Research Korner

What Role Can International Organizations Play In Helping Failed States

THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN HELPING FAILED COUNTRIES STATES         International organizations are facing huge challenges in helping failed countries and states although they knew that it is part of the changes that they need to face especially in developing countries who tries to find their way out of poverty and economic constraints but sometimes these countries and states may fail. Many countries in Asia, Middle East and Africa rely on international organizations including World Bank (WB), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations (UN), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other organizations that provide aids to countries that need them because of their current situations and struggle. Basically it is the advocacy of the international organizations to help countries and states from sharing their knowledge and resources and this is why they are created. They are not necessarily built for profit but if they don’t help such countries they may be faced with so much danger, poverty scarcity, famine and other threats that is insurmountable, the international organizations can only provide but it is the role or the government and states to harness their given opportunities to recovery. There are also highly developed countries that also need the intervention of international organization like the United Nations so that they can feel the security that they belong to a strong union who can help them in times of needs.       United Nations (UN) – The United Nations plays a very important role in international cooperation to stop or prevent war against countries, they provide international law in cooperation of its 193 member countries and states. They also aim to provide international security, human rights, economic development and social progress that reach to all parts of the world. United Nations provide international assembly to the world if there is a need to settle global issues they are the authorized organization to intervene and their members can express their point of view so as to build a strong foundation of ideas about solutions to a problems if there is a need for discussion about civil war, environmental issues, humanitarian assistance, conflict management, funding assistance and legal issues that threatens the world. They also seek to provide a wide spectrum of services for sustainability, economic recovery, promotion of democracy, people empowerment and other issues so that nations can achieve socio-political and economic recovery for the benefit of the entire world.       World Health Organization – Is the authority for International Public Health. Its objective is “the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health”. World Health Organizations also reaches every corners of the earth especially the third world countries who lack medical provision to communities they provide knowledge based support system around the world so that countries can provide international health regulations and basis for their medical needs. WHO promotes information, disease prevention and monitor health related issues to meet worldwide health concerns; some of their main focus is the elimination of HIV/AIDS in the countries of Africa, health research about dengue, malaria, SARS and other communicable diseases that can be destroyed nor prevented. Their members include all the world’s finest medical experts and scientist that can produce the best medical research and experiments during their studies. They also coordinate with various organizations and state so that they can provide funds, technical support and assessment to their current health problems. World Health Organization believed that health should be a shared responsibility of every nation so that they can give the most essential cure against the threat of health to every people who have the rights to live a normal and decent life.       World Bank and International Monetary Fund – WB and IMF are two of the leading credit institutions and international organizations working differently but with the same objectives which is  to provide capital and monetary development funds, financial assistance to promote international and foreign investment, trading, and facilitation to secure financial stability among nations. They also provide loans and economic cooperation among nations so that they can reduce poverty around the world. IMF and WB each consists of 187 countries to keep track of their economic development, they also lend to countries to provide immediate solution for their funding needs. World Bank believed that they do not just provide financial assistance to their members they also ensure that there is also a transfer of information to global expertise to assist the needs of countries and states for reform and development leading to openness and transparency by offering the best resources that they ever need. If among these countries take the advantage and maximize the aid that the international organizations have been providing they will definitely reach out faster towards their goal of economic recovery among nations.   References: http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/index.shtml  http://www.who.int/about/en/  http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/0,,pagePK:50004410~piPK:36602~theSitePK:29708,00.html // http://www.imf.org/external/about/ourwork.htm  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization Interesting News Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

What Role Can International Organizations Play In Helping Failed States

THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN HELPING FAILED COUNTRIES STATES International organizations are facing huge challe...

Accounting For Managers – The Role Of The Human Resources In The Budgeting Process

The Role of the Human Resources in the Budgeting Process   The human resources play an essential role in a sound budget process and communication within the company.  Likewise, an efficient  and effective  budget  approach is one that communicates about the organizational objectives,  allocates resources, provides feedbacks and most importantly, always  ask  for the employees’ participation, as well as it motivates them to excel in their jobs.  Hence, the budgetary communication is important as the participation of the employees in the budgeting process.  And, this can be standardized by using budget manuals, budget forms, and formal procedures. Software, Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), and Gantt which all help in facilitating the budgeting process and preparation. In the same manner, the timetable for the budget must be kept.  However, budget needs an appropriate timeframe setting in order to achieve the company’s realistic goals as well.  (http://onlinesuccesscentre.com/2010/07/how-to-prepare-a-sound-budget-process-six-steps-in-the-budgeting-process-bottom-up-versus-top-down-budget-plans/) Furthermore, the perception of the employees  is very  important in the budgeting process  because it  determines  if the budget   approach and allocation used by the company is suitable to  the needs and requirements of the  employees,  if it is  aligned with the organizational structure, as well as  the   participation of the employees lessen  the   responsibilities of the top management in the designing, planning, analysis of  important details that  only the employees can really explain vividly the   advantages and disadvantages of some limitations in the budgeting process.   Furthermore, the budgeting process must be based on the past experience of the company and the potential business advantages that the present business environment can provide to the organization.  Hence, the managers’ voice and employees opinions and views are very vital in order to come up with accurate details and figures that needed in a particular project, for all you know,   top management authority more often does not have any concrete ideas on the   various requirements that every department needs in order to function efficiently and effectively in a regular basis.  That is the main reason, that a company hires several managers to lead the tasks in every department and to take charge of disseminating the tasks to every employee.  The managers  are also the one who do  the reporting job about the  status  of the particular department , as well as if this  segment of  the organization is   getting productive or not.  At the same time, the managers act as the representative of the   group of employees, and the manager’s act also as the middleman between the top management and the workforce.  Without the help of the managers, the top management would not know development of the given job assignment, and would not know that there are employees who are remarkably competitive and deserve a recognition and reward motivation.  (http://hr.toolbox.com/blogs/the-new-hr/using-the-hr-budget-process-to-make-the-hr-function-more-strategic-46590) Correspondingly, the communication flow is very crucial in the budgeting process because it persuades other employees to adopt the proposed actions or decisions.    On the other hand, communication process facilitates the entire organization to understand the principles and the goals of the top management why a particular budget is approved or not approved. In vice versa, the communication process can help the employees to express their views and opinions about a certain project, as well as give them a chance to convince the approving authority to   approve the budget allocation that is requested...    At the same time, it gives the workforce a chance to share their skills and knowledge on a certain task, event, or project that needs joint effort in order to attain the specific goals of the organization.  In view of this, communication is very dominant in every aspect of the organization. It greatly helps the organization to develop a good relationship with its employees as well as with its clients.    A good communication process allows a good agreement among   the approving authority, the managers and the employees because it is a tool that everyone in the company can exercise his human rights in the workplace.  (http://hr.toolbox.com/blogs/the-new-hr/using-the-hr-budget-process-to-make-the-hr-function-more-strategic-46590) For the last time, the writer strongly believes that the perception of the employees is very important in the budgeting process.   For another reason that steps and actions, as well as the summary of information must be provided by the employees during the budget presentation.    This action is very necessary in order to convince the budget approval committee to approve the particular budget allocation.  Moreover, the budget documents like details, figures and information provided by the managers and their employees are part of the communication process, since all of them are the communication tool  to justify their    requirements as part of their jobs; and most of the time, the budget approval to a certain budget allocation  creates more productive and competitive  employees  in the company; as well as it gives  motivation to the employees to become more responsible  on  every assigned task.  (http://www.budgetanalyst.com/Communicate.htm) References: http://onlinesuccesscentre.com/2010/07/how-to-prepare-a-sound-budget-process-six-steps-in-the-budgeting-process-bottom-up-versus-top-down-budget-plans/  (http://hr.toolbox.com/blogs/the-new-hr/using-the-hr-budget-process-to-make-the-hr-function-more-strategic-46590) http://www.budgetanalyst.com/Communicate.htm     Interesting News Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Accounting For Managers – The Role Of The Human Resources In The Budgeting Process

