...1. The main Organizational Behavior problem in “The Overhead Reduction Task Force” case is in creating a leading an effective team, specifically “Office of the President” team. Williams is fretting nervously and rightly so. Our take on the situation is that Dixon just “threw him under the bus”, by putting him in charge of the team and leaving for much needed two weeks vacations after being on the job for one week. 2. Dixon did not do a best possible job in setting up an effective team. An essential elements required for a team to be successful is missing. By focusing on the goal of reducing expenses, instead of focusing on the goal of improving financial standing of the division, she made it very hard for Williams to get everyone aligned. Williams will have an uphill battle convincing department heads that their expenses need to be cut. For example, Mort Burns, head of the sales department is convinced that his department is as lean as it can be. The composition of the team itself is good. “It is made up of a diverse group of the individuals who have the expertise and authority to carry out the task” (1). For the purpose of the goal set by Dixon, Williams is the right person to lead the team. But it is clear that Williams approach is based purely on the numbers and if the goal is to improve financial performance, Williams does not have all the necessary information to make the right decision. For example Williams admits to himself that he does not have information on product...
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...Case 4: Overhead Reduction Task Force At one point or another, everyone has been placed in a group of people and assigned a task that needed to be accomplished. Many of these groups are simply that, a group. The task that many fail to see as the number one objective of the group is to foster a teamwork by actually transforming the group to a cohesive team. The idea sounds fairly simple and transparent, "If everyone works together, we have a team!" This could not be farther from the truth. Teamwork is not merely the ability to work together to get from point A to B. The Overhead Reduction Task Force is a case that exhibits this strong need to build a team in order to be the most effective in achieving goals. The group that has been assembled for Larry Williams to lead has many internal issues but also many opportunities for growth. To properly analyze this case, the initial meetings with both Georgia Dixon and the task force members needs to determined followed by predictions on how the first week of the task force went. The meeting with Dixon is crucial for Larry to establish clear and concise goals for himself and his future team. Through this meeting, Larry must also determine Dixon's position on the manner and assess to what extent she will be involved with the team. From the information provided in the case, it is clear that Dixon is essentially "dumping" this task on Larry and that she will not even be present for the first two weeks of the task force. From this, Larry...
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...prepare for the meeting with Gretchen Moore? Case 3: Lee & Li 1. Who are the parties affected by this embezzlement? What was the magnitude of the harm to these parties? 2. After being informed about the embezzlement, what actions should Lee and Li take to ensure the firm survives? Be sure to discuss the actions in order of priority. Explain. Case 4: Overhead Reduction Task Force 1(a). If you were Larry Williams, what would you seek to accomplish in your noon meeting with Georgia Dixon? How would you approach her to increase the likelihood that you would achieve your purposes? (b) What would you seek to accomplish in the initial meeting of your task force? What would you do or say in the first few minutes of the first task force meeting to get the task force off to a good start? Consider the following after reading the case: Larry Williams convinces Dixon to come to the first meeting of the task force to "launch" the team. At that meeting, she emphasized that she wanted a 20% reduction in overhead, but that the means to achieve that reduction were up to the task force. She also said that the task force must keep its deliberations confidential, and that the cut could not be accomplished by terminating the most recently hired employees. After Dixon leaves, initial discussion was about whether Dixon could be trusted ("Is she setting us up to...
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...Case 4: Overhead Reduction Task Force At one point or another, everyone has been placed in a group of people and assigned a task that needed to be accomplished. Many of these groups are simply that, a group. The task that many fail to see as the number one objective of the group is to foster a teamwork by actually transforming the group to a cohesive team. The idea sounds fairly simple and transparent, "If everyone works together, we have a team!" This could not be farther from the truth. Teamwork is not merely the ability to work together to get from point A to B. The Overhead Reduction Task Force is a case that exhibits this strong need to build a team in order to be the most effective in achieving goals. The group that has been assembled for Larry Williams to lead has many internal issues but also many opportunities for growth. To properly analyze this case, the initial meetings with both Georgia Dixon and the task force members needs to determined followed by predictions on how the first week of the task force went. The meeting with Dixon is crucial for Larry to establish clear and concise goals for himself and his future team. Through this meeting, Larry must also determine Dixon's position on the manner and assess to what extent she will be involved with the team. From the information provided in the case, it is clear that Dixon is essentially "dumping" this task on Larry and that she will not even be present for the first two weeks of the task force. From this, Larry...
