July 4, 2020

IAS - Civil Services Examination - Management Subject - February Study Materials


Refer:  Online MBA Management Theory Handbook
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Frank Gilbreth
Picture Source:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frank_Bunker_Gilbreth_Sr_1868-1924.jpg
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Febuary 1st Week  1 - 5 ,

The Nature of Organizing - Review Notes
Departmentation in Organizations - Review Notes



Line-Staff Authority and Decentralization - Review Notes
Effective Organizing and Organizational Culture - Review Notes



Summary - Principles - Organizing
Human Resource Management and Selection




Performance Appraisal and Career Strategy
Manager and Organization Development



Summary - Principles - Staffing
Resourcing; A Function of Management


February 2nd week,  8 to 12


Human Factors and Motivation
Leadership - Koontz and O'Donnell - Review Notes






Supervision - Introduction - Public Administration Point of View
Committes and Group Decision Making - Review Notes




Communication - Koontz and O'Donnell - Review Notes
Summary of Principles - Directing - Leading



The System and Process of Controlling - Review Notes
Control Techniques and Information Technology




Productivity Control
Overall Control and Preventive Control - Review Notes

February 3rd Week  (15 - 19)


Summary - Principles of Controlling
Global and Comparative Management



Organizing - Global Management Issues - Review Notes
Staffing - Global Management Issues



Leading - Global Management Challenges
Controlling - Global Management Challenges - Review Notes



Management and Entrepreneurship: Science, Theory and Practice
Managerial Skills



Principles of Management - List
Principles of Management - Subject Update Articles Recent Years


February 4th Week  (22 to 26)

Marketing Management Revision Articles

The Marketing Concept Kotler
Marketing Strategy - Marketing Process - Kotler's Description



Scanning of Environment for Marketing Ideas and Decisions
Marketing Strategy - Differentiating and Positioning the Market Offering



Management of Marketing Department and Function
Marketing Research and Market Demand Forecasting


Consumer Behavior
Analysis of Consumer Markets


Organizational Buying Processes and Buying Behavior
Market Segmentation and Selection of Target Segments




To March - Management Knowledge Revision



Industrial Engineers support Engineers and Managers in Efficiency Improvement of Products, Processes and Systems




One Year MBA Knowledge Revision Plan

January  - February  - March  - April  - May   -   June

July  - August     - September  - October  - November  - December

























India - IAS - Civil Services Examination - Management Subject - January Study Materials



Refer: Online MBA Management Theory Handbook


 Management News
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Development of Management Subject. Theory of Management developed over a long a period of time with periodic quantum jumps in thinking.
Scientific Management/Shop Management - F.W. Taylor Introduction

Principles of Industrial Engineering - Taylor - Narayana Rao - Derived from Principles of Scientific Management by F.W. Taylor

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Taylor - Narayana Rao Principles of Industrial Engineering



Industrial Management and General Management - Henri Fayol
Importance of Human Relations in Management - Elton Mayo and Rothelisberger (Insights from Psychology)


Organization as a Social Group (Insights of Sociologists)
Mathematical Models and Their Optimization


Control of Variation in Inputs and Outputs (Insights from Statistics)
Systems Approach in Management


Business Conceptualization (Insights from Economics, Engineering Economics, Managerial Economics, Industrial Economics)
Peter Drucker - Business Organization - Economic Function - Social Responsibility


Global and Comparative Management
Management: Definition and Process



Process and Functions of Management -


The Nature and Purpose of Planning - Review Notes
Objectives and Goals - Review Notes


Strategies, Policies, and Planning Premises - Review Notes
Business Firm and Society - The External Environment, Social Responsibility and Ethics - Review Notes


Decision Making - Review Notes  -
Summary - Principles of Planning


Study Consistently - Every Day for 5 to 6 Hours

AIR 2018 - Rank 5
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One Year MBA Knowledge Revision Plan


Month                 Subjects


January      (Principles of Management)
February    (P.of M & Marketing Management ) 
March        (Mktg. Mgmt. & Operations Management)
April          (Supply Chain Management and Financial & Cost Accounting)

