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April 30, 2017

Supply Chain Management Revision Articles with Links

3 April to 5 April 2016


Understanding the Supply Chain: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/understanding-supply-chain.html
Supply Chain Performance: Achieving Strategic Fit: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/supply-chain-performance-achieving.html

Supply Chain Drivers and Obstacles - Review Notes: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/supply-chain-drivers-and-obstacles.html
Designing the Distribution Network in a Supply Chain: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/designing-distribution-network-in.html


Facility Decisions: Network Design in the Supply Chain:  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/network-design-in-supply-chain.html
Network Design in an Uncertain Environment: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/network-design-in-uncertain-environment.html

2nd Week

8 April to 12 April 2016


Demand Forecasting in a Supply Chain: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/demand-forecasting-in-supply-chain.html
Aggregate Planning in the Supply Chain - Review Notes:
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/aggregate-planning-in-supply-chain.html

Planning Supply and Demand in the Supply Chain: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/planning-supply-and-demand-in-supply.html
Managing Economies of Scale in the Supply Chain: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/managing-economies-of-scale-in-supply.html

Managing Uncertainty in the Supply Chain: Safety Inventory:
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/managing-uncertainty-in-supply-chain.html
Determining Optimal Level of Product Availability:
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/determining-optimal-level-of-product.html

Sourcing Decisions in a Supply Chain: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/sourcing-decisions-in-supply-chain.html
Transportation in the Supply Chain - Chopra and Meindl:
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/transportation-in-supply-chain.html

Pricing and Revenue Management in the Supply Chain: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/pricing-and-revenue-management-in.html
Coordination in the Supply Chain - Review Notes:
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/coordination-in-supply-chain-review.html

3rd Week

15 April 


Information Technology and the Supply Chain: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/information-technology-and-supply-chain.html
e-business and the Supply Chain: http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/e-business-and-supply-chain-review.html




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Zeal - Earnestness to Serve and Survive










There is a company that includes ZEAL in its values statement or philosophy.

Management Philosophy of  SHIMZU Corporation
http://www.shimz.co.jp/english/about/philosophy.html


SHIMZ

Socio-Dynamism

We create structures and facilities around the world that offer superior quality and promote social and cultural values that are in harmony with the environment, all the while working to protect the environment and contribute to culture.

Humanity

We cultivate a workplace environment in which employees can work in comfort and with a sense of purpose and motivation.

Innovation

We tirelessly work to advance corporate growth through business expansion, sales activities, research and development, and business and management innovations, with management and employees alike tackling their duties in a fresh and creative manner.

Market-Oriented
We keep the fundamentals in mind to meet customer needs in a timely manner, thus enabling us to earn fair returns.

Zeal


We undertake each of our tasks with great focus and passion.


Leadership and Zeal


Leadership has been argued to be the prime determinant of growth or decline of an enterprise not only in terms of hard financial figures but also in terms of character, values, and zeal.

It is only when the top management displays the zeal to serve the customer that all employees in the company work with zeal. Business organization's purpose is the service to customers. With what passion, interest and intensity the organization serves its customer is affected by its zeal.  Earnestness to serve increases the chances of survival of the organization and provides it a foundation to grow profitably.

The founders of successful startups are at war against the industry leaders on behalf of underserved customers. The founders identify underserved customers and focus their efforts on serving them well and thereby make their startups survive or succeed. But do top managers that succeed founders have the same focus. Read an HBR article on the issue.

Keeping the Zeal of a Startup as You Scale
James Allen, HBR, JULY  2016
https://hbr.org/2016/07/keeping-the-zeal-of-a-startup-as-you-scale





Top Management Challenges


This article is part of #AtoZChallenge 2017 for Blogging Posts. My Theme for the Challenge is Top Management Challenges - Full List of Articles  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-to-z-2017-blogging-challenge-top.html


To Know More About A to Z Blogging Challenge

April 28, 2017

Changing Culture - Top Management Challenge


Culture Change is an Important Issue for Top Management


Every year, top managers make changes to the company's strategy, its most important in response to change in environment. The company structure and culture may have to change. Hence, top managers have to engage in culture change. Sometimes a new CEO or CXO is brought from outside. He may think of a big cultural changes to improve performance. This is a still bigger challenge. In this article the theory and practical implications indicated by the theory will described on this topic of culture change.

Luthans, the popular author of Organization Behavior, Textbook wrote that organizational cultures can be managed and changed over time.

He gave the following guidelines (reference to paper, Patrick Flanagan, "The ABC's of Changing Corporate Cultural)

1.Set realistic goals that impact on the performance and the bottom line.
2. Make changes from top down, so that consistent message is delivered.
3. Include employees in change development process.
4. Take out artifacts that support the earlier culture.
5. Expect some leaving of employees
6. You will face resistance. Building momentum in implementing the new culture and deriving benefits from it will help you defuse the resistance.
7. Stay the course by being persistent. Your commitment to the new culture is important and demonstrating it repeatedly and also demonstrating the benefits are important.



Summary of

Understanding Organizational Culture: A Key Leadership Asset

Fred C. Lunenburg
Sam Houston State University
NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL
VOLUME 29, NUMBER 4, 2011

It is important for a leader to understand an organization’s culture in order to bring about improved
results.

Organizational theorists indicated that cultures are real. They acknowledged that organizations have
personalities just like people.

Changing Organizational Culture

A portion of the paper is on changing organizational culture

The following components are likely to be involved in the change cycle (Frost, 1991): (a) external enabling conditions, (b) internal permitting conditions, (c) precipitating pressures, (d) triggering events, (e) cultural visioning, (f) cultural change strategy, (g) culture change action plans, (h) implementation of interventions, and (i) reformulation of culture


External Enabling Conditions
Enabling conditions in the environment which support culture change facilitate it.

Internal Permitting Conditions
To increase the likelihood of organizational culture change, four internal permitting conditions must exist: (a) a surplus of change resources or managerial slack (administrative time and energy, financial resources, etc.have to exist beyond those needed for normal operating); (b) system readiness (willingness of most members to deal with a discomforting situation and also live with anxiety that comes with anticipated uncertainty associated with the change - change may succeed or fail); (c) minimal coupling (coordination and integration of system components); and (d) change-agent power and leadership (the ability of administrators to envision alternative organizational futures associated with change in culture).

Precipitating Pressures
Four factors that precipitate organizational culture change include (a) atypical performance (performance not up to expectation); (b) pressure exerted by stakeholders; (c) organizational growth or decrement in size, increase in membership heterogeneity, or increase in structure complexity; and (d) real or perceived crises associated with environmental issue or internal issue

Triggering Events
Culture change usually begins in response to one or more triggering events. Examples include (a) environmental calamities or opportunities such as natural disasters, economic recession, innovations, or discovery of new markets; (b) administrative crises such as a major shakeup of top administrators, an inappropriate strategic decision, or a foolish expenditure; (c) external revolution or changes in the environment and (d) internal revolution such as the installation of a new administrative team within the organization.

