...kenyatta university Introduction to business and management Prof.Alex selel 2006 Undergraduate study in Economics, Management,Finance and the Social Sciences This is an extract from a subject guide for an undergraduate course offered as part of the kenyatta university International Programmes in Economics, Management, Finance and the Social Sciences. Materials for these programmes are developed by academics at the kenyatta university School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). ContentsIntroduction1Aims of the course2 Learning outcomes2 Reading and learning resources2 Online study resources6 Developing a glossary7 Hours of study and using this subject guide8 The structure of this course10 Examination advice.11 Section 1: The development of business and management13Chapter 1: Concepts, definitions and origins15Aims of the chapter15 Learning outcomes15 Essential reading15 Further reading16 Beginning your study16 The importance of key concepts16 A closer look at business and organisations17 A closer look at management19 The evolution of business and management studies21 Chapter review25 A reminder of your learning outcomes26 Sample examination questions26 Advice on answering a question26 Chapter 2: Understanding the business organisation – a multidisciplinary approach29Aims of the chapter29 Learning outcomes29 Essential reading29 Further reading30 Introduction30 A multidisciplinary view of business and management30 Sociological perspectives31...
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...this report is to explore the cultural determinants of both Japan and United States. The report elucidates the differences between the two countries in terms of leadership styles as influenced by their respective different cultures. The reason in selecting Japan as one of the research countries is because of its deep rooted strong cultural beliefs and group centered style in a business perspective. It is well known to the world that Japan is a closed economy but at the same time, extremely competitive. On the other hand, United States make a good contrast in terms of its open culture and individualistic style of doing business. Despite the differences, both are amongst the most competitive and successful nations in the world. The compromising Japanese and confrontational Americans do make this research journey an exciting and interesting one. Different cultures exist in the world and their impact on leadership styles in their respective countries is significant. As defined by Luthans and Doh (2009, p96), “Culture is the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behaviour.” And culture is gained through transmissions between individuals in forms of symbols, rituals, languages, stories told and etc. It will be interesting to find out that the countries’ cultures do in fact influence their leadership styles to quite a great extent. In this report, two entirely different cultures; Japan and United States will be explored in depth to provide...
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...Introduction to business and management J. Timms MN1107, 996D107, 2790107 2011 Undergraduate study in Economics, Management, Finance and the Social Sciences This is an extract from a subject guide for an undergraduate course offered as part of the University of London International Programmes in Economics, Management, Finance and the Social Sciences. Materials for these programmes are developed by academics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). For more information, see: www.londoninternational.ac.uk This guide was prepared for the University of London International Programmes by: J.N. Timms, BA, MSocSci, Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics and Political Science. The 2006 and 2009 editions of this guide were amended and updated by A.E. Benjamin, BSc, MA, Dip Stats, previously at Imperial College Business School. This is one of a series of subject guides published by the University. We regret that due to pressure of work the author is unable to enter into any correspondence relating to, or arising from, the guide. If you have any comments on this subject guide, favourable or unfavourable, please use the form at the back of this guide. University of London International Programmes Publications Office Stewart House 32 Russell Square London WC1B 5DN United Kingdom Website: www.londoninternational.ac.uk Published by: University of London © University of London 2002, reprinted...
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...Chapter 1 Management and Organizations 1) A great manager makes a job more enjoyable and productive. 2) Managers play an important role in dealing with various challenges being faced by organizations today. 3) Today's managers are just as likely to be women as they are men. 4) A manager must coordinate and oversee the work of other people so that organizational goals can be accomplished. 5) A manager's job is all about personal achievement. 6) In traditionally structured organizations managers can be classified as first-line managers, middle managers, or top managers. 7) Middle managers are responsible for making organization-wide decisions and establishing the plans and goals that affect the entire organization. 8) Effectiveness refers to getting the most output from the least amount of input. 9) Efficiency is described as "doing things right." 10) The four contemporary functions of management are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. 11) Determining who reports to whom is part of the controlling function of management. 12) Directing and motivating are part of the controlling function of management. 13) When a manager performs the controlling function of management, he must monitor and evaluate performance. 14) Figurehead, leader, and liaison are all interpersonal managerial roles according to Mintzberg. 15) Disturbance handler is one of Mintzberg's interpersonal roles. 16) According to Robert L. Katz, managers...
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...Social Entrepreneurship Social entrepreneurship is the process of pursuing innovative solutions to social problems. It provides unparalleled platforms at the regional and global level to highlight and advance leading models of sustainable social innovation. It identifies a select community of social entrepreneurs and engages it in shaping global, regional and industry agendas that improve the state of the world in close collaboration with the other stakeholders of the World Economic Forum. Social entrepreneurship is about applying practical, innovative and sustainable approaches to benefit society in general, with an emphasis on those who are marginalized and poor. It is a term that captures a unique approach to economic and social problems, an approach that cuts across sectors and disciplines grounded in certain values and processes that are common to each social entrepreneur, independent of whether his/ her area of focus has been education, health, welfare reform, human rights, workers' rights, environment, economic development, agriculture, etc., or whether the organizations they set up are non-profit or for-profit entities. It is this approach that sets the social entrepreneur apart from the rest of the crowd of well-meaning people and organizations who dedicate their lives to social improvement. About organizational models * Leveraged non-profit ventures The entrepreneur sets up a non-profit organization to drive the adoption of an innovation that addresses a market...