May          (Management Accounting & Organizational Behavior)
June          (Innovation, Industrial Engineering and Economics)
July           (Economics, Engineering Economics, & Managerial Ethics)
August      (Statistics, Quality and Six Sigma, OR & BRM)

September (HRM, Mentoring, Training, Project Management, Maintenance, Energy & Environment Management)
October     (Information Technology and Management Information Systems, Warehousing and Transport)
November (Strategic Management & Financial Management)
December (Business Laws, Negotiation, Taxes and Government Relations)



Industrial Engineers support Engineers and Managers in Efficiency Improvement of Products, Processes and Systems


Industrial Engineering - January Knowledge Revision



Wages and the Labor Market - Samuelson and Nordhaus - Review Notes

Online MBA Management Theory Handbook 


Wages - Questions


How wages are determined in a market economy?
How wages are determined under competitive conditions?
How imperfect competition (that results when unions or government regulation limits the supply in the labor market) will affect wage rates and employment?

In perfectly competitive equilibrium, if all people and jobs were exactly alike, there would be no wage differentials. The equilibrium wage rate would be determined by supply and demand.

Demand for Labor from Entrepreneurs


The demand for labor is determined by labor's marginal product. The marginal productivity of labor depends upon the quality of labor itself, quantity and quality of cooperating factors of production, and technology of the economy. The quality of labor inputs refers to the basic literacy, higher education, training and skills of the labor force. The quality and quantity of the cooperating factors refers to the capital employed in the economy. Production and managerial methods refer to the technology.

Supply of Labor


Labor supply means the number of man days that people of an economy are will to put in job related activities in agricultural activities or manufacturing and mining activities or service activities. The population size and the pattern of time spending by the people determine the labor supply. How wage rates affect the pattern of spending by time people?

As wages rise, there are two opposite effects on the supply of labor.

Substitution effect tempts each worker to work longer due to high pay for each hour of work. Income effect reduces the need to work as higher wages mean that workers can afford more leisure time to enjoy good things in life.

Wage Differences across Groups and Individuals


We find substantial differences in wages as there is no uniformity in people or jobs.


References


Paul Samuelson and William D. Nordhaus, Economics, 13th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1989


Originally posted in
http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao/wages/   2utb2lsm2k7a/235


Updated 4 July 2020
11 December 2011

India - IAS - IFS - IPS Civil Services Examination - Management Subject - Syllabus and Study Materials


Refer:  Online MBA Management Theory Handbook



MANAGEMENT - UPSC Civil Services Syllabus



The  candidate  should  make  a  study  of  the  concept  of  development  of  Management  as  science  and art  drawing  upon  the  contributions  of  leading  thinkers  of  management  and  apply  the  concepts  to  the real  life  of  government  and  business  decision-making  keeping  in  view  the  changes  in  the  strategic  and operative environment.

Previous Years Question Papers


PAPER  I

1.  Managerial Function and Process  :
Concept and foundations of management, Evolution of  Management Thoughts; Managerial
Functions—Planning,  Organizing,  Controlling;  Decision-making;  Role  of  Manager,  Managerial  skills;  Entrepreneurship;  Management  of  innovation;  Managing  in  a  global  environment,  Flexible  Systems

Management;  Social  responsibility  and  managerial  ethics;  Process  and  customer  orientation;
Managerial processes on direct and indirect value  chain.

Managerial Function and Process - Notes

2.  Organisational Behaviour and Design  :

Conceptual model of organization behaviour; The individual processes—personality, values
and  attitude,  perception,  motivation,  learning  and  reinforcement,  work  stress  and  stress
management;  The  dynamics  of  Organization  behaviour—power  and  politics,  conflict  and
negotiation,  leadership  process  and  styles,  communication;  The  Organizational  Processes—
decision-making,  job  design;  Classical,  Neoclassical  and  Contingency  approaches  to
organizational  design;  Organizational  theory  and  design—Organizational  culture,  managing
cultural  diversity,  learning  Organization;  Organizational  change  and  development;  Knowledge
Based Enterprise—systems and processes; Networked and virtual organizations.

