...Background Study Capital budgeting is the process by which firms determine how to invest their capital. Included in this process are the decisions to invest in new projects, reassess the amount of capital already invested in existing projects, allocate and ration capital across divisions, and acquire other firms. In essence, the capital budgeting process defines the set and size of a firm’s real assets, which in turn generate the cash flows that ultimately determine its profitability, value and viability. In principle, a firm’s decision to invest in a new project should be made according to whether the project increases the wealth of the firm’s shareholders. For example, the Net Present Value (NPV) rule specifies an objective process by which firms can assess the value that new capital investments are expected to create. As Graham and Harvey (2001) document this rule has steadily gained in popularity since Dean (1951) formally introduced it, but its widespread use has not eliminated the human element in capital budgeting. Because the estimation of a project’s future cash flows and the rate at which they should be discounted is still a relatively subjective process, the behavioural traits of managers still affect this process. Capital budgeting is a process that is used to determine whether or not certain projects are worthwhile investments. Another term for capital budgeting is called an “investment appraisal.” Every firm has both a limited amount of capital available and a...
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...UNSW@CANBERRA ZBUS8147 (Business of Managing Projects), Session 1, 2015 Assessment Item 3 – Business Case A Project to Review Curriculum Management Process to Expedite Updating Aegis Training Courses and Improve Aegis Training Outcomes: Business Case. 1. Introduction 2.1. Purpose of the document: This document seeks funding from Director of ATRC Training to undertake Project Curriculum Management (CM) Change, an initiative to expedite changes to the curriculum for ATRC Officer Courses. The business case also confirms the project key parameters and serves as a brief for stakeholders. 2.2. Overview of the Project: Currently there is a three month delay in making simple amendments to any courses, including Power Point updates and reference changes. This project aims to reduce the time to less than 4 weeks and ensure all appropriate milestones are still met. The analysis will take 8 weeks to complete. 2.3. Project appraisal: This project is assessed as high yield, low cost and a low risk initiative. 2. Business context 3.4. The current process to make changes to the curriculum is taking on average 3 months. This is not in line with the current ATRC Strategic Objectives, ‘Increase Training Effectiveness’, and ‘Improve Execution in Production and Efficiency’. This is directly impacting on ATRCs Targeted Outputs which are to provide ‘Total Mission Accomplishment’ to the Fleet, which involves producing Naval Officers that are ‘Trained and...
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...H A P T E R 3 Project Selection and Portfolio Management Chapter Outline 70 Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, Second Edition, by Jeffrey K. Pinto. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc. 000200010270649984 PROJECT PROFILE Project Selection Procedures: A Cross-Industry Sampler INTRODUCTION 3.1 PROJECT SELECTION 3.2 APPROACHES TO PROJECT SCREENING AND SELECTION Method One: Checklist Model Method Two: Simplified Scoring Models Limitations of Scoring Models Method Three: The Analytical Hierarchy Process Method Four: Profile Models 3.3 FINANCIAL MODELS Payback Period Net Present Value Discounted Payback Internal Rate of Return Options Models Choosing a Project Selection Approach PROJECT PROFILE Project Selection and Screening at GE: The Tollgate Process 3.4 PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT Objectives and Initiatives Developing a Proactive Portfolio Keys to Successful Project Portfolio Management Problems in Implementing Portfolio Management Summary Key Terms Solved Problems Discussion Questions Problems Case Study 3.1 Keflavik Paper Company Project Profile Case Study 3.2 Project Selection at Nova Western, Inc. Internet Exercises Notes Chapter Objectives After completing this chapter you should be able to: 1. Explain six criteria for a useful project-selection/screening model. 2. Understand how to employ checklists and simple scoring models to select projects. 3. Use more sophisticated...