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...Harvard Business Case 10-16-07 The Overhead Reduction Task Force: A Case Analysis The Facts Central Foods Corporation just hired a new General Manager, Georgia Dixon, to run the deteriorating Countertop Appliances Division. This new division was formed after Central Foods acquired Kitchen Help, Inc. six years ago. With sales decreasing quite dramatically over the past three years and overhead costs at their peak, Dixon is in charge of implementing positive changes in her department. For one of her first moves she appointed Larry Williams as head of the new Overhead Reduction Task Force. This task force is being formed to decrease overhead costs by 20% in the next four months while also increasing sales. External Factors Affecting CFC There are three main external factors that are influencing the overall sales production in this case. First off, one of CFC’s major competitors introduced a new household coffee maker that sold at the same retail price as CFC’s coffee maker, but CFC did not have the same innovation incorporated into their product. Secondly, another main competitor of CFC launched a new and improved microwave oven, which severely hurt Countertop’s sales of the same product. CFC’s product line still has not made a comparable substitute for this newly designed microwave oven. Finally, competitors’ pricing of the kitchen products was 10% lower than CFC’s pricing for the same products. CFC believed that these competitors would eventually have to increase...
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...or another, everyone has been placed in a group of people and assigned a task that needed to be accomplished. Many of these groups are simply that, a group. The task that many fail to see as the number one objective of the group is to foster a teamwork by actually transforming the group to a cohesive team. The idea sounds fairly simple and transparent, "If everyone works together, we have a team!" This could not be farther from the truth. Teamwork is not merely the ability to work together to get from point A to B. The Overhead Reduction Task Force is a case that exhibits this strong need to build a team in order to be the most effective in achieving goals. The group that has been assembled for Larry Williams to lead has many internal issues but also many opportunities for growth. To properly analyze this case, the initial meetings with both Georgia Dixon and the task force members needs to determined followed by predictions on how the first week of the task force went. The meeting with Dixon is crucial for Larry to establish clear and concise goals for himself and his future team. Through this meeting, Larry must also determine Dixon's position on the manner and assess to what extent she will be involved with the team. From the information provided in the case, it is clear that Dixon is essentially "dumping" this task on Larry and that she will not even be present for the first two weeks of the task force. From this, Larry has limited options on how to approach Dixon. Larry needs...
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...TSP improves Quality III B. TSP makes the company work professionally III C. TSP and CMM. IV Overheads due to TSP. V Risks Associated. VI. Does TSP actually work ? VII. Recommendation for the company IV. Annotated Bibliography V. Company Assumptions Introduction As quoted by the CIO journal December 2003 issue, “By the numbers available, the software quality stinks.” The Standish Group reported in 1999 that 74% of all projects were not successful.6 According to a survey by Standish Group in 2002, only 34 % of the software development is successful. Around 38 billion US dollars are lost every annum due to software failure [2] and one of the major reasons for this high failure rate is poor software quality. Typical software projects are often late, over budget, of poor quality, and difficult to track. Engineers often have unrealistic schedules dictated to them and are kept in the dark as to the business objectives and customer needs. They are required to use imposed processes, tools, and standards, and often take shortcuts to meet schedule pressures. Very few teams can consistently be successful in this environment. As software systems get larger and more complex, these problems only get worse. The best projects are an artful balance of conflicting forces. To balance these conflicting forces, teams must understand the complete context for their projects. The field of Software Engineering has studied many techniques...
