Game Theory

Game Theory analyses those aspects of economic life which involve haggling, bargaining, and strategics.

It is also known as Game of Strategy

People play game of strategy in all aspects of life.

1) With parents, siblings, friends, enemies and even with teachers

2) Similar games are played in business, politics, diplomacy and wars.

Whenever people interact to strike mutually agreeable deals or to resolve conflicts, people play game.

Game theory is the study of how people behave in strategic situations.

Strategic decisions are those in which each person, in deciding what actions to take, must consider how others might respond to that action.

Game theory and the Economics of Cooperation

The number of firms in an oligopolistic market is small, each firm must act strategically.

Each firm knows that its profit depends not only on how much it produces but also on how much the other firms produce.

Once you begin to consider how others will react to your actions, you have entered the realm of game theory.

Linear Programming Problem

It is a mathematical technique for choosing the best alternative from a set of feasible alternatives in situation where the objective function as well as the constraints can be expressed as linear mathematical functions.

Requirements

1)   All problems seek to maximize or minimize some quantity (the objective function).

2)   Restrictions or constraints that limit the degree to which we can pursue our objective are present.

3)   There must be alternative courses of action from which to choose.

4)   The objective and constraints in problems must be expressed in terms of linear equations or inequalities.

Three Components of Linear Programming

1)   The Objective Function

2)   Constraints

3)   Non-negativity Constraint

Applications of LPP

Production management

Company can produce several products with each requiring the use of certain resources. It is formulated, determining the number of units to be produced, with an objective- maximization of profits or minimization of cost with constraints in the form of resources.

Financial management

Portfolio selection dealing with choosing of investment option with an objective to maximise the total expected return or minimizing risk.

Marketing Management

Determining the advertising media mix so as to maximize effective exposure, subject to limitation of budget and specified exposure rates.

Attitude

Attitude is being now days used for describing people’s behavior

There are two main sense in which it is used

Positive and Negative orientation of the person which is not correct usage Attitude always has Referent i.e. (Object towards which positive or negative orientation is implied)

Attitude are generally effective (Emotional )in nature, They also have Cognitive (information or knowledge ) Elements or Co native (action) Elements in terms of acting or behaving on the basis of Feelings.

Attitude is relatively stable disposition to evaluate an object or event.

Disposition- Tendency or preparedness to respond to the object of the attitude

An attitude is the consequences for influencing once belief, Feelings and behavior towards an object or event.

Evaluating Statement or Judgment concerning Object, People or Events

Self Perception Theory

Attitude used after the fact to make sense out of an action that has already occur.

E-commerce Business

The buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers through an electronic medium, without using any paper documents.

E-commerce is widely considered the buying and selling of products over the internet, but any transaction that is completed solely through electronic measures can be considered e-commerce.

E-commerce is subdivided into three categories: business to business or B2B (Cisco), business to consumer or B2C (Amazon), and consumer to consumer or C2C (eBay).

Various forms of E-commerce

B2B(Business-to-Business)

Companies doing business with each other such as manufacturers selling to distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers. Pricing is based on quantity of order and is often negotiable.

B2C(Business-to-Consumer)

Businesses selling to the general public typically through catalogs utilizing.

Companies doing business with each other such as manufacturers selling to distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers. Pricing is based on quantity of order and is often negotiable.

C2B(Consumer-to-Business)

A consumer posts his project with a set budget online and within hours companies review the consumer's requirements and bid on the project. The consumer reviews the bids and selects the company that will complete the project. Enlace empowers consumers around the world by providing the meeting ground and platform for such transactions.

C2C(Consumer-to-Consumer)

There are many sites offering free classifieds, auctions, and forums where individuals can buy and sell thanks to online payment systems like PayPal where people can send and receive money online with ease. eBay's auction service is a great example of where person-to-person transactions take place everyday since 1995

E-Commerce Success factor

A Basic fact of internet retailing is that all retail Web sites are created equal as far as the “location”  imperative of success related is concerned.

Selection and value

Obviously, a business must offer Web shopping a good selection of attractive product and service at competitive price, or the shoppers will quickly click away from a web store.

Performance and service

People don’t want to be kept waiting when browsing , selecting, or paying in a web store. A must be efficiently designed for ease of access, shopping, buying, with sufficient server  power and network capacity to support web site traffic .

Advertising and incentives

Some web store may advertise in traditional media, most advertise on the web with targeted and personalized banner and other web page and E-mail promotions. Most B2C site also offers shopping incentive to buy and return.

Personal attention

Personalizing your shopping experience encourages you to buy and make return visits. Thus, e-commerce software can automatically record details of your visits and build user profiles of you and other web shopping.

