Kaivalyam

Humans need to feel a sense of belonging among social groups, which was provided previously by close knit communities. With the decrease in these kinds of communities, companies should strive to promote community culture by helping employees with childcare. The HR over Coffee podcast mentions that parents spend an average of USD 28,000 every year on childcare expenses and is one of the largest expenses that families incur. An SHRM article , mentions that companies like American Express, Credit Susie Bank started offering out of box childcare benefits for their employees such as paying for nannies who accompany their employees when they bring their children on business trips, offering recognition program where employees can earn points that they can redeem for merchandise, gift cards etc The same podcast mentions the following as some of the childcare benefits that companies can offer: Flexible work options and generous Paid time off Parents have to balance work and personal l...

Yes, that’s right … Alexa is the new Santa Claus for the present generation kids! With voice assistants in every home, it became easier for children to order for toys of their choice. Even those children that are too young to spell, have made their way to ordering Alexa to bring them toys and candy. According to WSJ article ,   Brenda Dickson’s 3 year old and 6 year old children almost bought 100 boxes of jelly beans. Dickson heard the kids asking Alexa and managed to cancel the order immediately. Unlike Brenda Dickson’s children, Zibby Owen’s son successfully managed to place orders on Amazon. Owen’s son who is only 4 years old uses her ipad to watch “Paw Patrol” show and somehow figured out to to use microphone and placed orders for his favorite Paw Patrol toys!   Owen realized it only after multiple boxes were delivered to her house but, she let her son keep few toys and returned others. She also made sure to delete shopping app in her ipad. Picture of orders place...

Time Value of Money (TVM) is the concept where investors prefer the idea of receiving money now than in the future. For example, if you are given the option of choosing to receive $1000 today or $1000 after 2 years, it is better to choose receiving $1000 today because it has more value and utility. The money can be used to re-invest and gain interest. TVM can be broken down to Present value (PV) and Future Value (FV).  Present Vale and Future Value Present value helps us understand how much the cash that will be received in future is worth today. Future value helps us determine how much the cash received today is worth in future. Both PV and FV can be determined with the help of formulas below. PV = FV / (1+ r)^ t  FV = PV * (1 + r) ^t  where, FV = Future value of money PV = Present value of money r = interest rate t = number of years Conclusion Just as the phrase “time is money”, the value of the money that we have today wil...

Statistics in Business I really wonder why I hated numbers and math as a child. Probably it required me to think or because it was cool to be part of “math hating” group in school or because I never liked my math teachers. Although I always said I hate math, in reality, I am closer to it than I thought. Like my Professor Dr. Karri said, “you can’t do MBA and hate numbers! Ain’t business all about numbers?” Also, I have master’s in pharmacy with a pharmaceutics major. Ain’t pharmaceutical formulations all about math? Whatever is the case, I am sad that I missed to see the value of math earlier in my life. But, I do believe that there are ways to improve it. The more I know about math, the more interesting it is. All business decisions such as measuring performance, forecasting future, understanding risks and ROIs, researching market data etc., are all made easy with the help of statistics. With the knowledge of statistics, we can learn to logically manage and analyze data. Wh...

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) -- it is the hottest topic out there. Should we trust that companies live up their values or there are any underlying motives? But, let's first start by exploring the definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It is defined as the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life ( World Business Council on Sustainable Development, 2000 ). So, CSR is based on the belief that companies make positive contributions to society. Some examples of CSR activities that organizations participate to be socially responsible are as follows: Philanthropic CSR- Companies donate to the needy via charities. Their donations include clean water programs, helping those affected by natural disaster etc. Environmental CSR- It is very important to limit pollution. Companies participate in CSR by lim...

Economies of scale and economies of scope are two different ideas both of which help the company to cut costs of production. Economies of scale focuses on costs that can be saved when there is an increased level of production of one good while economies of scope emphases on total average cost benefits when there is a production of variety of goods. Economies of Scale Costs can be saved because they are spread over large number of goods. Variable costs or the costs per unit. For example, to produce tap water, water companies should build huge network of pipes that stretch across wide areas. The costs associated are very high. However, since that will be shared by all the households in that area, the average costs come down. A large business will have more cost savings with higher production levels. Economies of Scope Economies of scope concept is utilized by a company when uses its current resources to diversify into related markets. For example, a farmer may se...

Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is defined as t he factor or consideration presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service is different from and better than that of the competition. The crucial factor to effective selling is USP.USP is framed using the 4P’s (Price, Product. Place & Promotions) also known as marketing mix. A strong USP helps a company to stand out from its competitors. Customers can have a variety of options and it will be difficult for companies as well as customers if they don’t know what separates product/service from another. Therefore, companies develop USP in order to create differentiation and be remembered in a packed marketplace. Companies use different approaches like brand image or understanding the targeted segment group buying motivations etc. Forming a USP is not easy and requires lot of creativity and understanding the market. It is also important to defend and preserve USP as competitors will do what they can to neutralize i...