Archive for the ‘Finance / Economics’ Category
PRICE DISCRIMINATION
Price discrimination is not a very common phenomenon. The concept of price discrimination can be broadened to include the sale of the various varieties of the same good at prices which are not proportional to their marginal costs. The types of price discrimination are personal discrimination, place discrimination, use discrimination. Price discrimination is personal when a seller charges different prices from different persons. The rich persons are charged higher fees while the poor people are charged with concession rates. Price discrimination is local when the seller charges different prices from people of different localities or places. The monopolists charge a lower price in a foreign market and a higher price in a domestic market. Discrimination is according to use when different prices of a commodity are charged according to the use to which the commodity is put. Price discrimination is defined as the act of selling the same article produced under single control at different buyers. Price discrimination is possible in monopoly conditions because there is a single source of supply. Under imperfect market conditions price discrimination is possible. Where there is a sale in different markets, where it is not possible to transfer any unit of the commodity from the cheap market to the dearest market, price discrimination is practiced.
PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION
Product differentiation is the special feature of monopolistic competition. In this market products sold by different firms are fairly similar and serve as close substitutes of each other. Each seller has a monopoly of his own product variety but he has to face a stiff competition from his rival sellers who are selling who are selling close substitutes of his products. There are two bases of product differentiation. First differentiation may be based upon certain characteristics of the product itself such as exclusive patented features, trademarks, trade names special types of packages or wrappers or showing difference in quality, color or style etc. a firm may compete with other firms by changing the price of a commodity. The firm may also engage in competition with other firms by changing the size, shape and color of the product. It can spend money on advertisements, salesmanship etc. this method of competition is said to be non-price competition. Differentiation may be based upon the conditions surrounding the sale of the product. The product can also be differentiated if the services rendered in the process of selling the product by one seller or firm are not identical with those rendered by other seller of firms. In monopolistic competition there are many firms. But they are not producing identical products, but similar goods.
PUBLIC OPINION
Consumer awareness is very much paramount now a day. Unfair practices and exploitation are not tolerated today and opposition to them may appear in many concrete forms like consumer boycotts both formal and informal, legal restrictions and controls. Public opinion which may be against the unfair practices of the monopolist cannot be ignored and force the monopolists from exploiting the consumer with high prices. The monopolists are enjoying economies of large scale production, maintaining regular and satisfactory supplies, enjoying benefits of large scale buying and selling and capacity to operate higher levels of efficiency. If they follow fair trade practices and do not exploit the consumers they can have a better standing in the society and avoid potential competition and governmental interference. A firm is very well established and has retained excessive controls and licensing regulations, it may purse rigorously high price policies. Simultaneously it may not contemplate that high prices and huge profits may attract new firms to enter the new industry.
PROFIT MANAGEMENT
Profit maximization is a very important assumption in managerial economics. The survival of a firm depends on profits. Profits are the measure of success of the firms. There is an element of uncertainty about the accrual of profit as there are variations in costs and revenues. Our knowledge about the future is also imperfect. Therefore, profit management becomes a difficult task. Nature and measurement of profit, profit theories, profit policies and techniques of profit planning like break even analysis and cost control. The concept of break even analysis is the relationship between the volume and cost of production on the one hand and revenue and profits obtained from the sales on the other hand. When the total revenue and total costs of a firm are equal, the output level at the point is called break even output. Profit management plays the major role in managerial economics.
FINANCIAL PLANNING
The financial planning has emerged as an important part of financial manager’s responsibilities. He must plan for the overall financial success of the firm. He should ensure that the firm has enough funds as and when required and also the continuing profitability of the firm. The financial planning must incorporate the effects of investment decisions and the financing decisions. The process of financial planning is not once for all but a continuous process to identify the future consequences of the present decisions. The present decisions may be having long term implications such as investment decisions have, or having short term implications such as offering incentives to customers for making prompt payments. To measure and compare the actual performance against the pre-set goals of the firm. This helps in identifying the deviations if any, between the objectives and the performances. Get more details about Wyoming corporation here. To control and minimize these deviations financial planning involves the consideration of different aspects of investment, dividends and financing decisions of the firm and since these interact with each other, these should not be taken individually. The financial planning, thus, may be described as forward looking appraisal of the financial aspects of the activities of the firm, leading to decisions regarding the most effective course of the action to be taken over the planning period.
REAL COST
Dear friends! Real cost refers to payment made to the factors of production to compensate for the toil and efforts in rendering their service. Real cost is computed in terms of the efforts and exertions undergone by for labor when it is engaged in production. It is also measured by the sacrifice the capitalist classes have made to save the requisite amount of capital. It is a subjective concept and lacks precision. Real cost do not carry much significance in the case of production of a firm. In reality real costs do not equal money expense in production. The sacrifice involved in the use of human resource and capital belong to different categories. It is therefore necessary to find out a common measuring unit has been formulated. The different concepts of costs given in this section convey different meanings and each one is employed as a tool to analyses a particular economic problem. The concept of cost which is most important and more often employed by an economist is economic cost.
PRICING DECISION POLICIES
Pricing fixation is the basis for generating revenue to a business firm. A firm depends largely on the correct pricing decisions taken by the management for its successful existence. Pricing is actually guided by considerations of cost plus pricing and the policies of public enterprises. There exists price leadership concept and non-price competition. The price system touches upon several aspects of managerial economics aids and guide the managers to take a wise decision. The important areas dealt under this section are price determination under various market forms, pricing policies, pricing methods and price forecasting. Business people do not delve in to the abstract fineness of marginal analysis development by economic theory is practice; they follow some kind of practical rules of the thumb method for pricing.
CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
Capital management is the most intricate and complex problem for the business manager. Capital is scarce and capital expenditures are to be planned and controlled to have an economic justification. Besides these, it includes cost of capital, rate of return, selection of projects, allocation of capital among alternative investment opportunities, capital rationing and risk adjustments. A firm has to face five types of uncertainty which we have discussed so far. The subject matter of managerial economics consists in applying economic principles and concepts towards adjusting with these uncertainties of the firm. Cost of capital means prediction of how much capital is going to invested in the business. Capital management includes the selection of projects that how the project will be success in future. It also includes the allocation of other alternative investment opportunities. The funds of the business should be invested in proper areas that could be yield the profit. Capital management plays the major role in managerial economics.
ASSETS
An asset is any revenue that has the potential either to generate future cash inflows or reduce cash outflows. For a resource to be an asset, therefore, a firm has to have acquired it in a prior transaction and be able to quantity future benefits. The assets of the firm represent the investments made by the firm in order to generate earning. So the assets consist of all that is owned by the firm. Assets are generally divided in to fixed assets and current assets. The fixed assets are those which are intended to be held for a long period. These assets are of permanent nature, relatively less liquid and are not usually converted in to cash in the short run. The assets included in the fixed assets are plant and machinery, furniture and fixtures
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Financial statements are the end product of the financial accounting process. The financial statements are nothing but the financial information presented in concise and capsule form, and financial information relating to the financial position of any firm. Therefore, the financial statements are the depiction of the financial position of a firm. The financial statements are prepared by the firm to communicate with different parties about the financial position of the firm and to analyze the operations and performance of the firm for further planning. The basic source which provides the financial information is the annual report of the company, which is presented by the company to its shareholders at the meeting. Every firm has to prepare the income statements, balance sheets.