...for companies, the models for formulating business strategies that explicitly include it as a core component are still lacking. The paper investigates such issues by considering the particular case of computer service companies, which can be seen as Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) firms connecting the sources of innovation (i.e. large multinationals, research laboratories, universities, etc.) to the individual needs of the local customers. In doing so they operate as mediators between the local cognitive requirements and the more generic knowledge available in the global environment. Since those companies base their competitiveness on the capability to manage knowledge flows among various actors, the formulation of their business strategies requires new approaches that directly focus on knowledge assets and relevant processes. The paper describes the results of a survey involving twenty-one computer service companies located in the Northeast of Italy. The study allows the user to draw useful schemes for the identification of knowledge-based strategies, which can be of use beyond the specific context of investigation. In particular, rather than proposing completely new models for knowledge-based strategic formulations, the paper analyses the way knowledge can be integrated into more traditional strategic frameworks. The assumption is that these approaches can be more comfortable and understandable by the management of companies whose business is strongly based on knowledge...
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...1: Routes to take in starting an internet travel company 1.1 The survival-base strategic route This route puts heavy emphasis on organisations being able to survive a hostile and highly competitive context. It does this through an emergent process, seeking out opportunities in strategy content as they occur. ”Lynch 5th edition p416 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT” As explained by Brent Hobermanin the case study that this is a scale game and you’re always facing global competitions. The real success Is to attract enough customers more than your competitors to generate more sufficient business. And with small internet business the fixed costs of operations in the early days are small no expensive office premises, no major colour printers and brochure costs, direct contact with potential customers, etc. They are two mechanisms in operation 1 adaption to the environment 2 selections among those present for survival 1.2 Network base strategic route The network based strategic route forward explores the links and degree of co-operations present in related organisations and industries and places a value upon that degree of co-operation. ”Lynch 5th edition p429 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT” They are two major aspects of networks from strategy perspective covered * Network Externalities Network externalities-these arises when an organisation is part of an external network that is seeking to standardise some aspect of operations across the industry. The key moment...
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...Computing ~ Green EDI collaborating with Financial EDI ~ Project Leader Name: Youichiro Kojima Organization/Company: Kojima Press Industry Co.,Ltd., Japan Nominated by: Japan Association for Simplification of International Trade Procedures (JASTPRO) Abstract: This Green Cloud Computing project has achieved the significant reduction of Cost and CO2 through the cloud computing while realizing EDI for SMEs, REACH and Financial settlement. Executive Summary: Our approach toward Green IT started with internal activities under the slogan of “CO2 reduction through Green IT” in 2005. Our group companies achieved significant results by integrating hardware and using common software. To produce further effects, these activities need to be practiced in society as a whole. For that purpose, we have developed “Green Cloud Computing,” a social action program focused on the automotive parts industry and small and medium-sized businesses outside the framework of a single company. With the spread of the Internet, web-based EDI (electronic data interchange) systems have been increasingly used as a means to exchange information between individual companies. In the automotive parts industry in among SMEs, where no industry-standard EDI system has been established, many different terminals and screens must be used, due to the lack of system integration between companies. In addition, not many small and medium-sized businesses have introduced computer systems, due to the significant costs involved. They...
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...Recommendation for Implementation of Activity-based Costing Joann Harper BU264: Managerial Accounting, Spring 2011 Dr. Henry Bryan April 13, 2011 Outline I. Introduction A. Comparison of traditional costing vs. activity-based costing B. Pros and cons of activity-based costing C. 4 companies selected for review i. General Electric ii. Dennison Manufacturing Co. iii. South-western Ohio Steel Inc. iv. Insurance companies D. Thesis Statement: An examination of four companies that have successfully implemented activity-based costing/activity-based management has led to my recommendation that transitioning to activity-based costing is the right move for our company. Although there are many benefits to activity-based costing, we would directly benefit from the relative ease of implementation for a company our size, the ability to view our product costs differently and target process improvements which in turn will lead to an improved line of products and allow us to be more competitive in our market niche. II. General Electric A. A brief history of activity-based costing B. Outcome of General Electric and activity-based costing III. Dennison Manufacturing A. How Dennison Manufacturing uses activity-based costing B. Outcome of Dennison Manufacturing’s implementation of activity-based costing IV. South-western Ohio Steel...
