Knowledge Management in Mountville Fashions Assignment

Knowledge Management in Mountville Fashions - Assignment Example The essay "Knowledge Management in Mountville Fashions" talks about Mountville Fashions, its management and business strycture. Rather the company conducts a large amount of market research based on both internal and external teams to understand the realms of change in the fashion wear collections wore by different categories. Further the company also conducts fashion and trade shows along different periods to help gain customer and trade networks involved in the expansion of business for the fashion wear company. The company also integrates effectively with its supply chain network to gain knowledge of the new designs and fashion wears brought about by the category teams. Such new designs are well communicated to the different people in the organization both in regards to the head office and stores in order to conduct sales and operations effectively. The paper in this connection aims to conduct an in depth analysis of the organization structure and culture of the concern and thereb y aim to reveal the knowledge management effectiveness in the concern. Mountville Fashions being a mid-sized fashion department store has an effective organizational structure headed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The Chief Executive Officer of the company is followed by the Head of Finance and Head of Operations of the company. Again the Head of Finance is followed in by managers taking care of the account and credit operations. The Head of Operations would be the Coordinator of Fashions.... ategy of Mountville Fashions Organization Structure Mountville Fashions being a mid-sized fashion department store has an effective organizational structure headed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The Chief Executive Officer of the company is followed by the Head of Finance and Head of Operations of the company. Again the Head of Finance is followed in by managers taking care of the account and credit operations. The Head of Operations would be the Coordinator of Fashions, Head of the Merchandise Display and Promotional Activities and the Head of Operational Activities in regards to Stores and Supplies. The same can be depicted as follows. Figure 1 (Diamond, 2007, p.58) The above organizational chart depicts specialization rendered in regards to the organizational functions thus focusing on the development of skills and business productivity. Through the organizational hierarchy reflected in the chart given the company can effectively work in enhancing the mode of store visuals and the different marketing and promotional activities in relation to such. Thus the head of such teams are expected to work on large amount of innovation in regards to the bringing out of effective visual merchandising ideas in regards to design of the store layout, the interior color to be used and the design of the displays. Such enhancement of the store displays conducted by the visual merchandising teams would certainly help in cultivation of brand awareness in the minds of the consumers. Again the supervisory teams in regards to such project of enhancing store displays are required to effectively communicate the ideas with the teams working in the store thereby enabling them to gain hold of newer ideas and knowledge. In regards to the enhancement of supply chain activities

International Banking and Comercial Payment Essay

International Banking and Comercial Payment - Essay Example Direct export, export through an agent, or export by the establishment of branches and subsidiaries are ways in which firms export. 2 Risks of fraud, political risks, exchange risks and risks associated with recovering payment are but a few of the risks that confront exporters and importers. Thus, it is important to organise judiciously an export operation and to consider carefully international payment terms in an attempt to present smooth operations to minimise risks for exporters. 3 Although exporters may choose from open account, document collection, letter of credit or cash in advance as payment methods to optimise risks while ensuring that they give effect to an export transaction, it makes sense to exercise presale due diligence and to consider all risks carefully, including country specific risks. 4 It is possible for international trade transactions to present great dramas that may lead to disputes requiring expensive and time consuming dispute resolution procedures or expen sive litigation in courts of several countries. 5 The case presented in Appendix A, below, describes an interesting situation involving the unauthorised removal of a bill of lading included with the documents for a document collection export transaction presented by Wyevale Ltd, located in the UK for Asian Traders Inc., as buyers, located in the Philippines. The discussion presented below focuses on an analysis of the facts and the legal issues related to the previously mentioned case of Wyevale Ltd exporting to Asian Traders Inc. An Analysis of Facts of the Question The situation described in the case presented in Appendix A is a typical DA (Documents against Acceptance) collection procedure for export in which the buyer is required to indicate acceptance of bill of exchange prior to the Import Bank releasing title of the goods in the form of bill of lading to the buyer. 6 7 It is important to understand that making, altering, negotiating or transferring a bill of lading with the i ntent to defraud is a criminal offence. 8 However, the managing director of Asian Traders Inc. may have inadvertently left the Import Bank with the bill of lading on his person without realising this, and that he had then proceeded to take an opportunity to sell the goods consigned to his firm to a third party based on possession of the bill of lading. Because the exporter, Wyevale Ltd of the UK will have a record of the correspondence with Asian Traders, and the banks will have their testimony, it is not possible for the managing director of Asian Traders to escape litigation and simply walk away without paying the exporter because he has in his possession a bill of lading. 9 However, the Import Bank employee should have been more careful. In any case, the importer, Asian Traders Inc. has five days in which to effect payment. Because Asian Traders has the bill of lading, and it has sold the goods consigned to a third party, which has paid to Asian Traders Inc., there is no reason w hy Asian Traders should not pay in due course, unless an intention exists to deviate from acting in good faith. Even if a bill of lading has passed on to an importer, this will not mean that the importer is in a position to take physical delivery of goods because the ship on which the goods were consigned may not have arrived in port or released its cargo. 10 Thus, it will

