Friday, September 13, 2019

Toyotas Efficiency and the Management System of the Organization Essay

Toyotas Efficiency and the Management System of the Organization - Essay Example The company’s production has been rising significantly with the economy and by 2012 it reached a level when it was the only company to produce ten million vehicles over twelve month period (Piotrowski and Guyette, 2010). The company was known for its quality products in the economy. The managers and the employees within the firm are efficient enough in running the business successfully. According to the researcher, it is considered as the world’s largest multinational automobile producing company. The company has been highly successful in gaining brand loyalty from the customers in the automobile market. It has gained competitiveness in the fuel efficiency as well as the designs that are highly favorable to the customers. Researchers say that Toyota’s efficiency has been due to the efficient production process applied by the company (Choi, Dooley and Rungtusanatham, 2001). The continuous improvement in the company’s technological process has been due to the horizontal and vertical integration in the production process. The researcher says that unlike the other multinational companies, Toyota’s focus has been on the quality of the vehicles that it produces and whether the company is efficient in producing as per the demands of the customers (Rajasekera, 2013). The company follows certain principles in order to carry out its business as the company launched a new program known as the ‘Toyota Way’ that depicts the culture within the economy (Rajasekera, 2013). The company follows the

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Finance accounting assignment on earning management

Finance accounting on earning management - Assignment Example The second part of the paper would answer questions relating to impairment of assets. It will involve a critique of the circumstances under which impairment is declared. It will also explain when companies must perform impairment reviews and examine a practical case of impairment my Peugeot-Citroen and Vodafone. A. Managers' Incentive for Earning Management. â€Å"Earning management occurs when managers use judgement in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports to either mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performance of the company or to influence contractual outcomes that depend on reporting accounting numbers† (Rowen and Yaari, 2009: 26). This implies that earning management is centred around the fact that a firm's directors and managers might want to present information in a way and manner that is not true nor accurate. Earning management is sometimes called disclosure management and creative accounting. It includes the use of approaches and systems to disclose accounting information in a way and manner that meets a defined end or objective (Alistair, 2008). Managers often have targets that are predetermined for them by the board of directors. This implies that they would have to work hard and do whatever is legally acceptable and possible to meet those objectives and standards. In the process of attaining the given standards and objectives of financial statements, most managers end up putting together financial statements in a creative manner. In other words, they do everything possible and practicable to balance the accounts so that it reflects the ends or the final figure that is expected of the management of an organization. In most situations, earning management is done to smoothen profits and ensure that the earning of the company in a given period is forged in a way and manner that it is in line with targets. This presents a different reality of the earnings of the period and this defeats the purpose of financial statements and financial reporting of capturing the economic realities in an objective and complete manner. These managers therefore manage their earning and disclosures in a way that favours them and enables them to appear to be meeting the end that they have in mind. In a research conducted by Cheng and Warfield (2005) they identified that the main objective for earning management amongst manager includes three interlinked ideas and concepts. They include: 1. Earning management incentives 2. Future manager trading. 3. Enhancement of organisational position. The first idea is that earning management incentive allows managers to attain the favour of people who set targets for them. This is because in most cases, managers are judged and assessed on the basis of the attainment of results and targets. In reality, manager's worth is identified by how well he meets the financial and economic targets that are set by the people at the top of corporate governance. There is therefore the desire or expectation to use creative techniques to ensure that they attain financial targets. This leads to pressure to use various loopholes and techniques in accounting concepts to present a favourable position. The second idea is that managers often get incentives that are tied to their performance.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Sustainable MARKETING campaign for Virginia Community Capital Inc Essay

