Decision Making and It's Steps

Decision Making

Decision making is a process by which a person, group and people identifies various alternative and selects the best one in various alternatives according his objectives or goals, desires, life style, values and so on. Decision is based on knowledge, skills and observable action. Decision making is the most difficult and essential task a manager performs. (Kearney, Richardson & Giulio, 2000).

Decision Making Steps

Decision making is a process which consists of various steps. These are:

Define the problem and objectives: The first stage of decision making is to identify and define the problem or analyze the opportunities. It is the most important step in decision making process. If the problem is not clearly defined or understand then decisions will be not provide the accurate result. In this step, identify the objective and set the goal so it is providing the guideline in the process of decision making.

Gather information: In this step decision maker is gathering data or information for the relevant of decision. The problem-solving process taken enough time to gathering information related to the problem. The collection of information must be analyzed according to the problem (Harvard Business School, 2006).

Identify alternatives: After define the problem, the next step is identifying the various alternatives. This stage is dedicated to finding solutions to identify the available alternatives. In the searching of various alternative decision maker should focus on merits and demerits of the various alternatives and the nature of the problem.

Analyze alternatives: After identify the various alternatives decision maker evaluate the various options. Comparison of various alternatives is based on time, cost, risk and other benefits. Alternative should be timely, acceptable, desirable and ethical so it will provide a good decision result. After evaluate for various alternative selected the best of them (Vermeulen & Curșeu, 2008).

Develop Solution: Every problem suggest more than one alternative solution. This step is done carefully for each alternative solution. The decision maker thinking, values, skills and knowledge will play a crucial role in the analysis and evaluation of the various alternatives and they affect the problem solving decision.

Make a decision: After analyze each situation or alternative, select the best solution. This is the action taking stage. Review all the details of the remaining alternative so that decision will be clear in the mind. If the decision maker has gathered the data and facts, used logic, assumption and common sense than they are easily get a right decision (Huber, 2006).

Implement the decision: Once the decision is selected, decision maker must taken action to implement it in the right way. In this process, every related persons support is necessary in the implementation of decision. Effective implication of decision is solving the problem and given the best result.

Evaluate result: Decision making process is not completed without evaluation of result. This is a form of control of the result. It involves measuring performance result according to the goals and objectives and measure both positive and negative outcomes (Schermerhorn, 2009).
Decision making is a continuous process. If the decision maker follows each step in the decision making process, best possible decision is most likely to come.


References:
Harvard Business School. (2006) Harvard business essentials: decision making: 5 steps to better results. USA: Harvard Business Press.
Huber, D. (2006) Leadership and nursing care management. 3rd ed. USA: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Kearney, N., Richardson, A. & Giulio, P.D. (2000) Cancer nursing practice: a textbook for the specialist nurse. China: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Schermerhorn, J.R. (2009) Exploring Management. 2nd ed. USA: John Wiley and Sons.
Vermeulen, P.A.M. & Curșeu, P.L. (2008) Entrepreneurial strategic decision-making: a cognitive perspective. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Brand Strategy

A brand is a name, image, symbol, and design that give an identity to a product or a company. An effective brand can be established through a plan or strategy. A brand strategy is a planning process that defines company’s position in the market. It includes many activities done by business such as defining the brand idea, brand design, and brand personality (Graham, 2007). Brand strategy can be defined as the process of creating brand identity in the industry. This post could be used by students for help with their assignments related to brand strategy.

Brand equity, brand loyalty, brand awareness are the basic component of brand strategy. Brand equity is significantly related with the brand strategy as it is a process of evaluating market situation for brand. That helps the marketer to create brand identity effectively by analyzing all the aspects of an environment. This involves brand perception, financial performance, satisfaction and overall value etc. (Knapp, 2000). Brand equity also compares the other brands that are available in the same market that helps to implement the brand strategy effectively.

A marketer uses several branding strategies to increase the brand awareness and identity for its product and services. The major branding strategies are as below:

Family Branding: Through this strategy company introduce new product in existing brand. A business go for family branding, when it feels that its brand has a good position in market and customer’s are going to give good response to new product (Kotler, Pfoertsch & Michi, 2006). For example: Sony introduced its product in electronics like radios, televisions, stereos etc. after the success of Walkman (Lamb, 2009).

Product Branding: This strategy is used, where business gives a new brand name to each of its product. It has an advantage that a company is not losing its total control over the brand in case of the failure of any product (Kotler, Pfoertsch & Michi, 2006). For example Procter & Gamble segmented laundry detergent with the name of Bold, Oxydol, Tide, Cheer, Gain, Era and Solo, etc. (Lamb, 2009).

