Financial Decision Making Process within the Organisation Essay

Financial Decision Making Process within the Organisation - Essay Example Apart from generating profits from the shareholders, financial management also aims to maximise the profitability of the company to ensure a sustainable growth in future. Ensuring the sustainability of the organisation through proper reserve creation and re-investment of the profit amount is one of the crucial tasks in the realm of financial management. Financial Statement analysis and making investment decisions are two most crucial responsibilities of the financial managers. Financial Statement analysis includes the analysis of various ratios and financial statements like balance sheet and profit and loss account. A balance sheet discloses the financial condition of an organisation in a specific period of time. It mainly shows â€Å"what is owned by a business, what is owed, and the owner’s share (or net worth) of the business† (Langemeier & Klinefelter, n.d.). A profit and loss statement of any company discloses the organisation’s revenue and expenses for a specific period of time. Financial ratios assist in the evaluation the financial reports like balance sheet and profit and loss statement (Brigham, Ehrhardt, 2008). There are four types of ratios. These are liquidity ratios, solvency ratios, efficiency ratios and profitability ratios. Liquidity ratios are those ratios which measure the liquidity state of the organisation by evaluating the company’s liquid assets against its current liabilities. Financial leverage has certain important implications on the performance of the organisation. This mainly takes into account the long term liabilities against the total capital employed. This is also known as the ‘gearing ratio’ (Financial Times, 2009). A certain level of financial leverage can result in huge profitability; however, the company must be aware of the risk attached to it.

