Knowledge Center for Students

Introduction In a global economy, business organizations are driven by market pressures and they need to include in their goals- improved quality and productivity, greater flexibility, continuous innovation and the ability to change to respond rapidly to market needs and demands. Thus, in today’s intensely competitive and global marketplace, maintaining a competitive advantage by becoming a low-cost leader or a differentiator entails having a highly committed and competent workforce. Competitive advantage lies not just in differentiating a product or service or in becoming the low-cost leader but in also being able to tap the organization’s special skills or core competencies and rapidly respond to customer’s needs and competitor’s moves. In other words, competitive advantage lies in management ability to consolidate corporate wide technologies and production skills into competencies that empower individual businesses to adapt quickly to changing opportunities. Also globalization of bu

Competitive Analysis –A case study on Restaurants Introduction People enjoy eating out, and the pace of development of the modern lifestyle indicates that they will continue to eat out more in the future. Higher economic levels, more mobility and more women in the workforce will all lead to a continuing growth in the industry in the next decade (Douglas , 2003 ). According to the National Restaurant Association’s 2011  Restaurant Industry Forecast , consumers today spend 49 percent of their food budget in the restaurant community, compared with only 25 percent in 1955. The economic downturn has created a substantial pent-up demand for restaurant services – more than two out of five consumers say they are not dining out or using takeout as often as they would like – which positions the restaurant industry for growth in 2011 ( National Restaurant Association, 2011 ). Today, people eat out not just because they are hungry but also for entertainment, relaxation, to socialize, to avoid coo

Introduction The term ‘Corporate Governance’ was at one time a term used to indicate a slightly touchy-feely set of considerations which were often regarded as optional: being indicative of such loose ideas as ‘best practice’, and other phrases open to multiple interpretations. Since those days, the term has evolved to become much more embedded in corporate consciousness (Catherine, 2009). Corporate governance as a term has no universally accepted meaning, different corporations and scholars defined it in their own views and according to its usage. However, OECD (1999) describes it “as a range of issues relating to the ways in which organizations or companies may be directed and controlled”. Ensuring proper accountability, probity and openness as a core business of corporate governance in an organizations’ business conduct has variety of differing systems and processes of realization. The beginning of the 21 st century witnessed a series of corporate demise arising from manag