Organizational Behavior  Notes

3.  Human Resource Management  :

HR  challenges;  HRM  functions;  The  future  challenges  of  HRM;  Strategic  Management  of
human  resources;  Human  resource  planning;  Job  analysis;  Job  evaluation,  Recruitment  and
selection;  Training  and  development;  Promotion  and  transfer;  Performance  management;
Compensation management and bnenefits; Employee morale and productivity; Management of
Organizational climate and Industrial relations; Human resources accounting and audit; Human
resource information system; International human resource management.

Human Resource Management Articles with Links

4.  Accounting for Managers :

Financial  accounting—concept,  importance  and  scope,  generally  accepted  accounting
principles,  preparation  of  financial  statements  with  special  reference  to  analysis  of  a  balance  sheet  and measurment of business income, inventory valuation and depreciation,  financial statement analysis, fund flow analysis, the statement of cash flows; Management accounting concept, need,
imporance and scope; Cost accounting—records and processes, cost ledger and control accounts,
reconciliation  and  integration  bwtween  financial  and  cost  accounts;  Overhead  cost  and  control,  Job and  process  costing,  Budget  and  budgetary  control,  Performance  budgeting,  Zero-base  budgeting, relevant  costing  and  costing  for  decision-making,  standard  costing  and  variance  analysis,  marginal costing and absorption costing.

Financial, Cost and Management Accounting - Notes


5.  Financial Management :

Goal  of  Finance  Function.  Concepts  of  value  and  return.  Valuation  of  bonds  and  Shares;
Management  of  working  capital  :  Estimation  and  Financing;  Management  of  cash,  receivables, inventory  and  current  liabilities;  Cost  of  capital  ;  Capital  budgeting;  Financial  and  operating
leverage;  Design  of  capital  structure:  theories  and  practices;  Shareholder  value  creation:  dividend policy,  corporate  financial  policy  and  strategy,  management  of  corporate  distress  and  restructuring strategy; Capital and money markets: institutions and instruments; Leasing hire purchase and venture  capital;  Regulation  of  capital  market;  Risk  and  return:  portfolio  theory;  CAPM;  APT; Financial derivatives:  option, futures,  swap;  Recent  reforms  in  financial sector.

Financial Management - Notes

6.  Marketing Management :

Concept, evolution and scope; Marketing strategy formulation and components of marketing
plan; Segmenting and targeting the market;  Positioning and differentiating the market offering;
Analyzing  competition;  Analyzing  consumer  markets;  Industrial  buyer  behaviour;  Market  research;

Product  strategy;  Pricing  strategies;  Designing  and  managing  Marketing  channels;  Integrated
marketing  communications;  Building  customer  staisfaction,  Value  and  retention;  Services  and
non-profit  marketing;  Ethics  in  marketing;  Consumer  protection;  Internet  marketing;  Retail
management; Customer relationship  management; Concept  of  holistic  marketing.


Marketing Management - Notes

PAPER-II

1.  Quantitative Techniques in Decision-making  :

Descriptive  statistics—tabular,  graphical  and  numerical  methods,  introduction  to  probability,
discrete  and  continuous  probability  distributions,  inferential  statistics-sampling  distributions,
central  limit  theorem,  hypothesis  testing  for  differences  between  means  and  proportions,
inference about population variances, Chisquare and  ANOVA, simple correlation and regression,
time  series  and  forecasting,  decision  theory,  index  numbers;  Linear  programming—problem
formulation,  simplex method  and  graphical solution,  sensitivity analysis.

2.  Production and Operations Management  :

Fundamentals of operations management; Organizing for production; Aggregate production
planning, capacity planning, plant design: process planning, plant size and scale of operations,
Management of facilities; Line balancing;  Equipment replacement and maintenance; Production
control;  Supply,  chain  management—vendor  evaluation  and  audit;  Quality  management;  Statistical process  control,  Six  Sigma;  Flexibility  and  agility  in  manufacturing  systems;  World  class manufaturing;  Project  management  concepts,  R&D  management,  Management  of  service
operations; Role and importance of materials management, value analysis, make or buy decision;
Inventory control, MRP; Waste  management.