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...Economics, Subotica, Serbia liviar@eccf.su.ac.yu, pegy@eccf.su.ac.yu Abstract / Abstrakt In its existence, cost accounting, as main part of management accounting, is continuously changing. Economic realities have made it necessary for most companies to have organizational changes as well as cost reduction. Markets have become global with competitors offering high-quality, low-cost goods and services. Speed, accuracy as well as understanding and meeting consumers’ needs come in front. The proliferation of products and services adds to the complexity of getting work done throughout an organization. This complexity is one of the chief causes of rising costs everywhere. Although in these new circumstances some companies underrate the cost accounting systems’ importance, we cannot put them aside. Cost accounting has to provide relevant cost information for corporate executives to make correct decisions. Traditional cost techniques cannot model the really needed expenditures for producing a product well. Because of this, some techniques were developed, which measure the relation between costs and cost originators in more complex correlations and not just with a simple quantity-cost relations. Beside the traditional techniques (actual costing, standard costing, normal costing, etc.) new methods appear. Among the others, these are: Activity-Based Costing, Target costing, Process Cost System and Marginal Costing. The aim of this paper is to present these cost methods’ advantages and disadvantages...
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...Introduction According to Chand (2015), costing techniques are used by management for controlling cost and making managerial decisions. It systematically records expenses and analyses the cost of each product manufactured or service rendered by an organisation (Hariharan, n.d.). Firms choose to adapt to a specific costing theory that caters accordingly to their needs and objectives. Part 1: Evaluation of Costing Theories Costing theories are very important in business decision making. According to Hariharan (n.d.), they serve managers as a guide to make correct decisions such as what price to quote, whether to place order for inputs or whether to abandon or add a product to the production line. Costing theories also determines the price of the best alternative use of a factor of production and results in an efficient allocation of resources (Chand, 2015). The business will adopt the most profitable production inputs by identifying unprofitable activities, losses and inefficiencies (Chand, 2015) Costing theories also helps the decisions regarding the capital expenditure through the estimation of long-run function (Chand, 2015). This function will be useful to managers when deciding on the expansion or contraction of plant size in the firm and confirming that the present plant size is just nice for the output level that is being produced (Chand, 2015). It improves the overall productivity of an organisation and acts as an important guide in bringing prosperity to the firm (Vitez...
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...the cost to perform an activity, produce a product or render a service. W.B. Lawrence stressed the importance of accountants becoming familiar with cost accounting in his 1930 text because even then, “the modern factory occupies more space and employs many more workers than did the factory of a generation ago”. In 1940, John Blocker recommended in his text additional uses for cost accounting in other industries, such as construction, mining, utilities and nonprofit organizations. He believed that all of these businesses needed to consider that the costing in different departments within a company could be controlled through cost accounting. Even in the 1960’s accountants and system designers developed cost accounting to do more than measure performance. Cost accounting was an integral part of planning and control in businesses. After that, 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 identify correctly the true costs of processes. Consequently, management and quality professionals are unable to make sound decisions or make decisions based on the misrepresented data...
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...the company are performed internally. The other activities including sales, warehousing, and shipping are outsourced to various external companies. The following questions explain the costing methods of the Super Bakery and what costing method system is the best process for the Super Bakery. Cost Methods Evaluated * What strategies and tactics did the management of Super Bakery, Inc. use to increase sales and growth? Management of Super Bakery Inc. increased sales by combining the external companies together with the parent company for maximized values and work flow. These values include: * Minimum investment * Staffing expenses * Fixed assets * Working capital. The growth of the company consists of controlling the quality and costs of services, which was not easy when the costs increased for orders in different parts of the country. The high profit margins were subsidizing orders with low profit margins and the Super Bakery needed a system to assign costs to each order correctly. * Why did Super Bakery’s management think it was necessary to install an ABC system? Do you agree with their reasoning? If you disagree, identify your recommended costing system, including your rationale, to management. I agree with the Super Bakery for installing the ABC system. Activity-Based Costing or the ABC system is ideal for the Super Bakery because this system leads to more pool costs, leads to enhanced control over overhead costs, and leads to management making...
