ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT Environmental audits are reviews of a company’s operations and processes for the purpose of assessing compliance with the environmental rules and regulations. Environmental audits cover a broad spectrum of business activities and areas; including buildings and building sites; activities and procedures; industrial and commercial developments; and engineering hazard...
Management
MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT DEPRECIATION Depreciation is an annual deduction that businesses can claim for the cost of fixed assets, such as vehicles, buildings, machinery, and other equipment. According to the tax law, depreciation is defined as a reasonable deduction for the wearing down and/or obsolescence of these fixed assets. It is...
HOW DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS CAN BE A VALUABLE TOOL FOR SMALL ENTERPRISES Decision support systems are a set of manual or computer-based tools that assist in some decision-making activity. In today’s business environment, however, decision support systems (DSS) are commonly understood to be computerized management information systems designed to help...
THE ELEMENTS OF DECISION MAKING Decision making is a vital component of business success. Decisions that are based on a foundation of knowledge and sound reasoning can lead a company into long-term prosperity; conversely, decisions that are made on the basis of flawed logic, emotionalism, or incompetent information can quickly...
CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS AND SMALL BUSINESS Many people think that cross-functional teams are only successful in large companies. Conventional wisdom dictates that small companies are probably already operating cross-functionally out of necessity – i.e., the company is so small that people have to perform multiple tasks and work together with everyone...
HOW CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS ENHANCE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT The most simple definition of cross-functional teems (or CFTs) is teams that are made up of people from different functional areas within a company – marketing, engineering, and human resources, for example. These teams take many forms, but are most often set up as...
WHY CLUSTERING IS IMPORTANT FOR BUSINESS Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies or institutions that manufacture products or deliver services to a particular field or industry. Clusters typically include companies in the same industry or technology area that share infrastructure, suppliers, and distribution networks. Supporting firms that provide components,...
CLOSELY HELD CORPORATIONS Closely held firms are those in which a small group of shareholders control the operating and managerial policies of the firm. Over 90 percent of global businesses are closely held. These firms defer from most publicly traded firms, in which ownership is widely disbursed and the firm...
ASSEMBLY LINE METHODS An assembly line is a production arrangement of workers and equipment in which the product that is being assembled passes consecutively from operation to operation, with each station adding to the work of previous stations, until the product is completed. Assembly line methods were originally introduced to...
WHAT FACTORS DRIVE CUSTOMERS’ PURCHASING POWER? (PART 1) Many companies make the mistake of thinking their customers make purchase decisions based on one or two purchase factors that they think are key purchase criteria, such as price or product availability. But this is rarely the case. Customers usually base their...