3.  Management Information System  :

Conceptual foundations of information systems; Information theory; Information resource
management; Types of information Systems; Systems Development—Overview of Systems and
Design;  System  Development  management  life-cycle,  Designing  online  and  distributed
environments;  Implementation  and  control  of  project;  Trends  in  information  technology;
Managing  data  resources—Organising  data.  DSS  and  RDBMS;  Enterprise  Resource  Planning
(ERP),  Expert  systems,  e-Business  architecture,  e-Governance;  Information  systems  planning,
Flexibility in information systems; User involvement; Evaluation of information systems.

4.  Government Business Interface  :

State  participation  in  business,  Interaction  between  Government,  Business  and  different
Chambers  of Commerce and Industry in India;  Government’s  ploicy with regard  to Small Scale
Industries; Government clearances for establishing a new enterprise; Public Distribution System;
Government control over price and distribution; Consumer Protection Act  (CPA) and The Role of
Voluntary  Organizations  in  protecting  consumers’  rights;  New  Industrial  Policy  of  the  Government  : liberalization,  deregulation  and  privatisation;  Indian  planning  system;  Government  policy concerning development of Backward areas/regions; The Responsibilities of the business as well as  the  Government  to  protect the  environment;  Corporate  Governance;  Cyber  Laws.

5.  Strategic Cost Management  :
Business  policy  as  a  field  of  study;  Nature  and  scope  of  strategic  management,  Strategic  intent, vision, objectives and policies; Process  of strategic planning and  implementa-tion;  Environmental analysis  and  internal  analysis;  SWOT  analysis;  Tools  and  techniques  for  strategic  analysis—Impact matrix: The experience curve, BCG matrix, GEC mode, Industry analysis, Concept of value chain; Strategic profile of a firm; Framework for analysing competition; Competitive advantage  of a firm; Generic  competitive  strategies;  Growth  strategies—expansion,  integration  and  diversification; Concept of  core competence, Strategic flexibility; Reinventing  strategy; Strategy and structure; chief  Executive and Board; turnaround management; Management of strategic change; Strategic alliances,  Mergers  and  Acquisitions;  Strategy  and  corporate  evolution  in  the  Indian  context.

6.  International Business :

International Business Environment : Changing composition of trade in goods and services;
India’s  Foreign  Trade:  Policy  and  trends;  Financing  of  International  trade;  Regional  Economic
Cooperation;  FTAs;  Internationalisation  of  service  firms;  International  production;  Operation
Management  in  International  companies;  International  Taxation;  Global  competitiveness  and
technological  developments;  Global  E-Business;  Designing  global  organisational  structure  and
control;  Multicultural  management;  Global  business  strategy;  Global  marketing  strategies;  Export Management; Export-Import procedures; Joint Ventures; Foreign Investment: Foreign direct
investment  and  foreign  portfolio  investment;  Cross -border  Mergers  and  Acquisitions;  Foreign
Exchange  Risk  Exposure  Management;  World  Financial  Markets  and  International  Banking;
External Debt Management; Country Risk Analysis.

UPSC Civil Services Examination - Management Subject Notes

Refer:  Online MBA Management Theory Handbook

UPSC Civil Services Examination - Management Subject Notes

Paper - I

Section - I .  Managerial Function
Concept and Foundations of Management
Planning
Organizing
Controlling
Decision Making
Role of Manager
Managerial Skills
Entrepreneurship
Management of Innovation
Managing in a Global Environment
Evolution of Management Thoughts
Flexible Systems Management
Process and customer orientation
Social responsibility and managerial ethics