Cultural Visioning
Creating a vision of a new, more preferred organizational culture is the starting point. Leaders have to  survey the beliefs, values, assumptions, and behaviors of the organization’s existing culture. They anticipate future business conditions and then predict the organization's performance within that future with existing culture. Then, if the expected performance is not satisfactory, they need to determine the changes in culture required.

Culture Change Strategy
Once a new cultural vision exists, an organization needs a strategy to achieve that culture. Such a strategy outlines the general process of transforming the present culture into the new one.

Culture Change Action Plans
A series of explicit action plans for the inducement, administration, and stabilization of change have t be drawn to implement the strategy. Inducement action planning involves stimulating organizational members to a change or countering resistance to change. Administrative action planning involves outlining interventions and mobilizing change agents. Stabilization action planning focuses on the institutionalization of culture change and making the new culture,  an accepted fact.

Implementation of Interventions
An organization selects culture change interventions based on the ecology of a particular organization for each action plan phase and the change agent’s competencies in implementing them.

Reformulation of Culture
When implemented, the intervention plans result in a reformulated culture. It needs to be maintained

Culture Change Program in Lear Corporation


Tom DiDonato, the chief human resources officer at Lear Corporation and Noelle Gill, vice president for leadership development at Lear Corporation wrote an article in Harvard Business Review explaining the culture change initiative that they undertook in Lear in 2013. They explained the program in four steps: Awareness, Learning, Practice, and Accountability.


Summaries of Research Papers on Cultures


ORGANISATONAL VALUES: A CONCEPT AND RESEARCH METHODS

Anne Reino

Organisational values are part of of organisational culture

Organisational culture has been characterised as a “soft” part of an organisation; it is a holistic;
historically determined and socially constructed, and therefore not easily changing concept. Organisational culture can be defined as “a social or normative glue that holds an organisation together” (Wiener, 1988).

Schein (1992) views organisational culture as a result of interaction between an individual and organisation. In the course of time certain methods and systems emerge that keep an organisation
working and as workable and generally accepted solutions reduce uncertainty, people repeat behaviours leading to positive feedback. As a result, organisational culture will take shape.
According to Schein (1992), three levels of organisational culture can be observed - artifacts, values, and basic assumptions. Artifacts are the most visible manifestations of an organisation’s culture,
being expressed in terms of material objects, technology, language, rites, etc. The artifcats enable
the researcher to determine the values and basic assumptions of an organisation. The deepest level of organisational culture – basic assumptions – are taken-for-granted solutions to problems which are held unconsciously and are very difficult to reveal. Values determine what people think ought to be done. 


Concept of value


Values are believed to be defining a social institution, and norms, symbols, rituals and other cultural activities revolve around them (Enz, 1988).

Rokeach defines: “A value is an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or endstate
of existence” (Rokeach, 1973: 5). Rokeach (1973) distinguishes between two types of individual values: instrumental values (modes of conduct) and terminal values (end-states of existence). 

Values act as guidelines that help people to choose goals and make decisions about how to realise them. In the case of  an individual values guide how he or she “should” or “ought to” behave. Even though many people tell him what he should do, values expressed by him are his or her internalised interpretations about socially desirable ways to fulfill his or her needs (Meglino, Ravlin, 1998: 354). Rokeach (1973) proposes that the more widely shared a value is (more people declare it as a value), the greater are the societal demands placed upon us and the greater “oughtness” we experience.
Roe and Ester (1999) stress that values are there for groups of people also (e.g. organisation, occupational group, subculture. 


Concept of organisational values

Enz defines organisational values as “the beliefs held by an individual or group regarding means and ends that organisations “ought to” or “should” identify in the running of the enterprise, in choosing what business actions or objectives are preferable to alternate actions, or in establishing rganisational objectives” (Enz, 1988: 287). Values enable members’ activity through self-control and social mechanisms and being clearly communicated to organisational members, they will become the criteria for making decisions and choices in everyday work (Vadi, 2000). Several authors have
seen stabilisation of individual behaviour as a most important function of organisational values (De Witte, van Muijen, 1999).

A clear organisational values system provides depth, stability and consistency to management practices (Padaki, 2000). Organisational values may be used to replace the traditional control mechanism within an organisation and they have an impact on human resource management (Vadi, 2000). More self management can be allowed in an organization where values are strong.

Individuals take their  values to the group and communicates them to the members of the organisation. In the socialisation process a new organisational member learns the organisational values and gives up some of his or her values. Usually it is necessary to accept the organisation’s values in order to fit in with it.


According to  Wiener the sources of forming values could be traditional (values are derived from and passed on between different members of an organisation) or charismatic (values transmitted from the leadership). Values transmitted from workers and those which come from the management should fit in with and would be integrated into the organisational value system. If that is not the case, the organisation has two “parallel systems” (Padaki, 2000) and there may be conflict. If there is no substantial agreement that a limited set of values is important in a social unit, a strong culture cannot be said to exist (O’Reilly, Chatman, Caldwell, 1991). In large decentralised organisations multiple value systems could exist (Wiener, 1988), but even if there are several subgroups in an organisation, all holding differing values, there should be some core values which are shared by the whole organisation and the values of different subgroups should not be. The values of different groups should complement the values of the whole organisation.


There is categorization of  “espoused values” and values “in use” concepts. Formal values could be set up as desirable states and they are communicated publicly to interest groups, but they are not always taken as guidelines in real work situations. Instead the values “in use” are those guiding behaviours that are accepted as decision-making criteria in everyday life. Socially desirable values are expressed publicly (“espoused values”) whether or not they are held internally (“in use”). In case of many organisations, there could be a great difference between the values expressed publicly and
those which are actually shared inside an organization. An organisation’s value system could be seen as one consisting of terminal values (end-states of existence) and instrumental values that should lead to attainment of terminal values. 


Speaking about differences between organisational values, many authors share the position that there are values which are common to many organisations (terminal values), while differences could be found mostly among instrumental values.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES FOR ORGANIZATION

Mitja Gorenak and Suzana Košir
Management, Knowledge and Learning International Conference 2012

Svetlik (2004, p. 323) says that organizational values are values that are being pushed forward by the management and have proven itself as a good foundation for development of organization. Same author also says that organizational values are intended to inspire employees with creative energy that will push organization forward towards desired goals.

Cingula (1992, pp. 499–500) sees organizational values as: “what people within organization think is good for organization, what needs to happen within organization and what might be needed within organization in the future”. Same author also says that due to mentioned above organizational values reflect the mission and strategic goals of the organization.

The research finds that companies that explicitly stated the values have performance edge. Their conclusion is: "Overall we can say that How are organizational values stated within your organization influences Organizational performance – combined with a 5 % risk interval."



Cultures exist because they work. They may have dysfunctional elements-most do-but a culture survives because it does the group more good than harm.