Security and reliability

As a customer of success web store, you must feel conflict that your credit card, personal information, and details of your transaction are secure from unauthorized use. You must also feel that you are dealing with a  trustworthy business whose products and other web site information you can trust to be advertised.

Firewall

Importance method of control and security on the internet and other networks is the use of Firewall computer and software. A network firewall can be a communication process, typically a router, our dedicated server, along with firewall software. Firewall serves as a gatekeeper system that protect a Campinas intranet and other computer network from intrusion by providing a filter and safe transfer point for access to and from the internet and other network. It screen all network transfer for proper password or other security code and only allow authorized transmission in and out of the network. Firewall software has also became and essential computer system component for individuals connecting to the internet with DSL or cable modems because of their vulnerable, “ always on” connection status.

Firewalls can deter, but not completely private, unauthorized access(hacking) into computer networks. In some cases, a firewall may allow access only from trusted location on the internet to particular computer inside the firewall, or may allow only “safe” information to pass. For examples, a firewall may permit users to read a e-mail from a remote locations but not run certain programs. In other cases, it is impossible to distinguish the safe use of particular network service from unsafe use, so all requested must be blocked. The firewall may then provide substitutes for some networks service (such as e-mail or file transfer) that perform most of the same function but are not a vulnerable to penetration.

How public key/private key encryption works

1) With a encryption software, you create a “key” with two parts one public, one private. You distribute a file containing the public part of the key to those you want to communicate with. Only u can use private key.

2) You write an email message, then use the recipient’s public key to encrypt it.

3) The encryption process puts a kind of digital lock on the message.

4) When the message arrives, the software use the private key to verify that the recipients public key was used for encryption.

5) Using the private key, the software unlocks the unique encryption scheme, decoding the message.

Perception

Person Perception Making Judgments About Others

We divide our initial stages of information processes into two stages Sensation & Perception

1) Sensation - The process of receiving information from the environment and changing that input into nervous system activity.

2) Perception - The cognitive activity of selecting , organizing and interpreting stimuli

Process of Perception

1) Process of receiving Stimuli

2) The Process of Selecting Stimuli

3) Process of Organizing Stimuli

4) Process of Interpreting Stimuli

Information System

An information system can be any organized combination of people, hardware, software, communications network, data resources, and policies and procedures that store, retrieves, transfer, and disseminate information in an organization.

Information system

Input- captures or collects raw data from within the organization or from its external environment

Processing - converts this raw input into a meaningful form

Output - transfers the processed information in to the people who will use it or toy he activities as for which it will be used

Feedback - which is output that is returned to appropriate members of the organization to help them evaluation or correct the input stage.

An information system can be defined technically as a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization.

Important

1) Globalization challenges and opportunities.

2) The emerging digital firm.

3) Strategic business objectives of information system.

A) operation excellent.

B) new products, services, and business models.

C) customers and supplier intimacy.

D) improved decision making.

E) survival.

Decision Support System

Decision Support Systems are a specific class of computerized information system that supports business and organizational decision-making activities. A properly designed Decision Support System is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from raw data, documents, personal knowledge, and/or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.

Typical information that a decision support application might gather and present would be Accessing all of your current information assets, including legacy and relational data sources, cubes, data warehouses and data marts Comparative sales figures between one week and the next Projected revenue figures based on new product sales assumptions The consequences of different decision alternatives, given past experience in a context that is described

Example

A national on-line book seller wants to begin selling its products internationally but first needs to determine if that will be a wise business decision. The vendor can use a DSS to gather information from its own resources to determine if the company has the ability or potential ability to expand its business and also from external resources, such as industry data, to determine if there is indeed a demand to meet. The DSS will collect and analyze the data and then present it in a way that can be interpreted by humans. Some decision support systems come very close to acting as artificial intelligence agents.

Traditional Costing Vs. Activity-Based Costing

Costing systems helps companies determine the cost of a product related to the revenue it generates. Two common costing systems used in business are traditional costing and activity-based costing. Traditional costing assigns manufacturing overhead based on the volume of a cost driver, such as the amount of direct labor hours needed to produce an item. A cost driver is a factor that causes cost to incur, such as machine hours, direct labor hours and direct material hours. Activity-based costing allocates the costs of manufacturing a product according to the activities needed to produce the item. Managers should understand the advantages and disadvantages of both systems to meet the needs of their business.

Understanding Traditional Costing

Many manufacturing companies use the traditional costing system to assign manufacturing overhead to units produced. Users of the traditional costing method make the assumption that the volume metric is the underlying driver of manufacturing overhead cost. Under traditional costing, accountants assign manufacturing costs only to products. Traditional accounting fails to allocate non manufacturing costs that also are associated with the production of an item, such as administrative expenses. Companies commonly use traditional accounting in external financial reports because it provides a value for the cost of goods sold.