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...Harvard Business School 9-195-108 rP os t October 14, 1994 Yokohama Corporation, Ltd. (B): Cost Management System op yo Yokohama Corporation, Ltd., was created as a joint venture between a Japanese automobile manufacturer and the Japanese government. Yokohama was founded in July 1939 and began production in late 1942. The objective of the firm was to manufacture hydraulic systems for automobiles and trucks and associated equipment under license from a German firm. The venture was successful and within a few years had diversified into other automotive products, including fuel pumps and transmission systems. tC Manufacturing inside Japan was undertaken at five facilities: Ranzan, Ibaraki, Chiba, Hiroshima, and Maebashi. The original production facility, the Ranzan plant, was opened in 1940 to produce hydraulic products. In 1992, it manufactured four major product lines, including electronic fuel-injection control systems, in-line injection pumps, automatic timing devices, and fuel-injection nozzles. It produced products for the injection pump and hydraulic & pneumatics divisions. The Ibaraki plant was built in 1965 to manufacture injection nozzle holders for the injection pump division. The Chiba plant was built in 1970 to manufacture air-conditioning equipment for the air-conditioning division. The Hiroshima plant was built in 1982 and manufactured injection nozzles for the injection pump division. Finally, the Maebashi plant was built in 1990 and was responsible for the...
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...A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF STANDARD COSTING SYSTEMS OF TWO COMPANIES CERTIFICATE FROM THE ORGANISATION TABLE OF CONTENTS Sr. No. | Chapter Name | Page No. | 1. | Acknowledgement | 5 | 2. | Preface | 6 | 3. | Objective and Introduction | 7 | 4. | A Brief about the two Companies | 8 | 5. | Standard Costing System | 12 | 6. | Findings | 15 | 7. | Conclusion | 17 | ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We owe much gratitude to all the people who have helped and supported us during the conduct of this project. Our sincere thanks to our Professor Prof. L.N. CHOPDE for giving us the opportunity of practically studying standard costing systems of organizations with the help of this project. He has been a perfect guide through all the lectures and has helped a lot throughout the preparation of the project. Our deep sense of gratefulness to Mr. Anil Rasal for his support and guidance. Thank and appreciation to the staff of both the banks for their support too. We would also like to thank the institution – M.E.T. College and the faculty members without whom this project would have been a distant reality. PREFACE Comparative Study of Accounting System of Gunnebo India Pvt. Ltd and Ashok Leyland Ltd.: As part of the project we have studied the standard costing systems and the general accounting related to it followed by Gunnebo India Pvt. Ltd and Ashok Leyland Ltd. As per the guidelines given for the project we have taken the two companies. Both are manufacturing...
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...Introduction ABC Maintenance Company Inc. operates in the Commercial segment of the Cleaning industry since 1986. In 2005, a residential cleaning division was opened to meet a growing demand. Mr. Knox, ABC’s shareholder, is now looking for ways to improve future profitability of the company and is wondering if the new department is profitable to remain operational. In order to address the issues, a Cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis is required to evaluate the current financial situation which will allow management to make critical decisions such as, setting service fees, determining the service mix, and maximizing productivity. Also, an analysis of the current standard costs will be done to determine if the standards are adequately established for both divisions. Finally, the company’s present workforce will be reviewed to determine if any adjustments can be implemented in order to increase value and profitability. Situational Analysis A. Current mission and vision Mission: To provide customers with high-quality cleaning services at a competitive price. Vision: To be the leader in the cleaning services industry, capturing 50% of Commercial market share and 20% of Residential market share in three years, by improving efficiency and minimizing resources B. External Analysis 1. Industry Analysis The cleaning service industry can be divided into two main segments, Residential and Commercial. Residential services involve general home cleaning and more specialized...
