Key Business Functions: Management, Operations, and Ethics
Organizational Design and Human Resources (HRO)
Functions of Management
- Planning: Setting performance objectives and deciding how to achieve them.
- Organizing: Arranging tasks, people, and other resources to accomplish the work.
Managerial Competencies
- Communication: Ability to share ideas and findings clearly in written and oral ways—including giving/receiving feedback and using technology.
- Teamwork: Ability to work effectively as a team member and team leader—includes team contribution, team leadership,
Primary Bond Market Mechanics: Issuance, Pricing, and Placement
The Primary Bond Market
Defining the Primary Bond Market
The primary bond market is where new bonds are issued for the first time before being traded in the secondary market. The issuance process includes:
- Design phase – Selecting bond features (type, maturity, coupon, fixed vs. floating rate, seniority, call/put options).
- Organizational phase – Choosing the financial institutions that will assist in pricing, marketing, and placement.
- Regulatory phase – Ensuring compliance with financial regulations,
The Economics of Education: Human Capital and Policy Debates
1. Education and the Economy
Education is an investment in human capital, which increases productivity, income, and economic growth.
Economists use models and data to simplify reality. As highlighted by Borges (“On Exactitude in Science”), attempting to copy reality perfectly renders the model useless; models simplify to explain complex phenomena.
Education functions as both a private good (benefiting the individual) and a public good (benefiting society).
Students act as both consumers (choosing
Read MoreStrategic SCM, Logistics, and Inventory Management Principles
Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Logistics Operations
Defining Supply Chain Management (SCM)
SCM involves the end-to-end coordination and integration of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, production, and logistics. It aims to maximize value to the customer while achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.
- Objective: Deliver the right product, in the right quantity, at the right time, to the right place, at the lowest cost.
- Scope: Includes suppliers, manufacturers, logistics providers,
Organizational Decline Models and Bottom-Up Design Methodology
Organizational Decline and Organizational Death
Organizational Decline is the stage in the life cycle where an organization fails to anticipate, recognize, avoid, neutralize, or adapt to internal or external pressures that threaten its long-term survival. When the company generates few profits and makes too many investments, executives may decide to sell its assets or shut it down.
Greiner’s Model: Crises and Hindrances to Growth
Each growth stage is followed by a crisis. Further growth may be hindered
Read MoreEconomic Alternatives: Market Systems Without Capitalism
Designing a Non-Capitalist Market Economy
Yes, it is possible to imagine a market economy that is not capitalist, although implementing it in practice poses a complex challenge. To answer this properly, it is important to distinguish between market economy and capitalism—terms often confused but not synonymous.
Market Economy vs. Capitalism: Key Distinctions
- Market Economy: Based on the free interaction between supply and demand, where prices are set by the market and economic agents operate with