An Investigative Study on the Effectiveness of Incentive Remuneration Research Paper

An Investigative Study on the Effectiveness of Incentive Remuneration - Research Paper Example The research found that majority of the FSCs were inclined to like a larger time period for which incentives are calculated as this allows them to schedule work better. The research recommends that the organizations should have flexible options for incentives remuneration, should enlarge the amount of incentives available to the FSCs and should lengthen the time period to a quarterly period. Incentive remuneration has been traditionally used by organizations to motivate the employees to perform better and has directly been linked to the increased corporate performance (Murphy, 1985). Research has found that incentive remuneration leads to better revenue generation, better sales and overall better performance of the organization (Murphy, 1985; Bartol, 1999; Jordan, 2010). The advent of globalization and liberalization of the financial markets across the globe has resulted in an intense competition between the financial institutions – to not only profit from the business opportunities, but also to recruit and retain top talents. Retaining consultants have often been difficult for financial institutions in a competitive environment (Tan, 2009). This is also stated by Sigler (1999) in the challenges companies face in retaining productive performers. Retaining productive consultants are crucial for financial institution as they are the profit centers of it. However, incentive remunerations are not always embraced enthusiastically by all consultants (Schmidt, 2005). In many instances, management of companies painstakingly plan and set aside budget for such incentive, only to fail with the lack of participation from the employees. The problem that is detected by the researcher is that the employees in the financial institutions are not enthusiastic about the incentive remunerations, in spite of the great amount of time, energy and money that these organizations put in developing and managing the incentive

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Many people require eyeglasses because they may have farsighted or nearsighted vision. While eyeglasses where made in the early twelve hundreds and the inventors were anonymous, they did a lot of justice for many people all over the world. These inventors were able to help others live a better quality of life, because their vision had been made better. When you have strong vision you are more independent and able to function without assistance, but when your vision is week you may need assistance. You may need assistance with driving, with getting a job, and you may need assistance moving safely when in unknown surroundings. The eye is a key function to the body; therefore it is important to visit the eye doctor or Optometrists on a yearly basis to determine if new lenses are required. In order to create new lenses a doctor must have an optical instrument or Surface Machine to produce high-precision measurements and he must use a high quality glass. The convex lens is used to correct hyperopia or farsighted vision. It is a lens that is thicker in the middle than at the edges. In or...