Project on Product Solar Lamp Essay Example for Free

Project on Product Solar Lamp Essay Abstract of the Project Given India’s size and the sheer number of its farflung or remote villages, rural marketing is always a challenge. And when the product is relatively new, like solar lighting devices, the challenge gets even bigger. Yet the Jaipur-based Frontier Markets, or FM, founded by Ms. Ajaita Shah, has taken up the task and despite the odds to reach out to villages in state of Rajasthan, and seems to be succeeding with their strategy of marketing the new product. * Frontier Market conducted marketing sessions to build demand for products in BOP (Base of Pyramids) households. * Frontier Markets developed a peer-to-peer marketing strategy that is a creative, below-the-line marketing technique that are most likely to succeed among peri-urban and rural consumers. * Frontier Markets gauged the potential of the products through market assessments, and feedback to determine whether market entry for the new product like Solar lamps is viable to enter in the rural areas. Based on the market survey, FM targeted the mass people of the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) which includes 732 million people living on less than Rs. 150,000/year in villages and urban slums throughout India where majority of the people live in darkness without having any light in their house. In order to reach out to people with clean energy products , FM introduced the product SOLAR LAMPS with a concept called â€Å" Spreading Light† with a slogan â€Å" lets light our home this diwali† Later on FM came up with a brand name â€Å" Saral Jeevan† where in they source the solar product in bulk from different manufacture and selling in the brand name of â€Å"Saral Jeevan† . FM also used their trump card for selling the product in villages by Village-level c ommunity workers. The Company has sold already 700 solar lighting lamps in 350 odd villages in Chomu district in Rajasthan. In the detailed case study, it would cover how FM selected the product based on the segments in specific to the BOP population (Base of Pyramid) and target market area and acceptance level of the product in the remote villages and the challenges faced with the following tough nuts : a) Solar lamp are relatively new and explaining their use to Rural Folks is a challenge b) Village dwellers have fickle cash flows dependent as they are on an agri-based economy c) They are extremely price and value conscious d) They have very low brand affinity Introduction * Market Survey The Base of the Pyramid (BOP) includes 732 million people living on less than Rs.150,000/year in villages and urban slums throughout India. The great majority of men and women work in agriculture, animal husbandry, factories or own rural shops.* * Rural consumers total 45% of the country’s total GDP. * Approximately 72% of the total India population live in 600,000 villages; and, about 8% of the total population live in 4,738 semi-urban towns * The median age group is is 27.5. * Average household size is 4.8. * An average of 2.72 children are born to every adult woman. * At 61%, the overall literacy level in India is well below Unesco’s target threshold of 75%. Literacy among women is just over 50%. * There are over 112 â€Å"mother tongues† with more than 10,000 speakers; and, 33 languages spoken by one million or more persons. * Indicators of human poverty suggest that 16.8% will not survive past the age of 40; and, 47% of children between the ages of 0-5 are underweight for their age. * Ernst and Young, The Retailer, October 2009 The BOP customer refers to the estimated 4 billion people around the world who are poor by any measure and have limited or no access to essential products and services such as energy, clean water, and communications. Globally, people in this socioeconomic group earn Rs. 50 to Rs.400 in purchasing power parity (PPP) per day. Yet these households often pay higher prices than wealthier consumers do for lower-quality goods and services because of uncompetitive markets. The rural Indian BoP market as households spend less than INR 3,453 Indian rupees on goods and services per month. This definition represents a market of 114 million households, or 76 percent of the rural population. (CDF/IFMR â€Å"Power to the People† Study). Marketing * Frontier Markets’ marketing field staff conduct marketing sessions to build demand for products in BOP households. * Frontier Markets developed a peer-to-peer marketing strategy that is a creative, below-the-line marketing technique that are most likely to succeed among peri-urban and rural consumers. Market Entry and Product Feedback * FM collects data about its consumers to understand their product demands as well as understand which products to introduce into the market. * FM collects consumer data to provide feedback on products like Solar lamp and its usages. * Frontier Markets also gauge the potential of their products through market assessments, and feedback to determine whether market entry for certain product is viable in urban and rural consumers. Product Concept FM with their market survey and feedback, came up with selling and distributing the Solar lamps in the segment i.e. BOP (Bottom of the Pyramid) segments where there is a need of clean energy in the rural villages. They targeted the base of Pyramid segments which as geographically wise spread in the remote village areas where there is need of the product. Market Segment FM CEO Ms. Shah, said â€Å"Reaching out to rural markets requires a bottom-up approach,† she says. â€Å"they had to identify what rural people need, the price points they are comfortable with, demonstrate the use of the product they are selling, and show them why it is relevant to their lives.