Change behaviors first, not values. The difference between capabilities and culture is this: Capabilities are the things we do well; culture is all the things we do, including those we do badly. The way to start changing culture is to start with things an organization is doing well. Appreciate and change a few key things for the better. You are strengthening the capability, recognizing the people and providing a platform for further success. You win the trust of the people and then you expand that beachhead to examine things or behaviors which are dysfunctional.
(Source: http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/corporate-revolution-unlock-your-cultures-revolutionary-zeal/)



Further reading resources

A current active blog on culture development

Competing Values Framework Culture Model
https://www.ocai-online.com/blog/2017/Competing-Values-Framework-Culture-Model


https://www.business.com/articles/a-guide-to-changing-workplace-culture/

http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/audit-assurance/risk-assurance/game-changers/culture-behaviours.html


The Changing Culture of a Factory

Elliott Jaques
Psychology Press, 1951 - Social Science - 341 pages


Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences.
This volume is part of a 2001 reissue of a selection of those important works which have since gone out of print, or are difficult to locate. Published by Routledge, 112 volumes in total are being brought together under the name The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library: Classics from the Tavistock Press.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=aSGEEq3jbckC



https://www.google.co.in/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=changing+culture


Top Management Challenges



This article is part of #AtoZChallenge 2017 for Blogging Posts. My These for the Challenge is Top Management Challenges - Full List of Articles  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-to-z-2017-blogging-challenge-top.html


To Know More About A to Z Blogging Challenge
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Updated 30 April 2017, 4 April 2017

Xerophilous Organization - Surviving the Business Cycles




Meaning of Xerophilous


from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

adj. Flourishing in or adapted to a dry hot environment.

from Wiktionary
adj. Being able to thrive in dry weather.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
adj. Drought-loving; able withstand the absence or lack of moisture.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
In recent usage correlated with xerophyte and equivalent to xerophytic, properly in sense 1: first used by Thurmann (1849), who regarded xerophilous plants as correlated with dysgeogenous soils.

Loving dryness: in botany noting plants which are in various ways peculiarly adapted to dry, especially to hot and dry climates, as by possessing coriaceous leaves, succulent stems, etc.;

So What is Xerophilous Organization: In one sense it is an organisation planning for business scenarios under global warming. Many warnings are there regarding global warming and the hot climate. Is any organization planning to do business in that environment? Is it developing products that are especially required in more hot climates?

In a second sense, xerophilous organizations have contingency plans ready to take low demand situations. That is when the demand for the products of the company dries up, how does the company change its course of action to survive the low demand period of the existing products. Is it flexible enough to reduce its fixed costs quickly and thus survive the low demand period?  Does it have innovation capability to come out with new products that use existing facilities and provide the capacity utilization that is at least sufficient to break even for certain number of years require to build demand that will give profit?

Top managers have to look at opportunities to expand business but there are years when instead of a growth opportunity they may face a year of contracting demand. What are they going to do? Top managers have to spend time on this issue and keep a plan ready to face dry years of business.


Top Management Challenges


This article is part of #AtoZChallenge 2017 for Blogging Posts. My Theme for the Challenge is Top Management Challenges - Full List of Articles  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-to-z-2017-blogging-challenge-top.html


To Know More About A to Z Blogging Challenge

April 27, 2017

Wandering to Manage - Shop Floor and Office - Observe the Action to Plan and Control




Management by Wandering Around (MBWA) was  invented by Hewlett-Packard sometime in the 1970s. It was made famous by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman as one of the ‘Eight Basics’ in their book, In Search of Excellence,  in 1982.  It is practiced by many managers in various industries.

One of the executives in Hotel industry wrote that  MWBA is an integral part of hotel management culture - top management must have that direct informal communication line with the information source- customers and employees and it is accomplished by meeting customers and frontline employees by going to the lobby, guest rooms and dining halls. It’s part of the job. It is important for the top managers to get a feel of what’s going on out there and observe whether things are going on as per the strategies and policies approved by them.
(https://www.isixsigma.com/community/blogs/your-office-out-there-mbwa-desk-bound-managers/page/2/)

Good article on MBWA

Management by walking around: 6 tips to make it work

Anne Fisher
Aug 23, 2012
http://fortune.com/2012/08/23/management-by-walking-around-6-tips-to-make-it-work/


How to manage by wandering around

In The Workplace
Reylito A. H. Elb
Posted on September 21, 2012
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Labor&title=how-to-manage-by-wandering-around&id=58824


Management by Wandering Around (MBWA) - When Will It Succeed?


Anita L. Tucker and Sara J. Singer, in the working paper "The Effectiveness of Management-By-WalkingAround: A Randomized Field Study" [HBS Working Paper 12-113, 4 September 2013] provided the following ideas regarding the successful outcomes from management by wandering around.

MBWA-based program was associated with improved perceptions of performance under two conditions: (1) when a higher percentage of solved problems were considered “easy” to solve, enabling more problem solving, and (2) when senior managers took responsibility for ensuring that identified problems were resolved. This suggests that the action-taking that results from the program, rather than the mere physical presence of the senior managers, is what positively impacts the front line staff. 

Rather than increasing reporting, organizations might be better served by addressing known problems, which builds problem-solving capabilities, which in turn enables action-taking on more problems. This finding corroborates prior research that highlighted the importance of problem-solving capacity for successful improvement programs.

The above ideas are logical. Management which starts with planning and ends with the accomplishment of the task is concerned with action. Management by wandering around is to be done in an action oriented way. The top man must be able to observe as well as listen and become aware of the issues which need to be improved. Only when those issues are successfully resolved to the satisfaction of the customers, suppliers and employees, performance of the organization will up first in the favorable opinions of the persons involved and then in the operating and financial performance areas. 


Benefit of A to Z Blogging 2017


This time A to Z Blogging Challenge has proved useful in number of ways. It helped to me to create some new popular posts. It helped me to learn more about management especially the issues of interest to top management. There is good amount of advice on management by academics and practitioners. But still taking it to the right people who need to become aware of it and then study it in more detail is an important job. Bloggers and other online writers have to keep writing as well as try to reach such decision makers through various social media outlets that include communities with focused interests.





Top Management Challenges


This article is part of #AtoZChallenge 2017 for Blogging Posts. My Theme for the Challenge is Top Management Challenges - Full List of Articles  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-to-z-2017-blogging-challenge-top.html


To Know More About A to Z Blogging Challenge

April 26, 2017

Values Statement of the Organization



In the organizational culture model, behavior is the result of values and beliefs. Values are ideas now being promoted by the organization. Beliefs are the results of values promoted earlier and also the experience of people and the organization.

Behavior can be changed by values being promoted presently. Hence, values statement by the top management is very important. It is not just statement. The management has to assess the behavior that will result from the values being promoted. Is the behavior positive for organizational goals? They have to estimate the results that will come with various values and have to select the right combination.