The Role of the Human Resources in the Budgeting Process The human resources play an essential role in a sound budget process and com...

What the Constitution Means To Me

What the Constitution Means To Me   There are three ways to define a “constitution.” In one context, it may be defined as the manner on which political bodies are placed together. Another definition is an allocation of powers and rights in a written document.  Similarly, it is also taken as a referent for disputes. (Peaslee, 1985) In one sense the "constitution" of a political body is simply a way of stating how the body is put together. It is how the body is actually "constituted." In this sense every political body, and accordingly every state, has a constitution. A person or institution within the state who effectively exercises a certain kind of power has such power because of the constitution of that state. If some document states that the power lies elsewhere, then the document is to that extent not the constitution as so defined, since the document does not accurately reflect how the state is actually constituted. In another commonly used sense, a "constitution" is simply a document that allocates powers and rights in a political body. Thus, there are works that compile constitutions of the world: works that are collections of such documents. (Blaustein and Flanz, 1971) Amendments to a constitution are amendments to the document. A constitution consists of words in articles and amendments. Finally, we can think of a constitution as a kind of fundamental political agreement. The elements of a political society that hold power agree that decisions will be made in a certain way, by certain officials, institutions, or bodies. The terms of the agreement may be written or not. The agreement may be changed by express or implicit agreement. The agreement may be abolished or superseded by express or implicit agreement. Moreover, the agreement may be violated, even repeatedly. But as long as such an agreement serves as a fundamental referent for disputes among the elements that have power in the political society, one can speak of it as a constitution. (Peaselee, 1985) References: Blaustein, A. and Flanz, G. (1971.): Constitutions of the Countries of the World, looseleaf, New York.   Peaslee, A. (1985) Constitution of Nations, multivolume, 4th ed. Dordrecht   Interesting News Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

What the Constitution Means To Me

What the Constitution Means To Me There are three ways to define a “constitution.” In one context, it may be defined as the manner o...

