Agency Theory Accounting practices

Agency Theory Accounting practices Agency theory the contribution of agency theory to the development of current accounting practices Introduction The aim of this report is to develop a relationship between agency theory and the existing practices of accountancy. In the report, the problem of agent-principal will be described with the main consequences for business-related relationship. After identifying the problem, the accountancy practices will be linked to the issues addressed in model that will be explained. The report will look at a case study related to agency theories and its affects within accounting practices. Finally it will show the ways the accountancy practices meet the problems raised by the agent-principal relationships. The agency theory is a mixture of the relationships between principals and agents, it occurs when principal and the agents create a delegation (Donaldson, L. Davis, J.H., June 1991). Berle and Means 1932 stated that the Agency theory argues that in modern corporation, where share ownership is widely held, managerial actions depart from those required to maximise the shareholders return, this was also backed up by Pratt and Zeckhauser in 1985. According to Jensen and Meckling, 1976, In Agency theory terms, the owners are principals and the managers are agents and there is an Agency loss which is the extent to which returns to the residual claimants, the owners, fall below what they would be if the principals, and the owners, exercised direct control of the corporation (Donaldson, L. Davis, J.H., June 1991). The long term strategies for agency theory include the principle of company, business, franchise, etc providing incentives such as increasing commission, continuing to provide advertising, training and motivation to increase outlet operations. To argue this Carney and Gedajlovic stated that regarding of the exogenous factor, outlet managers have an incentive to shirk and misrepresent their abilities because the firm is hard to differentiate the managers performance behavior (Mathieu, 1997), While the short-term strategies include balancing supply with demand at the shortest turn around time. Agency theory tends to impact business decisions by focusing on establishing incentives as mentioned in the long-term strategies above. However, it may be very costly and may create moral hazards if top management tries to over maximise profits for themselves instead of for the employees. The cost to manage and monitor transactions can affect both the domestic and global financial managers due to the strategy becoming very expensive; nevertheless this strategy can have the negative impact upon the organisations survival. Conflicts of agency theory There is a conflict between principals and agents (shareholders and managers) that can potentially have a devastating business consequence. The cost of monitoring efforts, measuring results and opportunities lost can be substantial. Incentives and disincentives may not result in wanted outcome, when businesses should scan their environment constantly to seek opportunities to meet the interest of their own stakeholders. Agency theory is a small entity of financial economics that looks at conflicts of interest between people that have different interests for the same assets, this means that their will always be constant conflicts between: shareholders managers and shareholders bond holders. These are the reason why organisations make constant acquisitions that tend to be bad for the shareholder, why convertible bonds are preferably used while normal bonds are often sold with warrants and finally shows the importance of capital structures. According to Eisenhardt (1989a), agency theory is devoted to the solution of two problems that can arise from agency relationships. The first problem is goal related and arises when: i) there is a conflict between the goals of the principal and the agent; and ii) the verification of the agents behaviour is difficult or expensive to be verified by the principal. The second problem is risk-related. If the agent and the principal have different attitudes towards risk, it is likely that both will behave differently and in accordance to their risk preferences. Identifying conflicting positions between any two agents and explaining the governance mechanisms underlying these relationships (that limit the agents behaviour) is known as the Positivist agency theory (Eisenhardt, 1989a). A different position is found in the principal-agent research (as opposed to the positivistic agency theory) and relies on a more mathematical and abstract approach to the problem. Although in different perspectives, these two approaches can be complementary as it can be seen in the quotation below (Eisenhardt, 1998a: 60): â€Å"Rather, the important point is that the two streams are complementary: Positivistic theory identifies various contract alternatives, and the principal-agent theory indicates which contract is the most efficient under varying levels of outcome uncertainty, risk aversion, information, and other variables†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Problems of agency theory The major popularity of the application of the agency theory to the relationship between shareholders and the board if directors produced a vast amount of research devoted to this issue. In fact, this phenomenon relates to those cases in which ownership and management are represented by different individuals. Being each individual maximising its utility leads to the existence conflicting positions between the agent and the principal. This became the main focus of research, and justifies the need of such an agency theory. This problematic is in the basis of the role of agent theory in the accountancy practices. According to Bricker and Chandar (1998: 488-489): â€Å"Contracts between shareholders and managers are written in order to reduce agency cost, and thereby, the dead weight loss in firm value as a result of the separation of ownership from control. Accounting is considered to play an important role as an integral part of the contracts that define a firm. For example, lending arrangements between a firm and its creditors often contain several accounting based covenants. Accounting-based bonus plans are frequently a component of executive compensation plans. Accounting measures are commonly used in the performance evaluation of a firms cost and profit centers. Watts and Zimmerman argue [1986, p. 196]: if accounting is an important part of the firms contracting process and agency costs (and hence, firm value and/or managers compensation) vary with different contracts, accounting procedures have the potential to affect firm value and/or the managers compensation. This rationale has given rise to several hypotheses regarding the role of accounting information in market valuation of firms and managers use of accounting discretion.