The Effective Measurement and Management of ICT Costs and Benefits

The Effective Measurement and Management of ICT Costs and Benefits
Author: Dan Remenyi
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2007-03-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0080488757

This is a new and extensively updated edition of one of leading and authoritive books on the subject of IT costs and benefits. Since it was first published in the early 1990s, this book has established itself as the most comprehensive and complete approach to understanding the economics of how information is used to boost the efficiency or effectiveness of companies. The ideas in this book are used extensively in business, and the book is widely adopted and recommended at leading business schools around the world.This book will show you:How to use cost benefits analysis or business case accountingHow to use user satisfaction surveys and value for money studiesHow to integrate IT benefit delivery into IT project managementThis book covers a wide spectrum of IT cost and benefit solutions, ranging from business case accounting and user satisfaction studies right through to the business processes which need to be in place in order to ensure the effective measurement and management of IT costs and benefits. This book takes you through a basic understanding of the issues involved and onto the detail of how to perform the techniques required to measure and thus mange IT costs and benefits.The rapidly increasing level of expenditure on information technology in most organisations is one reason why IT benefits management has become an important business concern. Top management have begun to insist that much more attention be paid to the economic aspects of information systems. put the difficulties with IT benefits behind youmeasure IT benefits and manage their deliveryknow what measurement tools are available for the taskNew to the third edition: The evolution of thinking in ICT costs and benefits; management instinct; the chapter on Identification and Treatment of ICT costs is replaced with a more thorough treatment of the subject; the chapter on Risk Analysis is expanded by 50% with new and latest thinking on the subject; new chapters on: ICT evaluation as a political act, and the evaluation of an outsourcing contract. Extensive revisions of the material through out bring the book up-to-date with the latest thinking and evaluation techniques complete with a number of suggested websites through out the book where more information about the subject may be found.Covers all the practical aspects of business case accounting, ranking techniques and user information system surveys in connection with the effective measurement and management of IT costs and benefitsIdentifies a basic framework to help you understand the economic and financial issues of information technology investmentGives you evaluation concepts as well as several approaches to cost and benefit measurement Provides you with an IT Assessment Metric (ITAM) - which allows you to measure your firms progress towards obtaining maximum value from information technology procured* Gives you a basic framework to help you understand the economic and financial issues of IT investment* Covers all practical aspects of business case accounting, ranking techniques, user information system surveys IT costs and benefits analysis* Provides you with an IT Assessment Metric - allows you to measure your firms progress towards obtaining maximum value from information technology procured

How Will You Measure Your Life? (Harvard Business Review Classics)

How Will You Measure Your Life? (Harvard Business Review Classics)
Author: Clayton M. Christensen
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
Total Pages: 28
Release: 2017-01-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1633692574

In the spring of 2010, Harvard Business School’s graduating class asked HBS professor Clay Christensen to address them—but not on how to apply his principles and thinking to their post-HBS careers. The students wanted to know how to apply his wisdom to their personal lives. He shared with them a set of guidelines that have helped him find meaning in his own life, which led to this now-classic article. Although Christensen’s thinking is rooted in his deep religious faith, these are strategies anyone can use. Since 1922, Harvard Business Review has been a leading source of breakthrough ideas in management practice. The Harvard Business Review Classics series now offers you the opportunity to make these seminal pieces a part of your permanent management library. Each highly readable volume contains a groundbreaking idea that continues to shape best practices and inspire countless managers around the world.

From Product Description to Cost: A Practical Approach

From Product Description to Cost: A Practical Approach
Author: Pierre Foussier
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2006-01-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781852339739

Cost estimating is a powerful tool in industry and business. Anyone involved in cost estimating will find this book extremely useful because of the real life examples, which mean they can use the information in real situations immediately.

Fit for Growth

Fit for Growth
Author: Vinay Couto
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2017-01-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1119268532

A practical approach to business transformation Fit for Growth* is a unique approach to business transformation that explicitly connects growth strategy with cost management and organization restructuring. Drawing on 70-plus years of strategy consulting experience and in-depth research, the experts at PwC’s Strategy& lay out a winning framework that helps CEOs and senior executives transform their organizations for sustainable, profitable growth. This approach gives structure to strategy while promoting lasting change. Examples from Strategy&’s hundreds of clients illustrate successful transformation on the ground, and illuminate how senior and middle managers are able to take ownership and even thrive during difficult periods of transition. Throughout the Fit for Growth process, the focus is on maintaining consistent high-value performance while enabling fundamental change. Strategy& has helped major clients around the globe achieve significant and sustained results with its research-backed approach to restructuring and cost reduction. This book provides practical guidance for leveraging that expertise to make the choices that allow companies to: Achieve growth while reducing costs Manage transformation and transition productively Create lasting competitive advantage Deliver reliable, high-value performance Sustainable success is founded on efficiency and high performance. Companies are always looking to do more with less, but their efforts often work against them in the long run. Total business transformation requires total buy-in, and it entails a series of decisions that must not be made lightly. The Fit for Growth approach provides a clear strategy and practical framework for growth-oriented change, with expert guidance on getting it right. *Fit for Growth is a registered service mark of PwC Strategy& Inc. in the United States