Corporate Identity and Brand Management

As Seen On Screen: Strategy Market Plan       Executive Summary               ASOS is known of the most recognized online clothing store in the United Kingdom. It offers products that people often see worn by celebrities. As such, many people are encouraged to try out their items. In addition, the prices of their products are relatively lower compared to high street fashion. Because of these along with other factors, ASOS was able to grow. With the growth of ASOS over the years, it is important to ensure that it can be sustained. The fact that online shoppers and traditional shoppers differ in terms of concerns and behavior, it is critical for ASOS to study the purchasing behavior of their market segment to determine the kind of strategy that they need use to ensure success now and in the future. This research focuses on the various aspects of online retailing in the hopes of investigating the purchasing behavior of ASOS customers and formulating recommendation on how to keep the margin profit of the company on increasing.               For the past 50 years, the retail industry has been under numerous changes (2002). For example, the 1950’s saw downtowns as the center of retailing. People would often go downtown to avail of various products and services. This products and services included clothing, food, hardware supplies and banking services. A decade later, a group of retailers started offering their products and services in large department stores. The idea is to provide convenience to the shoppers. By creating a place were various retailers can offer their products and services, shoppers will no longer have to make several trips to different locations in order to purchase the things that they need. This means that retailers hoped to create a one-stop shop for their customers. As a result, big names such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart made big names in the retail industry. On the other hand, downtown or small scale and specialized retail outlets experienced a decline in the 1970s and 1980s (2002).               From the late part of 1980s to the early years of 1990s, a new kind of retailing came in being. Home TV shopping networks as well as warehouse clubs became very popular among consumers. If one-stop department stores aimed to provide convenience to their customers, Home shopping networks brought the idea of convenience to a completely new level. Instead of encouraging customers to drive to their stores, retails brought the stores inside homes and purchasing the desired products is as easy as calling a toll free number. On the other hand, warehouse clubs offered customers the opportunity to buy products in bulk and at discounted prices. Costco and Sam’s Club are some of the warehouse clubs that earned success ( 2002).               The changes within the retail industry continued well into the late part of the 1990s. Along with the success of internet, retailers were quick to recognize surfing the web as well as the use of other internet applications was fast becoming incorporated in the lives of many people around world. For this reason, they have decided to bring their stores online. The move to utilize the internet was a good decision in terms of marketing. Cable television took 25 years to reach approximately 10 million people, while computers took seven years to do the same. However, the internet was able to manage that feat in just six months. This means that retail store will have more chances of exposure if they have their own website.               Since the utilization of the internet for retailing purposes, many companies have been able to experience the benefits of bringing their businesses online. With this, a need was created to formulate strategies that focus on maximizing the potentials of internet. Nowadays, ecommerce, ebanking and other forms of ebusinesses are becoming a popular choice among the consumers and as such, it is also becoming a popular form of business for companies. Increase in sales are usually expected by companies when they launch an online store of host websites that offers their products and services.             In the retailing industry, etailing is also fast becoming the choice of companies. One of the companies that concentrate in advancing their etailing endeavor is As Seen On Screen 0r ASOS. They offer clothing and other fashion related items that are similar to designer fashion worn by celebrities but a t a lower price. They have a website where they post the products that they currently have. In addition, they show actual photos of celebrities wearing a similar item of clothing that are being sold on their site.               Case Study Despite the degree of success that ASOS was able to achieve over the years of their operation, there are still problems that they need to resolve in order to ensure the survival of their business. This is the rationale behind this paper. This paper will be presenting the conditions that ASOS are operating in as well as the various aspects that they need to focus on in order to maintain  steady or increasing follow of profit. These will be done in order to be able to formulate recommendations that will help the specified company in addressing the issues that surround their business. However, the findings of this paper as well as the recommendations that will be formulated have the possibility of being useful to other ebusinesses.   Statement of the Problem                 The problem of ASOS is generally related to the problem faced by most online retailers: the online consumer buying behavior. Not only does buying apparel online represent a new form of consumer behavior in the ‘computer-mediated shopping environment’ (1996), apparel online retailers also face intense competition. Attracting consumers with the limited resources available on the internet is a big challenge to online retailers like ASOS. Knowing the online consumer behaviors will let the retailers and managers of these companies formulate and develop effective strategies that will help increase the popularity and sales of clothing online.     Moreover, ecommerce is an expensive business but is also proven profitable once become effective. According to a survey, clothing belonged to the top six categories of holiday gifts in the USA during the 2000 Christmas season (2000)  and about 8.4% of the total weekly online purchases in 2000 is the apparel category (2000). These results suggest that selling clothing online is an effective business especially if a company has marketing strategies that will help in the success of the online business.   According to a study of users who have bought products online, there are five main reasons why people shop through the Internet. These are convenience and ease of use; greater selection; better prices; easier comparison-shopping; and no sales pressure (1997).  On the other hand, there are also reasons why people are not attracted to making purchases online especially when it comes to clothing. The top four most frequently identified reasons why consumers are not purchasing online are ability to judge quality, security, privacy, and easier to purchase locally (1998 ; 1999). ACCID Test Actual Identity Leadership and Motivation   Basically, leaders have a common set of characteristics which includes single-mindedness, excellent communication skills, self belief, very strong sense of purpose and charismatic.   The leader’s behavior will demonstrate how that personality applies itself along the chosen purpose to give a behavior pattern in a given situation, with a leadership style, There are number of ways to categories leadership style; in one way lets look at the relationship set against the need to complete the task.   l   Authoritarian style where the leader simply tell the people to do the task without regard of their view of it. l   Delegation style. The leader feel the task is not important or not interested in the task, or feels that its beneath his dignity; he delegate it totally on others. l   Participatory leadership, the task is not important but the people are. The people with whom the task is done are important. l   Persuasive leadership, here the people and the task both are important. Therefore, to finish the task incentives and motivation are given. Here the team could be the part of the process of objective setting.   The leaders are employed to get the task done through the people they have control over. It is the responsibility of the leader to balance the set of objectives, irrespective of his seniority. All the conflicts, which arise due to this, will be resolved. There should be no breakdown or neglect in one or the other areas, because if it is so, it will affect the efficiency of the work. The prime objectives of the leaders are to: l   Achieve the task – to get the job done by planning, allocating resources, controlling the work done, monitoring against the plan and taking the necessary and appropriate corrective actions; l   Develop individuals – attending to personal problems, praising individuals, giving status, recognizing and using the abilities. And continuously working towards improvement of the individuals. . l   Build the team – setting performance standards, maintaining discipline, building team spirit, encouraging, motivating, giving a sense of purpose and training the people as well as at all time working to improve communication with the group; l   Achieve personal objectives – leaders should not forget they themselves have the responsibility to their own career and personal objectives, and that no team wants to be lead by the leader who does not show a degree of personal enthusiasm and ambition. Product Strategy The product line of ASOS is defined. The company knows exactly what they want to up out in their website. As the former name of the company suggests, the product line of ASOS is composed of clothing articles as well as other fashion related items that have been seen on celebrity fashion icons or trendsetters. The company’s decision to extend their product line to include beauty products can still be deemed as within the original intentions of the company. This is the case beauty products are now being considered by many, as a fashion must. A good skin is needed in order to make a certain look work.               