Section - II.  Organisational Behaviour and Design


Work Stress and Stress Management
Networked and virtual organizations
Conceptual model of organization behaviour
Organizational theory and design - organizational culture
Organizational theory and design: Learning organization
Learning and reinforcement
Organizational Processes - decision making
Leadership Process and Styles
The Individual Process Personality
The individual processes - Perception
The individual processes Motivation
The dynamics of organization behaviour: Job design
The dynamics of organization behavior: Communication
Organisational Behaviour and Design: conflict and negotiation
Organizational theory and design: Managing cultural diversity
Organizational theory and design: organizational change and development
The individual processes: Values and attitude
Classical, Neoclassical and Contingency approaches to organizational design
The individual processes: Power and politics


Section - III. Human Resource Management

The future challenges of HRM
Job Analysis
Human Resource Planning
Job Evaluation
Recruitment and Selection
Training
Promotion and Transfer
HR Challenges
Performance Management
Employee Morale and Productivity
Compensation Management and Benefits
Human Resources Accounting and Audit
International Human Resource Management
Human resource information system
Management of organizational climate and Industrial relations
HRM Function


Section - IV.  Accounting for Managers

Zero-Base Budgeting
Performance budgeting
Fund flow analysis
Management accounting: concept, need, importance and scope
The statement of cash flows
Job and process costing
Standard costing and variance analysis
Financial statement analysis
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Relevant costing and costing for decision-making
Reconciliation and Integration between financial and cost accounts
Overhead cost and control
Cost accounting - cost ledger and control accounts
Inventory valuation and depreciation
Preparing the Financial Statements
Budget and budgetary control
Marginal costing and absorption costing
Cost Accounting
Financial Accounting


Section - V .  Financial Management

Capital budgeting
Financial and operating leverage
Management of cash, receivables, inventory and current liabilities
Cost of capital
Working Capital Management
Recent reforms in financial sector
Shareholder value creation
Design of capital structure: theories and practices
Regulation of capital market
Capital and money markets
Dividend policy
Financial derivatives: option, futures, swap
Leasing, hire purchase and venture capital
Management of corporate distress and restructuring strategy
Valuation of bonds and shares
Corporate Financial policies and Strategy

Section - VI.  Marketing Management


Product Strategy
Ethics in Marketing
Integrated Marketing Communications
Retail Management
Concept of Holistic Marketing
Internet marketing
Positioning and Differentiating the Market offering
Pricing strategies
Segmenting and Targeting the Market
Concept, evolution and scope of Marketing Management
Market Research
Marketing strategy formulation and components of marketing plan
Building customer satisfaction
Designing and managing Marketing channels
Services and non-profit marketing
Industrial buyer behaviour
Analysing consumer markets
Value and retention
Analysing Your Competition


Paper - II


Section - I > Quantitative Techniques in Decision Making
Descriptive statistics- tabular, graphical and numerical methods
Inferential statistics
Chi-square and ANOVA
Introduction to probability, discrete and continuous probability distributions
Index numbers
Simple correlation and regression
Central limit theorem
Sampling distributions
Decision theory
Linear programming – problem formulation, simplex method and graphical solution, sensitivity analysis
Time series and forecasting
Hypothesis testing for differences between means and proportions


Section - II > Production and Operations Management

Fundamentals of Operations Management
Materials Management
Capacity Planning
Aggregate Production Planning
Statistical Process Control
Inventory control
World class manufacturing
E-Governance
Line Balancing
Value analysis
Six Sigma
Quality management
Management of facilities
R&D management
Process planning   https://www.civilserviceindia.com/subject/Management/notes/process-planning.html
Material Requirement Planning
Production control
Make or buy decision
Waste Management
Project management concepts
Supply chain management
Flexibility and agility in manufacturing systems
Management of service operations
Equipment replacement and maintenance
Vendor evaluation and audit


Section - III.  Management Information System

E-business Architecture
Information systems planning
Information resource management
DSS and RDBMS
Types of information system
Evaluation of information systems
Expert systems
Conceptual Foundations of Information Systems
Enterprise Resource Planning
Information theory
Systems development - Overview of systems and design, System development management life-cycle
User involvement
Trends in Information Technology
Flexibility in information systems
Designing for online and distributed environments