Sustainable MARKETING campaign for Virginia Community Capital Inc - Essay Example More than the investments and the banking solution provided by the multi-million dollar enterprise, the services of the entity are directed to produce a positive impact on the community. The housing loans and investment solutions provided by Virginia Community capital Inc. for the housing and infrastructure development projects in the economy are aimed at benefit the economically weaker section of the community. The housing projects are also funded by the company in the geographically backward areas of the community. VCC was founded in 1995 and operated in micro lending projects in 3 countries till 2005. The organization transformed into a large multimillion dollar community development financial institution with its equity base rising to 17 million dollar. The capital base of the entity grew from 15 million dollar in 2005 to 19 million dollars in 2007 (Virginia Community Capital, 2013, p.1). The asset base grew to 28.3 million dollars by 2007. VCC has been involved in 23 housing pro jects aimed at community development in Virginia. The activities of VCC have created 623 housing facilities that are affordable to the economically weaker sections of the community. ... The company could plan to undertake activities of sustainable marketing campaign for delivering regulated community development financial services to this new market that has not been done earlier. The target market of Southside where VCC has planned to deliver funding solutions through savings programs and advisory services which had no or limited market penetration in the earlier stages have been shown in the map as given below (Virginia Community Capital, 2013, p.1). The Southside is the one of the vast regions of Virginia in which the Virginia Community Capital Inc. has provided investment solutions to the enterprises for carrying out economic housing development projects in order to create affordable housing facilities and increase the scope of employment in the region. The rationale behind choosing the customers of this market is to narrow the economic gap by increasing the purchasing power of the people through services like savings program, advisory services for fund investme nt in housing projects, etc. The savings programs would allow the economically downward sections of the communities of Southside to be able to purchase accommodation facilities that are already available at affordable prices in the economic housing development projects. Thus VCC would be able to play a crucial role in the stimulating the demand for the housing and facilities that are already available from the housing development projects. VCC: marketing campaign and its goals The three areas of interest for VCC in the marketing campaign are the people of the community, the planet or the communities in which VCC has the objective to achieve sustainable economic development through funding of housing projects

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

TAM model Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

TAM model - Thesis Example The concept aims to explain the aspects that facilitate the comprehension of the level of acceptance that can be shown by the user for any specific technology. There are basically four types of technology acceptance models that have evolved with the passage of the years: TAM: TAM is the most commonly applied model for evaluating the level of acceptance and usage by a user. Venkatesh stated that TAM was initially devised from Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) which was proposed by Ajzen and Fishbein in 1975 [86]. TAM is mainly based on two aspects that are directed towards evaluating the intention of a user to use a certain system or technology; perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Advantage: Venkatesh further explained the TAM model and stated that there exists a simple relation between these two factors [86]. Perceived ease of usage will be influenced by perceived usefulness since an easier technology will prove to be more useful for the user. He defined these two main aspe cts and stated the following definitions: Perceived Ease of Use: It is the perception of a technology from the perspective of the user. For example, the perception will measure the easiness of the functions that the system or technology has to offer; this easiness will result in lesser efforts to use the technology. Perceived Usefulness: It is the degree of benefits that are perceived to be attained from the usage of any technology. For example, a user will evaluate the e-government service and make a perceptiwon about the advantages that can be attained by him. The following figure describes the TAM model: Figure: TAM Model [85] Porter and Donthu stated that TAM can be adopted when research costs are required to be minimal but effective results need to be attained [92]. It explains greater degree of variance when the user’s attitude is required to be investigated. Disadvantage: This model was devoid of reflecting the demographic differences among the users and tried to measu re the level of acceptance while assuming constant profiles related to gender, age etc. Limitations: This model failed to address some of the perceptions of barriers of usage of computer technology [92]. TAM 2: TAM 2 was proposed by Venkatesh and Davis (2000) to overcome the limitations in the previous model of TAM [85]. Chuttur stated that their efforts (to propose a new model in place of the existing one) were initiated to address the limitations that were being witnessed in TAM regarding the explanation of how a user perceives something as useful or less appealing [85]. In trying to make the model more comprehensive, some new variables were proposed to attain effective reasoning regarding the preference of any system or technology. Chuttur also stated that in order to test the effectiveness of the newly proposed model, Venkatesh and Davis conducted a survey in which the participants were asked to provide their feedback regarding the usage of four systems; two of them were volunta ry while the other two were mandatory [85]. The following model was proposed for extending TAM and conducting the survey: Figure: TAM 2 attributes [85] The survey concluded that the model provided satisfactory results for mandatory, as well as voluntary technology and systems. However, it was also revealed that subjective norm did not play a role in

Monday, September 9, 2019

Price Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Price Strategy - Assignment Example For success in "pricing strategy," the marketing manager must understand how to heighten the concept by understanding the customers need the clarity on the market and understand the willingness to pay by the customers (Tanner Jr. & Raymond). Before a business determines the pricing strategy, it should first establish its objectives towards pricing and analyze the factors that may influence the optimum price placed on the product. Once the manager establishes the objectives and the factors, then the pricing strategy will focus on achieving the objectives (Tanner Jr. & Raymond). In many cases, the life cycle, or the sage as to which the business is currently at determined how the strategy will be, this is because products often have different stages when it comes to how it will hit the markets. The "Mexican Taco Restaurant "needs to determine the break-even point as per its pricing strategy, for this to be achieved the break-even analysis must be computed. The restaurants average order size of its customers is 7$ which is also the average order amount, the variable cost per order is 3$ while the fixed costs are 2000$ building lease, 500$ electricity and 3100$ for labor. For the "Mexican taco restaurant to reach" the break-even point the manager should adapt to new strategies. The first strategy is determining the price sensitivity, how sensitive is the price set for the product, is it high, or is its low. In determining the price sensitivity the marketing manager must understand that the higher the price the lower the volume, this strategy depend on how sensitive customers are in cases of price fluctuations, in cases where the customers are sensitive to higher prices then the marketing manager should lower the price so as to maintain the customers and also target new customers, this in turn ensures that the company meets its breakeven