Since the products of the company focuses on products that must be appealing to the eye of the customers in order to be bought, visual merchandising is important in conveying the aesthetics of the products that they are offering. Customers need to see that the clothing items that are being offered in the website were indeed “as seen on screen”. Like the conventional retail clothing outlets, ASOS does have a window to display their products. The pages of their website serve as the windows where their customers can see the products.    Communicated Identity Being both in the fashion and retail industry, ASOS needs to be able to meet the requirements of both industries in order to succeed. In relation to the fashion industry, ASOS must ensure that the items they are offering are in season. Being up to date, when it comes to the latest styles, is crucial for the case of ASOS. This is due to the fact that they are capitalizing on the trends that celebrities start. If ASOS is able to maintain this ability then the retail industry requirement can also be meet since trendy or in season clothes are more profitable than those that are not. This has been proven in the case stated earlier where ASOS had to sell out of season clothing at a discounted price. With this in mind, it is the objective of ASOS to offer and deliver the trendiest in season collection to their customers.             Another objective of ASOS is to provide a pleasant online shopping experience to their customer. It is important to associate shopping with being online for ASOS’ case. It is a fact that being physically involved in shopping brings about a different experience compared to shopping online. For example,   ASOS.com             The ASOS.com website could be improved through a variety of ways that would benefit both the company and the consumer.  For example if video and audio clips were added to some pages, this could increase the interest level for the browsing customer, which could result in increased sales figures.  Customer services could be improved through the addition of a live chat service on the website, providing the opportunity for customers to interact with retail staff directly about any questions or concerns they may have about their shopping experience.  Other issues that would need to be addressed within the ASOS.com website include increased contact with staff, faster processing of refunds and returns and an increase in transparency which could be achieved through more comprehensive information on the company itself.     Competitor Analysis     According to Proctor (2000), competition is important since it affects the success of a business venture. Proctor added that competition is more than just producing and distributing products and services that matches the needs of the consumers. Competition is about the company’s capability of positioning itself in the market so that they will stand out among the rest in the perception of the consumers.   In the case of ASOS, they do not have any direct competitors when it comes to clothing associated with celebrities. However, it is the case that do compete with  other clothing retailing stores such as Topshop and FIgleaves.com.             Positioning Strategy             The target market segment of ASOS is as defined as their product line. They target people who are eighteen to thirty years of age and who are internet savvy. Based on the questionnaires prepared and used for this research, the biggest bulk of ASOS customers are eighteen to twenty-two years. This age group represents fifty-five percent of the total ASOS customers. It is followed by people who belong in the age brackets twenty-four to twenty-nine and thirty to thirty-five who twenty percent of the ASOS customer population each. Lastly, people who are thirty-six to forty-two years old complete the population representation five percent of the total.   Figure 2: ASOS customer population by age groups               The result of the survey concluded that ASOS targeted the right age group for the products. This is the case since the surveyed revealed that eighteen to thirty year old customers are more open to buying the products that ASOS offers. Another reason for the bulk customers on the said age bracket can be attributed to the fact that people within this age group are more adept at with using computers as well as navigating the internet. In addition, they are also the ones who are part of the corporate world where everything is fast-paced that they do not have the time to go down town and shop for the clothes and other fashion items.               In relation to gender, eighty percent of ASOS shoppers are women, while only two percent are male as shown on figure 3 below. This is still according to the survey conducted for this research. This may be the case since most of the items that are being offered online are for women. In addition, the marketing activity of ASOS focuses on disseminating information to more women than men. 500,000 emails are sent to females twice a week compared to 100,000 emails sent to males only once a week.   Figure 3: ASOS customer population by gender   Offer Strategy               The success of ASOS is being owed to their ability to offer trendy clothes at significantly lower prices. However, there are still other factors that needs to be considered when discussing the success of ASOS as an online retail clothing store. Aside from the price of the products, the seasonability of the products being offered is also crucial. It is a fact that the fashion industry is always on its toes when it comes to innovation. Various collections come out on a regular basis depending on the season. There are winter and summer collections as well as spring and fall collections.   Conceived Identity Corporate identity is a valuable management resource because it affects every aspect of corporate life. A company's image, reputation and managed perception, the three components of corporate identity, influence the performance of its share price, sales, acquisitions, divestments, recruitment and other activities. Establishing a clear identity has become a difficult task due to the trend towards cross-border mergers, the growing importance of environmental concerns and the increasing similarities between products and services. In the current situation of ASOS, it affects it corporate reputation in the US. However, there are some strategies which can be done to build up the ASOS reputation and credibility. Although the brand is only a part of all company actions, marketing communications vehicles such as advertising, direct mail, public relations, trade shows, seminars, and collateral material play an important role in communicating brand. Thinking of these activities as brand conveyors is a useful way to understand their role. They allow you to communicate the organization and brand drivers that make up the heart of the brand. Consistent with its objective to build up their reputation and credibility towards the customers, ASOS would develop a solid message platform that clearly and consistently communicates their product features and benefits in a way that incorporates its brand principle, personality, and associations. The overall strategy serves as a springboard to infuse brand messages fully into additional strategies. Strategies that pull messages to target audiences, by using third parties to help place ASOS’s messages in front of its target audiences. Secondly, ASOS would communicate would use third parties to communicate its messages and in order to establish credibility with all target audiences. Third parties include analysts, media, award givers, happy customers, and online newsgroups/list serves. Strategies to push messages to target audiences, by putting ASOS information directly in front of its target audiences, include the Use direct communications tools to seed brand to target audiences. Tools include direct mail, advertising, collateral material, web site, and current employees. From among the different tools of marketing communication and with ASOS current situation, we specifically use public relations to bring back the reputation and credibility of the products to its customers. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most favorable light. The goal of the public relations is to create, through the organization of news and advertising, an advantageous image for his client, be it a business corporation, cultural institution, or private or public individual; toward an end of the making of favorable public opinion, many research techniques and communications media are used. The earliest form of public relations and still the most widely practiced is publicity. The principal instrument of publicity is the press release, which provides the mass media with the raw material and background for a news story. The growth of modern public relations is generally attributed to the development of the mass media, which accelerated the spread of ideas and increased the importance of public opinion by giving more people access to current events.   