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...These are my observations on the Lille Tissage Exercise that I had given in the last BBMK class. Facts : Lille Tissage is the largest company in its segment. (FF 96 Mn T.O) and it wants to expand for which capital is needed. The company’s sales force is on Straight salary – they sell all lines. • Makes Item 345 – Price Leader – Small Competitors – Wait for LT to announce price – Losing market share from 1995 on Item 345 1. It is a fact that item 345 has lost market share and as the product manager I would be concerned about it. By retaining FF20 price I can gain market share only if competition increases their price to FF20. At the outset this seems unlikely because competition has not exhibited the “follow the leader” pricing in the last two years. 2. Item 345’s price increase two years ago was driven by the management’s desire to generate revenues to fund some expansion. This is an internal consideration and is not based on market forces. For example, if the price rise was due to increase in costs on the supply side, everyone would be affected and everyone will perhaps increase price once the leader does. Here there is no reason for competition to raise the prices. Hence as the product manager, I would question the wisdom behind funding some expansion plan at the cost of my market share. 3. It is also important to make full use of the manufacturing facility of item 345 because, as given in the case, this...
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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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...the budgets of the Government that are released for a specific period. The following are the purposes of the budget 1. Budget helps in estimating future income , expenditure and hence the profiatability of the business. 2. It provides a sketch about the future position based on which the managers can make financial decisions. 3. Budgeting also helps the managers and decision makers to compare the budget with the actual performance. Nature of budgeting process adopted: 1. The idea is to estimate the financial environment on the basis of last budget. 2. Estimate the amount of cash that will be generated from sales revenue and other activities. 3. Forecasts the requirement of inputs like raw materials , labors, overheads and advertisements 4. To determine whether the budget is surplus or deficit, the estimated expenses is subtracted from the estimated revenues. 5. After consider reviews and revisions, the final budget is submitted. P3.2- What is the budgeting method used for the case study and reflect its needs. Comment with your advice and suggestions The budgeting method used in the case study is incremental budgeting. Incremental budgeting is the budgeting based on slight changes from the preceding periods budgeted results or actual results. The needs for budgeting are: The incremental budgeting is very...
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...THROUGHPUT TIME Amey Dhar Dubey (fy7096) Arpit Sharma (fe2365) Bhavditya Sisodiya (fw6052) College of Engineering Wayne State University Detroit, Michigan ABSTRACT This paper scans the present state of Production Planning and Control (PPC) regarding the manufacturing industry. PPC needs to undergo internal and external changes by being more dynamic and properly utilizing resources and delivery performance. In order for this to happen, the concept of crashing much be applied to better understand of how different factors affect PPC systems performance. Crashing is reduces project time by overlapping or performing two or more different steps simultaneously using additional resources (PM PrepCast). Crashing the network is the reduction of project duration by contracting and compressing the network at minimum cost. Project duration can often be reduced by appointing more labours to project activities. However, when appointing more labours, the project cost increases due to overtime and more resources being used. Time and cost requirement must be balanced to reduce project duration. The gist of this paper covers production time, along with the cost applying the concept of crashing. In addition, time management with optimum cost is vital for any project. A method to obtain optimum cost and project duration minimization is outlined. This is achieved by fully crashing the critical path or by removing non-added values steps. INTRODUCTION The work done in this article...
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...InTech System Proposal CIS/207 Seth Copenhaver, David Kriner, Meg Morgan July 28th, 2014 University of Phoenix The System InTech is an Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) based system, integrated with Business Intelligence (BI) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to increase performance. “Basically, ERP is large complex information systems that integrate and stream line the organization’s business process across departmental and geographical borders” (Nafeeseh & Al-Mudimigh, 2011). InTech can help to cut costs, as well as promote growth and increase overall customer service and experience. It does this by helping to streamline and automate work and data flow, as well as transaction processing. "The system of ERP and BI integrated can enhance and improve the ability of companies to decision-making by leveraging the ability to manage data from the ERP system and the analytical capabilities of the BI system. This integration leads to optimal use of both ERP and BI systems"(Nofal & Yusof, 2013).One of the major requests of businesses today is for a system that would allow efficient utilization of collected information from local to corporate, especially on ‘ordering and distribution’ and ‘trends and sales’. BI accomplishes this objective, and with its integration into InTech, allows even greater processing capabilities. Set Up A two tier set up allows even further efficiency as it allows resident management the tools they need to make decisions in the...
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