† The table presented below summarises some of the key issues associated with agency theory and relates them to several assumptions of different nature: Key idea Principal agent relationship should reflect efficient organisation of information and risk-bearing costs Unit of analysis Contract between principal and agent Human assumptions Self interest Bounded rationality Risk aversion Organisational assumptions Partial goal conflict among participants Efficiency as the effectiveness criterion Information asymmetry between principal and agent Information assumptions Information as purchasable commodity Contracting problems Agency (moral hazard and adverse selection) Risk sharing Problem domain Relationships in which the principal and agent have partially differing goals and risk preferences (e.g. compensation, regulation. Leadership, impression management, whistle-blowing, vertical integration, transfer pricing) Table 1: Agency theory overview Source: Eisenhardt (1989a) Development of agency theory Agency cost is a major problem with organisation and with constant fraud cases that are growing around the world their needed to be major development of the theory in accounting practices. A way of developing the theory is to minimise agency costs that can be accomplished through communications, sharing risks and benefits and seeking to balance the scorecards. The theory has developed by establishing performance standards, using cost effective processes, cost management tools and incentives have all helped the problem of managing agency problems. Accountancy provides information to base future decisions on historical performances. Providing accurate information about costs it is possible to predict the result of future production. This perspective is particularly important in the case of, for example, government contracts, in which an agent- principal relationship is also established. For example, Reichelstein (1992) draws upon the agency models to explain government contracts, showing how agency theory can be used to design incentive contracts, and demonstrating that the agency models have actually influenced managerial economics. A different perspective is that accounting provides an opportunity of control from the agent over the principal. In this respect, the insights about the relationship between the shareholders and management were particularly important in demonstrating the role of accountancy as key information provider. To that extent, it was suggested that accountancy reporting is a result of the separation of ownership from management phenomena. Hence, it can be argued that the reporting practice is a result of the agent problem and serves the control needed to verify the agents performance. Another perspective was the budget development based on historical accounts. Contracts usually include a price for production which has not taken place yet. The pricing of these contracts has to be based on historical costs that can only be provided by accountancy. To that extent, accountancy practice is not a result of the agent-principal problem but is originated to avoid uncertainty in principal-agent relationships. case realted study to agency theory Taking a prime example of Enron and its relationship with accounting practices clearly show the affects of agency theory within an accounting practice can affect organisations. The collapse of Enron was entirely related to the accounting practices adopted by the company. It has a number of these questionable, and in some cases straight out fraudulent, accounting practices that pertained to the most dramatic collapse of a major company in years. An analysis of some of these accounting practices brings to light the problems with the use of concepts such as mark-to-market accounting and the use of special purpose entitys (SPEs), the interrelation of agency theory suggests that the basic ideals surrounding agency theory applied to the Enron Case at some point in time, however the continuation of this principal deteriorated as time went on. The agency theory was clearly an issue in Enrons case because the managers of the firm were transferring wealth from the shareholders to themselves in the form of stock performance. Not only were there the Shareholders to Management agency problem there was also an employer to employee agency problem. With regard to the shareholder to management problem, the shareholders had placed a large amount of decision-making capability onto the management team and had not successfully monitored the agents behaviour. Given that the managers had all come to Enron with a strong reputation, it was expected that they â€Å"would act in the interest of the shareholders. [As such the shareholders] had monitored the managers performance very little† (Godfrey et al, 2008). As a shareholder, it would have been in the best interests to implement monitoring costs to â€Å"measure, observe and control† Schillings behaviour. Unfortunately this would not have been enough. The introduction of Fa stow, described as â€Å"a genius† in a number of sources, allowed for the performance of Enron to appear strong even in dire times. The use of SPEs and mark-to-market accounting allowed for the â€Å"reduction of monitoring costs by incurring bonding costs [in the form of quarterly statements]† that allowed Enron to perform better than it appeared. Another point that links is that the agency theory is the â€Å"the principal will remunerate the agent according to the principals expectations of how much the agents behaviour is likely to be contrary to the principals interests† (Godfrey et al, 2008). Given that managers of Enron were all major shareholders of the company the focus was on driving the share price up which was done by a process called â€Å"pump and dump; this process involved buying up the share price and then selling out† (Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room) this allowed the directors to maintain high remuneration because they were achieving high share prices for the principals and also allowed them to gain from share price rises before selling out at the top. Finally, the principal-agent relationship that occurs between Skilling and Fastow (CEO of Enron) is that of an employee