Build-A-Bear Workshop

Core Values: Reach, Learn, Di-bear-sity Colla-bear-ate Give, Cele-bear-ate

L.L.Bean

Core Values Statement: Sell good merchandise at a reasonable profit, treat your customers like human beings, and they will always come back for more.
This quote from Leon Leonwood Bean has been known as “L.L.’s Golden Rule” at his namesake company since the 1920s, and it is posted prominently in its retail stores and manufacturing and shipping facilities,

Zappos.com

10 Core Values:
1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More with Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Wegmans Food Markets

Our “Who We Are” Values: Caring, High Standards, Making a Difference, Respect, and Empowerment

Bright Horizons Family Solutions

Core Values Statement: The HEART Principles:
Honesty
Excellence
Accountability
Respect
Teamwork

Coke’s values include having the courage to shape a better future, leveraging collective genius, being real, and being accountable and committed.

Differentiating Role of Values from Other Similar Concepts

A vision statement says what the organization wishes to be like in some years’ time. It’s usually drawn up by senior management, in an effort to provide a memorable destiny.

The mission describes what business the organization is in (and what it isn’t) both now and projecting into the future. Its aim is to provide focus for management and staff.

Values describe the desired culture. They serve as a behavioral compass.

Principles give employees a set of directions.


Purpose provides outward focus. Purpose statements must  inspire your staff to do good work for customers. So purpose statements  must  express the organization’s impact on the lives of customers and clients.  Make employees feel the benefit they are providing to customers.

http://fortune.com/2015/03/13/company-slogans/

Your Company’s Purpose Is Not Its Vision, Mission, or Values
https://hbr.org/2014/09/your-companys-purpose-is-not-its-vision-mission-or-values


Top Management Challenges


This article is part of #AtoZChallenge 2017 for Blogging Posts. My Theme for the Challenge is Top Management Challenges - Full List of Articles  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-to-z-2017-blogging-challenge-top.html


To Know More About A to Z Blogging Challenge

April 25, 2017

Utility - Value to Customer


The products of any organization must have utility to the customer. Based on the utility to him customer values a product and offers it to the producer in return for the product.

Product conception, development and design and its further marketing activities are part of product management. Within the marketing discipline product management is popularly used. Within the product development and design areas product development management is the term more popularly used.

The managers of the company have to see that the products utility is more to get higher value for it. The value given for a product depends on other services also that are provided along with the product like delivery location, warranty offered, the retail environment etc.

Product Management is a technical capability in marketing and it deals with the planning, forecasting, production and marketing of a product, proposition or portfolio of products, throughout a product life cycle.

Below are 5 levels of this competence  in the area of innovation and management

Level 5

Leads organisation wide co-operation in the development of customer value propositions, identifying strategic opportunities for innovation.

Leads and directs the management of projects related to the delivery of customer value propositions and product/service portfolios

4

Manages cross-functional processes for the development of customer value propositions and their progression to market

Manages and maintains customer value propositions and product/service portfolios through cross-functional teams

3
Contributes to the development of customer value propositions

Contributes to the management of customer value propositions and product/service portfolios

2
Provides information to support the development of customer value propositions

Assists with the management of customer value propositions and product/service portfolios

1
Recognises the importance of analysing product portfolio performance and innovating new customer propositions

Recognises the importance of developing, launching and monitoring customer value propositions

CEO has to develop level 5 competence in development of customer value proposition and managing to provide value to customer.

http://www.cim.co.uk/more/professional-marketing-competencies/


Top Management Challenges


This article is part of #AtoZChallenge 2017 for Blogging Posts. My Theme for the Challenge is Top Management Challenges - Full List of Articles  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-to-z-2017-blogging-challenge-top.html


To Know More About A to Z Blogging Challenge

April 24, 2017

Technology Management and Innovation



Innovation is a challenge for top managers. Innovations are risky, with the likelihood of failures which will be noticed by one and all. But new products and services are to be developed and introduced to create winners which will allow the company to grow and survive in a competitive market wherein new entrepreneurs continually enter with new ideas and products. A company cannot engage itself totally in exploiting the existing products neglecting invention, development and new product introduction. Hence innovation management is a challenge for top managers.

Excerpts from
44th Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya Memorial Lecture. 2001
Industry,Academia and Innovation
Dr Amit Chatterjee
Chief Technology Officer, TATA STEEL, Jamshedpur



Innovation is the outcome of two distinct steps - firstly, the generation of an idea or invention; and secondly, the conversion of that invention into business. It is possible to represent innovation as Innovation = Invention + Exploitation.

Invention encompasses all steps aimed at creating new ideas and getting them to work. Exploitation
includes all stages of commercial development, including focusing of the ideas generated towards specific objectives, followed by evaluation of those objectives. Thus, while Invention through extremely difficult is the outcome of a brief moment of inspiration and magic, exploitation is more involved and needs time. The overall management of technological innovation is a science by itself. It includes the organisation and direction of human and capital resources towards effectively: (i) creating new knowledge; (ii) generating technical ideas aimed at new and enhanced products, manufacturing processes, as well as services; (iii) developing those ideas into working prototypes; and finally (iv) transferring them into manufacturing, distribution, and use by mankind at large.

Technologically innovative outcomes take many forms - incremental or radical in degree; modification of existing entities or the creation of entirely new entities; embodied in products, processes or services; oriented towards consumer, industrial, or governmental use; and based on various single or multiple technologies. Whereas invention is marked by the discovery of a state of new existence, usually in a laboratory or at best at a bench-scale level, innovation is characterised by first use (in manufacturing or in a market). Most organised scientific and engineering activities, certainly within any given manufacturing segment, stretch beyond the idea-generating stage. This may not always produce radical breakthroughs, but result in a broad base of incremental technological advances, sometimes leading to major technical changes.

Research conducted so far in the area of technology management has focused primarily on incremental product innovations oriented toward industrial markets. Neither the less frequently arising areas of radical innovation nor process innovation has received much attention.

The right balance of what organisation theorist James March has termed exploitation of proven knowledge versus exploration of new possibilities varies from industry to industry. But, even in companies that are taken as role models for encouraging innovation, only a small percentage of effort is usually devoted to generating and testing new products and services. This comparative rarity helps explain why practices that support innovation may seem odd and provoke discomfort and why managers hesitate to use them even when they should.

Traditional thinking about the management of innovation focuses almost exclusively on internal factors - the capabilities and processes within companies for creating and commercialising technology. Although the criticality of these factors is undeniable, the external environment for innovation is at least as important. For example, the striking innovative output of Israeli firms is due not simply to more effective technology management, but also, to Israel's favourable environment for innovation, including strong universityindustry linkages and a large pool of highly trained scientists and engineers. The most fertile location for innovation also varies markedly across fields. The United States was an especially attractive environment for innovation in pharmaceuticals in the Nineties, while Sweden and Finland have seen extraordinary rates of innovation in wireless technology (Ericsson and Nokia).

While the innovation infrastructure sets the basic conditions for innovation. it is ultimately companies that introduce and commercialise innovations. Innovation and the commercialisation of new technologies take place disproportionately in clusters - geographic concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular field.

