...traditional costing systems tend to spread these costs evenly over all products and services offered. Assignment of overhead costs based on direct labor hours or square footage occupied by facility do not always serve as accurate means of allocation. Costing accuracy enables decision-making that is less likely to result in poor performance, and provide organizations with competitive advantages. Activity-based cost management is a means to solve this problem. In its early years, Activity-based cost management (ABC/M) gained popularity rapidly in the management consulting community. It was oversold as the “magic pill” to solve almost every problem within an organization, and the expectations of management were raised too high. As a result, many early implementations of ABC/M were viewed as failures. Some of these perceived failures were resultant from design misunderstandings and others from an inability to interpret the data produced. Management didn’t understand that ABC/M is meant to act as an enabler to for better decision-making, and can enhance popular performance improvement programs such as Total Quality Management. Activity-based cost management has been faced with numerous difficulties as being accepted as a worthwhile change. Poor implementations created organizational shock, and adoption throughout did not occur overnight. Users had tendencies to misuse the system as a policing...
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...LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Solomon Appel Robert H. Ashton Reza Barkhi Metropolitan College of New York, New York, NY, USA Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA School of Management, University of Michigan-Dearborn, MI, USA College of Business Administration, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA Department of Accounting, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, AR, USA Zicklin School of Business, CUNY – Baruch College, New York, NY, USA Belk College of Business, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC, USA College of Business and Economics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA RSM Erasmus University, Department of Financial Management, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Mohamed E. Bayou Chee W. Chow Cynthia M. Daily Harry Z. Davis Nabil Elias Arron Scott Fleming Frank G. H. Hartmann vii viii LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Fred A. Jacobs Frances Kennedy James M. Kohlmeyer, III Leslie Kren John Y. Lee Michael S. Luehlfing Adam S. Maiga School of Accountancy, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA Department of Accountancy and Legal Studies, Clemson University, SC, USA College of Business, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA School of Business, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA Lubin School of Business, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY, USA School of Professional Accountancy, Louisiana Tech University, LA...
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...CASE STUDIES IN PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT A Guide from the Experts TONY ADKINS John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CASE STUDIES IN PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT CASE STUDIES IN PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT A Guide from the Experts TONY ADKINS John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 2006 by SAS Institute. All rights reserved. SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions...
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...Accepted: July 4, 2011 Published: November 1, 2011 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v6n11p3 Abstract The author begins the article by outlining a brief historical evolution of activity-based costing (ABC) in the USA preceded by an operating definition of terminologies. Next, he presents the literature review and the methodology employed during the study. He reviews the application of ABC in the service sector, followed by an analysis of the unique attribute of the service sector. Moreover, the researcher briefly profiles several service-oriented firms that have successfully adopted and implemented ABC, and presents his findings from the study. He then addresses the limitations of ABC in the service sectors and offers strategies for dealing with these drawbacks. Finally, the researcher outlines the managerial implications of implementing ABC in the service sector. Keywords: Activity-based costing, Service sector, Managerial decision making, Cost measurement 1. Introduction The concept of activity-based costing (ABC) was introduced in the US, initially in the manufacturing sector during 1970s and 1980s. Robert Cooper and Robert Kaplan brought the ABC concept to light and published the body of knowledge in the Harvard Business Review in 1988. Cooper and Kaplan defined ABC method as an approach to solve the problems of traditional cost management systems; that is, the conventional cost accounting systems are often unable to...
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...Market Potential Analysis – A study of the Cosmetics Industry in the ABC Islands Master Thesis within Business Administration Author: Danny Reijntjes Ryan Wagijo Tutor: Jönköping Desalegn Abraha May 2012 Master Thesis within Business Administration Title: Market Potential Analysis – A study of the Cosmetics Industry in the ABC Islands Authors: Danny Reijntjes & Ryan Wagijo Tutor: Desalegn Abraha Date: 2012-05-14 Subject terms: Market potential, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Cosmetics. Abstract Background: The main aim of the research is to focus on the market potential of the cosmetic brands in the market of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao (ABC islands). These islands are located in the Caribbean Sea in front of the coast of South-America. Before starting to expand, international companies first search for potential suitable markets to invest in. This thesis attempts to find out if there is a potential market for the cosmetic products of the companies on the ABCislands. The purpose of the Master thesis is to find out if there is a potential market for new cosmetic products on the ABC islands. To achieve the purpose, the research addresses the market potential analysis. The market of Aruba and Curacao offer a great number of potential clients and a good future prospect. These findings are also supported by research that was conducted in 2007 by the Icongrouponline. Majority of the consumers on the islands are willing to try new professional cosmetics products. Additionally, the...