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...CHAPTER 6 Corporate-Level Strategies Learning Objectives CONTENTS After reading this chapter, you should be able to: Introduction 1. Understand corporate strategy and identify its components. Corporate Strategy 2. Evaluate and identify different approaches to corporate strategy development. The Portfolio Approach 3. Understand how organisations can create and sustain the multibusiness advantage. Corporate Strategy and Adding Value 4. Appreciate how different corporate strategies could add value to a corporation. 5. Appreciate the complexities of developing corporate strategy at the international level. The Core Competence Approach Creating and Sustaining the Multibusiness Advantage Corporate-Level Strategy in the International Perspective Summary Study Questions References and Further Readings 109 110 CHAPTER 6: Corporate-Level Strategies Opening Case The case study organisation is one of the largest international hotel chains operating in more than one hundred countries with its internationally recognised brands. However, the company does not have a culturally diverse workforce at the senior level. It usually recruits executives to the key decision-making positions either from the United Kingdom or the United States. In this respect, it is defined as Anglo-Saxon. Some people argue that the company should get the best from other nationalities involved in the development of an organisation’s strategy. Different...
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...aCHAPTER 1 BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS At the end of this Module the student shall be able to: Understand the various types of business organisations that can be established. Appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of each type of business Introduction A business activity is any legal activity that may be owned by one person as a sole proprietor or can be owned jointly by two or more people thereby creating a partnership. The main aim of many business operations is to make a profit either in the short or long term. A business activity is not only trading activities like the popular Kantemba business that have spread along many high ways in cities and towns. A business may be in the form of manufacturing something for sale, buying and selling for profit, providing services etc. Some examples of businesses include banking, insurance, retail trade, producing beer, providing educational services, Shoprite Chain Stores, Game stores, Internet services, tourist lodge or hotel, transport services etc. Element 1.1 Types of Business Enterprises A business may be owned by one person as a sole proprietor or can be owned jointly with another person or partner as a partnership. Another way in which a business could be owned is through the establishment of a limited liability company. A limited liability company can be privately or publicly owned. Another form of business organization could be through a cooperative society. The government may on behalf of the entire citizenry own businesses...
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...Introduction 1 Concept of Leadership 1 What is Effective Leadership? 2 The Difference between Managers & Leaders 6 Leadership Roles and Functions 7 Executive Leadership “Defined” 9 A Typology of Leaders 11 Facets of Leadership Effectiveness 13 The Role of the Team Leader 15 Leader as a Change Agent 15 Leadership in High -Tech Environment 17 The Leadership Challenge 18 Conclusion 21 ‘Lots of people can have good ideas, but that’s not leadership. A real leader can turn those ideas into action, by inspiring and motivating people and getting the very best out of them.’ Introduction Organisations are like aircrafts. They don’t run themselves, except during downfall. They need the right people to make them work, and not just any people. The effectiveness of an employee – particularly individuals in leadership positions – determines how the organisational ‘machine’ will perform. Employees need some guidance, some suggestions about where to go and how to get there. Ethological studies also suggest that people have an actual need for leadership. The Anglo-Saxon root of the words lead, leader, and leadership is laed, which means ‘path’ or ‘road’. The verb laeden means ‘to travel’. Thus a leader is one who shows fellow travellers the way by walking ahead. Leadership is the most important means of direction. To lead is to guide, direct, integrate and energize the efforts of people towards a common goal. A leader is one who influences the attitudes and...
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...measures are relatively precise and objective. The cost of implementing financial result controls is often small relative to that of other forms of management control. Types of financial responsibility centers Investment centers Investment centers are responsibility centers whose managers are held accountable for the accounting returns on the investment made to generate those returns. Profit centers Profit centers are responsibility centers whose managers are held accountable for profit which is a measure of the difference between the revenues generated and the costs of generating those revenues. The goal for not-for-profit organization is to break even, or perhaps even incur limited losses. However, for-profit entities is normally not considered desirable to generate higher profits than those budgeted. Two limited forms: When sales-focused entities are made into profit centers by charging the entity managers the standard cost of the products sold----make them accountable for gross profit Where cost-focused entities are assigned revenues based on a simple function of costs. Revenue centers Revenue centers are responsibility centers whose managers are held accountable for generating revenues which is a financial measure of output. It provides a...
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...The collaboration between emotional intelligence and the leadership A Case study of SAGA Corporation Presented By: Muhammad Adnan College: London College of Business Supervisor Name: Joy Joseph Submission Date: Declaration This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. |Signed | |(Candidate) | |Date | | | STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. The correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. |Signed | |(Candidate) | |Date | | | STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organizations. |Signed | ...
