skills and abilities, match people to the right positions within an organization and to align employee’s goals and objectives with that of the organizations. All these key tasks are directly or indirectly affected by compensation and benefits plan which the human resource management decides. Compensation and benefits redefines value and success in any workplace. An efficient compensation and benefits strategy is seen as an opportunity by organisations to differentiate them-self from their competitors, who may otherwise take away talented workforce. Hence, organisations need to know the evolving needs of the working population to make sure they offer the most competitive package. Compensation is a major Continue reading

Conditions and Forms of Price Discrimination

In today’s economic conditions in which the markets being far from full competitive state resulted the firms functioning in this market to become more or less a price-maker. For this reason, one of the ways for the firms that aim to increase the total income thus the total profit can use is, to implement different pricing for consumers with different specialties instead of applying the same pricing for all the consumer groups. Because the consumers having different income levels, taste and choice cause them to have a desire to pay different price for the product in question. One of the pricing strategies foresees different pricing for different consumer groups is price discrimination. The implementation of price discrimination will bring the firm that aims to maximize the profit in an advantageous position in the market. This advantage, generated from the desire of consumers that have different taste and income who are Continue reading

Preventing Panic-Buying During Crisis Times

Panic-buying is a relatively common behavioral response to a crisis that people can exhibit in situations that they perceive to be dangerous and unpredictable. This behavior was previously observed in the wake of major natural disasters, such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Several factors can account for an increase in stockpiling and panic-buying behaviors. Access to excessive amounts of information during a crisis can result in a cognitive overload, which, in turn, leads to irrational behavioral patterns. Information overload can result in health anxiety, which prompts self-isolation and the tendency to make illogical purchases. The fear of the unknown causes coping behavior in the form of panic-buying and stockpiling. Therefore, it leads to the conclusion that panic-buying can emerge as a form of stress response in certain individuals. Peer pressure can contribute to irrational decisions in time of crisis as well. Panic-buying is defined as herd behavior, in which an individual Continue reading