Ideal Identity Timing Strategy               Based on the discussion earlier, the sales of ASOS increased significantly during the holiday season of 2004. This is the case because orders for products that will serve as gifts were in demand. In addition, a series of events take place during the holidays. Family reunions and countless parties are set to happen during this time of the year. This means that people will always be on the look out for clothes that they will be able to use during these events.               However, it is also expected that during the holiday season discounts abound. This means that consumers are also on the lookout for bargain deals. In the case of ASOS, they are able to meet the needs of their customers for ideal apparel at reasonable prices. As such, during the holiday season ASOS must be able to get the word going that they will be able to provide quality yet affordable wares for the people.             Activity Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Conceptualization of Marketing Campaign         Formulation of the marketing Campaign         Dissemination of the Campaign to target market segments             Computing and Category Management               Supply is not a problem for ASOS. This was proven in the past when they were able to meet the holiday shopping needs of their customers in 2004. This is the case despite the problems that they encountered in relation to their small warehouse. Now that ASOS was able to move a bigger warehouse, they will be able to maximize their potential and might be able to surpass their highest recorded sales in the previous years.               However, there is one issue that ASOS needs to resolve immediately. Otherwise, it might affect their sales in the future. From the time ASOS was launched until this day, they only offer clothing items up to size 12. This means ASOS is excluding a segment of the market that can offer them additional profit. This may also cause some customers to get turned off since this suggests that ASOS thinks only people with size 12 bodies have the right to wear celebrity inspired apparel.   Desired Identity Expanding New Values for customers worldwide The ultimate goal of ASOS’s sales activities worldwide is to satisfy our customers so that they will continue to come back for more ASOS quality products. That's why they put heartfelt effort into our services, responding to changing values and increasingly sophisticated needs. They’re always working to improve the quality of our customer relations providing friendly and attentive sales, responsive service support, thorough maintenance and repairs so customer satisfaction constantly grows. ASOS also continues to develop sales and service systems best suited to community needs.   Customer Care and Service According to  (1999), Total Quality Management is the incorporation of all the functions and processes of the organization () to be able to develop the quality of the services and or/products that they offer. With this, it can be stated that customer relationship management programs are included in total quality management. The need to develop an effective total quality management is important due to various reasons. However, these reasons are still geared towards providing customers with the great business experience with the company.  It is also the case that total quality management views customer satisfaction in relation to customer retention and increase in the profits.   These are being considered by ASOS when they designed their website. They wanted to give their customers the kind of shopping experience that would lead them back to the website and make more purchases.     Management Organization of the Company's Corporate Governance for Decision-Making, Execution, Supervision and Others Putting the emphasis on easy access to colleagues signals that involvement figures high in the corporate values. Then, placing top executives in an open office signifies the intention to have an open style, in which rank and status have no practical importance. The round tables indicate that decisions are only to be taken after full discussion among colleagues who are always on tap. The proximity of the desks establishes that lines of communication are to be short and easily opened. The classic Western office layout, based on the 'behind closed doors' principle, is the antithesis of visibility and delivers an utterly contrasting message. The corporate vision statement is like the founder himself, enormously practical:   Ø  Quality in all jobs - learn, think, analyse, evaluate and improve Ø  Reliable products - on time, with excellence and consistency Ø  Better communication - listen, ask and speak up   Developing a philosophy built on the experience of a practical engineer, the founding father had created a corporate culture that would go on working towards his objective nothing less than becoming and remaining the world's best motor manufacturer long after his own active day. His influence, like the man himself, is still highly visible. And the visibility is inseparable from the success.   Misaligned Identities: actual and desired             ASOS is one of the leading retailers existing in the corporate world today. One of its leading features is etailing. Due to the far reaching grasps of the internet, etailing has flourished. However, ASOS has intended to further it influence in the retailing industry of the Far East by building a branch in one of Asia’s key and remote cities(desired identity). But the fact remains that ASOS is primarily an etailing (relies much on the internet) corporation, and that many of the countries in the Far East do not have advanced computer and internet services as the rest of the world. ASOS presented a key solution to this problem, they would build a material retailing branch. But this would thoroughly conflict with their actual identity, which is etailing.               SWOT Analysis Strengths             The strength of ASOS is its utilization of the Internet. Through the Internet, it has formed a definite market segment that is composed of mainly Internet users. A firm that limits its attention to fewer market segments can better serve those segments than those firms that influence the entire market. Moreover, its core focus, which is apparel, as worn by celebrities at affordable price gives them a marketing edge for it attracts customers right away. It also gives huge discounts and has broad category coverage.   Weaknesses             Online retailing in general is getting bad publicity nowadays such as poor delivery performance. Another weakness is that ASOS cannot guarantee specific product or brand presence. Internet selling is unlikely to be successful, as consumers like to try on clothes and see the quality of fabric and workmanship.   Opportunities Ecommerce channels now represent 11% of the total UK retail business, and record numbers of products are being procured vie the internet (2005). People are attracted by low prices and convenience.  In addition, they have integrated their everyday activities to technology and the Internet, including shopping. As the number of working women, who are ASOS core customers, continues to increase, they will not only need more clothes for work but are also more likely to be financially independent to purchase clothes.   Threats             Online clothing chains from overseas are successfully invading UK and at the same time, branded apparel such as Diesel, Guess and Zara are still popular among the market. Other purely online fashion etailers such as Yoox.co.uk, Brandalley.co.uk are also their main threats. Downturn in the economy could also cause buyers to cut back on overall spending.    Recommendations                 Based on the discussions made above, ASOS can better serve their customers if they ensure the requirements of the 7C’s as presented in the previous chapter are met. This means that they must be able to provide outstanding services to encourage relationship between them and their customers. In turn, this will led to customers who are satisfied and willing to do more business with them.               Based on the survey conducted for this research, ASOS customers the things that concern them when they are buying at ASOS are style, price and quality respectively. This means that ASOS must be able to meet these demands of their customers if they want to ensure continued patronage from them.               In addition, customers also want to see improvements in the website. They want more interactive type website. This means music and video clips are believed to be helpful in a customers’ decision to make a purchase. Furthered customer assistance is also being requested. Live chat is being considered by many customers. ASOS can actually provide this kind of service if they outsource it to call centers in Asia for example. It will be cheaper to outsource it than to create an in-house call center.   Interesting News Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Corporate Identity and Brand Management