Case Analysis: Tennant Company Essay

Lead-In/Key Issues Over Tennant Company’s (Tennant) 141 year history, they have consistently remained a producer of floor-cleaning equipment and technologies focusing their efforts in producing products for non-residential use. Since the new CEO Chris Killingstad has come to the company however, he has been dramatically changing Tennant’s value proposition with a broader emphasis encompassing â€Å"chemical-free cleaning and other technologies.† This case shows Tennant’s move beyond traditional green efforts to centralizing environmentally-friendly performance at the heart of the company’s focus, and whether this new focus provides enough benefit as a competitive advantage. The challenge now for Killingstad and Tennant is how to move forward into 2013 in terms of company focus and direction; mainly the extent to which they should diversify. Should Tennant move into residential markets with smaller units for consumers to use in-home? Should they continue to focus on the commercial side, investing instead in the market potential of their ec-H20 and irreversible electroporation technologies? Or should they enter emerging markets with low-cost alternatives to truly increase their global exposure and propagate their vision of chemical-free cleaning? Situation Analysis External Analysis In this section I will use case information and provide an analysis of the commercial cleaning industry. I am choosing to ignore the residential cleaning industry at this time as they have only begun thinking about the consumer market at the time the case was written. Also, given the push by the majority of cleaning companies to â€Å"go green† it is important to look at the entire cleaning industry rather than just the ecologically-friendly niche in order to assess the level of Tennant’s competitive advantage relative to the industry as a whole. As aforementioned, there has been a general trend towards green alternatives in the 21st century, across a large array of industries. More specifically in the commercial cleaning industry it was revealed that consumers desired more environmentally-friendly solutions, as long as there was no sacrifice to price and performance. This ties in with the industry opportunities in the Tennant SWOT analysis (appendix 2) as the innovativ e products from Tennant give them the advantage over chemical-only cleaning companies. Before I analyze Porter’s five forces with respect to Tennant, we must understand what life cycle stage the commercial cleaning industry is currently at. Since profits for Tennant have been rising, and the industry as a whole is said to have risen to 5 billion, I can conclude the industry is still in the growth stage. Now it is important to look at how the development of new technology has impacted Porter’s five forces, most specifically the bargaining power of buyers and the threat of substitute products. Since the introduction of their disruptive technologies they have greatly reduced the risk of these two forces specifically; as these types of products are not easily available elsewhere. It is through these technologies they have created a new, unique selling proposition that has become a competitive advantage for Tennant. Internal Analysis Moving away from the external environment in the cleaning industry, I will now shift attention to Tennant’s key strengths (and their underlying causes) as well as an analysis of financial information to assess their profitability and efficiency. The main source of Tennant’s relative strength in the industry comes from their innovative and patented technologies (see Appendix 2). Firm-specific strengths are resources that can become core competencies; in the case of Tennant they have already become a primary strategic advantage. Now as technological strengths are quite often a by-product of well-structured R&D within a firm, it is therefore crucial to look at in this case. Most of their initial innovative success can be attributed to the Advanced Product Development group, which although was only allocated 10% of the R&D budget they developed the most significant technologies between 2002 and 2006, namely their FaST and ReadySpace technologies. Following the success of th eir ec-H2O technology, they decided to further develop its platform outside of the corporate culture of Tennant and created the subsidiary â€Å"Orbio Technologies Group.† It was through this subsidiary that Tennant developed the split-stream technology and irreversible electroporation, both successful innovations. In all, it can be concluded that the creation of an â€Å"entrepreneurial† subsidiary was a successful management move, and combined with well coordinated R&D it allowed Tennant to develop their core competency. Now it is also important to note where their strengths and weaknesses lie with respect to their financial data and corresponding ratio analysis. Tennant’s main concerns lay in three specific ratios: operating cash flow ratio, their operating profit margin, and their solvency ratio (see Appendix 1). First their operating cash flow ratio is well below one indicating they have not generated enough cash flow during the year to pay off their short-term liabilities. Second their operating profit margin is only 6.10% and 5.76% for the past two years respectively, indicating they are not generating an ideal amount of EBIT per sales dollar earned. And third their solvency ratio is below the healthy threshold of 20% (10.67% and 9.67% for the past two years respectively) meaning they have less of an ability to fulfill debt obligations and have a heightened default risk. Now they are a little stronger in some areas; their current ratio is above a two which is ideal for most firms. Also they do have some operating leverage (although not much above a one means it is low). There is a significant gap between their gross margin and operating profit margin, indicating they are spending a large amount of their revenue on operating expenses. This is to be expected with a highly R&D intensive company like Tennant, as well as the need for high selling expenses required to differentiate from the rest of the cleaning companies. Strategic Alternatives Alternative #1 My first alternative is for Tennant Company to move into the residential, consumer market with smaller Orbio-E handheld units. In this proposed alternative they should stay away from licensing and keep production within the company. This alternative simply provides a variation of their core competency, innovative technologies, and therefore does not stray far from their already established strategic strengths. Alternative #2 The second alternative I would recommend would be the proposed base-of-the-pyramid (BOP) model in emerging markets. As suggested by the case would allow them to identify areas to improve in their legacy markets by creating low-cost products for low-income consumers in developing countries. Furthermore, this action could potentially catapult them to industry-leader status by taking their green initiative to the next level. This very likely would also cause an increase in their goodwill. Alternative #3 The final alternative I will provide with this analysis is for Tennant to continue current operations. They would focus their resources on developing their existing customer relationships with their tried and tested product line. This alternative is taking the less risky approach, by not pursuing chemical-free cleaning too quickly and waiting to assess where the industry is after a given period of time. This will help mitigate potentially detrimental effects on their existing customer base who do not feel ready to make the transition to chemical-free cleaning. Strategic Recommendation I would suggest Tennant Company move forward with my second proposed alternative, of the BOP business model venturing into emerging markets. It does carry with it more risk, and would require them to take an in-depth analytical look at the profitability of that option. However the potential benefits outweigh the perceived risk in this example for Tennant. Not only will they gain valuable insight into reducing costs associated with their production by developing a low-cost line, but this option is the most synergistic with their core vision. Chris Killingstad even states: â€Å"We owe it to the world to grow and expand as much as we can,† and this simply cannot be accomplished by avoiding emerging markets in developing countries. All-in-all, with their unique technology and highly green initiatives, Tennant Company is well-positioned for continued success in the cleaning industry.

The Effects Of Homelessness On The City - 2802 Words

Introduction As the winter approaches we are forced to remember the severity of homelessness in the City. As of 2014, based on data provided by the Coalition for the Homeless, there are 59,246 people sleeping in shelters. It costs the City $3,500 a month to house a homeless person, adding up to $856 million a year. There are thousands more who sleep on the streets, but due to lack of data we are not sure of the exact number. Shelters only provide a temporary solution; on average a person is allowed to stay in a shelter for a maximum of 180 days. How can that individual/family regain their â€Å"self-sufficiency† in a city where the rent is amongst the highest in the country, and affordable housing is limited. Nearly half of all New York City residents pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Median rents have risen 75 percent since 2000, at the same time, that median incomes have declined, and between 1994 and 2012, the city lost 105,242 of rent regulated housing. To address this problem, and restore these people sense of citizenship, we need a citywide reform of the housing system. Since housing conditions vary significantly from state to state, it is important for state and localities to develop their own housing strategies. The two basic components that affect housing in New york, which need to be addressed to reform the affordable housing system are 1) many families have incomes that are too low to afford the costs to maintain a home 2) constraints on theShow MoreRelatedHomeless Population Of New South Wales1444 Words   |  6 PagesOverview â€Å"In a country as prosperous as Australia, no one should have to be homeless.† - The Road Home, 2008 Homelessness is a complex problem and not simply a lack of housing. It has numerous causes that affect different groups differently. In Australia, there are approximately 105000 people experiencing homelessness reported in the 2011 census. This equates to one in every two hundred people. 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