PGDBA cheat sheet

Fayol's 14 principles include unity of command, unity of direction, scalar chain, span of control, equity, and esprit de corps.

Taylor's scientific management: time-and-motion study, differential piece-rate pay, functional foremanship, and separation of planning from execution.

Weber's ideal bureaucracy: division of labour, hierarchy of authority, formal rules, impersonality, and merit-based selection.

Maslow's hierarchy (physiological, safety, social, esteem, self-actualisation) assumes lower needs are satisfied before higher ones dominate.

Herzberg two-factor theory: hygiene factors (pay, policy, conditions) prevent dissatisfaction; motivators (achievement, recognition, growth) create satisfaction.

McGregor Theory X assumes workers dislike work and need control; Theory Y assumes self-direction and intrinsic motivation.

Tuckman's group development stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning.

Contingency view: no single best structure; Fiedler's leadership effectiveness depends on leader-member relations, task structure, and position power.

Likert's four systems: exploitative authoritative, benevolent authoritative, consultative, participative; System 4 is most effective.

Accounting equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity; every transaction preserves this balance (double entry).

Accrual basis records revenue when earned and expenses when incurred, regardless of cash movement; matching principle pairs expenses with related revenue.

Depreciation methods: straight line = (Cost - Salvage)/Useful life; WDV = fixed rate on opening book value.

Working capital = Current assets - Current liabilities; current ratio = CA/CL; quick ratio = (CA - Inventory - Prepaid)/CL.

Break-even point (units) = Fixed costs / (Price - Variable cost per unit); margin of safety = (Actual sales - BEP sales)/Actual sales.

NPV = sum of CFt/(1+r)^t minus initial outlay; accept if NPV > 0. IRR is the discount rate making NPV zero.

WACC = (E/V)*Ke + (D/V)Kd(1 - tax rate); use it as the hurdle rate for average-risk projects.

DuPont decomposition: ROE = Net profit margin x Asset turnover x Equity multiplier.

Price elasticity of demand = % change in quantity / % change in price; |E| > 1 elastic, |E| < 1 inelastic, |E| = 1 unitary.

Income elasticity > 0 normal good; > 1 luxury; < 0 inferior good. Cross elasticity > 0 substitutes, < 0 complements.

Law of demand: inverse price-quantity relation; supply curve slopes upward; equilibrium where Qd = Qs.

Short-run cost relations: MC crosses AVC and ATC at their minimum points; AFC falls continuously as output rises.

Perfect competition: P = MR = MC in equilibrium, zero long-run economic profit. Monopoly: MR = MC with P > MR and deadweight loss.

Giffen goods violate the law of demand; Veblen goods demand rises with price due to conspicuous consumption.

GDP = C + I + G + (X - M); real GDP uses constant prices; GDP deflator = nominal/real x 100.

Business cycle phases: expansion, peak, contraction (recession), trough; fiscal policy acts through G and T, monetary policy through money supply and interest rates.

Porter's five forces: rivalry, new entrants, substitutes, buyer power, supplier power.

Marketing mix 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, Promotion; extended 7Ps add People, Process, Physical evidence for services.

STP process: segmentation, targeting, positioning; segmentation bases are geographic, demographic, psychographic, behavioural.

Product life cycle stages: introduction, growth, maturity, decline; profit peaks in growth/maturity, cash flow turns negative in decline.

Pricing approaches: cost-plus, penetration (low entry price), skimming (high initial price), value-based, dynamic.

BCG matrix: stars (high growth, high share), cash cows (low growth, high share), question marks, dogs.

Ansoff matrix: market penetration, product development, market development, diversification (highest risk).

Brand equity (Aaker): awareness, perceived quality, brand associations, loyalty, proprietary assets.

Distribution intensity: intensive, selective, exclusive; channel conflict can be vertical or horizontal.

HRM functions: manpower planning, recruitment, selection, training, performance appraisal, compensation, industrial relations, separation.

Recruitment sources: internal (promotion, transfer) vs external (advertising, campus, referrals); internal reduces cost and boosts morale but limits fresh talent.

Selection tools: application screening, tests, interviews, assessment centres, reference checks; validity and reliability matter.

Training vs development: training builds job-specific skills; development builds long-term capabilities.

Performance appraisal methods: ranking, forced distribution, graphic rating, critical incident, 360-degree feedback, MBO.

Job analysis yields job description (tasks) and job specification (qualifications); job rotation, enlargement, enrichment differ in scope and depth.

Compensation components: base pay, allowances, incentives, benefits; Hay and point-factor methods rank job worth.

Labour welfare and statutory compliance: PF, ESI, gratuity, minimum wages, and Industrial Disputes Act govern employer obligations.

HR analytics metrics: attrition rate, cost per hire, time to fill, training ROI, absenteeism rate.

Production systems: job shop (low volume, high variety), batch, mass/line, continuous process (high volume, low variety).

EOQ = sqrt(2DS/H), where D = annual demand, S = ordering cost, H = holding cost per unit per year.