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...last thing on an innovation team leader’s list of things to do, especially when typical meetings entail lengthy slide decks on the merits of projects and research studies on the risks of new products. Gate meetings often require stacks of administrative paperwork and template after template of fact and figure tracking. Most people would probably rather spend their time creating than justifying. Gate meetings can be faster, easier and more effective. Improve the “what”, “who” and “how” of your meetings to make them less of a drain and more valuable for the organization. What? The time spent preparing lengthy presentations places unnecessary administrative burdens on already constrained resources. Many templates often represent the same data communicated in different ways. This redundancy of information wastes time and opens the door for error, misrepresented data, flawed decision making and eventually mistrust in the process itself. Address the “what” by standardizing the gate review template into a simple and effective document. Limit the presentation to a subset of data to focus the meeting on key project information and critical success factors such as strategic fit, size of prize, business unit impact, technical risk and likelihood of commercial success. Who? Most organizations already have a governance team in place to review projects and make decisions. But just having that team in place does not result in an effective gate meeting. Successful organizations also establish...
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...Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 119 (2014) 229 – 236 Project portfolio management in a company strategy implementation, a case study Irja Hyväria* a Martela Oyj, Aalto University School of Business, Finland Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the project portfolio management in different business organizations. Project portfolio management is seen as a holistic activity, dependent on the organization's strategy. This study aims to determine how the project portfolio decisions are made and how the project portfolio is managed. Also other organizational factors which may affect the efficiency of project portfolio will be considered. In this study, research method was case study carried out in business organizations. The study showed interconnection between company strategy, project portfolio and projects in process and practice. The results indicate that project portfolio management is, however, facing people challenges in managing project portfolio. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the IPMA. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the IPMA. Keywords: Project portfolio management; business organizations; company strategy; leadership* 1. Introduction Nowadays organizations face challenges in their...
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...Question 1 : What were the business challenges facing Maruti Suzuki management prior to adopting the Oracle suite? Before using Oracle lines of products, Maruti Suzuki used its own software to manage its different businesses. As these systems were not created by the same vendor, Maruti's businesses struggled to communicate with each other. As a result, some figures and data had to be uploaded into the system multiple times, creating duplicates of the same piece of information. As systems were different, Headquarters suffered from a lack of control on its subsidiaries, creating a real human dependence upon those who input the data. Furthermore, with Maruti Suzuki's businesses expanding, the number of "home-made" management software increased, as well as the number of people employed to run them. High support costs were then one big business issue. As every subsidiaries got their own system, the quality of the pieces of information collected dropped. Multiple management systems had also a deep impact on how fast Corporate Strategy could be decided. As each system followed different timetable and way to compile data, the company had to take extra time to wait for all data to come to the parent company and then rearrange the pieces of information in an unique format. The exponential growth of this company increased the need for an easier, centralized way to deal with batches of data scattered around India. In order to maintain its leadership, Suzuki needed to better coordinate...
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...Implementation Methodology and Recommended Application - Executive Brief (April 2012) - Introduction Balanced Scorecard is an integrated, organization-wide management system that drives, in an aligned manner, the transformation, improvement and modernization efforts of all hierarchical levels towards the accomplishment of organization’s Strategy. For this reason, Balanced Scorecard is also known as a Strategy Execution system. More precisely, Balanced Scorecard represents a framework for aligned Strategic Planning and for the consistent management of the organizational and individual performance in the execution of the Strategic Plan. Furthermore, Balanced Scorecard is a communication tool that helps each employee better understand where the Strategy drives the organization, what the plan is for reaching that destination and what their departmental and individual measured contribution is to that convergent effort. With such understanding, the employees – whether directly involved in the planned Strategy Execution, or not – can also change and improve the way they perform their daily jobs through micro-decisions that are both convergent and complementary to the execution of organization’s Strategic Plan. BSC History Balanced Scorecard has been launched twenty years ago as a first set of principles for balanced strategic Objectives and Measures/KPIs setting and measurement. The “parents” of Balanced Scorecard are Dr. Robert S. Kaplan, Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business...
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...| Apple’s Strategic Management | MGT2037 Principles of Management | | Walker, Craig | 2/24/2015 | [Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document.] | Apple, Inc. is an know name in computer technology, Apple leads the computer and technology industry in innovation thanks to the award winning desktop and notebook computer known as OX X operating system (Yoffie & Slind 2008). Apple management style has been documented and used to study how to be a successful business. Steve Job was a pioneer in the way he took the company leadership to become a top company. Apple success is no secret even if secrecy is part of their strategic strategy. They invest in their employee and this help them not only a strong company but a company that people tops in the technology field are flocking to work with. For Apple to be a successful organization it has to have a successful strategic management plan, the managers must learn to think strategically and have the ability to evaluate their environment and develop new ideas. Steve Jobs one of the founding fathers of Apple Inc. used strategic planning to his advantage by making Apple mission simple one-bringing easy to use computers to the market place and revolutionizing the industry with simple easy computers and devices for consumers to use. Apple...
