FIVE FORCES MODEL

Michael Porter developed the five forces approach to assist the analysis of the competitive position in any business, by broadly assessing the forces of competition. The effort brought together different factors in a simple model. The intensity of competition among firms differs from industry to industry, highest being in lower-return industries. The nature of competitiveness in a specific industry is made up of these five forces.

VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS

 The Value chain is a set of interconnected value-generating activities commencing with basic raw materials reaching from suppliers, moving on to a series of value added activities involved in producing and marketing a product or service, and finishing with distributors getting the final goods into the hands of the final consumer.

HOW TO CRACK THE INTERVIEW?

1.What is an Interview? 

Ans.The Interview is an Interpersonal Communication between the prospective employer and a prospective candidate. An interview provides a platform where primarily the organization checks the suitability of the candidate vis-à-vis the job profile. The interviewee also has the opportunity to examine if his personal objectives will be met in the job and the company. It is to be noted that an interview can not be so simplified as to reduce to a formula. 

Neither the interviewer nor the interviewee is predicable. At best, we can learn a variety of strategies and technique that can be used. It is up to an interviewee to analyze a situation and to decide what strategy and technique are most appropriate on the occasion. Thoughts, Emotions, Aim, Desires, Attitudes and Skills along with Recall, Communication Style, and Linguistic Proficiency are some of the factors that play an important role in interface both for the interviewer and the interviewee. In an interview the interviewer is trying to sell a company to a candidate and the interviewee is trying to sell him/her to a company. Thus, an interview is information getting for each of them. The interviewee attempts to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the company and the job while the interviewer assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate. Following are some of the commonly asked questions in the interviews. The sequence of questions may differ. 

ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING

The Environment: The environment of any organization is “the aggregate of all conditions, events and influences that surround and affect it”. It “includes factors outside the firm which can lead to opportunities for or threats to the firm”. More specifically,” an organization’s external environment consists of those things outside an organization such as customers, competitors, government units, suppliers, financial firms, and labor pools that are relevant to an organization’s operations”.  Since the environment affects an organization in several ways, it is of crucial significance to understand it.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS- INTRODUCTION

 International business involves exports and imports. International Business conducts business transactions all over the world. These transactions include the transfer of goods, services, technology, managerial knowledge, and capital to other countries. International Business is also known, called or referred as a Global Business or an International Marketing.

CORPORATE MISSION

 The corporate mission statement is the first key indicator of how an organization views the claims of its stakeholders. The mission statement aims to establish the organizational context within which strategic decisions will be made. All strategic decisions flow from the mission statement.  The mission statement determines the organization’s business, states its vision and goals, and articulates its main philosophical values

BCG MATRIX

One of the most common and long standing ways of conceiving  of the balance of a portfolio of businesses is in terms of the relationship between market share and market growth the Boston Consulting Group identified (Johnson & Scholes).

Boston Consulting Group ’s growth/share matrix has become one of the most widely used approaches that facilitate corporate strategic analysis of likely “generators” and optimum “users” of corporate resources. Exhiit 1 represents the BCG approach and shows the terms typically employed to refer to the kinds of businesses in such a portfolio.  Each of the company’s businesses is positioned in the matrix in accordance with its market growth rate and relative competitive position. Market growth rate refers to the projected rate of sales growth for the market that a particular business caters to.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

The basic objective of human resource development is to develop people in the organization and to ensure that an atmosphere is created and maintained in which the employees contribute their best. It is, therefore, logical that their performance on the job is measured so that what they have contributed is known and made known. If there are any areas of improvement, they have to be afforded an opportunity to do so. 

JOB SATISFACTION

Job satisfaction describes how content an individual is with his or her job. It is a relatively recent term since in previous centuries the jobs available to a particular person were often predetermined by the occupation of that person’s parent. There are a variety of factors that can influence a person’s level of job satisfaction; some of these factors include the level of pay and benefits, the perceived fairness of the promotion system within a company, the quality of the working conditions, leadership and social relationships, and the job itself (the variety of tasks involved, the interest and challenge the job generates, and the clarity of the job description/requirements).