Company Branding: This strategy is used by the businesses as a whole. It denotes that a business use a single brand in all the product lines and industries (Kahn, 2011). For example, Virgin Group has a large and wider product portfolio in different markets such as Finance, Airline, Music, Mobiles etc. (Virgin, 2011).

Manufacturers Branding: This strategy used by the manufacturers rather than distributors to brand the product in a large region. It is introduced by large firms that have good financial position and can take risk of failure in one region. Ford and McDonald’s are the brands that used this strategy for their products and services in the different regions (Kahn, 2011).

The above discussed are some of the important branding strategies that are used by the marketers to create brand identity for their products and services.

References
Davis, J. A. (2009). Competitive Success, How Branding Adds Value. USA: John Wiley and Sons.
Graham, T. (2007). CIMA Exam Practice Kit Management Accounting Business Strategy (3rd ed.). Holland: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Kahn, K.B. (2011). Product Planning Essentials (2nd ed.). USA: M.E. Sharpe.
Knapp, D.E. (2000). The Brandmindset. New York : McGraw-Hill Professional.
Kotler, P., Pfoertsch, W., & Michi, I. (2006). B2B brand management. Germany: Springer.
Lamb, C.W. (2009). MKTG. China: Cengage Learning.
Virgin. (2011). About it. Retrieved July 26, 2011, from http://www.virgin.com/

Budget - Types of Budget

Budget

A budget is a financial document or pre-plan of action for organization. It is a systematic process to anticipated the expenses and return for a given period. It’s a plan for managing money. Through this, one can know the expenses against its income (Harvard Business School Press, 2009). By making a budget, one can anticipate that how much money they have and what actions will be taken by this as well as the return over it within given time frame. It is also a useful technique to avoid the unexpected expenses and it leads saving. Business organizations are using budget to analyze the cost-benefit of their business operation. It helps to know that should they continue business operation or not. This post would be useful to students looking for assignment help related to budgets and types of budgets.

Types of budget

Fixed budget: It is financial plan which does not change throughout the budget period as it is also said to be static budget. Generally, the organization where sales volume is predictable use fixed budget. This helps to single level of business activity. It is also used for controlling, planning and evaluating business operations (Grossman & Livingstone, 2009).

Flexible budget: The budget that can be change according to the volume of services of business, said to be flexible budget. It is also called variable budget. It allows adjustment of revenue and expenses accordingly to up and down. This budget provides better management in all circumstances (Shim & Siegel, 2008). It is very useful for business as it can be changed throughout the budget period.

Cash Budget: Cash budget are important for cash management. Cash planning and controlling are undertakes in cash budget. It’s meant to know expected cash flow and outflow during a specified period in the organization. Cash management helps in avoiding to keep idle cash and also unexpected borrowings in business. It is a very important aspect of organization as its help in smooth functioning of business.

Capital Expenditure budget: This budget is related to the long term project of organization. It includes management of those funds, which requires for acquiring long term project in business. It helps in calculating the cost of project as well as the timing of capital expenditure. It’s also list out the sources of capital for financing the project as it increases the cost and time effectiveness of business (Shim & Siegel, 2008).

Program budget: This budget is concerned with the different programs of organization. Research & development, marketing and training are some examples of program activities. It’s majorly concerned with the problem of resource allocation and helps the manager to improve their managerial skills.

Master budget: An organization carries many activities. Master budget involves all operational areas of organization such as sales, production and so on. All the operations of organization are interdependent to each other and also effected to each other. This budget is considered this factor and includes all budgets in one. It is called master budget (Needles, Powers & Crosson, 2010). Master budget is not only flexible but also includes all the operations of organization. If any change occurs, only master budget has to be change. It creates time and cost effectiveness for organization as it’s save time and cost.

References
Grossman, T. & Livingstone, J.L. (2009). Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting (4th ed.). USA: John Wiley and Sons.
Harvard Business School Press (2009). Preparing a budget: expert solutions to everyday challenges. USA: Harvard Business Press.
Needles, B.E., Powers, M. & Crosson, S.V. (2010). Financial and Managerial Accounting (9th ed.). USA: Cengage Learning.
Shim, J.K. & Siegel, J. G. (2008). Budgeting Basics and Beyond (3rd ed.). USA: John Wiley and Sons.
Warren, C. S. (2008). Survey of Accounting (4th ed.). USA: Cengage Learning.