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...organisation is captured by seven primary characteristics. These are measured on a high to low scale and they are very commonly used to provide a synthesized picture of an organisation’s culture. Eventually, this serves as a basis for the feeling of the shared understanding that members have about the organisation at hand, the way in which the members are expected to behave and the way in which things are done (Lok & Crawford, 1999). Commonwealth Bank has a good employee friendly organisation culture and is more or less a blend of the seven characteristics of organisation cultures. However, it is always better to avoid the flaws in each type of culture and adapt to only the meritorious attributes of these cultures. For this purpose, it is significant to analyse one’s own corporate environment and then figure out which blend of cultures suits best to the organisation as whole. The Bank focuses greatly on the incentivising the performance of the employees, in making the organisation more people oriented, getting a perfect mix of both innovative and stable organisation, in improving the collaboration and coordination amongst employees, in getting good quality results and outcomes for their customers to ensure better engagement with customers and ensuring optimum utilisation of all their resources or factors for the smooth functioning of the organisation. The Bank has already been working towards making the employees more and more acquainted with the culture of the company to...
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...officers worldwide. Samuel J. Palmisano Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer IBM Corporation Letter from the Chairman 3 A note to fellow CEOs In the first chapter of this report on dealing with complexity, the CEO of an industrial products company calls the economic environment of 2009 “a wake-up call.” I agree. I’d only add that it was just the latest in a series of alerts that sounded during the first decade of this new century. In a very short time, we’ve become aware of global climate change; of the geopolitical issues surrounding energy and water supplies; of the vulnerabilities of supply chains for food, medicine and even talent; and of sobering threats to global security. The common denominator? The realities — and challenges — of global integration. We occupy a world that is connected on multiple dimensions, and at a deep level — a global system of systems. That means, among other things, that it is subject to systems-level failures, which require systems-level thinking about the effectiveness of its physical and digital infrastructures. It is this unprecedented level of interconnection and interdependency that underpins the most important findings contained in this report. Inside this revealing view into the agendas of global business and public sector leaders, three widely shared perspectives stand in relief. 1) The world’s private and public sector leaders believe that a rapid escalation of “complexity” is the biggest challenge confronting them....
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...Family business models This page intentionally left blank Family business models Practical solutions for the family business Alberto Gimeno Associate Professor in Business Policy and Director of the Advanced Management Program (AMP), ESADE Business School, Spain Gemma Baulenas Family Business Knowledge S.L. Joan Coma-Cros Family Business Knowledge S.L. © Alberto Gimeno, Gemma Baulenas & Joan Coma-Cros 2010 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue...
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...A N I N S P I R I N G TO O L FO R O R G A N I Z AT I O N S A N D T H E P EO P L E W H O L E A D T H E M MOST IMPORTANT The Five Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization Peter F. Drucker Jim Collins, Philip Kotler, James Kouzes, Judith Rodin, V. Kasturi Rangan, and Frances Hesselbein 5 “Nobody, not even Socrates, has ever asked better questions than Peter Drucker. All the personality, all the wisdom is here to make your work dramatically more effective. There’s nothing better. It’s like having Peter at your side.” —Bob Buford, author, Halftime and Finishing Well, and founding chairman, Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management “Peter Drucker’s penetrating and profound insights are more relevant and needed today than when he originally produced them. This helpful revision of his classic Self-Assessment Tool offers managers and leaders in every sector—nonprofit, business, and government—a useful guide to figuring out what’s needed, why it matters, and how to make it work. At a time when the need for more effective management and more ethical leadership are the moral equivalent of global warming, Drucker’s common sense and courage should be modeled by everyone who cares about doing things right and doing the right thing.” —Ira A. Jackson, dean, Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, and board member, The Drucker Institute “Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions continue to be the indispensable questions that...
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...The biology of leadership The relation between leadership, psychopathy and hormones Master thesis Economics and Business 8th of August 2012 Name student: Ricardo Westendorp Student number: 294819rw Supervisor: Wouter van den Berg The biology of leadership PREFACE Around October, 2011, I started looking for a subject to graduate on, when a neuro-economical subject, involving the connection of leadership to psychopathy and hormones, crossed my path. I had to jump into it, because this subject matched the field I am interested in. Now, 8 months later, I present you my final work and I have enjoyed working on it. I have to be honest, this product would not have been able to be written if it wasn’t for the help of certain people. Therefore, I would like to use this section, to show my gratitude to some people, that helped me along the way. First of all, I thank the Erasmus School of Economics, for providing the financial support for this research. This research would definitely not have been possible, without the financial support of the ESE. Secondly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Wouter van den Berg, who has supported me, guided me and who has contributed intellectually. I would also like to thank Kashin Hau, who has made great contributions to the construction of the leadership questionnaire. Also, I would like to thank Sarstedt, who provided 500 saliva tubes. I am very thankful for the help of my parents. A great contribution has been made by my parents, Wim Westendorp...
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