Idea Generators
30 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Idea Generators Tags: knowledge, Skill, Marketing, Product, design, customer service, manufacturing, technology, strategy, market, information, R&D, cost, problem, lead, integrate, approach, expertise, time, ability, service, effective, idea, critical, function, individual, application, solve, expectation, procedure, linkage, connection, talent, combine, different, broad, new, between, turn, possess, technological, deep, find, sift, Discipline, generator, jungle, synthesize
Idea generators are individuals who have the ability to sift through jungles of market and technological information to find ideas that lead to new products or services. They possess the talent and knowledge to find new cost or time effective procedures, approaches, or problem-solving strategies. They possess skill that is deep expertise in one discipline combined with broad enough knowledge in others to see the linkages between them. Such skills are critical in integrating different functions (R&D, design, marketing, manufacturing, customer service) to synthesize a product or service, in seeing the connection between a technology and its applications, or in turning customer expectations into products.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.
Managing Inventory
29 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Managing Inventory Tags: achieve, amount, area, automatic, before, capital, cash flow, challenge, complicate, compromise, computer, control, convert, cost, Customer, cut, determine, division, earn, economic, enough, expense, face, fact, fashion, fill, financial, find, fine-tune, finish, firm, frequent, furthermore, goal, good, handling, increase, incur, insurance, interest, inventory, just-in-time, link, low, maintain, manage, manager, material, minimize, necessary, obsolete, order, part, period, place, problem, quantity, raw material, regularly, represent, result, risk, shelf, shortage, Sit, small, sold, storage, supplier, tax, tend, tie, time, turn, vice versa, year
Inventory is an area where financial managers can fine-tune the firm’s cash-flow. Inventory sitting on the shelf represents capital that is tied up without earning interest. Furthermore, the firm incurs expenses for shortage and handling, insurance, and taxes. And there is always a risk that the inventory will become obsolete before it can be converted into finished goods and sold.
The firm’s goal is to maintain enough inventory to fill orders in a timely fashion at the lowest cost. To achieve this goal, the financial manager tries to determine the economic order quantity or quantity of raw materials that, when ordered regularly, results in the lowest ordering and storage costs. The problem is complicated by the fact that minimizing ordering costs tends to increase storage costs and vice versa. The best way to cut ordering costs is to place one big order for parts and materials once a year, while the best way to cut storage costs is to order small amounts of inventory frequently. The challenge facing the financial manager is to find a compromise that minimizes total costs.
That is why many businesses today are turning to just-in-time inventory control. Businesses—and even divisions within companies—link up through computers with their customers and suppliers, thereby automatically ordering only as much as is necessary for a given period of time.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.
Departmentalization
26 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Departmentalization Tags: efficient, management, Training, Organization, Personnel, Marketing, Product, Research, Customer, Advertising, Sales, process, company, work, market, industrial, activity, benefit, worker, judgment, employee, job, decision, function, individual, experience, balance, advantage, top, departmentalization, department, head, include, relation, different, form, play, number, unit, allow, exist, base, certain, major, Use, specialize, recruitment, become, disadvantage, geography, subdivision, vice-president
Departmentalization is the subdivision of work activities into units within the organization. This subdivision allows individual workers to specialize in certain jobs and to become efficient in them. A marketing department may be headed by a marketing vice-president and may include sales, advertising, and market research. A personnel department may include recruitment, training, employee benefits, and industrial relations.
Five major forms of departmentalization exist: product, geography, customer, function and process. A number of different bases for departmentalization may be used within the same company. The decisions on which bases to use are made by balancing the advantages and disadvantages of each. The experience and judgment of top management come into play in such decisions.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.
Disadvantages of Sole Proprietorship
25 Jun 2010 2 Comments
in Disadvantages of Sole Proprietorship Tags: ability, able, accounting, advancement, advantage, Advice, among, area, asset, attract, available, bank, benefit, bond, bookkeeping, borrow, business, capable, car, cause, choose, commercial, compete, competent, condition, consider, contrast, corporation, credit, creditor, current, debt, deciding, decision, depend, determine, difficult, direct, disadvantage, diverse, employee, encounter, expectancy, experience, factor, fail, failure, family, field, final, finance, financial, following, force, found, friend, function, fund, goal, great, guarantee, hand, help, high, holding, home, illness, income, incorporate, individual, large, level, liability, life, like, little, loan, lose, manage, management, marginal, Marketing, match, meet, money, obtain, offer, owner, pay, pay off, perform, person, personal, Personnel, pledge, possess, problem, professional, profit, profitable, proprietor, proprietorship, provide, public, purpose, qualified, raise, rate, real estate, relate, relative, rely, result, retain, Role, room, seen, sell, serious, Skill, small, sole, source, specialize, standing, start, stock, talent, tax, taxation, unlimited, usually, wage, wealth, work
What may be seen as an advantage by one person may turn out to be a disadvantage to another. The goals and talents of the individual owner are the deciding factors. For profitable businesses managed by capable owners, many of the following factors do not cause problems. On the other hand, proprietors starting out with little management experience and little money are likely to encounter many of the disadvantages.