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...H & R Block is one of the largest and oldest service providers. The company was founded by brothers Henry and Richard Bloch in 1955. The company began franchising in 1956 and they went public in 1962. The company employed over 100,000 tax professionals that are trained both within the U.S. and worldwide. The company has prepared more than 550 million tax returns since the business started in 1955. One key important key to the company success is that they have a retail office within 5 miles of most Americans. You are able to do your taxes both in person and on-line because H & R Block offers these services. The tax-payer can chose to walk into an office and work face-to-face with the tax specialist, they can work totally on their own using the online or packaged do-it-yourself tax prep tools, or they can utilize the do-it-yourself software with unlimited help from and online tax professional. H & R Block will offer you a wide variety of tax consulting services. Straight forward tax return offers the most basic start which is simple. You are able to accomplished this either on-line or in house. H & R Block also offer “drop off” service. A small business service is offered by H & R which includes helping the preparer to navigate the tax requirement of running a business. This is done throughout the year and not just a year-end service. H & R offers a service called “Best of Both”. This is where you get the convenience of doing it online with tax support preparation from...
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...Characteristics of an organization contributing to the use of activity based techniques Activity Based Costing (ABC) is a costing methodology used to trace overhead costs directly to cost objects, i.e. products, processes, services, or customers. Costs are assigned to specific activities (e.g. engineering, manufacturing or purchasing) based on their use of resources and costs are assigned to cost objects based on their use of activities. ABC recognizes the causal relationship of cost drivers to activities. ABC techniques enable a business to decide which products, services, and resources are increasing their profitability, and which are contributing to losses. Certain organizations appear to be more successful in implementing ABC than others. ABC helps the managers in these organizations to make the right decisions regarding product mix, pricing, process improvements and product designs. Closer look reveals characteristics of an organization such as structure, product range or environment contributing to these successes. Cost Structure Where overhead costs comprises major portion of product costs as compared to direct costs such as direct labour and direct materials, correctly attributes overhead costs to product is highly important. In modern business, service departments plays a more and more important role than in the past in which production department is mainly responsible for key manufacturing activities. Overall product and service costs are more influenced by...
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...Issues in Management Essay Introduction With the rapid development of knowledge, economy and communication technologies, the world economic integration and international division of labor is increasingly deepening. Enterprises, as one of the most important elements in global value chain are facing both opportunities and challenges. Traditionally speaking, medium sized enterprises (SME) are primarily facing towards their home-market (Lindmark, 1998). However, due to the trend of globalization, more small and medium-sized enterprises have already started international expansion (Knight and Cavusgil, 1996). In the process of economic globalization, the competitive advantage depends largely on the enterprise innovation and the ability to enter into the market quickly. This essay will discuss the globalization process of a manufacturing company located in a G7 economy making high quality agricultural equipment and both the positive and negative features of globalization. The globalization process of the company Although internationalization is a common sense in today’s marketing, however, to discuss the internationalization process of enterprise, it is important to define enterprise internationalization itself clearly. Beamish(1990) defined enterprise internationalization as "the process by which firms both increase their awareness of the direct and indirect influence of international transactions on their future, and establish and conduct transactions with other countries...