As Seen On Screen: Strategy Market Plan Executive Summary ASOS is known of the most recognized online cloth...

( Multinationals) Using historical examples, present and evaluate the main theories which explain the decision to embark on a multinational investment

Introduction             It is difficult to integrate the economic framework of the contemporary times to the ancient and early international trade primarily because of the difference in the methods imposed to attain an economic goal.  Thus, a presentation of evolutionary stages of multinational investments of active participants across different periods from ancient times until recently is necessary to at least have a grasp on where such integration difficulties stemmed.  Since the modern definition of multinational investment expelled the coercive and military means of acquiring assets offshore, the historic examples was operating differently and oftentimes in opposite of such.             Presented in the paper are summary of historical facts that were related to factors that affect decision of a certain country or company to obtain multinational investment.  To wit, the paper highlights the foreign trade relations of the ancient people, Dutch colonization acts and trade modernization in foreign countries and British-owned multinational company.  Conclusions are provided at the end of each data presentation to cite main theories that can evaluate the motivating factors of a country or company in embarking multinational investment.              The paper limits its scope when it avoided mentioning at least two foreign countries wherein the multinational investment should be directed by the home country to be called as one to concentrate in evaluating their investments, prevent too much factual presentation and give way to minimal historical compilations.  However, the historical evidence will concretize that these capitalist countries, especially when colonization was rampant, had indeed travel to different lands backed by their coastal vessels’ superiority.             The Evolution of Ancient Foreign Investment             The Old Stone Age or Paleolithic could be considered incapable to ensue, at the periphery, foreign trade or if it was, which would be considered an extreme thinking, rare anthropological evidences had conceded.  People were characterized as hunters who used simple wooden tools and primarily concerned survival of individual and family lives.  Although tribes were introduced, no formal property ownership was established making trade an impossible scenario.  In later part of the period, however, jewelry had been argued to travel from one place to another but no concrete evidence that exchange of goods happened, at best, there was the intention from the parties to profit from such situation.  With the absence of capital in people’s daily works, the factor of labor served as the greatest achievement in this period ( 1957).             In the book, only at the start of Mesolithic and Neolithic Ages the term investment was vividly utilized to describe how people of this middle and new age saw the potential of human labor to create wealth which was a breakthrough to withdrew from the traditional subsistence hunting and food gathering.  As people discovered to organize its value, labor was invested in plant production for a specific harvesting season, tree cultivation to be used by future generation and domestication of cattle for future gains in trade.  Although the system was largely pioneered in the local setting and informal communities, this served as the trigger that would later ignite, at least, foreign exchange of goods.  Labor, then, could be considered as the pillar of capital accumulation that was destined to be transported across nations, ultimately, to be as an investment tool (1957).  In the period of Ancient Orient which started in 5,000 BC, export trade became very active.  As a result, the need to formalize mode of money was applied, loan was introduced, and eventually, the formation of cities and civilizations began.  With this, no doubt that ownership rights was officially protected by the state that encouraged people to engage in foreign trading to possess unique and valuable endowments from other countries.  Babylonia exported salt as it imported perfume from Arabia.  Metal, gold, silver and bronze became popular export trade although few regions were able to produce them  1957). With the trend, if foreign investment would be defined as the movement of capital across national frontiers wherein the investor retain the control over the acquired asset , then the motives of retired merchants of this era could be acknowledged as one of the oldest and non-armed and non-violent feat to profit abroad.  These retired merchants had foreign exchange career outside national borders and would hire competent agents to continue their efforts abroad.  In such course, they provided the necessary capital to make the expedition possible including the financing for the acquisition of local goods to be traded.  These agents, in return, should arrive to the home country with both the principal and profit on hand, or else, face state sanctions from the frustrated capitalists.  Although no factories or headquarters were built in the host lands at that point in time, agents profited amidst their vulnerability to local seizures and imitation.  They had fought hardships in the journey through mobility and restless travel (1957).              The era, although was not explicitly shaped in foreign direct investment, had industrialized mining, quarrying and other manufacturing sites.  Such stagnation was largely caused by the principle of national solidarity as the domain of many regions, which was noted as “dangerous”, that formal establishments to host countries was deemed profitable but highly risky venture with host native’s discriminatory and hostile clauses.  Several daring merchants and gallant explorers, however, in the likes of naval superior Phoenicians stayed in coastal areas of host countries profiting from seaport trades, and possibly resorted to, because of their relative advantage in the sea; say, when intruders post threats, they can be easily saved by the waters from attacks.  Nevertheless, the foreign investment portrayed by retired merchants, although labor-intensive, seemed to be a relatively stable and profitable foreign investment (1957).                    At the unfolding of the AD centuries, colonization was the focal point of a home country’s foreign investment which was largely on coastal expeditions, warfare equipments, human labor and even human lives.  Since the states, empires and governments were the ones who frequently initiated the act, funding came from the coffers of the country.  Being politically motivated and absence of long-term trade, foreign lands that were founded and colonized either diplomatically or violently against the existing settlers remained a blurred foreign investment in economic sense.  The absence of private ownership in terms of the funds used to raise the capital needed for the expedition and unpopularity of exchanging goods between the colonizers and the subjects prompted some economic researchers to exempt the extent of the evolution of foreign investments, particularly multinational ones, on the later centuries particularly at the onset of the seventeenth century.               Conclusion             The need to exchange what was abundant and retain or outsource what was scarce remained the motivation of the ancient traders to invest, primarily in human labor, abroad.  With the presence of political risks ( 2003), especially in an established region, ancient merchants relied heavily in the host country’s openness to trade, or on their part, the investors level of endowments given as a gift to the ruling empire for a possible license to operate in its borders, if not obtain monopoly in certain commodities.  Economic risks (2003) could be observed by host countries capability to establish commercial complex, provide a hostile-free environment for the investor to maximize its profits and realize surplus from the value of his investments by bringing back home the unique line of commodities of host country for dearer value.                          Dutch Multinational Investments from 1600-1800 The VOC Period of Colonization             The idea of  (1999) about the crucial role of the home government intervention was best reflected on how the Dutch States General organized a group of merchants to explore wealth across different nations.  This announcement brought into being the oldest multinational company (MNC) () Verenigde Oost-Indische Companie (VOC) on 1602 tasked to conduct colonial activities in Asia.  The control granted to VOC succeeded through monopolizing oil and spices like nutmeg in the South Eastern part.  Other Dutch naval explorers and colonizers followed which constituted national strategy to systematize the firms’ voyage by granting exclusive rights to respective multinational companies within specified regions.              The initial attempt of Dutch MNCs was characterized by suppression and mass murder to acquire forcefully natural resources of other nations especially those situated in Asia.  Where was then the Dutch foreign investment?  Truly, this period of colonization expelled the requirement of financial or physical capital from the home country to be able to establish MNCs in host countries.  However, VOC had deployed human resources in the form of military personnel including transportation resources like naval ships that was used to arrive in Asian lands.  The investments did not involve trade in the sense that acquisition of host resources was not paid but stolen through coercion ( 1999).             Using dependency theory  the advancement in Dutch coastal navigation and probably their military troops succeeded in the conquest to extract wealth from naturally-rich poorer countries.  The dependency, however, was not merely conducted to acquire cheap labor or transform the local market as customers instead colonization was used as means to achieve the ends of MNCs.  Since the host country was relatively less advanced in terms of weapons and less organized in terms of military infantry, Dutch colonizers exploited their vulnerability.  This market imperfection (1991) between the colonizers and the colony in several competencies served as an incentive for the home country to invest heavily in MNCs and disincentive for the host countries to invest and try to interrupt Dutch MNCs’ objectives of colonization.              The fruits of foreign investments and expeditions were equated trade gains for the home country.  The natural resources they had acquired from colonized countries were traded to European and Russian countries that traveled a long way to purchase relatively precious merchandise.  In effect, Netherlands created surplus basically in the hands of group of merchants which had invested not only within the country through real estate, banks and lotteries but also outside by financing export goods and establishment of enterprises abroad (  1999).             The Emergence of Modern Trade What was exemplified by VOC was rather an indirect mechanism of foreign investment because violence was the focal point in acquiring resources. Although it had headquarters, issued stocks and bonds () to represent ownership, applied firm strategies and processed inputs to build ships, the actual deployment of investment in the foreign soil did not suggest modern approach to foreign investment.  