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...Strategic Planning for eServices1 A Short Tutorial for the Beginners2 Amjad Umar, Ph.D. Senior Technical Advisor, United Nations-GAID Executive Summary Strategic planning of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)-based services, abbreviated as eServices, is a crucial task for the public as well as private sectors. Given a strategic project (or an initiative), a strategic planning process identifies the main alternatives, the key business/technical issues involved in each alternative, and helps in evaluation and selection of the most viable alternatives before initiating the project. To succeed, the strategic planning process must explore a large number of people, process and technology issues and eliminate surprises. This is not easy because the task of eservices planning in the digital age is considerably complicated due to the changing business and technical landscape and an ever-growing body of knowledge. This short tutorial gives a quick overview of the vast body of knowledge that entails a typical strategic ICT planning process and presents a conceptual framework for further exploration of this important area. 1. An Example – eServices for a City Ms Fran Kuye is mayor of a city with one million inhabitants, located in a developing country.She wants to use the knowledge gained from her MPA (Master of Public Administration) to transform her city to a “Digital City” that heavily relies on eservices to support its citizens. Her overall goal is...
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...existing HHS foundation for execution 4 Definition of the Operating Model for HHS 5 HHS – H&C, Unification Model 6 HHS – P, Coordination Model 7 HHS – RF, Coordination Model 7 Operating Model Summary 8 Steps to Implementing the Operating Model 9 Proposal for an Enterprise Architecture 11 IT Capability 12 Business Objectives 12 Funding Priorities 13 Key Management Capability 13 Who Defines Applications 13 Key IT Governance Issues 14 Strategic Implications 14 Summary of HHS Architectural Stage 14 Setting Priorities to implement Enterprise Architecture 15 Changes in Business Process 15 Changes in Business Roles 16 Rationale for Changes 16 Changes in Organizational Structure 16 Changes in Business Partner Relationships 17 Setting Priorities Summary 17 HHS IT Engagement Model Recommendations 18 Companywide IT Governance 18 Project Management 19 Linking Mechanisms 19 Business Partner Communications 21 New Opportunities 21 Outsourcing Opportunities - Recommendations 21 Size and Scale Matter 22 Simple Example 22 Not so Simple 23 Complex Outsourcing 23 Plug and Play 24 Growing the Organization - Recommendations 25 Organic Growth 25 Growth Through Mergers and Acquisitions 26 Optimization before Growth 26 Operating Model Dependency 26 Growth Summary 29 Summary of Enterprise Architecture Proposal for HHS 29 References 31 Executive...
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...School of Management Blekinge Institute of Technology THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PAYBACK METHOD IN CAPITAL BUDGETING DECISION. By Alaba Femi, AWOMEWE & Oludele Olawale, OGUNDELE Supervisor: Anders Hederstierna Thesis for the Master’s degree in Business Administration Fall/Spring 2008 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PAYBACK METHOD IN CAPITAL BUDGETING DECISION. By Alaba Femi, AWOMEWE & Oludele Olawale, OGUNDELE A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MBA (Master of Business Administration) Blekinge Institute of Technology 2008 Supervisor Anders Hederstierna ii Abstract Title: The importance of the Payback method in Capital budgeting decision. Authors: Alaba Femi, Awomewe and Oludele Olawale, Ogundele Supervisor: Anders Hederstierna Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology Course: Master’s thesis in business administration, 15 credits (ECTS). Background and Problem Discussion: The capital budgeting decision has been a very typical issue in the sustenance of a company. Several companies have lost their identity or liquidated due to wrong capital budgeting decision they made at one particular time or the other. Based on these prevalent problems in industries and the effect of globalisation on industries, it is important to use effective method to analyse investment before decision is made. Capital budgeting is extremely important because the decision made involve the direction...