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...Towards a conceptual framework for strategic cost management - The concept, objectives, and instruments - Von der Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Technischen Universität Chemnitz genehmigte Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doctor rerum politicarum (Dr. rer. pol.) vorgelegt von Ibrahim Abd El Mageed Ali El Kelety geboren am 11.01.1965 in El Menoufia - Ägypten eingereicht am: 14. Juni 2006 Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Uwe Götze Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Bloech Prof. Dr. Peter Schuster Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 18. Juli 2006 Acknowledgement To the Almighty God “ALLAH” Who have granted me all these graces to fulfill this work and Who supported me in all my life. To Him I extend my heartfelt thanks. It is a pleasure to express my sincere and deepest heartfelt gratitude to my “Doktorvater“ Prof. Dr. Uwe Götze for his kind supervision, continuous encouragement, valuable enthusiastic discussion and unfailing advice throughout the present work, as well as financial support during my latest period of study in Germany. He assisted in all matters, provided solutions to different problems. Prof. Dr. Uwe Götze supported and helped me during my learning period in Germany and writing this thesis. I am very lucky being one of his students. I would like to express my deep thanks to Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Bloech - Georg-August University of Göttingen - for his kind acceptance to act as an examiner. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Peter...
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...[Pick the date] [Pick the date] Business Psychology Individual Assignment Business Psychology Individual Assignment Prepared by – Dashny Sarvaloganayagan Lecturer – W.M.S. Rambadagalla Unit code – F/601/1027 Batch No – 13 Edexcel No – GI 18931 American College of Higher Education, Kandy Prepared by – Dashny Sarvaloganayagan Lecturer – W.M.S. Rambadagalla Unit code – F/601/1027 Batch No – 13 Edexcel No – GI 18931 American College of Higher Education, Kandy Contents Plagiarism Acknowledgement Introduction 1.1 Major theoretical approaches 1.2 Assess the contribution of a scientific approach to investigating workplace behaviour 1.3 Assess strength & limitations of qualitative & quantitative approaches to understand the workplace behaviour 2.1 Describe the type of individual differences which have been the subject of assessment 2.2 Assess the usefulness of psychometric instruments with particular references to reliability and validity 2.3 Make justified communications for the use of two types of measures of individual differences in making business decisions 3.1 Use the theory to explain human reactions to change 3.2 Make justified recommendations for implementing change in selected organization 3.3 Make justified...
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...Introduction Business is about making money. Even if you’re a genius and saint, you can’t stay in business unless you make a profit. Profitability is a lot more predictable than most people realize, but failure can still result if you don’t execute consistently on your business plan--or a hundred other factors that manifest unexpectedly. Here are some steps to take before you decide to make a go of a business idea. The business plan under discussion is to launch an eBusiness website for a company ABC Inc. The company is a scientific company specializing in manufacturing of chromatography gadgets, which are used by a variety of researchers in different industries including petro-chemical, pharmaceutical, clinical research, government, forensic, toxicology, fuels, academic, industrial and commercial laboratories. The gadgets and accessories manufactured by ABC Inc. are mainly used to solve the separation and purification challenges for researchers in drug discoveries, pharmaceutical developments, food safety, petro-chemical compounds extractions, and environmental analysis. The manufactured gadgets are available for separation of different mediums including solid, liquid and gas chromatographical techniques. The company mostly sells its products through a large sales team which is specialized in different techniques of chromatography, using traditional marketing and selling strategies. The company has been doing good business in North America and has loyal customer base. Since...
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...ABC Complete Kitchens Inc. current environment is extremely competitive and active. The technological advancement is a very significant component of the current business environment. The information management system, e-business options and decision support system are some technologies that are used by the companies. The information management system refers to managing any type of information within the organization through the use of effective technologies that varies according to the industry. Managing information helps the company to develop and improve the decision making process. The information management system provides valuable material to the users in order to update the database efficiently providing a current an accurate status of the business. It is also helpful to offer diverse e-business options that may increase the information effectiveness in the company. The decision support system is also crucial to enhance the effectiveness of the organization in this technological development business environment. By using an information management system employees are able to obtain data, analyze it and send the information to the respective people within the organization in an effective manner. The information management system is an effective tool to establish any procedure and regulate all the activities or processes that occurred in the company. The management of ABC Complete Kitchens also requires an information management system (IMS) to develop it technical system...
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...Introduction Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) is the world’s leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company (Hearst Corporation ESPN, 2009). In this paper, I am going to analyze and diagnose different areas within ESPN using the Weisborg Six-Box Model (Weisborg, 1974). The Six-Box Model includes purpose, structure, relationships, rewards, helpful mechanisms and leadership. This article presents a practice theory, Six-Box Model, for diagnosing organizations and how the six different category influence each other. According to the Six-Box Model different aspects of the corporation including the basic background of an organization (Weisborg, 1976). ESPN became the first sports network to televise complete sports coverage; 24 hours/7 days a week. This corporation is the leader in multimedia sports including television and radio with over fifty business assets, televising sixty-five sports in sixteen different languages in more than two-hundred countries (ESPN, 2012). Founded by Bill Rasmussen, ESPN launched their first televised and radio programs in America. Based out of Bristol, Connecticut, ESPN operates their network under ABC Inc. and Hearst Corporation. Currently, George Bodenhiemer, Executive Chairman, and John Skipper, Executives and Other Personal Personnel of EPSN, are the leaders at ESPN Inc. In this case, I want to take in depth perspective of ESPN. In this case study, I collected data through reading written records including speeches...