44th Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya Memorial Lecture. 2001
Industry,Academia and Innovation
Dr Amit Chatterjee
Chief Technology Officer, TATA STEEL, Jamshedpur



Top Management Challenges


This article is part of #AtoZChallenge 2017 for Blogging Posts. My Theme for the Challenge is Top Management Challenges - Full List of Articles  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-to-z-2017-blogging-challenge-top.html


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Transfer of Brand Equity from One Brand to Another in a Corporate - Brand Portfolio Management





Companies that enter new businesses to escape a weak position generally become weaker still, because they move into markets where they lack the capabilities needed to succeed.
https://www.strategy-business.com/article/00354?gko=478fb


If you already have one successful product line, you want to be able to use that reputation to help boost your new product line. Reputation.com can help you utilize a positive reputation in various areas of your business. This will allow you to impact your business quicker and more effectively than trying to build your reputation from the ground up.
http://smallbusinessreputation.com/how-reputation-transfer-can-impact-your-business/


What is Corporate Reputation? 


There  are  3  elements  to  reputation,  known  as  the  reputational radar.

•  Brand  Reputation –  how  the  public  perceives  a  brand.
•  Organisational  reputation –  what  the  public  think  about  the  ‘organisation’  as  oppose  to  the  brand.  For  example, Unilever  PLC has a house of brands and also has individual sub brands. Therefore the  public  reputation  of  the  company  can  be  different  to  the reputation of the individual brands.
• Stakeholder reputation– the reputation that stakeholders have of  the  brand  or  the  company  that  they  are  dealing  with.
(Stakeholder  =  person  group  or  another  organisation that  has  a direct or indirect stake in a company.)
Corporate Reputation: definitions and representative history of literature
contributed by Toby Ingram
www.reputation.asia/files/RM-CR-Literature-Review.pdf


Brand name substitution and brand equity transfer
Journal of Product & Brand Management, 2012, Vol. 21 Issue: 2, pp.117-125,
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/10610421211215562


Reputation Transfer to Enter New B-to-B Markets: Measuring and Modelling Approaches
Christine Falkenreck
Springer Science & Business Media, 17-Oct-2009 - Business & Economics - 229 pages


An increasing number of products and services are not differentiated by inherent features, but by the vendors, particularly their reputation and marketing commu- cation. Consequently, a positive reputation provides competing vendors with a virtually inimitable competitive advantage. Contemporary research concerning antecedents and consequences of reputation in the domain of marketing is dominated by branding and line extension issues. Organizations’ communication efforts and the relation of reputation and the c- munication media are not fully understood; nor have they been challenged up to now. Moreover, customers’ perception of reputation is clearly embedded in their cultural context. However, contemporary marketing research restricts both conceptual and empirical considerations to Western-type cultures. Frequently, even the differences in Western-type cultures are neglected. Considering these shortcomings in contemporary marketing research, Dr. Christine Falkenreck investigates the opportunities and limits, and also the potential bene?ts and dangers of transferring a vendor’s positive reputation to product categories never produced or offered by the considered vendor. Embedding the empirical investigation of both reputation management and reputation transfer in a coherent theoretical framework, which is grounded in the Commitment-Trust theory, is her merit. She derives and validates an integrated model that appears to be valid in all cultures considered in her study. The results of this analysis contribute substantially to our understanding of reputation measuring and managing. These results are not restricted to academic interests and they provided practitioners with a variety of new insights. Thus, this thesis will ho- fully be widely discussed in both academia and management practice.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=2JtT7gNKk0UC

Advances in Consumer Research Volume 30, 2003     Pages 72-79

TRANSFER OF BRAND EQUITY IN BRAND EXTENSIONS: THE IMPORTANCE OF BRAND LOYALTY

Leif E. Hem, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration
Nina M. Iversen, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration
http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/8739/volumes/v30/NA-30

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/229125832_fig2_Fig-2-Brand-equity-transfer-following-mergersacquisitions



Top Management Challenges


This article is part of #AtoZChallenge 2017 for Blogging Posts. My Theme for the Challenge is Top Management Challenges - Full List of Articles  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-to-z-2017-blogging-challenge-top.html


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April 22, 2017

Alternatives to Bureaucracy



Why bureaucracy must die
Gary Hamel
Mar 26, 2014
http://fortune.com/2014/03/26/why-bureaucracy-must-die/






Bureaucracy and the Alternatives in World Perspective
K. Henderson, O. Dwivedi, Timothy M. Shaw
Springer, 03-Jun-1999 - Political Science - 330 pages
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=CcMWDAAAQBAJ

This volume seeks to explore bureaucratic forms of administration in the Third World and alternatives to them. Experts with wide experience in development are assembled to deal with issues of reform, indigenization, and desirable futures.

Can Business Beat Bureaucracy?
CHARLES HECKSCHER SPRING 1991
http://prospect.org/article/can-business-beat-bureaucracy


Alternatives to Bureaucracy: Democratic Participation In The Economy
Annual Review of Sociology
Vol. 12:307-328 (Volume publication date August 1986)
DOI: 10.1146/annurev.so.12.080186.001515
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.so.12.080186.001515?journalCode=soc


Sales Planning and Execution - CEO Involvement



Sales Execution by CEO

CEO has to be the Chief Sales Person of the organization.CEOs Need to Get Serious About Sales



CEO has to be the Chief Sales Person of the organization. He may have to personally interact with the important clients and clinch the sale. His deal making and negotiation skills come in handy in this activity. Sales requires product knowledge and CEO will demonstrate his knowledge about the products that his company is making and selling by making a sales presentation himself.

Ram Trichur, Maria Valdivieso de Uster, and Jon Vander Ark, authors of the article "CEOs Need to Get Serious About Sales" published in Harvard Business Review in 2012 state that CEOs who put sales management at the heart of their agenda have captured astonishing growth — outstripping their peers by 50 to 80 percent in terms of revenue and profitability.

They recommend three activities as highly significant to drive sales growth.

Crank up the analytics
Build a lean selling machine (Identify and eliminate waste - It may remove unnecessary activities and free up salesmen's time for more productive activities.)
Make sales a team sport.
https://hbr.org/2012/07/ceos-need-to-get-serious-about




CEOs and CSOs


As Chief Executive Officer, the CEO is ultimately responsible for the decisions that are made at the highest levels of the company and the results of those decisions. This is the position where all of the other C-Level decisions and strategies come together for a final decision and corporate strategy. Therefore, the CEO takes input from each of the other C-Levels. 


At the top of the administrative or executive side of the organization is the CEO.  This tier is the Visionary level. Every organization needs a visionary – someone sees the opportunities and comes up with plans to utilize the opportunity for the benefit of the organization. This is the person who has
the longest view of the future of the organization, industry, markets, etc.