Huella Online Travel Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Huella Online Travel - Case Study Example was also found that the firm was viewed as risky and not very reliable especially because of perceived security and stability concerns regarding the online security. People especially feared that online purchasing exposes them to cybercriminals and hackers. Consumers need to be provided with data about the workings of the organization, in Huella’s case, many claim they only used it to check prices and compare the products to what they were getting in regular brick and mortar store (Zhou and Chan 2008). The firm needs to enlighten customers on the merits of online shopping and reduce the negative perception associated with internet business. In addition, given that most people do not even know of Huella’s existence, the firm needs to educate perspective clients through aggressive advertisement so they are both aware of the products existence and what they are used for. Most importantly however is the phobia to do business online in as much as they have been found to techno-savvy, if Huella plans on making headway in the online market, it needs must educate its customer base on online security and ensure they are aware of the security protocols in place. Given that Huella is targets clients who use frequently use the internet, the target population in the Hong Kong market is the group aged above 15 years to 45 who either were using the internet currently or were likely to become generic users of online services in the future. This group makes up approximately 59% of the population in Hong Kong (Zhou and Chan 2008), whereby the youths were especially targeted because they are the heaviest consumers of online content. Consequently, they were by virtue of that more likely to come across Huella’s services on online marketing boards as they browsed through social media sites. Before carrying out the survey, the qualitative insights for the current Huella users however have to be tested; their sample basis is approximated to have generated HK$80.7 million in

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Use of Quick Response Codes in Health Care Research Paper

Use of Quick Response Codes in Health Care - Research Paper Example A quick response code is a matrix barcode, which can be read using a smartphone that has the right bar code reading application. In health care, the bar code is encoded with heath information or data of an individual. In order for a first respondent to access an individual’s data on the bar code during an emergency, the smartphone or other enabled devices can be used to scan the bar code (Davis, 2012). Although this technology in health care might play a big role in emergency cases, there are various concerns such as privacy and ethics concerns, raised by its use, which might discourage most health care institutions and individuals from adopting it. Body The history of the quick response codes is traced in Japan. This is where the Japan-based company ‘Denso Wave Corporation’ invented this technology in 1994. Initially, this technology was not meant for use in health care. Instead, the company invented this to help in tracking Toyota vehicles and vehicle parts, dur ing the process of manufacturing. However, in the most years, packaging companies and consumer advertisers have been responsible for the infiltration of the QR codes in the USA. Today, QR codes are found on the internet, on mails from advertisers, on books, and on billboards. In this case, the bar codes have data about the advertised products and the company, as well as the URL’s of the company. Most recently, QR codes have crossed the border from advertising and marketing industry to the health care sector (Maeder & Martin-Sanchez (2012) In health care, this technology is still new, therefore, has not been adopted by most health care institutions. Knowledge of the technology and expertise still lacks, since this technology is still in its initial stage of implementation. For instance, in the USA today, the implementation of this new technology is underway in the Marin County, in the state of California, through a partnership with Lifesquare. The health care professionals in this county are being equipped with iPhones with enabled bar code readers. On the other hand, Marin residents are encouraged to register their personal and medical information in the quick response bar codes available in CVS stores. Lifesquare requires the individuals to stick the bar code stickers to areas it recommends, such as wallets, and mobile phones, among others, where these can be accessed during an emergency (Davis, 2012). In this case, the health data read by the first respondent is directly fed into the emergency systems of the relevant health care institution. According to Garcia-Betances and Huerta (2012), the major advantage of using QR code is that it is a simple technology, which does not require special tags in its use. The QR code is a type of a 2D code, thus it is easy to generate and print the bar code on different surfaces, including paper, and plastic surfaces, among others. This does not require use of any complex equipment. Therefore, with basic training, in dividuals lacking information on how to use the QR codes can learn this within a short period. Additionally, the QR codes in health care are capable of reducing cases of erroneous reading of patient health information, leading to misdiagnosis and wrong prescriptions. This is because, QR codes are easy to read and decode since this technology is not a complex. As long as an individual has a smartphone or a device capable of decoding a bar code, they can access the health data on a patient’s bar code. Garcia-Betances and Huerta (2012) note that since the 2D-based readers are camera-based, these have a much