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...DELIVERING RESULTS: EVOLVING BPR FROM ART TO ENGINEERING Richard J. Mayer, Ph.D., Associate Professor Department of Industrial Engineering Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas Paula S. deWitte, Ph.D., Executive Vice President Knowledge Based Systems, Inc. College Station, Texas Abstract This chapter presents an approach to BPR that is focused on achieving results from the first stages to implementation. The engineering approach presented utilizes an integrated set of methods applied incrementally. This allows BPR practitioners to more realistically approach a project; assess its impact, duration, and required budget; and mitigate the risks of failure. We present the approach as a phased BPR methodology along with methods, proven strategies, and tools To be published in a forthcoming book on Business Process Reengineering by Kluwer. 1 2 Evolving BPR from Art to Engineering we have worked with successfully at each phase. We present motivations for initiating a BPR effort that have been shown to result in successful cases for action. We present rationale for justifying change and a method for building a business case that includes the use of cost benefit analysis in formulating the justification rationale. An approach to planning for a BPR effort is presented that uses the same methods normally applied in the BPR process itself. We cover the issues associated with setting up a BPR project including: forming cross-functional teams, and selecting method and tool...
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...STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING UNIT – I MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING – SCOPE- STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE – NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEM “The accounting people are expected to do things that are much more strategic and much more forward looking than they have been expected to do in the past”. INTRODUCTION1 Mission of Disney – “To offer quality entertainment that people seek out”. The Walt Disney Company has long been widely admired as visionary and well-managed company. But how does Disney continually make the right calls in terms of investment capital, providing new attractions that appeal to its audience while earning a superior return for its shareholders? The company evaluated its existing business and new initiatives based on their ability to contribute to Disney’s long term cash flow and earnings growth, and to provide returns that exceed Disney’s cost of capital. Through strategic planning, sound decision making, and creative and disciplined management, the Walt Disney Company promises to continue providing quality entertainment to its customers and attractive financial returns to its investors for decades to come. Many different kinds of organisations affect our daily lives. Manufacturers, retailers, service industry firms, agribusiness companies, non-profit organisations and government agencies provide us with a vast array (range/collection) of goods and services. All these organisations have two things in common. First...
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...Lincoln University Digital Thesis Copyright Statement The digital copy of this thesis is protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). This thesis may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: you will use the copy only for the purposes of research or private study you will recognise the author's right to be identified as the author of the thesis and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate you will obtain the author's permission before publishing any material from the thesis. An Empirical Analysis of China Big Four State-Owned Banks’ Performance: A Data Envelopment Analysis A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Commerce and Management at Lincoln University By Jiyun Xu Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand 2011 I Abstract of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of M. C. M. An Empirical Analysis of China Big Four State-Owned Banks’ Performance: A Data Envelopment Analysis By Jiyun Xu Banks are becoming more international, disintermediation, concentrated and contestable in the financial market in providing services to foreign enterprises and individuals. There is also a shift from the traditional bank lending activities towards investment banking activities. Competition in financial markets encourages consolidation...
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...Question Responses * DQ#1: What is the importance of statistics in business decision making? Describe a business situation where statistics was used in making a decision. 1. Using statistics to evaluate the performance of your business. Taking all factors into account, determine whether you are making or losing money. In addition, determine the trend of your business. For example, determine whether, over time, you are making more or less profit (or loss). Track the share of the market that your business holds, and how this changes over time. Evaluate all these factors for each product type, even each model, in your company's line. The statistics to use here are simple line and bar graphs of data. These data can alert you to where you need to change aspects of your business, and how quickly you have to make that change. Furthermore, statistics are an excellent way to determine how you should allocate your resources to increase sales. Sales in a given market are a result of a number of factors, such as pricing, the size of the sales force, and the type and number of advertisements placed. However, these factors will not be equally important for every product. You would use multiple regressions to determine which of these factors are most important, and how much changing your asset allocation (for example, the size of the sales force) will change sales. 2. Statistics: The science of collecting, organizing, and analyzing data. Descriptive Statistics - Finding The Skew ...
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...Essentials of Strategic Management Authors: David Hunger & Thomas. L. Wheelen Book Review by Asik Kathwala © www.hrfolks.com All Rights Reserved 1 The Essentials of Strategic Management “The Essentials of Strategic Management” provides us with a short, concise explanation of the most important concepts and techniques in strategic management. It is a rigorous explanation of many topics and concerns in strategic management. These concepts are clearly explained by citing various examples. Precisely the book deals with the following. • A strategic decision-making model based on the underlying process of environmental scanning, strategy formation, strategy implementation and evaluation and control. • Michael Porter’s approach to industry analysis and competitive strategy • Functional analysis and functional strategies. R & D and R & D strategies which emphasize the importance of technology to strategy and product-market decisions. • Executive leadership and succession, reengineering, total quality management, MBO and action planning. • Social responsibility in terms of its importance to strategic decision making. © www.hrfolks.com All Rights Reserved 2 Basics concepts of strategic management The study of strategic management Strategic management is the set of managerial decision and action that determines the long-run performance of a corporation. It includes environmental scanning (both external and internal), strategy formulation (strategic or long range planning)...
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