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...Project Cost Control Tools & Techniques Jason Owens, jason@jasonowens.com Scott Burke Matthew Krynovich DJ Mance Last Updated: 1/15/07 Project Cost Control Tools & Techniques Introduction Contributors: Owens, Jason, jason@jasonowens.com Burke, Scott Krynovich, Matthew Mance, DJ The formatting and minor edits of this document have been updated since its original creation. Contact information for some of the contributing authors has been removed for reasons of privacy and in no way indicates a lesser degree of contribution. All project team members have contributed equally to this paper. Copyright © 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without written permission. Jason Owens, jason@jasonowens.com Page 2 of 26 Project Cost Control Tools & Techniques Introduction Executive Summary This paper reviews certain tools and techniques that can be used in order to help those responsible for managing a project to potentially better control and manage project costs. The aspects of life-cycle costing are presented and opportunities for optimizing cost management are presented. Finally, a table summarizing the recommendations are presented in the conclusion. Jason Owens, jason@jasonowens.com Page 3 of 26 Project Cost Control Tools & Techniques Introduction Table of Contents Executive Summary ............................
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...TRANSACTIONS ON ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT, VOL. 49, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2002 59 R&D Project Selection Using the Analytic Network Process Laura M. Meade and Adrien Presley Abstract—The analytic network process (ANP) is presented as a potentially valuable method to support the selection of projects in a research and development (R&D) environment. This paper first discusses the requirements of the R&D project selection problem, which requires the allocation of resources to a set of competing and often disparate project proposals. Among the factors complicating this task is the need to make the decision within the framework of an enterprise’s strategic objectives and organizational structure while considering and integrating financial and strategic benefits of each project. The paper discusses the use of the ANP, a general form of Saaty’s analytic hierarchy process, as a model to evaluate the value of competing R&D project proposals. A generic ANP model developed by the authors, which includes in its decision levels the actors involved in the decision, the stages of research, categories of metrics, and individual metrics, is presented. The paper concludes with a case study describing the implementation of this model at a small high-tech company, including data based on the actual use of the decision making model. Index Terms—Analytic hierarchy process, analytic network process, multicriteria decision making, project selection, R&D management, R&D projects. I. INTRODUCTION OR MANY...
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...1 Project Overview In this paper we will examine the process that Friar Tucker used to decide which project to implement that best supported their organizational goals. We will also use similar techniques to create a simple strategic plan outline to be used to guide us on a personal project. According to the simulation, “All projects that an organization undertakes are linked to the organization’s strategic plan. This entails the development of a process by which projects are selected based on their relevance to the strategic plan” (Wideman, 1999). This of course is much easier said then done. However after completing the first step of the project by insuring that the project is necessary and pertains to the organizational mission the next step is finding the right person to oversee the project. This position is much like a quarterback leading a team to the goal line for a touchdown. To many the life of a project manager is simple; deliver a project according to three criteria: on time, on budget and to specifications. But, how are you to get there exactly? One way is to create a project plain. A project plan is similar to map. It helps guide Project Managers and the Project Team to their destination or goal. In the simulation it was very clear that a project plan was used, but was not prepared to offer guidance as challenges were presented. The team was not as prepared as they would have been with more in depth planning. Many of us want to jump straight to the execution...
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...Project Management Project Proposal This project is targeted at developing a comprehensive online order placement system (Bezoz et al. 1999) for utilization in the food items service market which will enable the restaurants to easily and quickly handle an online list of options which client can browse over the Internet and utilize to place orders with only a few mouse clicks. The clients will have to select whether they need the food items to be sent to them or it will be packed for pick-up. The charges or payments will be made upon pick-up or delivery. There will be the software application administrator who will have the privileges to add and handle user accounts, a supervisor who will be handling food items and purchases and last but not least a food deliverer who will be working explicitly with awaiting supplies. The client will be able to view the food items, sign-up and place the order. There will be a verification invoice (printable) for each and every purchase hat is made by the client. The development of this project will be determined by Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) with HTML and PHP as the development 'languages' while MySQL server will be used as the data source of the project. HTML language is beneficial due to its simple to use and understand approval qualities while MySQL has better innovative functionalities and qualities, is free, has good protection and possess interoperability. The benefits of using PHP language in developing this project...
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