- Unlimited Liability: The sole proprietor has unlimited liability in meeting the debts of the business. In other words, if the business cannot pay its creditors, the owner may be forced to use personal, non-business holdings such as a car or a home to pay off the debts. The more wealth an individual has, the greater is the advantage of unlimited liability.
- Limited Sources of Funds: Among the relatively few sources of money available to the sole proprietorship are a bank, friends, family, or his or her own funds. The owner’s personal financial condition, then, determines his or her credit standing. Often the only way a sole proprietor can borrow for business purposes is to pledge a car, a house, or other real estate, or other personal assets to guarantee the loan. And if the business fails, the owner may lose the personal assets as well as the business. Publically owned corporations, in contrast, can not only obtain funds from commercial banks but can sell stocks and bonds to the public to raise money. If a public company goes out of business, the owners do not lose personal assets.
- Limited Skills: The role proprietor must be able to perform many functions and possess skills in diverse fields such as management, marketing, finance, accounting, bookkeeping, and personnel. Although the owner can rely on specialized professionals to provide advice, he or she must make the final decision in each of these areas.
- Lack of Continuity: The life expectancy of a sole proprietorship is directly related to that of the owner and his or her ability to work. The serious illness of the owner could result in failure if competent help cannot be found.
- Lack of qualified Employees: It is usually difficult for a small sole proprietorship to match the wages and benefits offered by a large competing corporation because the proprietorship’s level of profits may not be as high. In addition, there is little room for advancement within a sole proprietorship, so the owner may have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified employees.
- Taxation: Although it is considered that taxation is an advantage for sole proprietorships, it can also be a disadvantage, depending on the proprietor’s income. Under current tax rates, sole proprietors pay a higher marginal tax rate than do small corporations. The tax often determines whether a sole proprietor chooses to incorporate his or her business.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.
Handling Delays
23 Jun 2010 1 Comment
in Handling Delays Tags: area, arise, ask, buy, commitment, continuation, Customer, decision, delay, determine, either, especially, evasive, final, find, following, frustrate, gray, handle, hang, hidden, indicate, interested, issue, key, leave, make, mean, mind, objection, occur, outcome, pending, period, phase, place, present, pressing, process, proposal, propose, question, real, reason, regard, relationship, represent, Sales, seem, situation, Skill, solution, specific, stall, tactic, try, typical, usually, waiting, whether, wonder
In the sales process, especially in the final phases, delays can represent a frustrating gray area that leaves you hanging, wondering whether or not the customer will buy. After you have proposed a solution, one of three outcomes could take place:
- Decision pending
- Continuation
- Stall.
Decision pending is a waiting period in which the decision has not been made. The reason could be that a key decision maker either was not present when the proposal was made or has not yet made up his mind; or that other, more pressing issues have arisen.
Continuation means that the customer seems to be interested in continuing the relationship with you but makes no specific commitment regarding your proposal.
Stall is a situation in which the customer puts you off or seems evasive. A stall usually indicates a hidden objection. Stalls typically occur after you have asked for a commitment. Use the following tactics to handle a stall:
- Try to find out the real reason for the stall by using your questioning skills.
- If the customer does not buy, find out why.
- Get the objections out in the open and handle them, to determine the real reason for not buying.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.
Leadership Styles
21 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Leadership Styles Tags: ability, accomplishment, according, allow, assume, autocratic, basic, believe, best, change, characteristic, circumstance, consult, contribute, decision, decision-making, democratic, depend, desirable, desire, determine, different, difficult, difficulty, easy, effective, element, emphasize, encourage, exist, extreme, find, follower, force, free rein, furthermore, good, handle, held, help, immediate, increasing, interest, involve, leader, leadership, leave, less, manager, minimal, moderate, motivate, move, objective, Organization, overall, own, participate, participative, particular, power, pressure, problem, recognize, relation, require, responsibility, simply, single, situation, solution, style, subordinate, supervision, task, tend, time, toward, unable, variation, vary, worker, working
An effective leader recognizes that there are variations in leadership styles. The three basic styles are autocratic, free rein, and democratic. Autocratic leaders make decisions on their own, without consulting others. Democratic leaders involve their subordinates in making decisions. Free-rein leaders believe in minimal supervision, leaving most decisions to their subordinates.
The best leadership style is one that varies with the circumstances, changing according to three elements: the leader, the followers, and the situation. Some leaders are simply unable to encourage or even allow subordinates to participate in decision making. And some followers do not have the ability or the desire to assume such responsibility. Furthermore, the particular situation helps determine which style will be most effective. Problem requiring immediate solutions may have to be handled without consulting subordinates. With less time pressure, participative decision making may be desirable.
A democratic leader may be forced by circumstance to be autocratic in making a particular decision. Managers are increasingly moving toward a more democratic style of leadership. They find that workers involved in decision making tend to be more interested in the overall organization and may be more motivated to contribute to organizational objectives that those not involved in decision making.
No single best style of leadership exists. The most effective leadership style depends on the power held by the leader, the difficulty of the tasks involved, and the characteristics of the workers. Extremely easy and extremely difficult situations are best handled by leaders who emphasize task accomplishment. Moderately different situations are handled by leaders who emphasize participation and good working relations with subordinates.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.