Pros and Cons of Traditional Costing

An advantage of using traditional-based costing is that it aligns with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP. Easy implementation for companies that provide one product also is a plus. However, traditional costing is an outdated costing system in many companies because those manufacturing companies now use machines and computers for much of their production. Computers and machines make the system outdated because it often uses direct labor hours to calculate cost. Cost is not appropriately assigned because direct labor hours is not the best cost driver to use. Traditional costing negates other cost drivers that may contribute to the cost of an item. Another disadvantage of solely using the traditional costing system is that it can lead to bad management decisions because it excludes certain nonmanufacturing costs.

Understanding Activity-Based Costing

Activity-based costing provides a more accurate view of product cost, but companies typically use it as a supplemental costing system. The allocation bases used in activity-based costing differ from those used in traditional costing. Activity-based costing determines every activity associated with producing an item and allocates a cost to the activity. The cost assigned to the activity is then assigned to products that require the activity for production.

Pros and Cons of Activity-Based Costing

Greater costing accuracy is the primary benefit of activity-based costing. Companies assign cost only to the products that require the activity for production. This method eliminates allocating irrelevant costs to a product. Other advantages of activity-based costing include an easy interpretation of cost for internal management, the ability to enable benchmarking and a greater understanding of overhead costs. Implementing an activity-based costing system within a company requires substantial resources. This can prove a disadvantage for companies with limited funds. Another disadvantage of using activity-based costing is that it is easily misinterpreted by some users.

Telecommunication Networks

Telecommunications channels make use of a variety of telecommunications media. These include twisted-pair wire, coaxial cables, and fiber-optical cables, all of which physically link the devices in a network. Also included are terrestrial microwave, communications satellites, cellular phone systems, and packed and LAN radio, all of which use microwave and other radio waves. In addition, there are infrared systems, which use infrared light to transmit and receive data.

Types of telecommunications Media

1)   Wired Technologies

2)   Wireless Technologies

Wired Technologies

Twisted-Pair wire

Ordinary telephone wire, consisting of copper wire twisted into pairs, is the most widely used medium for telecommunications. These lines are used in established communications networks throughout the world for both voice and data transmission. Twisted-pair wiring is wrapped or shielded in a variety of forms and used extensively in home and office telephone system and many local are networks and wide area network.

Coaxial cable

Coaxial cable consists of a sturdy copper or aluminum wire wrapped with spacers to insulate and protect it. The cable’s cover and insulation minimize interference and distortion of the signals the cable carries. Group of coaxial cables may be bundled together in a big cable for ease of installation. These high-quality lines can be placed underground and laid on the floors of lakes and oceans.

Fiber Optical

Fiber optical uses cables consisting of one or more hair-thin filaments of glass fiber wrapped in a protective jacket. They can conduct pulses of visible light elements generated by lasers at transmission rates as high as trillions of bits per second. This speed is hundreds of times faster than coaxial cable and thousands of times better than twisted-pair wire lines. Fiber-optic cables provide substantial size and thousand of time better than twisted-pair wire lines. Fiber-optical cables provides substantial size and weight reductions as well as increased speed and greater carrying capacity.

Wireless  Technologies

Terrestrial Microwave

Terrestrial microwave involves earthbound microwave system that transmit high-speed radio signals in a line-of-sight path between relay stations space approximately 30 miles apart. Microwaves antennas are usually placed on top of buildings, towers, hills and mountain peaks, and they are a familiar sight in many section of country.

Communication Satellites

Communication Satellites also use microwaves radio as their telecommunications medium. Typically high-earth orbit (HEO) communication satellite are placed in stationary geosynchronous orbits approximately 22,000 miles above equator.

Satellite are powered by solar panels and can transmit microwave signals a rate of several 100 million per second.

Cellular and PCS Systems

Cellular and PCS telephones and pager system use several radio communications technologies. however, all of them divide geographic area into small areas, or cells, typically on from one to several square miles in area. Each cells has it’s own low-power transmitter or radio relay antenna device to relay calls one sale to another. computer and other communication processers coordinate and control the transmission to and from mobile user as they move from one area to another.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a way for wireless devices to communicate. Wi-Fi, short for wireless Fidelity, is the Wi-Fi Alliance’s name for a wireless standard, or protocol, used for wireless communication. Wiring an office or a building for a local area network is often a difficult and costly task. Older building frequently do not have coaxial cables or additional twisted-pair wire.