† Having earlier worked with microfinance institutions, Ujjivan Financial Services and SKS Microfinance, Shah reveals her expertise that there are many products for which there is latent demand in rural areas, but they do not sell there simply because of distribution problems. With solar lamps, she saw the opportunity to fill a vital gap. FM sources solar products in bulk from different manufacturers and retails them under the brand name ‘Saral Jeevan’. FM’s trump card is the profile of its agents, whom it pays a commission. These are village-level community workers, who are already familiar faces in the region, since they also provide some other service. â€Å"People trust these village representatives as they are known to them,† says Shah. In order to create the demand and to reach out to people in villages, FM worked on the people which include krishi mitras (farmers’ friends) who are employed by the Krishi Vigyan Kendras, an Indian Council of Agricultural Research project, to keep farmers informed about latest agricultural technologies; workers in government-run anganwadis (creches); as well as employees of a privately-owned dairy, which sells milk in rural areas. FM’s current network is confined to Chomu district of Rajasthan, adjoining Jaipur, but it hopes to expand much further in the coming years. Bhagwan Sahai Yadav is one such krishi mitra, who also sells Saral Jeevan products. In a testimonial to the product he sells, he bought one himself. â€Å"I bought a solar lantern from Frontier Markets so that my granddaughter could study in the evening,† he says. The company has 30 such agents and has sold 700 solar lighting products in 214 of Chomu’s 350-odd villages. FM now chasing a target of selling 500 products a month,† says Shah. The plan is to reach out to two other districts, Alwar and Bassi, and all of Rajasthan by the end of 2013. They have also tie-ups with companies making clean energy products such as D.light and Duron Energy in Bangalore, Intelizon in Hyderabad and Greenlight Planet in Mumbai. â€Å" FM CEO Ms Shah wants to replicate the model across three to five other states in the next five years. No clean energy company has yet been able to establish a pan-India presence. Some have tried to rope in microfinance companies to help with the distribution, but the effort has usually failed. And while distributing through village-level community workers seems a viable method, bottlenecks remain. While FM was busy in developing the concept for selling Solar Lamps, following feedback were also gathered: 1) does a customer in a far-off village go if the battery of his solar lamp turns out to be faulty or the switch malfunctions ? 2) One such is product servicing. â€Å"Where does a customer in a far-off village go if the battery of his solar lamp turns out to be faulty or the switch malfunctions. 3) Community workers do not have the specialised knowledge to repair lamps if they stop working. But at least they can, and do, provide corrective feedback to FM and, through it, to the manufacturers. Duron Energy, for instance, stopped production of one of its solar lamps called Duron Pro following reports from FM that its light, though very bright, was too focused and did not cover an entire room. In order to overcome the above issues and FM after 6 months of operations in Rajasthan, Frontier Markets, Saral Jeevan opened up their first retail store as a part of Frontier Market’s channel in Chomu Rajasthan. This retail point will be a concept store providing sales and service for local consumers in and around the Chomu area. Frontier Markets is an exclusive partner to Saral Jeevan, or â€Å"Easy Life,† an Indian branded retail channel created to better relate to low-income households in rural areas near Chomu. After months of understanding villages, and areas, Frontier Markets helped Saral Jeevan build market presence and chose Chomu as a central location for a retail point to ensure accessibility and accountability in service for households. â€Å"Though the model is very scalable, given the huge market at the bottom of the pyramid, execution remains a major challenge,† Case Study 1) FM came up with selling of Solar Lamp targeting the huge market at the bottom of the pyramid. 2) Product selection / Concept : Solar Lamp – need of the people in the remote villages as A clean energy. 3) Market Segment : Rural areas / Villages 4) Strategy and Market Concept : FM launched the product with a different brand name â€Å"Saral Jeevan† or â€Å"Easy Life† as the people in Rural Areas look for local brand as they are not so Brand Consensus. 5) FM also used the local channels such as krishi mitras (farmers’ friends), Angan-wadis for distribution of their product. 6) FM also opened up Branch office concept store providing sales and service for local consumers Prepared by J.K.Nanda Yogi Ballani Suraj Gaikwad Exhibit – I Study on Indian Energy Market India’s growth story is astounding, and has spread into the interior at a rapid pace. Current estimates put the rural market collectively at $425B USD in 2010-2011 (CII-Technopak, November 2009). This estimate doubles the 2004-05 market size of $220 USD. These are collective figures. % Growth in 2006 over 5 years: National Readership Studies Council (NRS) Color TV: rural = 235%, semi urban = 91% Motorcycle rural = 113%, semi urban = 90% Refrigerator: rural = 52%, semi urban= 20% Air cooler: rural = 86%, semi urban =29% The energy market is additionally astounding: US $75 on goods and services per month (known as ‘Base of the Pyramid.’) About 40 percent of India’s rural households do not have access to electricity, and more than 85 percent must depend on â€Å"dirty† kerosene for lighting and firewood for cooking. * Estimates vary, but about 500m poor entrepreneurs need access to finance; while only just over 150m have access (Source: State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2009) * Less than 500k clients of MFIs have access to energy loans (Source: Using Microfinance to Expand Access to Energy Services, 2007) * 1.7 billion people globally have no access to electricity and 2.4 billion people rely on traditional biomass for cooking and heating, producing millions of tons of CO2 (Source: The Next 4 Billion, 2008) A recent study conducted by the Center for Development Finance (CDF) at the Institute for Microfinance Research (IFMR) examined the market size of the social durable market for solar lights and fuel-efficient stoves. The purpose of the study was to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the market. CDF’s initial finding suggest a more conservative estimation for the solar light and fuel-efficient stove market than other previous studies. * The present solar lantern market is estimated to be around $18.5Milion USD (annually, nationally). * The fuel-efficient stove market, $24Million USD (annually, nationally). These numbers were based on the following equation: (Price of least expensive product available in the market) (Number of Households) (Adoption rate) / (Average product lifespan) Previous market sizing estimates may be larger due to errors / differences in calculating and methodology such as ignoring the adoption rate and product longevity variables. Additionally, as adoption rates increase due to lower product cost, customer education, and consumer financing options, the market will naturally become more mature.