Section - IV .  Government Business Interface

Consumer Protection
Cyber Laws
Public Distribution System
Government Policies for Development and Promotion of Small-Scale Industries in India
New Industrial Policy of the Government: liberalization, deregulation and privatisation
Government control over price and distribution
Corporate governance

Section - V > Strategic Management

Process of strategic planning and implementation
SWOT Analysis
Strategic Management: Business policy as a field of study
Nature and scope of strategic management
Concept of value chain
BCG matrix
Tools and techniques for strategic analysis: The experience curve
Tools and techniques for strategic analysis: GEC mode
Tools and techniques for strategic analysis: Impact matrix
Concept of core competence
Growth strategies – expansion, integration and diversification
Generic competitive strategies
Strategic flexibility
Management of strategic change
Environmental analysis and internal analysis
Industry analysis
Strategic profile of a firm
Competitive advantage of a firm
Strategic Alliance
Mergers and acquisitions
Turnaround management


Section - VI.  International Business
International Business Environment
India's Foreign Trade: Policy and Trends
International Taxation
Export Management
Internationalization of Service Firms
Global e-Business
Global business strategy
Global marketing strategies
Regional Economic Cooperation
Multicultural management
Joint Ventures
External Debt Management
Foreign Investment: Foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment
Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions
Country Risk Analysis
Financing of International trade
Foreign Exchange Risk Exposure Management
FTAs
Export- Import procedures
World Financial Markets and International Banking
International production
Operation Management in International companies
Global competitiveness and technological developments
Design of Organization Structure and Control



https://www.civilserviceindia.com/subject/Management/notes/index.html

Competitive Advantage and Competitive Strategy

Online MBA Management Theory Handbook 

Strategic Management Revision Articles - Chapter Summaries of Strickland and Thompson's Book

The Five Generic Competitive Strategies - Which One To Employ?



Business organizations need to have customer satisfaction strategy and also competition withstanding strategy to carve out a space for themselves in customer - competition space.

                                         Differentiated Products
Customer Dimension
                                          Low Cost Products
                                                                                  Broad Market                    Narrow Market

                                                                                                 Competitor Dimension

Only when the product of an organization has customer acceptance, the competitor dimension comes into picture. Customer says your product is acceptable on an absolute basis but not the preferred one on a relative basis. Whenever, the company's market researchers tell that statement, the company has to turn its attention to competitive strategy.  The company's product strategy and competitive strategy are based on its assessment of its resources and that of competition.

A competitive strategy concerns the specifics of management's game plan for competing successfully and achieving a competitive edge over rivals. Porter defined competitive advantage in terms of profit margin. A firm that has competitive advantage will have higher profit margin compared to its rivals.

Early in the process of crafting a strategy, company managers have to decide which of the five basic competitive strategies to employ—overall low-cost, broad differentiation, best-cost, focused low-cost, or focused differentiation. The five categories come out of a two by two matrix on the dimensions of target market, focus of product development and design.

                                                                            Product and Process
                                                                  Low Cost         -          Differentiation
                                Broad                        Low Cost                     Broad Dfferentiation
Target   Market                                                           Best cost
                                 Niche                        Focused Low Cost      Focused Differentiation



Low Cost Provider


A low-cost provider's strategic target is meaningfully lower cost products than rivals in strategic group that offers a big market share. It is not necessarily the lowest cost and price product. The lowest cost and price product may be acceptable only to a very small percentage of the market.

In employing a low-cost provider strategy, a company must do a better job than rivals of cost-effectively managing value chain activities and/or it must find innovative ways to eliminate or bypass cost-producing activities. Low-cost provider strategies work particularly well when the products of rival sellers are virtually identical or very weakly differentiated and supplies are readily available from eager sellers, when there are not many ways to differentiate product and related services that have value to buyers, when many buyers are price sensitive and shop the market for the lowest price, and when buyer switching costs are low.

The low cost advantage can be used either to reduce prices and have greater revenue and more profits or maintain prices and make more profit. The choice depends upon the time available for building market share. If competitors are very active, then gaining immediate market is the appropriate objective and prices are reduced immediately.