ECONOMIES OF SCALE

 Economies of scale result in cost saving. Economies of scale determine the returns to scale. Increasing returns to scale operate till economies of scale are greater than the diseconomies of scale, and returns to scale decrease when diseconomies are greater than the economies of scale. When economies and diseconomies are in balance, returns to scale are constant. The various types of economies of scale are

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

The literature shows that there are two significant variables that are studied in terms of commitment-related attitudes and commitment-related behaviors, the variables being antecedents and outcomes. There are numerous studies on both the antecedents and the outcomes of organizational commitment and both of these variables offer highly desired information to managers, and others studying organizational behavior.

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

Since organization and management science emerged in the early 1900s in conjunction with the industrial revolution, an evolution has taken place in concepts about the nature and function of organizations and the criteria for organizational effectiveness (Kathryn A. Baker and KristiM. Branch, 2002). Goodman, Atkin and Schoorma (1983) argued that the empirical literature to date has been mostly inadequate in helping to understand the effectiveness of organizations. A specific kind of research is needed if organizational performance is to be comprehended.

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT A REVIEW

A number of research papers, articles, books, journals and newspapers have been reviewed.  Some of the important studies have been outlined here

Several authors associate the development of organizational commitment with variables such as the personal characteristics of the employee, personal values, organization characteristics like job satisfaction, and job characteristics.

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AN OVERVIEW

For over two decades the concept of organizational commitment has attracted considerable attention in the study of organizations (Lincola & Kallebeg, 1990; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990). Recent efforts clarify the meaning of commitment which has taken to distinct directions. The first involves attempts to illustrate that commitment can take different forms; that is, the nature of the commitment that defines the relationship between an employee and some other entity (e.g., an organization) can vary.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP, INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY

The entrepreneurs bring about change by persuasion thereby shifting economic resources away from settled endeavors into areas of higher yield and increased productivity. Entrepreneurship is the process of wealth creation rather than wealth accumulation. A very important dimension of wealth creation and every new venture is innovation. A blend of innovation and the creative endeavor leads to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs build new ideas from which they establish new enterprises that increase value to society.

EVOLUTION OF CONTEMPORARY ENTREPRENEURSHIP

A very long time ago, our ancestors invented a hand ax, made the wheel a reality, and discovered new ways to grow crops. Much later, sails mounted on boats made seafaring trade possible. Still later, Robert Fulton’s steam engine revolutionized sea and land transportation. These were watershed events in human history, but it was 19th-century entrepreneurs who dramatically thrust the world into industrialism.

SCHUMPETER ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Joseph Schumpeter has done pioneering work on entrepreneurship. For him entrepreneurship is essentially a creative activity consisting in doing such things as are generally not done in the ordinary course of business. An entrepreneur is one who innovates i.e. carries out new combinations or enterprise. Entrepreneurs are especially motivated and talented class of people and key figures in development.

STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The response to liberalization created opportunities for technology upgradation and sophistication, resource mobilization from fresh sources, high growth and buoyant environment and HRM issues associated with strategic initiatives of diversification, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, joint ventures, strategic alliances and for overall internationalization of the economy. Change from a regulated environment to a free market environment has direct implications for SHRM practices.

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE

The term ‘Quality of Work Life’ refers to the favorableness or un-favorableness of a total job environment for people. The basic purpose is to develop job and working conditions that are excellent for people as well as for the economic health of the organization. A Quality of Work Life program includes items such as open communication, equitable reward systems, a concern for employee job security and satisfying careers, and participation in decision making.

RESEARCH CONCEPTS

Descriptive versus Analytical Research :Descriptive research concentrates on finding facts to ascertain the nature of something as it exists. In contrast analytical research is concerned with determining validity of hypothesis based on analysis of facts collected.

THE NATURE, SCOPE AND USES OF MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS

Managers in all types of organizations are confronted with two types of problems:

1. Decision-making
2. Forward planning

Decision- making is the process of consciously choosing a course of action from available alternatives for the purpose of achieving a desired result. All possible courses of action could be adopted, had the resources been unlimited. But the fact is that the resources in the form of land, labour, capital and enterprise are scarce. Decision-making involves making the best of the scarce resource.