F1 Flashcards
Creating and preserving value
The ultimate feature of all commercial organisations
Description of the modern business context
VUCA
Volatile
Unpredictable.
Complexity
Ambiguity.
Personal qualities required of an accountant
RRRTC
Reliability, responsibility, respect, timeliness, and courtesy
Professional qualities required of an accountant
S A,S I.
Scepticism, accountability, social responsibility and independence.
Organisational values promoting ethical behaviour
0 H, A, R, T,E
Openness, honesty, accountability, respect, trust and empowerment 
Ethical, stances and strategy
Short-term stakeholder interest
Long-term shareholder interests
Multiple stakeholder view
Shaper of society
Corporate governance
Control
Oversight
Risks
Profit
Objectives
Roles
Active
Telling
Experience
Corporate citizenship
Concerns the need for business to recognise that responsibilities extend beyond the scope of simple commercial relationships 
The information to impact framework
Information > analyse> insight> advise> influence> apply> impact>, acumen> assemble 
The characteristics of good information
Accurate
Accurate,
complete
clear
user, friendly,
reliable,
accessible
timely
effective 
Shared service centre
Separate business unit created within a company to deliver a specific service or suite of services across the entire company 
Clouds
The benefits of cloud computing
Competitiveness
Limber
Our planet
Unity
Disaster recovery
Security 
The 4 V’s of big data
Volume
Velocity
Veracity
variety
Artificial intelligence
Technology that can be used to make decisions i.e. to carry out tasks required human intelligence
Machine learning
Blockchain
A decentralised continuously growing data record
Five moral dimensions of the information age
P A, I,LS
Property – the right to protect intangible property
Accountability– who is accountable and liable for harm caused by software malfunction
Information rights– the rights to be free from surveillance are interference
Life quality– what are the negative social costs
Systems – what standards of data and system quality to society demand
Corporate digital responsibility
Digital stewardship – developing a responsible approach to using data.
Customer expectations – transparency and ability to opt in
Giving back – using data to help society.
Data value – rewarding/incentivise customers to give data
Digital inclusion – ensuring lack of digital barriers in society
Overcapacity/undercapacity
Over capacity as when there are resources available for production that are not fully utilised
Under capacity is when the organisation is unable to reduce the quantity demanded, leads to delays in fulfilment
Level capacity strategies
This oraganisation maintains activity at a constant level over the planning period, ignoring fluctuations in forecast demand
Chase demand, strategies
Attempt is made to match production capacity as closely as possible to the forecast demand
Demand management strategies
Attempts are made to manipulate demand levels, e.g. off-peak train fares 
ABC system for inventory management
Classify stock into three different categories. ABC 20% of the items are likely to account for 80% of the stock value 
A classification items are of high value.
B items are of less important and require less control.
C items require little management since their value is negligible.
Key characteristics of just in time
High quality production
Speed – rapid throughput to meet customers needs.
Reliability – computer, aided, manufacturing technology will assist
Flexibility – smallbatch sizes and automation techniques are used.
All of the above should result in lower costs. 
Procurement – wreck and long
The evolution of the procurement function within an organisation
Passive – purchasing is a clerical function.
Independent – there is increasing awareness of the financial importance of the purchasing function
Supportive – increasing importance on the role of purchasing
Integrative – purchasing is now part of the firm strategic planning process 
Business intelligence
Describes the typical architecture of systems, that extract, assemble, store and access data to provide reports and analysis
Not just about the hardware and software. It is about a companywide recognition that a companies data is an important strategic asset that can yield valuable information and improve decision-making.
Operations management
The planning, directing and controlling of the transformation of inputs and outputs that meet the needs of the organisations customers 
Sourcing strategy is
Single sourcing – each product is sourced from one supplier. This may be because of the scarcity of supply or to forge beneficial relationship
Multiple sourcing – where a company chooses several suppliers so reducing the power of each one. Prices fall for the relationship is less stable
Delegated sourcing – sourcing task is delegated to an external organisation
Parallel sourcing – the product may be sourced from separate supply systems, for example, a local supplier and a separate online supplier
An organisations overall mix of suppliers can be considered a supply portfolio
Demand networks
Push based – where a product is pushed onto the market.
Pull, based – where a product is developed to meet the needs of the market.
Quality costs
Prevention cost – the cost of activities undertaken to prevent defects(quality assurance
Appraisal cost – the cost of quality inspection and testing (quality control)
Internal failure cost – the cost of detection of defective items before transfer to customer.
External failure costs – arising after transfer to customer.
Total quality management
Perfect
Prevention of errors before they occur.
Elimination of waste
Right first time
Full participation of all employees.
Everybody’s concern
Continuous improvement needed.
Teamwork.
Mass inspection of products should not be used to achieve quality
Staff should be trained to identify potential problems rather than just reacting to quality failures 
Continuous improvement (Kaisen)
Improvements through small incremental steps
A long-term approach to quality improvement
Provide the workforce with the appropriate tools and techniques to achieve the required quality
Often incorporated into other broader theories and approaches
Benchmarking
Internal benchmarking – comparison against the best elsewhere in the same organisation
Competitive benchmarking – comparison against the best elsewhere in the same industry
Best practice – comparison against the best functional area in any industry 
Six. Sigma.
Approach statistical approach to quality management
Aims to reduce defective output from the business processes.
Statistically equates to 3.4 defects in 1 million becomes the benchmark for a near perfect output. 
Marketing in the organisations environment
Macro environment – can affect the organisation, but is outside of its Control.
Microenvironment – can affect the organisation but the organisation can influence it
Internal environment – all internal factors that are potentially controllable.
Marketing planner
Breakdown of the macro and micro environment
Examining factors that it can influence
Pestel
Political
Economical
Social
Technological
Environmental
Legal
The marketing mix
Product - key features
Place - where is gonna be sold and distributed
Price - what the pricing strategy will be e.g. penetration pricing, price of skimming, selective pricing or dynamic pricing 
Promotion - advertising – personal selling – sales promotion – publicity campaigns 
Market research and types of data
Primary data – collected for the specific purpose of the research.
Secondary data – data already available, e.g. government data
Different marketing campaigns
Undifferentiated marketing – delivery of a single product to the market with very little concern for segment analysis
Differentiated, marketing – make several products each for a separate market
Concentrated marketing – the company focuses on a single segment, hoping to exactly meet the needs better than the other organisation 
Status of the product life-cycle
Introduction
Growth
Maturity
Decline
Maslows hierarchy of needs
Self-actualisation – filling one’s potential
Esteem needs – gain social
Social needs– sense of belonging to a team
Safety needs.– Job security safe and comfortable working
Psychological needs.- food and shelter. 
Knowledge management systems
The idea of a learning organisation, where employees, collaborate, share knowledge, and work in teams to improve organisational efficiency and effectiveness
Outsourcing arrangements
Multiple sourcing – different suppliers for different areas.
Incremental approach – progressively outsourcing different areas
Joint-venture sourcing – a new legal entity is created. ownership shared between the main company and the outsource company.
Application service providers – companies who offer software services
Outsourcing advantages
More independent since they are not employees.
Likely to have more expertise and industry experience available, adding flexibility
Specialists in the service being provided.
Potentially cheaper than having a full-time department – less recruitment costs, no downtime, no training costs. 
Disadvantages of outsourcing
Additional complication, for example, control systems between the entities
Loss of function as a training ground for new recruits of the business
Possible loss of control over how and when the work is performed.
It is an inflexible decision – once made it is hard and costly to go back in- house.