Lies, Damned Lies, and Cost Accounting

Lies, Damned Lies, and Cost Accounting
Author: Reginald Tomas Lee
Publisher: Business Expert Press
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2016-02-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1631570668

This book introduces capacity management, describes cash flow dynamics, and offers ideas about how to manage both Business leaders rely on accounting data such as profit and calculated costs as a guide to whether they are making money. Should they? Accounting was designed to report financial performance not model cash flow. Accruals can disconnect cash flow from the timing and extent to which it occurs. Statements of cash flow do not provide insight into what was bought and how efficiently it was used. Costs and profits are not absolute, they change based on the model you use to calculate them. To manage cash, you must manage what you buy and how effectively you use it. The largest expenditure for most companies is capacity; space, labor, materials, equipment, and technology. Unless you model and manage capacity effectively, you will not achieve the cash flow results you seek. This book introduces capacity management, describes cash flow dynamics, and offers ideas about how to manage both. After reading it, you be able to see, understand, and manage cash flow as never before.

Cost Structure and the Measurement of Economic Performance

Cost Structure and the Measurement of Economic Performance
Author: Catherine J. Morrison Paul
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 383
Release: 1999-02-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0792384032

Cost Structure and the Measurement of Economic Performance is designed to provide a comprehensive guide for students, researchers or consultants who wish to model, construct, interpret, and use economic performance measures. The topical emphasis is on productivity growth and its dependence on the cost structure. The methodological focus is on application of the tools of economic analysis - the `thinking structure' provided by microeconomic theory - to measure technological or cost structure, and link it with market and regulatory structure. This provides a rich basis for evaluation of economic performance and its determinants. The format of the book stresses topics or questions of interest rather than the theoretical tools for analysis. Traditional productivity growth modeling and measurement practices that result in a productivity residual often called the `measure of our ignorance' are initially overviewed, and then the different aspects of technological, market and regulatory structure that might underlie this residual are explored. The ultimate goal is to decompose or explain the residual, by modeling and measuring a multitude of impacts that determine the economic performance of firms, sectors, and economies. The chapters are organized with three broad goals in mind. The first is to introduce the overall ideas involved in economic performance measurement and traditional productivity growth analysis. Issues associated with different types of (short and long run, internal and external) cost economies, market and regulatory impacts, and other general cost efficiencies that might impact these measures are then explored. Finally, some of the theoretical, data construction and econometric tools necessary to justify and implement these models are emphasized.

Measuring the Marginal Social Cost of Transport

Measuring the Marginal Social Cost of Transport
Author: Christopher Nash
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2005-10-20
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 0080456030

Many transport economists have for some time proposed marginal social cost as the principle on which prices in the transport sector should be based and, in recent years, their prescription has come to be taken more and more seriously by policy-makers. However, in order to properly test the possible implications of implementing pricing based on marginal social cost and, ultimately, to introduce such a system, it is necessary to actually measure the marginal social costs concerned, and how they vary according to mode, time and context. This book reviews the transport pricing policy debate and reports on the significant advances made in measuring the marginal social costs of transport, particularly through UNITE and other European research projects. We look in turn at infrastructure, operating costs, user costs (both of congestion and of charges in frequency of scheduled transport services) accidents and environmental costs, and how these estimates have been used to examine the impact of marginal cost pricing in transport. We finish by examining how the results of case studies might be generalised to obtain estimates of marginal social costs for all circumstances and, finally, presenting our conclusions.

The Measurement of Labor Cost

The Measurement of Labor Cost
Author: Jack E. Triplett
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 556
Release: 2007-12-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226812596

Measuring costs of labor as a portion of total production costs has never before been treated so thoroughly or so thoughtfully. Moreover, contrary to most recent labor research, this book focuses on the demand side—the employer's point of view—and the behavior studied is employer behavior. An introductory essay by the editor provides a useful guide to current thought in the analysis of labor cost. Other papers give new insights into problems encountered in accounting for the nonwage elements of labor compensation, the effect of pensions and other benefits, and the wage-measurement questions raised by incomes policies. In addition, there is a wealth of valuable new data on labor costs in the United States. Labor economists, statisticians, econometric modelers, and advisers to government and industry will welcome this up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of the costs of production.

Modern Management in the Global Mining Industry

Modern Management in the Global Mining Industry
Author: Robin G. Adams
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2019-08-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1789737893

This book brings together perspectives from economics, specifically minerals economics, to the management of global mining companies. It covers volatile price forecasting, cost analysis, investment decisions, and the social, environmental, and developmental impacts of mining.