The Effectiveness of Sanctions Essay -- Diplomacy

Throughout the past century the world has seen two world wars, several dozen border conflicts, and civil uprisings with the eventual ousting of a leader. These conflicts are usually outside of media attention so all of the lives lost, corrupt leadership, and downright dishonesty is never revealed to the international public. Physical violence has always been the direct means to solving most of these conflicts but with a cost. Both side usually lost hundreds and sometimes thousands of lives and in the end there was never a plan in place to ensure these problems never occurred again. Following the completion of the Cold War sanctions have been reestablished to ensure a government or country can be held accountable without having to use lethal measures. If there was a way to cut off import and exporting of resources to the corrupt government it would force them to comply with international laws without having to use military actions. In the past sanctions have been placed on count ries that have defied basic human needs, committed atrocious crimes against neighboring countries, or posed a threat so great to others (use of weapons of mass destruction) that the United Nations stepped in to protect those who could not protect themselves. Sanctions are put into place in the hopes of causing hardship for any country’s government and to ensure complete compliance has been established before these sanctions are lifted. Although these measures are not supposed to create a hardship to the main populous, over time they usually occur. History has shown us that over a short time period sometimes these restrictions work, but do they actually create an atmosphere in these countries to ensure these situations or crimes never happen again? ... ...? The Moral and Political Issue. By David Cartwright, October 1995: http://www.sanctionsandsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/humanitarian_sanctions_.pdf (accessed 18 March 2012). 2. Q&A: Syria sanctions, 27 November 2011, BBC Mobile News Middle East: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15753975 (accessed 18 March 2012). 3. Kimberly Ann Elliott, Institute for International Economics, "Evidence on the Costs and Benefits of Economic Sanctions," Statement before the Subcommittee on Trade of the House Ways and Means Committee, October 23, 1997. The text of her statement can be found at http://www.iie.com/sanctns.htm. 4. 14 UN Press Release SG/SM/7360, echoing Lloyd Axworthy, ‘Forward’ in David Cortright and George A. Lopez, The Sanctions Decade: Assessing UN Strategies in the 1990s (A Project of the International Peace Academy; Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2000)