Two ways of developing cost advantage:

1. Increase the efficiency of current value chain activities and decrease cost (incremental improvement) by understanding cost drivers.
2. Reengineer the value chain activities. to gain cost reduction (New design).

Cost Drivers of Value Chain Activities

1. Economies or diseconomies of scale.
2. Learning curve effect
3. Cost of inputs (bought out materials, components, and services)
4. Linkages between activities in the value chain
5. Shared facilities
6. Level of vertical integration - Its increase or decrease based on current opportunities
7. First mover advantage
8. Percentage of capacity utilization
9. Other policy choices made by the company: features of the product, product variety,  delivery times offered, number of distributors/channels used etc.

Learn more about cost reduction in engineering processes:
Process Industrial Engineering  FREE ONLINE Course


Reengineering Oppotunities

They generally appear whenever a new technology is developed inhouse or outside. The current examples are

Internet of Things (IoT)
Direct to end user sales (ECommerce)
3D Printing (Computer Aided Design and Computer Integrated Manufacturing)
Frugal Innovation or Engineering





Broad Differentiation


Broad differentiation strategies seek to produce a competitive edge by incorporating attributes and features that set a company's product/service offering apart from rivals in ways that buyers consider valuable and worth paying for. Successful differentiation allows a firm to (1) command a premium price for its product, (2) increase unit sales (because additional buyers are won over by the differentiating features), and/or (3) gain buyer loyalty to its brand (because some buyers are strongly attracted to the differentiating features and bond with the company and its products). Differentiation strategies work best in markets with diverse buyer preferences where there are big windows of opportunity to strongly differentiate a company's product offering from those of rival brands, in situations where few other rivals are pursuing a similar differentiation approach, and in circumstances where companies are racing to bring out the most appealing next-generation product. A differentiation strategy is doomed when competitors are able to quickly copy most or all of the appealing product attributes a company comes up with, when a company's differentiation efforts meet with a ho-hum or so what market reception, or when a company erodes profitability by overspending on efforts to differentiate its product offering.

Best Cost Provider


Best-cost provider strategies combine a strategic emphasis on low cost with a strategic emphasis on more than minimal quality, service, features, or performance. The aim is to create competitive advantage by giving buyers more value for the money—an approach that entails matching close rivals on key quality/service/features/performance attributes and beating them on the costs of incorporating such attributes into the product or service. A best-cost provider strategy works best in markets where buyer diversity makes product differentiation the norm and where many buyers are also sensitive to price and value.

Focused Low-Cost Strategy


A focus strategy delivers competitive advantage either by achieving lower costs than rivals in serving buyers comprising the target market niche or by developing specialized ability to offer niche buyers an appealingly differentiated offering than meets their needs better than rival brands. A focused strategy based on either low cost or differentiation becomes increasingly attractive when the target market niche is big enough to be profitable and offers good growth potential, when it is costly or difficult for multisegment competitors to put capabilities in place to meet the specialized needs of the target market niche and at the same time satisfy the expectations of their mainstream customers, when there are one or more niches that present a good match with a focuser's resource strengths and capabilities, and when few other rivals are attempting to specialize in the same target segment.

Focused Differentiation


Deciding which generic strategy to employ is perhaps the most important strategic commitment a company makes—it tends to drive the rest of the strategic actions a company decides to undertake and it sets the whole tone for the pursuit of a competitive advantage over rivals.





Updated 4 July 2020, 24 March 2016,  25 May 2013

July 3, 2020

Smart Manufacturing - Application Areas

Online MBA Management Theory Handbook 


Automatic changes to products on prod. line
Modelling and simulation
Digital direction setting
Rapid design prototyping through 3D printing
Digital twins – factory network
3D scanning for quality
Advanced analytics platform
Mixed reality for maintenance work
Energy management through IoT
Lean digitization
Smart supply chain- Automated Guided Vehicles
Predictive maintenance through IoT
3D Simulation for Production Line
Digital Assistant System for Operators
Implementation of Automation
Integration of ERP²/MES³/PLM