Question-1 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Question-1 - Coursework Example In the current times, the diversity and technology have emerged as important issues within organization that significantly impact performance outcome. The various stakeholders that are influenced by the issues are: employees, consumers, suppliers, interest groups, shareholders etc. The major objective of change management is to bring about organizational change smoothly. Thus, integrating the needs of the various stakeholders and empowering them with information regarding change considerably facilitates the change process. Promoting diversity and affirmative actions within organization hugely helps to create credible image of the firm. Moreover, diverse workforce greatly promotes diverse views and cultural competencies which can provide firms with unique capabilities and help them gain competitive advantage within the industry (Adidam, Phani et al., 2009). Effective communication regarding change is key tool that promotes better understanding of change processes and how change can be exploited as new opportunities. The different beliefs, value system, ideology and cultural paradigms have become essential elements of human interaction (Bloisi, 2007). Thus, promoting cross-cultural understanding across diverse workforce greatly facilitates resolution of workplac e conflicts and helps build constructive relationship and strong teamwork based on mutual respect resulting in higher productive outcome. (words:

Activity based costing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Activity based costing - Essay Example With this new era of cost reduction and resource utilization,managers always have to come up with ways to maximize their bottom-line One of the newest ways how companies can get increased cost-savings is by using a technique called Activity Based Costing (ABC). The main objective of this type of system is proper identification of all cost categories and using basing decisions on this information. Most organizations that use ABC systems have two costing systems – the official costing system that is used for preparing external financial reports and the Activity Based Costing system that is used for internal decision making and for managing activities. Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Recent Studies in ABC 3 Role of ABC in Industries 4 Role in Manufacturing 5 Role in Financial Services 6 Role in Health Services 7 Role in Retail 8 Role in Government 9 Limitations of ABC 10 Conclusion 11 Bibliography 12 Introduction The main objective of Acti vity Based Costing is to understand the various types of overheads that are affecting the business. In comparison, normal accounting attempts to separate the different type of costs and the focus is on the cost of goods sold (or cost of services rendered in case of service companies). In this section, analysis of the various aspects of Activity Based Costing will be done, and how it is used effectively by managers in order to create the maximum value for the company. A number of examples will also be looked into when it did not prove to be very effective for the organizations. The basis of Activity Based Costing is simple, non-manufacturing as well as manufacturing costs may be assigned to products. Moreover, some manufacturing costs may be excluded from product costs. All overhead costs are attached to a product and activity is used as a measure of all the costs involved. The overhead rates or activity rates may be based on the level of activity at capacity rather than on the budge ted level of activity. To compensate for the deficiencies of the conventional information systems, ABC requires firms to collect costs in specially constructed â€Å"activity pools† rather than service departments or overhead cost centers. Each of the pools corresponds to a group of similar business processes or activities that are homogeneous in that all costs assigned to the pool are influenced or driven by a common factor (Rafiq & Garg 2002). Recent Studies in ABC A study in the year 2005 concluded that nearly half (55%) of respondents suggested within their entirety that their companies were at that time making use of the Activity Based Costing either in an active fashion or in a pilot with another 32% considering use. Only one in ten which amounted to around 11% did not contemplate using the ABC. The manufacturing industry had the highest representation with 24%, followed by financial services at 18%, public sector at 16%, and communications at 8%. Other industries accou nted for less than 5% each. The same study found out that out of all the industries being considered, the communication industry is the most aggressive in adopting the ABC system (Timlin 1998). The primary reason for this being that the Activity Based Costing uses various activities to trace overhead directly to cost objects, such as products, processes, services, etc., avoiding the distortions of traditional costing systems. In order for the ABC system to be affective large investments will have to be made in IT to support this need for categorical information. Role of ABC in Industries Now taking a look at the different industries and trying to analyze how ABC system is used to achieve different goals according to the company. While company goals may vary greatly, the purpose here is to identify how Activity Based Co