Reorder point = demand rate x lead time + safety stock.

Little's Law: WIP = Throughput x Flow time; applies to queues and production lines.

Capacity planning: design capacity, effective capacity, actual output; utilisation = actual/design; efficiency = actual/effective.

Lean tools: kanban, JIT, value stream mapping, 5S, poka-yoke, kaizen; goal is waste elimination (muda).

Six Sigma: DMAIC (define, measure, analyse, improve, control); sigma level measures defects per million opportunities.

Project scheduling: CPM uses deterministic times and identifies critical path (zero slack); PERT uses three-point estimates (O + 4M + P)/6.

Quality gurus: Deming (PDCA, 14 points), Juran (quality trilogy), Crosby (zero defects), Ishikawa (fishbone diagram).

Mean = sum of values / n; median is middle value of ordered data; mode is most frequent value. Mean is sensitive to outliers, median is not.

Standard deviation = sqrt(sum (xi - mean)^2 / n) for population; sample uses n-1 (Bessel's correction).

Normal distribution: 68% within 1 SD, 95% within 2 SD, 99.7% within 3 SD; z = (x - mean)/SD.

Central limit theorem: sampling distribution of the mean approaches normality as sample size grows (n >= 30 rule of thumb).

Confidence interval for mean = x-bar +/- z * (sigma/sqrt(n)) when sigma known.

Hypothesis testing: type I error = rejecting a true null (alpha); type II error = failing to reject a false null (beta); power = 1 - beta.

Correlation coefficient r ranges -1 to +1; r^2 is the proportion of variance explained. Correlation does not imply causation.

Simple linear regression: y = a + bx, where b = covariance(x,y)/variance(x); least squares minimises sum of squared residuals.

Probability: P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A and B); independent events: P(A and B) = P(A)*P(B).

Indian Contract Act, 1872: valid contract needs offer, acceptance, consideration, capacity, free consent, lawful object; void vs voidable distinction.

Sale of Goods Act, 1930: conditions are essential to contract, warranties are collateral; caveat emptor applies unless exceptions.

Companies Act, 2013: types of companies (private, public, one person, Section 8); board composition includes independent directors and woman director for prescribed classes.

Corporate governance principles: accountability, transparency, fairness, responsibility; SEBI LODR and Clause 49 govern listed entities.

Agency problem: separation of ownership and control creates manager-shareholder conflict; mitigated by board oversight, incentives, and disclosure.

Insider trading is prohibited under SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations; UPSI and trading window rules apply.

Competition Act, 2002 prohibits anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominance; CCI adjudicates combinations above thresholds.

Consumer Protection Act, 2019 provides district, state, and national commissions and product liability provisions.

Strategic management process: vision/mission, environmental scanning (SWOT, PESTLE), strategy formulation, implementation, evaluation and control.

Porter's generic strategies: cost leadership, differentiation, focus (cost or differentiation); being stuck in the middle erodes returns.

Porter's value chain: primary activities (inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing, service) and support activities.

Resource-based view: competitive advantage from resources that are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN).

Levels of strategy: corporate (portfolio), business (competitive), functional (operational).

Growth routes: organic, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances; diversification can be related or conglomerate.

Mintzberg's 5Ps of strategy: plan, ploy, pattern, position, perspective.

Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan and Norton) perspectives: financial, customer, internal process, learning and growth.

Communication process: sender, encoding, message, channel, decoding, receiver, feedback, noise.

Barriers: semantic, psychological, organisational, cultural; upward communication is often filtered.

7Cs of communication: clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, courteous.

Formal channels: downward, upward, horizontal, diagonal; informal channel is the grapevine.

MIS pyramid: transaction processing systems (operational), MIS (managerial), DSS (semi-structured), EIS (strategic).

ERP integrates core business processes in a single database; CRM manages customer interactions; SCM coordinates supplier networks.

E-commerce models: B2B, B2C, C2C, B2G; digital payment and data privacy laws (IT Act, 2000) govern electronic transactions.

Database normalisation reduces redundancy (1NF, 2NF, 3NF); data warehouse supports OLAP, while OLTP handles transactions.

Entrepreneurial process: idea generation, opportunity evaluation, business plan, resource mobilisation, launch, growth, exit.

Business plan sections: executive summary, market analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, management team, financial projections, risk assessment.

Sources of finance: bootstrapping, angel investors, venture capital, bank loans, government schemes (MUDRA, Startup India), crowdfunding.

Project life cycle: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, closure.

Earned value metrics: EV (budgeted cost of work performed), PV, AC; CV = EV - AC, SV = EV - PV; CPI = EV/AC, SPI = EV/PV.

Risk management: identify, assess (probability x impact), plan response (avoid, mitigate, transfer, accept), monitor.

Project network: critical path has zero total float; crashing reduces duration at added cost, fast tracking overlaps activities.

Startup valuation methods: discounted cash flow, comparable multiples, venture capital method (exit value discounted at target return).