Fast food Resturents in India Essay

1. INTRODUCTION Globally, there is a growing demand for food away from home as a result of higher incomes, changes in consumption patterns, changes in household composition, and the time pressures created by dual-working families. The foodservice industry has become highly competitive as the number of foodservice outlets has increased to meet the demand. In order to succeed in such a competitive industry, restaurant operators need to understand the factors (and their relative importance) that influence restaurant patrons’ decision when selecting a restaurant This research investigates consumer choice using the consumer decision-making process as a framework and identifies the factors that influence the decisions of consumers in the upscale, ethnic segment of the foodservice industry. This chapter reviews the relevant literature about consumers and services, the consumer decision making process model, and previous studies in consumers’ restaurant selection behavior. Furthermore, the int errelationships between customer satisfaction, food quality, service quality and choice intentions are discussed. Lastly, the restaurant choice factors, dining occasion, and demographic characteristics are reviewed. 1.1 FASTFOOD Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away. 1.2 CUSTOMER CHOICE In microeconomics, the theory of consumer choice relates preferences (for the consumption of both goods and services). Preferences are the desires by each individual for the consumption of goods and services that translate into choices based on income or wealth for purchases of goods and services to be combined with the consumer’s time to define consumption activities. 1.3 FASTFOOD INDUSTRY The fast food industry is dominated by a handful of powerful corporations who are determined to aggressively drive production costs to the minimum. Low wages are a central part of this program. Because every dollar an employer has to pay in the form of wages is one less dollar in their pocket. The lower the wages, the better the profits. The companies that have applied this formula most successfully are McDonald’s, Burger King and Yum (Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC).Together these huge conglomerates dominate the industry, employing 3.7 million people worldwide; operating a combined total of 60,000 stores. 1.4 FASTFOOD RESTORENT IN INDORE Indore is famous city in a fast food industry. So many mnc’s and nation lavel corporation investing in the city. Indorins also like a fast food. That’s why many venture opened in indore like as:- 1.4.1 McDonald’s McDonald’s is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948 they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand using production line principles. Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955. He subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth. McDonald’s primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken, Frenchfries, breakfast items, softdrinks, milkshakes and desserts. In response to changing consumer tastes, the company has expanded its menu to include salads, fish, wraps, smoothies and fruit. 1.4.2 Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is a fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, which specializes in fried chicken. An â€Å"American icon†, it is the world’s second largest restaurant chain overall (as measured by sales) after McDonald’s, with over 18,000 outlets in 120 countries and territories as of December 2012. The company is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a restaurant company which also owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. KFC was founded by Harland Sanders, who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky during the Great Depression. Sanders was one of the first people to see the potential of the restaurant franchising concept, with the first â€Å"Kentucky Fried Chicken† franchise opening in Utah in 1952. 1.4.3 Pizza Hut Pizza hut is the largest pizza Restaurant Company in the world. It has 12000 outlets in 90 countries employing more than 3 lakh people. The legacy of pizza hut began in 1958.In India there are not much outlets, out of 1086 countries India is one of them but only in 9 cities pizza hut has its outlets. Pizza Hut has an aggressive expansion plan for India. It intends to have 100 outlets by the end of 2004. Pizza Hut will consolidate its presence in cities where it already exists as an endeavor to create a major share of these profitable markets first before spreading to other markets. Further, all new outlets in India would be franchisee owned resulting from the smooth functioning of the existing stores which are all franchisee owned. Hence, the same arrangement will be followed in the future to ensure growth-oriented results. The data written below represent what Pizza hut is all about and gives a brief profile of the company. 1.4.4 Domino’s Pizza Jubilant Food Works Limited (the Company) is a Jubilant Bhartia Group Company, The Company was incorporated in 1995 and initiated operations in 1996, The Company got listed on the Indian bourses in February 2010, Mr, Shyam S, Bhartia, Mr, Hari S, Bhartia and Jubilant Enpro Private Ltd, are the Promoters of the Company. The Company & its subsidiary operates Domino’s Pizza brand with the exclusive rights for India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, The Company is India’s largest and fastest growing food service company, with a network of 500+ Domino’s Pizza stores Stores (as of 31st March, 2012) The Company is the market leader in the organized pizza market with a 54% market share (Euro monitor Report 2010) and 70% share in the pizza home delivery segment in India, The Company has strengthened its portfolio by entering into an agreement with Dunkin’ Donuts Franchising LLC, for developing the Dunkin’ Donuts brand and operating restaurants in India.

Project Repote on Lakme

Details of planning, organising, staffing and directing functions. In this chapter we shall learn the details of coordinating and controlling functions. You know that the various business activities of an organisation are grouped and carried out by different departments and within each department there is division and sub-division. In order to achieve the organisational goals effectively, there is need to ensure that activities of such divisions, sub-divisions and departments are harmonised and duly monitored so that the performance of the organisation conforms to the plans and the prescribed time schedule.This is achieved through proper coordination and control of the activities of all groups. Let us now learn about the concepts of coordination and control and the various steps involved in the control259 Notes MODULE -3 Business Management 14 CO-ORDINATION AND CONTROLLING You have learnt about the various functions of management and gone through the details of planning, organising, staffing and directing functions. In this chapter we shall learn the details of coordinating and controlling functions.You know that the various business activities of an organisation are grouped and carried out by different departments and within each department there is division and sub-division. In order to achieve the organisational goals effectively, there is need to ensure that activities of such divisions, sub-divisions and departments are harmonised and duly monitored so that the performance of the organisation conforms to the plans and the prescribed time schedule. This is achieved through proper coordination and control of the activities of all groups.Let us now learn about the concepts of coordination and control and the various steps involved in the control process. OBJECTIVES After studying this lesson, you will be able to: explain the meaning and significance of coordination; explain the meaning of control; describe the characteristics of control and the importance of controlling; and identify the steps involved in the process of control. 14. 1 MEANING OF CO-ORDINATION In every organisation, different types of work are performed by various groups and no