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...Week 8 Developing Good Business Sense Assignment 67/75 92% A- | Operations and Material Management in Business | | Heidi Belieu | BUS/210 | Robert Shereda | 11/4/2012 | Developing Good Business Sense- Why Do Operating Systems Differ? Many people take the way goods and services are provided to them for granted. They do not think about the nature of the operating system that produces the goods and services they receive. To improve your understanding of how OMM processes work, complete the following assignment. 1. Choose three companies and observe how employees do their tasks. These can be three different fast-food restaurants or three entirely different types of companies, such as a fast-food restaurant, department store, or the emergency room of a hospital. 2. Think about the differences in the operations involved in the input, operations, and output stages of these companies. Try to identify the nature of their operating systems. Are employees organized in different ways? If so, why? If possible, talk to the managers and employees in these operations to further your analysis. 3. What are the main kinds of OMM costs companies have? How does this affect their OMM operations? 4. How do companies design their operating systems to give them a competitive advantage? Operations and Material Management in Business | I will establish the differences in the operations involved in the input, operations, and output stages of three local businesses that I access almost...
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...Management of Small Business Firms | Analysis Report – Assignment 2 | Mersha TantaryS0223372MGMT11109 – Introduction to ManagementGenevieve HealyCQUniversity Sydney Campus | 5/10/2012 5/10/2012 Executive Summary The focus of the paper is on the article by Verreynne (2012) the secret to running a successful small firm? Mind your own business. The main idea is to determine the success small businesses and how their management practices differ from the large companies. The small business can differ from the lifestyle focused and the growth oriented firms, the lifestyle focused emphasise most on the customer and employee retention through providing them a sense of ownership whereas the growth oriented firms keep working in learning and development. Behind the unique way on how the small firms manage their companies, there is a laxity of business plans in most of the organisations which end up with slower progress or growth. While leadership in small firms are the best aspect compare to other firms since most of people in the organisation play an important role by working independently. Small entrepreneurial businesses without family ties and household or family businesses are strongly concerned with economic security, business survival, maintenance, and growth. For the small businesses, leaders are vision process-oriented, where managers are organizational-oriented. Both leaders and managers focus on people, but managers also focus on systems and structures. Leaders...
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...driving the business towards restoration in order to strengthen their position in the global economy. The attention focuses on product quality, processes for the production, and improving workforce. However, many companies are still using the same traditional costing systems, Cooper and Kaplan (1991).The absorption costing paved way due to the lack of visibility for indirect costs so the ABC has been adopted by many organizations rapidly. According to Krajnc et al. (2011), the main difference of ABC to absorption costing lies on how they treat indirect production costs (overheads) and sales. The fundamental goal of ABC is to identify as much as possible direct relationships between products and resources consumed through activities conducted from production to disposal. The ABC system is based on the assumption that the support activities such as activities and sales, the cost of which traditional systems characterized as overheads, offer opportunities for the implementation of activities, and thus are not just for sharing costs. In an absorption costing when the volume of overheads is larger, the likelihood of distortions in reported costs is also greater. In general, overheads that exceed 15 percent of the total cost can cause inaccuracies, Turney (1996). Many companies had major problems by these inaccuracies and so they started using ABC. The traditional approach to cost allocation consists of three steps: Concentration of costs in the productive and non - productive parts...
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...three different chapters respectively. Directors of Jessop ltd wants to know how a management accountant can contribute on Jessop’s continuous growth. I find on my study strategic management is very likely forward looking not like traditional cost accounting. Strategic management accounting is considering external factors like competitors and management accounting contributes not only strategy developing also critically evaluates the current strategy of any organisation. In addition, management accountant can assist to control costs by implementing activity based costing methods, offer competitive pricing, budgeting process etc. Also, by applying benchmarking process, management accountant can discover strengths and weakness of Jessop ltd and way to overcome these weaknesses and keep their steady growth by exploiting all strengths. In the second chapter of this study has described various types of relevant and irrelevant cost as well as tells which costs should management of Jessop be included on total cost calculation and why should not consider. Overall impacts of relevant and irrelevant costs (revenue) on decision making has depicted on that chapter in brief form. Focal point of final chapter is on how Jessop will be beneficiary by successful implementation of activity based costing (ABC) and various problems of execution of ABC which may offset all those benefits. Concluded in concise small or medium sized organisation should use ABC or not. Chapter one 1...
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