The second tier of an organization is the Strategic Level. These individuals are part of the  planning team for the future as well, but they have a more near-term view objectives to satisfy. Their focus is on developing the necessary strategies for achieving the corporate plan prepared and got approved by the CEO.  At this level are Chief Financial Officer whose responsibility is to plan for the financial future of the organization and then manage the corporate expenditures accordingly, the Chief Operations Officer who plans for the future of the operational functions and capabilities while overseeing the existing production of the organization, the Chief Marketing Officer etc.. This second tier, the strategic level, is known as the C-Suite or the C-Level.

The CEO may be thinking and planning for three to five years in the future while the strategic levels focus two to three years out.

The third tier is the Tactical level. Typically this is the vice presidential level where leaders are handed the corporate strategies and then are expected to develop and execute the tactics necessary to make the strategies happen.

The CEO position is actually an amalgam of all of the C-Levels. The CEO is ultimately responsible for the corporate expenditures making this person the Super Chief Financial Officer (SCFO). They are also ultimately responsible for the operational efficiencies and effectiveness so they are also the Super Chief Operations Officer (SCOO). He is also the Super Chief Marketing and Sales Officer.

What are the activities of the CEO-as-CSO? Here are a few tips based on some value-added selling principles:

•  Ask your salespeople good questions and develop the whole organization: Rather than asking them how many sales calls they are going to make or how many units they are going to sell, ask them questions like, “What are the top three problems your customer is facing right now and what can we do to help them?”

•  Take the same sales training and refresher courses. Stay on top of your game as a sales officer by keeping your sales skills sharp. You will understand the principles and techniques your salespeople are using and you will be supporting the concept of continuous sales improvement.

•  Think strategic:  The CSO is exposed to the latest ideas in the market and in the industries they serve. Balance the “latest and greatest” with the wisdom of the streets. Ask the salespeople before implementing new ideas and programs and assess pros and cons.

•  Network with other CEO-CSO’s. When you are a part of a CEO networking group, learn from others and develop your CSO skills.

WHAT IS A CHIEF SALES OFFICER?
CSO White Paper Series from Chuck Reaves, CSP, CPAE, CSO

When CEOs establish a personal rapport with their customers, the results invariably demonstrate why the sales function merits more of their time and energy. A CEO writes, "apart from  my impact on sales, I also know the opportunities I’ve had to get closer to the marketplace have contributed to my effectiveness as a CEO; they have helped me to identify priorities and to guide the company."

The CEO brings another factor to the customer interface. He or she has a unique perspective of the company-cutting across all divisions and subsidiaries. That means the CEO may spot opportunities others could overlook.

http://chiefexecutive.net/the-ceo-as-salesman/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-every-ceo-should-chief-sales-officer-ken-gosnell-afc

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/people-human-resources/leadership/marcia-griffin-29913/

Harvard Business School Working Knowledge


FRANK V. CESPEDES,
MBA Class of 1973 Senior Lecturer of Business Administration

CEO and Sales

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/it-matters-that-your-ceo-doesn-t-know-much-about-sales


Latest Book on Sales
Contemporary Selling: Building Relationships, Creating Value


Mark W. Johnston, Greg W. Marshall
Routledge, Feb,2016 -  436 pages


Full coverage of 21st century personal selling processes. The overarching theme of the book is enabling salespeople to build relationships successfully and to create value with customers.
Johnston and Marshall have created a comprehensive, holistic source of information about the selling function in modern organizations that links the process of selling (what salespeople do) with the process of managing salespeople (what sales managers do). A strong focus on the modern tools of selling, such as customer relationship management (CRM), social media and technology-enabled selling, and sales analytics, means the book continues to set the standard for the most up-to-date book on selling on the market today.




April 21, 2017

Good CEOs Create Organizational Slack and Bad CEOs Create Organizational Stress



Organizational slack is excess of resources over the current requirement. Organizational stress is over worked organizational resources. Men break down and machines break down in organizations under the management of bad CEOs, whose ambition and greed do not match their capabilities of finding opportunities and managing their utilization to create profits for the organization.

Good CEOs create slack by working effectively and efficiently. Effective working creates markets for the products of the companies and profits for the organization. Improving efficiency reduces resource use and creates the slack for the organization. This slack can be utilized for the growth of the organization in the existing products or new products. When a successful organization launches a product the market welcomes it with anticipation and thus less marketing expenditure is required.

When companies are managed by bad CEOs, the effectiveness and efficiency goes down. The existing products do not do well in the market. When new products are launched the market is lukewarm. Bad CEOs force their stressed human resources to exert more and get more orders. The result is increased stress. The contribution of CEO himself will not be up to the mark. His or her incremental contribution to the performance of the organization is below expectation of all the employees of the organization as a whole.


Dysfunctional leadership creates high stress in work place.

Dysfunctional leadership symptoms and early warning signs:


Dictatorial Leadership
Ineffective Meetings
Domination of Personal Agendas
Highly Stressful Workplace

Dictatorial Leadership: A manager that does not allow disagreements out of insecurity or arrogance, creates a fear based decision environment that limits collaboration and creativity in finding solutions to everyday business problems.

Ineffective Meetings: Argumentative and heated cross-divisions meetings with discussions and language focusing on point-scoring and buck-passing rather than sharing responsibility and collaborating to solve the problem

Personal Agendas: Recruitments, selections and promotions are based on internal political agenda, for example hiring friends to guarantee personal loyalty at the expense of highly performing and more-qualified employees.

Highly Stressful Workplace: Employees are stressed and unhappy. There is a high rate of absenteeism and a high employee turnover rate.

https://www.iim-edu.org/thinktank/publications/executive-journal/dysfunctional-leadership-dysfunctional-organizations-paper/index.htm

Redesign - Design Iterations








Planning Design Iterations

Darian W. Unger, Steven D. Eppinger

Given  uncertainties and interdependencies, iteration is inevitable and must be managed effectively. Iteration is defined broadly to include almost any kind of work that involves correction, feedback or
interdependencies.

The two tasks are interdependent if each requires information about the other. Many design processes have hundreds or thousands of such cyclically dependent tasks. These feedback cycles, or iterations, have been successfully modeled by the design structure matrix, a system analysis and project management tool useful in mapping iterations, as shown by Eppinger. Interdependent tasks that require feedback are complex and introduce the potential of burdensome and expensive rework if poorly managed.

Effective iteration provides feedback with each round, thus increasing the likelihood of success in the next round.

The scope of iteration can be a telling component of a company’s PD process.  Narrow iteration is intraphase, exemplified by several rounds of interdependent detailed design tasks.  Comprehensive
iteration is cross-phase, exemplified by processes that do not just cycle around a specific part, but rather over a range of process stages from concept to
prototyping.

Iterating over different parts of the PD process can have a wide range of effects. For example, building several prototypes may mitigate technical risk by determining if the product performs to the level of quality promised by design. It may also address risk by providing information on whether the product will satisfy customer needs. An early cross-phase iteration to determine if a potential architecture is reasonable may help managers estimate schedules accurately but will not necessarily mitigate market risk.