Bluetooth

A short range wireless technologies called Bluetooth is rapidly being build into computer and other device. Bluetooth serve as a cable-free wireless connection to peripheral device such as computer and scanner. Links up to 8 devices in 10-m area. Useful for personal networking (PANs) and in business to transmit data from handheld devices to other transmitters.

Interview tips for freshers

Getting ready to plunge into the corporate world adds to the excitement level of fresh graduates. The excitement is accompanied by anxiety as every interview call you get is important and you feel the pressure of performing good.

Here are some tips for fresh graduates aspiring to join the community of working professionals give that first best impression during their job interview

  

Reach on time

Being punctual demonstrates your seriousness towards the interview. Find out well in advance the information about how to reach the interview place, how much time does it take to reach there. Try to reach the interview place 15 minutes in advance so that you can relax and get yourself ready to face the interview.

Carry all required documents in a folder

Make sure that you carry 2-3 copies of your resume, certificates (if asked), a notepad and a pen in a well organized folder.

Dress neatly and demonstrate confidence

Dressing neatly adds to your self confidence – this includes, neat clothes, shoes and well done hair. Be cautious about the fragrance you use – it should not be so strong that it makes the interviewer uncomfortable.

Enter the interview room with a smile on your face and don’t slouch in your chair. While slouching in your chair demonstrates lack of interest, the bowed down back exhibits that you are nervous.

In both the situations, you will not be able to face the interview effectively.

Mind your actions

Biting your nails, tapping the table with your pen, sipping water again and again, touching your forehead or nose, biting your lips demonstrates nervousness. Similarly chewing the gum during an interview demonstrates lack of courtesy. Keep away from doing any of these.

While you have a right to remain silent over things you want, do not tell lies about your candidature. With a lot of investigative agencies and social media being in place, truth is not difficult to be discovered.

Anticipate questions

You can easily anticipate some questions while preparing for the interview. Make a list of such questions and prepare answers for them. Take a look at the job notification also to anticipate some questions you might be asked based on the key skills required for the role.

Listen carefully

Ensure that you let the interviewer finish the question before you jump to answer it. Answer with required facts and figures without being too verbose.

Be loud enough and clear

Make sure that the interviewer can hear you clearly. Avoid talking too loudly or in a very low volume.

Establish eye contact

If there are more than one interviewer, establish eye contact with each of them while answering the questions. At the same time avoid staring at any one of them as it exhibits over aggression.

Say “I don’t know”

While you must make intelligent guesses, don’t fake around by trying to offer wrong answers to the questions you don’t know at all. It is absolutely OK if you don’t know certain things.

Ask questions

When given a chance, make sure that you ask intelligent questions. This would require you to research the job and the company very well before you go to the interview. Not asking any questions in the interview demonstrates your lack of interest in the position or being dull.

Website For Student

1)   GTU Old Exam Paper Download

2)   GTU MBASyllabus

3)   E-Books and Text

4)   E-prints in Library and Information Science

5)   GTU Admission

6)   Thoughts about Education

7)   Knowledgeable Website

Factors Affecting Retail Service Layout

Service layouts are designed in much the same way as process layout but the objectives may different for ex. Instead of minimizing the flow of materials through the system, service may seek to minimize the flow of pair, work or to maximize customer exposure to as many goods as possible. The objective of Retail Service layout is to maximize net profit per square feet of store space.

All Apple stores features a genius bar, where customers can receive technical advice or set up service and repairs for their products. The term ambient conditions refers to background characteristics such as the noise level, music, lightening, temperature, and scent that can affect employee performance and morale as well as customers’ perceptions of the service, how long they stay, and how much money they spend.

Two aspects of the spatial layout and functionality are especially important: planning the circulation path of the customers and grouping the merchandise. The goal of circulation planning is to provide a path for the customers that exposes them to as much of the merchandise as possible while placing any needed services along this path in the sequence they will be needed.

There are various factors which are affecting retail service layout.

1. Allocation of space

2. Location of Special displays

3. Efficiency of checkout procedures

1) Allocation of Space

Space allocation is determined by evaluating the sales per square feet of a product or product line versus the willingness of a vendor to pay for product placement.

2) Location of Special displays

Industry specific recommendations are available for layout and display decisions. Computerized versions, such as SLIM (Store Labor and Inventory management) and Cosmos (computerized, optimization and simulation models for operating supermarket), consider shelf space, demand rates, profitability and stock out probabilities in layout design.

3) The efficiency of checkout Procedure

Service may have both a back office (Invisible to the customer) and front office Component. Back offices can be organized for efficiency and functionality. While front office layouts must be aesthetically pleasing as well as functional layout. For that reason, service- layouts are often considered part of the service design process.