It was characterized by distorted, if not barbaric, form of foreign direct investments and inapplicable portfolio investment () scheme.    After a decade, however, the country learned to adapt to nations in which its MNCs will invest suggesting a shift of strategy away from Asian experiences. An example is the Noordsche Companies short lived-history () which situated a manufacturing facility in the island of Spits Bergen to process marine inputs from America and produce soap and lamp oil that gave rise to one of the first foreign direct investment (FDI) of Netherlands. Another prominent MNC West-Indische Company (WIC) certified on 1621 obtained sole rights to operate in North America and established posts in the region to trade firearms, bullets and iron ware.  These foreign endeavors marked the modernization of the country in terms of foreign investments.  Eclectic theory (1991) was found in Asian exploration as Dutch had ownership advantages because they were the proprietor of colonization on several regions.  However, as early as 1589, English had colonized North America () exploiting its aquatic, tobacco, sugarcane and corn endowments.  Thus, Dutch can no longer maximize potential to own natural resources and could only maximize its investment through cooperative strategies with the original colonizers.  In effect, the capital it used in the expedition fell short compared to the Asian gains.  If this will continue, similar North American expeditions would be non-profitable and could only cause conflict from the already established English government.  The imperfections in good and factor markets ( 1991) were not favorable to its side that internalization ( 1991) of English activities was resorted.  Instead of stealing and invoking violence, it built facilities to manufacture raw materials into merchandise in which it was known (1999).  It sympathized with the political environment through strictly trading and manufacturing endeavors.  It also utilized its coastal trade experience, in effect, gave rise to marine manufacturing and export of reclamation knowledge abroad.  With this, it optimized foreign coastal areas that served as location advantages (1991). In respect to metal trade, political intervention from the host country stimulated the competence of Dutch investors.  The primary Dutch investor that succeeded in foreign investment through portfolio strategy (), particularly lending, was De Geer.  When the King of Sweden cannot afford to repay De Geer, it compensated the merchant with iron and copper industry monopoly in the ruled lands.  Striking how a king ran out of money, it was more interesting how De Geer used political lobbying to own an industry.  The story of was almost the same with the Emperor of Austro-Hungary as non-liquid debtor providing mercury and cooper monopoly to the Dutch and Italian creditors (1999).  Again, political disruptions (1991) dictated the Dutch fortune.  However, the initiative came from the host country.                            Conclusion             Using Wilkins Model ( 1991), the VOC exploration in Asia can be described with low market but high resource opportunities and low degree of political stability of conquered Asian regions, low extent of cultural similarity of the Dutch and Asian inhabitants, and fairly Dutch experienced foreign investment strategies.  As the lands were endowed with rich spices and wares (China), Dutch conducted colonization albeit unfamiliarity of the newly explored lands.  To their disadvantage, Asian inhabitants were relatively subsistence settlers and did not impose substantial threat to impede Dutch colonization.  The latter had the modern tools both in knowledge and equipment and advanced naval capabilities that gave them the strength and speed over the subjects. In addition, the resources that were acquired in the process would be diverted back in the harbor of Amsterdam where international trade occurred (1999).  Hence, the price of the Asian products, rare at this point in time, was maximized from the pockets of the willing-to-pay foreigners.  With this, the Dutch could have exercised vertical foreign investment that linked explored unique commodities to their country’s international ports.  Exploited resources were driven back to Netherlands to sell at a high price.  Also, with the presence of Dutch manufacturing firms in near their seaport trade complex, converting raw materials saleable merchandise was possible and done in an efficient manner through minimal of transportation costs.  Because of these facts, savings equated to higher returns and more surpluses for the companies and the government.             In a different approach, the North American exploration did not gave Dutch the advantage of tapping unique natural resources instead the ideal strategy was to exercised expertise in building and maintaining factories that can process raw materials.  Because of this, they could transform the English-owned natural resources into a new kind of merchandise, probably profiting in the rent for the manufacturing services, and perhaps, due to their coastal expertise, transportation.  In the case of metal-based products, the acquired monopoly in other countries provided the merchandise sold in the region.  As a result, they offset the lost opportunity to personally exploit the North American unique endowments by exposing these unique products.   The British East India Company 1600-1858                Its two and a half centuries of prosperous trade monopoly in India () was sparked by giving gifts to the ruler of mainland India.  From then on, the Elizabeth I chartered company established somewhat fair trade in an Asian region relative to VOC doings in the south east part.  It flourished by establishing factories primarily in the mainland which competed the spices industry the Dutch companies had topped as an export good.  In several points in time, it faced financial difficulties and armed threats from other foreign military and industrial states.  However, it had seemingly impressed the British parliament in its performance and created a strong lobbying position to its favor.  This resulted greater autonomy in the region as British imports accounted 15% of purely Indian trade from the company operations.             As its corporate history unfolded, it kept expansion up to small states of the country amidst the resistance of native and foreign settles and other traders who were unwilling to be driven away.  In the process, the company strengthened its military force with the most monumental warfare observed against French counterparts.  With several experiences through industrial-related battles, the company matured not only in military but also operational efficiency of its plants with the support from local chieftains as political influence of British had spread into the local government particularly in the mainland.  In effect, the company conquered more states all over the country integrating them under the umbrella of its ambitious trade goals ().             However, the company shelter, especially in Bengal, seemed to exaggerate its competence particularly in the production of basic needs leading to a catastrophic death of 10 million people in the province due to famine.  Because of this, the Crown identified the inability of the company to take over such enormous number of lands and providing the inhabitants sufficient commodities for a living.  This prompted to impose a formal control of the British Empire over the Indian country which slated the drought for the company.  Blurred established jurisdiction in administering states between the Crown and the company ensued, as the latter was officially confined strictly in industrial matters amidst its military presence across India ().              As the end drew near, it tried to surpass financial bottlenecks relying in the capability of the host country to produce opium which was exported to China.  The refuge was short-lived, however, as China imposed war in such trade that entirely opened the door for the company to exit Indian trade monopoly.  This event was completely realized as mutiny of Indian Soldiers happened in 1857 and other succeeding acts that deteriorated its operations ().      Conclusion             Unlike the early missions of Dutch in Asia which could be described as violent and intimidating, British resorted to diplomatic ways fairly throughout the company life with exception of relatively fewer armed coercion.  A signal of the emergence of modernization theory (), the company helped the country to attain its economic competence and independence by transferring the knowledge of enterprise management and efficiency in production ().  Although there was no doubt that ethnocentric influence of Western values had infiltrated the Indian culture, this was limited largely in the mainland and positive gains could somehow outweigh the mechanism of cultural imperialism.              Not so much competitive advantage in terms of navigation unlike Dutch and Portuguese (), British was known by its diplomatic and systematic mercantilism policies ().  There was absence of ownership advantages but location foothold ( 1991), as factories were situated within mainland, prevented unnecessary collision against the better foreign counterparts on the coastal areas.  The British company produced in-land crops like cotton and tea and internalized ( 1991) the operations of the firm in the local state’s norms that equate to efficiency.              Implication of theory of the obsolescing bargain ( 1991) was observed in the increased military forces of the company across time and its continuous lobbying in the home country.  As there was local resistance from the unwilling Indian states, the company had imposed pressure to them to recuperate its investments.  It also increased its host exports for the home consumption and re-export rejuvenating its parliamentary influence and lobbying presence at times of financial problems.  One indication of this was the increase of its export in North America for Indian produced tea through the Tea Act ().              The motivation is parallel and the stimulus was the same.  British government saw opportunity in the country, amidst established Indian states and the presence of foreign traders and colonizers, which prompted the Crown to send MNC there.  Implications of Wilkins model ( 19991) suggested political stability in Indian government and chieftain-ruled states that the Crown succeeded in their diplomatic way of doing business and lobbying to the host country rulers.  In terms of strategy, it had established networks in North America that served as the market of Indian commodities.  As it counted the years of operation, its experience curve had increased that showed during Industrial Revolution and French War wherein the company exercised efficiency in its operations to produce more due to threats of factory seizing and operation’s block-out.  In aggregate, embarking a multinational investment in India gave the company and Crown alike their ambitions both in industry and administrative aspects that made the exploration a successful one.      Interesting News Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