World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, Mechatronic and Manufacturing Engineering Vol:7, No:1, 2013

Managing Iterations in Product Design and Development 

K. Aravindhan, Trishit Bandyopadhyay, Mahesh Mehendale, and Supriya Kumar De

Identification  of  what  will  work  and  what  will  not  work  happens  as the design  evolves  with  multiple  iterations  carried  out before  the expected  specifications  are  met.  Terms  like  “iterative”  and “creative” apply to PD.

Iterative rework taxonomy introduced by Richard et al. [2005]  provides  further  classification  –  evolutionary,  avoidable retrospective and avoidable corrective types of rework.  The evolutionary  rework  typically  occurs  when  the  developers could  not  have  known  about  or  foreseen  the  changes  that happen  in  user  requirements,  market  requirement  and design constraints.  Retrospective  rework  occurs  because  developers knew the needs but did not accommodate them for reasons such as lack of time, time to market pressure. Avoidablere work is primarily  the  rework  involved  in  fixing  defects  due to incomplete development.

Ulrich and Eppinger [2000]  define iteration as repeating  an  already  completed  task  to  incorporate  new  information. Iterations  are  inherent  in  design  and  development  since  it  is many a times a heuristic reasoning process.

STRATEGY TO MANAGE DESIGN ITERATION - INTRODUCTION TO DECISION POINTS

Entire  product  development  involves  many  decisions  and each  decision  can  either  make  an  improvement  towards  the final product or can be a step back due to it resulting in re-work and  re-design.  The  decisions  determine  whether  the  progress has been made towards achieving the goals or there is a need to rework or iterate the earlier completed work items. Extending the  decision  point  concept  to  product  development  flow  and using  this  concept  to  identify  iteration  probability  is  a  novel idea introduced by the authors. Planned decision points are for example  reviews,  testing,  early  prototyping  etc.  Pre-planned decision points indicate the existence of planning  for iteration
in a product development or possible events in the development flow when iteration may occur. The entire product development can be visualised as a network of decision points to provide insight into identifying the iteration probability of the product development flow.



Multi Body Simulation


Multi Body Simulation or MMS is, a precursor activity, used to accurately simulate the motion of an assembly component relative to others. It incorporates the effects of motion parameters within components of an assembly. While estimating the motion and relevant physical parameters, it can also combine the mates in the assembly, and consequently motion constraints, material properties, mass, and component contacts.

Whilst carrying out the Structural Performance of a large assembly, MMS gives the relevant loading constraints in terms of reactions, displacements, trace paths, and many others. This helps to arrive at faster structural performances of the components.

Other CAE Capabilities Per need, following specific activities are used during product development stages. These helps establish a path for the design driven product development.

Preliminary Engineering Program (PEP): provides baseline specifications of components for Conceptual Design.

Multi Disciplinary Optimization (MDO): Couples product performance thru' various analyses and achieves desired objective

Knowledge Driven Program (KDP): Provides a program based on the statistical mapping of various effects of Design Drivers on the sizing and shaping of product configuration. Relevant CAE activities are extensively used to eliminate its further use, thereby faster validation coupled with time and cost saving.

@ESEC Engineering Simulation Excellence Centre or ESEC@LUMIUM comprise of a dedicated team of CAE Experts seeking the near perfect performance of the product. Team works in collaboration with the design team at various stages, which helps manage risks involved in various phases of the product design and development

With sound theoretical knowledge; baseline specifications of product, its features & guidelines for engineering concepts are established. Customized design driven approaches, considering various disciplines are used to achieve a comprehensive solution. This also helps reducing number of design iterations and lead time. Different product configurations are explored before proceeding towards final analyses. ESEC has the design driven and multi domain expertise that assists in precise definition of boundary condition for analyses. Product is iteratively Simulated, Rectified, Validated and Optimized. Thus, ESEC substantially provides support to Design Teams in critical decision making.

ESEC's CAE practices help reduce product development time and costs while improving product quality, performance and durability.

http://www.lumium.com/Motion.php


Top Management Challenges


This article is part of #AtoZChallenge 2017 for Blogging Posts. My Theme for the Challenge is Top Management Challenges - Full List of Articles  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-to-z-2017-blogging-challenge-top.html


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April 19, 2017

Productivity Management - A Top Management Challenge


Productivity Management - A Top Management Challenge


Managers have important role to play in increasing productivity. All management activities are applicable to the process of productivity improvement. Planning, Organizing,Resourcing, Executing and Control have to be done in the productivity improvement process.


The boundaries of productivity move outward or production from the same resource input will increase, when engineers and managers innovate and implement more effective and efficient ways of producing goods and delivering services and when designers and engineers create new and better products and services. For example, in the United States, Wal-Mart contributed to a retail-productivity boom in the late 1990s through managerial innovations that increased the sector’s competitive intensity.

Pushing out the productivity boundary or frontier will require a willingness on the part of managers and the organization to make significant changes in business processes and organizational structures, as well as trade-offs between mature businesses with healthy cash flows, on the one hand, and disruptive (often digital) business models, on the other, with the potential for self-cannibalization even as they offer a transformative productivity potential. This is a management  decision based on foresight and vision.

Digital business models have transformative productivity potential.

Labor productivity management may be become critical for world economic growth in the coming years.  In the world as a whole, the United Nations forecasts an average of just 0.03 percent annual growth in the number of employed persons during the next 50 years, compared with 1.8 percent in the last 50. Thus, for global economic growth to match its historical rates, virtually all of it must come from increases in labor productivity. But labor productivity improvement requires capital deepening as capital equipment productivity increase.


Research related to Productivity Management


Stefan Bender, et al.

MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, WORKFORCE SELECTION AND PRODUCTIVITY, 


NBER Working Paper 22101, March 2016

Abstract

Recent research suggests that much of the cross-firm variation in measured productivity is due to differences  in  use  of  advanced  management  practices.  Many  of  these  practices  –  including monitoring,  goal  setting,  and  the  use  of  incentives  –  are  mediated  through  employee decisionmaking  and  effort.  To  the  extent  that  these  practices  are  complementary  with  workers’ skills,  better-managed firms will tend to recruit  higher-ability workers and adopt pay practices to retain  these employees. We use a unique data set that combines detailed survey data on the management practices of German manufacturing firms with  longitudinal earnings records for their employees to  study  the  relationship  between  productivity,  management,  worker  ability,  and  pay.    As documented  by  Bloom  and  Van  Reenen  (2007)  there  is  a  strong  partial  correlation  between management  practice  scores  and  firm-level  productivity  in  Germany.  In  our  preferred  TFP estimates only a small fraction of this correlation is explained by the higher human capital of  the average  employee  at  better-managed  firms.  A  larger  share  (about  13%)  is  attributable  to  the human  capital of the highest-paid workers, a group we interpret as representing the managers of
the firm.  And a similar amount is mediated through the pay premiums offered by better-managed firms.  Looking  at  employee  inflows  and  outflows,  we  confirm  that  better-managed  firms systematically  recruit  and  retain  workers  with  higher  average  human  capital.    Overall,  we conclude  that  workforce  selection  and  positive  pay  premiums  explain  just  under  30%  of  the
measured impact of management practices on productivity in German manufacturing.




http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/employment-and-growth/a-productivity-perspective-on-the-future-of-growth


Research on Productivity by McKinsey Company



Well-managed firms have higher productivity. Our research further indicates that more than 80 percent of all productivity variation occurs within a given sector for a given country and that there’s a “long tail” of persistently badly managed firms in all countries and across all sectors.