( Multinationals) Using historical examples, present and evaluate the main theories which explain the decision to embark on a multinational investment

Introduction It is difficult to integrate the economic framework of the contemporary times to the ancient and early interna...

Accounting For Managers – Budget

The Differences between the Imposed and Participative Budgetary Approach   In general, the communication process in the imposed budgetary approach in accounting focuses mainly on meeting the budgetary objectives of the management.  In this regard, the employees tend to feel that they are not given importance by the management. Management goals are more likely for some individuals’ beneficial and not for the entire organization, which supposed to include the workforce.  Even the subordinate managers in this type, are not given chances to participate and contribute their knowledge on the operations and on local market conditions with the decision making of the key officers in the company.  In the contrary, the participative budgetary approach gives participation to subordinate managers on budget planning and implementation.  This second accounting approach communicates a sense of responsibility to the managers of the company to contribute their knowledge in budgeting matters in the organization.  This also gives the managers a high level of performance and task to achieve the common goals of the organization; as well as the employees are given   chances to take part in the budgeting plan and implementation in order to involve themselves 100 percent in the implementation of the company’s policies, so as to set their own standards of giving their best into their jobs for the success of the entire organization.   This type of accounting approach shows the joint effort of all the people in the organization in every budget activity, hence, the success of failure of their decision really depends on their budgeting skills.    (http://www.google.com.ph/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=tl&source=hp&q=communication+flows+when+the+budgeting+process+is+imposed+or+Participatory%3F&pbx=1&oq=communication+flows+when+the+budgeting+process+is+imposed+or+Participatory%3F&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=5470l8148l0l9196l1l1l0l0l0l0l160l160l0.1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=c4a92c6f294922ee&biw=1024&bih=566) Furthermore, in the imposed budgetary, the communication flows from the top to the bottom.  It is only a one-way flow.  Top-down budgeting greatly concerns merely on the decision made by the highest level of management, this communicates the fact that the managers and other employees ‘opinions are not needed. And, if there is an upward flow of communication, it must be an agreeable one to the decision made by the highest authority in the company.  Whereas, in the participative budgeting process, the communication flows are important for both the highest authority and the people down the line. The opinions and views of the managers as well as the other employees matter in every budgeting decision.   The participatory budgeting gives tremendous importance and worth to the employees of the organization.  This type of budgeting approach  is most likely communicates a harmonious and solid relationship of the  owners of the company with their employees; which is seemingly,  most efficient and effective way in  communicating with the workforce in order to achieve the goals of the entire organization.  (http://www.google.com.ph/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=tl&source=hp&q=communication+flows+when+the+budgeting+process+is+imposed+or+Participatory%3F&pbx=1&oq=communication+flows+when+the+budgeting+process+is+imposed+or+Participatory%3F&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=5470l8148l0l9196l1l1l0l0l0l0l160l160l0.1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=c4a92c6f294922ee&biw=1024&bih=566)   Nevertheless, participative budgeting has also its own share of disadvantages for the managers.  For instance, the managers may tend to either set the budget too freely or too tightly.   There is a tendency to have an over estimate or under estimate in costing.  Another negative factor in this kind of budgeting, the top management may assume of total control of the budgeting process, sometimes just seeking opinions of the managers, but, just the same, the final say is still from the top management.  According to Scott Weidner’s participative budgetary policy has certain insufficiencies.  Firstly, the managers do not have real participation in the setting target budget allocation for every project.  Secondly, setting an upper expenditure budget still needs final approval from the top management.  Thirdly, setting early restrictions like maximum limits and estimate of non controllable fixed expenses preceded to departmental decisions can overcome the purpose of participative budgetary management. Fourthly, arbitrary allocation of the approved budget can defeat the participative budgeting process. Fifth, The division manager has the authority to hold back a percentage of each department’s allocation for optional use. Lastly, reporting and evaluation based on every department’s performance and attainment of company’s goals must be accompanied by rewards. (http://www.accountingformanagement.com/participative_or_self_imposed_budget.htm#Definition%20and%20Explanation%20of%20Participative%20or%20Self%20Imposed%20Budgeting) In the final note, the success of the budget program greatly depends on how the budget is being developed, planned and implemented. The most successful budget approach is where the managers can have an effective cost control responsibilities in preparing their own budgets which will be presented before the approval committee. The proper coordination and effective communication between the top management and the managers of every division has great impact on the attainment of the success of every budgeting allocation.    The managers have the participatory responsibility in order to determine the appropriate requirements in every department by the top management; since it has limited knowledge about important details in the operations.  Hence, the participation of the managers is needed in order to provide some important details and information that might essential in the budgeting process and approval of the allocation. (http://www.accountingformanagement.com/participative_or_self_imposed_budget.htm#Definition%20and%20Explanation%20of%20Participative%20or%20Self%20Imposed%20Budgeting) References: (http://www.google.com.ph/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=tl&source=hp&q=communication+flows+when+the+budgeting+process+is+imposed+or+Participatory%3F&pbx=1&oq=communication+flows+when+the+budgeting+process+is+imposed+or+Participatory%3F&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=5470l8148l0l9196l1l1l0l0l0l0l160l160l0.1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=c4a92c6f294922ee&biw=1024&bih=566) (http://www.accountingformanagement.com/participative_or_self_imposed_budget.htm#Definition%20and%20Explanation%20of%20Participative%20or%20Self%20Imposed%20Budgeting) Interesting News Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Accounting For Managers – Budget

The Differences between the Imposed and Participative Budgetary Approach In general, the communication process in the imposed budgetar...