The possible solutions our research suggests include transplanting superior management practices between countries by rotating key managers, both inside companies and outside them. Rotation boosts productivity performance over time by ensuring that a larger number of operations benefit from the leadership of more productive managers. The weak managers are to be identified and have to be developed in better managers. They may be even demoted to their earlier roles where they were more effectve.

http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/china/why-management-matters-for-productivity


February 21, 2017

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd.
JAPEX named “the Excellent Enterprises of Health & Productivity Management ~White 500~”

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd. (JAPEX) was selected as one of “the Excellent Enterprises of
Health & Productivity Management ~White 500~” which is a program conducted by the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)and Nippon Kenko Kaigi to award large enterprises to pursue efforts for health and productivity management.  “The Excellent Enterprises of Health & Productivity Management ~White 500~” is a new program established in fiscal 2016, which is going to certify 500 excellent enterprises  by 2020 in view of making excellent practices for health and productivity management collaborating with their insurer such as health insurance society. Health and productivity management is a practice in which enterprises focus on and strategically carry out efforts with regard to their employees’ health from a management perspective. By the establishment of this program, enterprises are expected to recognize their own efforts  objectively and improve their top managements’ awareness to health and productivity management.
JAPEX positions  HSE (health, safety, and environment) as the priority of the core CSR themes, and we have been promoting to secure occupational HSE collaborating with the human resource department, health insurance society, and occupational health staffs. In recent years, we have conducted follow up programs after medical checkup or stress check test, support programs for prevention or improvement of lifestyle related diseases or smoking-cessation, health seminars to help keeping and promoting employees’ health. Moreover, we also have strived to optimize employees’ working hours and secure their work-life balance through recommending days to have paid leave, holding time management seminar and others.  JAPEX continues to promote measures concerning employees’ health as a company-wide important priority and will pursue to further increase our corporate value.

Management practices and productivity among manufacturing businesses in Great Britain: Experimental estimates for 2015
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/articles/experimentaldataonthemanagementpracticesofmanufacturingbusinessesingreatbritain/experimentalestimatesfor2015

Productivity in the Modern Office: A Matter of Impact
May 08, 2013
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/productivity-in-the-modern-office-a-matter-of-impact/

Margret Borchert, Stefanie Klinkhammer, Eva Koch

Strategic Productivity Management in Small and Medium-Sized Service Enterprises Using the Service Navigator

Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems Architectures, Vol. 7, No. 1, November 2012

In general, traditional productivity expresses the ‘yield of the combination of operational factors’ (Gutenberg 1958, p. 28) and addresses the question of how usefully the resources of an enterprise are combined and used. Unproductive activities and thus a low productivity are linked with inappropriate use of resources, which may result in competitive disadvantages for an enterprise. For this reason, productivity is one of the most important performance parameters for enterprises (Nachum 1999, pp. 939f. Fricke 1961, p. 135).


The performance result (output) can be conceived as the products or services produced by an enterprise within a specific period (Corsten and Gössinger 2007, p. 132; Lasshof 2006,
p. 27; Chew 1988, p. 112). Hence, the output is the result of a transformation process and reflects the (quantitative) yield of the transformation process (Lasshof 2006, p. 27; Gerhardt 1987,
pp. 73f.). The input is transformed into the desired performance result during the operational
production process.

Customer satisfaction and the perceived service quality are therefore measures of effectiveness
that are relevant for productivity. However, these measures have not been identified as outputs
in the traditional definition of productivity.



Traditional Productivity  Output/Input

Strategic Productivity
x  Cause-Effect Relationships among Inputs, Processes and Outputs
x  Consideration of Efficiency and Effectiveness Parameters
x  External (e.g. Customer Satisfaction, Service Quality)
x  Internal (Parameters related to Processes,People, Partnership and Leadership)
https://www.emisa-journal.org/emisa/article/view/94/69

Productivity Management from a Super Competent Perspective
Laura Stack , 2009
http://www.theproductivitypro.com/FeaturedArticles/article00136.htm

Organizational Linkages
Understanding the Productivity Paradox
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.
1994
https://www.nap.edu/read/2135/chapter/1

Top Management Challenges


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April 18, 2017

Organizing Resources and Acquiring Them - The Supply Chain


Fayol explained management as planning, organizing, coordinating, commanding and control.

Koontz explained management as planning, organizing, staffing, directing and control.

Prof. Narayana Rao explains management as planning, organizing, resourcing, executing and control

In this article organizing and resourcing are explained in more detail.

In the planning stage, market demand is assessed for a proposed product, the feasibility of manufacturing it assessed and profitability is estimated based on the prices for finished product and cost for the various inputs used in the production process and the facilities to be employed. Even parametric estimating can be used during the planning. The cost of a production of a product from a current player in the market can be taken as the basis and the cost at which the proposed project will manufacture it is estimated by creating estimates for the relevant components or features. For other features and components, the project may assume the same cost as the present incumbent.  During the planning phase the errors allowed are large and to compensate for it, the expected profit also has to be large.

During planning phase, many of the resources required to run the business are visualized from aggregate angles. Like for example, one may say a machine shop of 20 machines and give a rough estimate of capital expenditure involved and operating expenses. It is during organizing stage that each and every machine is specified and the location within the machine shop where it will be installed with decided. So the detailed plan for the physical facilities is made during the organization phase. Then the number of operators required to operate the machines and other equipment is determined. The managerial cadre of employees required to plan and supervise the work is also determined during this stage. Approximately, one can say, that span of control is 10. This will mean around 11% managerial staff will be there in an organization and rest will be actual front line people who produce, move and sell.

After the organization of the physical facility and man power are finalized, the management has to acquire these resources. They have to mobilize adequate finances, buy land, build facilities, buy equipment and install them. They have to search and select suppliers, distributors and retail shops that sell their products. They have to recruit employees. All this acquisition of resources has to be done by the promoter of a business enterprise. Even when the company is running, the task of acquiring key resources is the responsibility of the senior managers in the case of a company or department. In case of project, the project manager has to acquire the resources from his senior management to carry out his task. Once again he may be given finance by the senior managers but he has to use that finance and acquire other resources internally or externally. Every manager must have the skills of organizing and resourcing.



Related Articles

Resourcing Projects

Resourcing - A Function of Management

Resourcing - Resource Management Related Issues

The Nature of Organizing - Review Notes


Top Management Challenges


This article is part of #AtoZChallenge 2017 for Blogging Posts. My Theme for the Challenge is Top Management Challenges - Full List of Articles  http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-to-z-2017-blogging-challenge-top.html


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