to employer. This relationship is important because it â€Å"emphasises the importance of the ability to monitor employees work efforts† (Akdere, Azvedo, 2004). Skilling and Ken Lay claim that they were unaware of what Fastow was doing with regards to the financial statements, however, Skilling and Lay were acting as the agents for the shareholders as well as acting as the principals for Fastow. Their involvement in such transactions as the one with LJM were â€Å"not only disclosed to the board at a meeting which took place in 1999, but the board approved of [Fastows] participation, following a recommendation to this effect from the then CEO and Chairman, Ken Lay† (Deakin, Konzelmann, 2004). From this we can clearly see that Lay, Skilling and Fastow were all part of the agency problem that occurred. conclusion This report has shown that several areas of accounting have been affected by the agency theory model. This theory has defiantly had implications in the financial accounting, management accounting and in corporate finance. Nevertheless, the strongest argument that relates to agency theory with accountancy mainly relies in the nature of both, the accounting and agency theory rely on the existence of contracts, these contracts rely at the core of the relationship between agents and the principal. Furthermore agency theorys core role is the risk associated with the relationship whereas accountancy reduces risk by providing information about the agents in action. Additionally reporting previous behaviours of the agent showing that the historical agent has kept the conditions of contract, may provide indications for the principal about the future behaviour of agents; increasing trust levels in the relationship and reducing the risk associated with relations. In conclusion, the current features (and practices) of accountancy meet the agency model problems proving the information to avoid opportunistic behaviours and ensuring that relational contracts are met. Referances Journals Davis, J.H., Schoorman, F.D., Donaldson, L. (1997), Toward a stewardship theory of management, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 22 No.1, pp.20-47. Berle, A. and G. Means, 1932, The Modern Corporation and private property (New York, Maacmillan) Jones, D. R. Butler, J.E, 1992, Managing internal corporation entrepreneurship: an agency theory perspective (Journal of Management) Bricker, R. and Chandar, N. (1998). On Applying Agency Theory in Historical Accounting Research. Business and Economic History 27(2): 486-99 Eisenhardt, K.M. (1989a). Agency Theory: An Assessment and Review, Academy of Management Review, 14 (1): 57-74. Eisenhardt, K.M. (1989b). Agency- and Institutional Theory Explanations: The Case of Retail Sales Compensation. Academy of Management Journal, 31 (3): 488-511. Kaplan, R.S. (1984). The Evolution of Management Accounting. The Accounting Review, LIX(3): 390-402. Reichelstein, S. (1992). Constructing Incentive Schemes for Government Contracts: An Application of Agency Theory. The Accounting Review, 67 (4): 712-731. References for Enron case study: Serwer, Andy. 2002, ‘Dirty Rotten Numbers: Enron has made us shine a light on the books of Americas public companies. Now, if your company carries even a hint of bad accounting, the stock will be savaged, Fortune. Vol 145, i4, p74+. Shleifer, Andrei. 2000, ‘Are Financial Markets Efficient Oxford Scholarship Online Economics and Finance. Pp 1- 5. Akdere, Mesut and Azevedo, Ross. 2004, ‘Organisational Development, Agency Theory, and efficient Contracts: A Research Agenda. Pp2-8. Deakin, Simon and Konzelmann, Suzanne. 2004, ‘Learning From Enron Corporate Governance. Vol 12, pp134-142. Haldeman, Robert G. 2006, ‘Fact, Fiction, and Fair Value Accounting at Enron The CPA Journal. Pp1-10. Thompson, Robert B. 2004, ‘Corporate Governance after Enron. HeinOnline. Pp99-117. Godfrey, Jayne. Hodgson, Allan. Holmes, Scott. Tarca, Ann. 2006. ‘Accounting Theory: Sixth edition. Wiley, Australia. ‘Enron: The Smartest Guys in The room 2005, DVD, Dendy Films. USA. ‘Encarta: Online. Copyright MSN Encarta, 2008, Accessed 15/05/08 from http://encarta.msn.com/media_701610605/the_fall_of_enron_stock.html

The House on Mango Street Feminist Elements :: Feminism Feminist Women Criticism

The House on Mango Street Feminist Elements Sandra Cisneros reveals her feminist views through her novel The House on Mango Street. She does this by forcing the reader to see the protagonist as an alienated artist and by creating many strong and intelligent female characters who serve as the protagonist's inspiration. The idea of the alienated artist is very common in feminist works. Esperanza, the protagonist, is alienated from the rest of society in many ways. Her Latino neighborhood seems to be excluded from the rest of the world, while Esperanza is also separated from the other members of her community. Members of other cultures are afraid to enter the neighborhood because they believe it is dangerous. Esperanza seems to be the only one who refuses to just accept Mango Street, and she dreams of someday leaving it behind. She is considered an artist because she has an extremely creative imagination which creates a conflict with the type of liberal individuality she seeks. This creative "genius survives even under the most adverse conditions..." (Gagnier 137). To escape the pain of this division, Esperanza turns to writing. She says, "I put it down on paper and then the ghost does not ache so much" (Cisneros 110). Gagnier sees a "distinction of the writer who nonetheless sees herself as somehow different, separate..." (137). Mango Street consists of mostly female characters. These characters are strong and inspirational, but they are unable to escape the suppression of the surrounding environment. According to one critic, "The girl's mother, for instance, has talent and brains, but lacks practical knowledge about society because, says Esperanza, Mexican men 'don't like their women strong' " (Matchie 69-70). It is Esperanza's mother who tells her to never be ashamed because shame can only hinder her dreams. In "The Three Sisters", the women tell Esperanza that she is special and remind her not to forget where she came from when she finally makes it out of Mango Street. This inspiration makes Esperanza understand that she must help others who aren't as fortunate to leave as she is. Esperanza is a very strong woman in herself. Her goals are not to forget her "reason for being" and "to grow despite the concrete" so as to achieve a freedom that's not separate from togetherness.

Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick

Running head: MARKETING GIMMICK 1 Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick? Ong Shi Meng MARKETING GIMMICK 2 Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick? â€Å"Marketing† has a lexical definition, which is â€Å"theory and practice of commercial selling†, whereas the persuasive definition is â€Å"the activities of promoting products or services in order to gain profits or other advantages by changing consumers’ attitudes towards a brand†. Green marketing is somewhat similar, but it is the activities of promoting products or services that are presumed to be eco-friendly.There are many perspectives on green marketing, for example, it is just a marketing strategy of a corporate and it is mainly targeting on consumers who are concern of environmental issues. To put it simply, a business is utilizing green marketing tactics when their marketing message is targeting the eco-conscious members of the target market, for example, a Web hosting provider markets itself as environmentally friendly to prospective customers by touting the fact that their facilities is run by wind or solar power.Another example would be in food marketing, where you’ll find products marketed as organic or pushing the fact that it’s from local farmers (meaning less preservatives and less waste in transporting the food). Essentially, the marketing campaign revolves to some degree around appealing to a consumer base trying to be more environmentally friendly. While my overall outlook on green marketing is a positive one, because of its consumer-driven and often altruistic to at least a degree, I do think there’s a flip-side where certain green marketing techniques are simply gimmicks.First, there’s green-washing, the false claims about environmental issues to raise concerns with the public, convincing them there’s a problem that may not even exist, and then pushing your product as a solution. In this case, consume rs who fall for the trick are committing the fallacy of inappropriate appeal to authority. According to McGraw-Hill (2012), the fallacy means we look to an authority in a MARKETING GIMMICK 3 field other than that under investigation.Similarly, consumers tend to buy green products from an authority that is not specialized or professional in environmental issues. This is just deceitful, and we’re in a day and age now where it’s very likely you’ll be caught and publicly exposed. Lie is a deliberate attempt to mislead without prior consent of the target (McGraw-Hill, 2012). I also think the premium prices for green products will eventually become a thing of the past.As people come to  expect  more products to be environmentally friendly, their willingness to pay more (looking at the items as special in some way) will diminish. However, with the demand rooted in personal convictions, I don’t think the demand for green products will fade to match that price issue – companies will find a way to go green for less. When it comes to green marketing, the real key is to be sincere. If you truly care about the environment, and are acting out of that concern first and foremost, consumers will notice.Taking actions is definitely more effective than using emotive language, language that is purposely chosen to elicit certain emotional impact in order to promote products which might be useless for consumers. Focus on building a more sustainable business beyond simply being able to increase prices or appeal to the eco-savvy markets. MARKETING GIMMICK 4 References McGraw-Hill. (2012). Think. New York: NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Mary Wollstonecraft And Karl Marx - 1980 Words

The work of a founding mother of feminism and the work of a philosopher who was a proponent for the working-class movement and an advocate for communism may seem to be too different to have overarching themes within them, but Mary Wollstonecraft and Karl Marx have many topics that can be compared to each other. Though their type of work and topics of discussion do differ to a great extent, their works both focus on the components of progress, how progress occurs, and what the final outcome will be. These influential proponents of feminism and communism, Wollstonecraft and Marx, are both attempting to use their works to aid in the understanding of what each of their goals were and how society is able to achieve them. Wollstonecraft was the†¦show more content†¦Marx was a big proponent for the working-class movement and the equality in terms of property. To him, the issue that is most important to conquer is the issue of the estrangement and alienation of man, where man himsel f is the alien power over man – more specifically, it is workers who are being estranged (Marx 1988, 79). Consequences of this estrangement can be seen with private property, because although it seems to be the root of the problem, private property is actually the consequence of â€Å"alienated labor†, explaining why capitalism is a horror to him (Marx 1988, 81). It may be thought that an easy way to give workers equality would be to pay them equal wages, but this is yet another estrangement of labor (Marx 1988, 82). Progress, to Marx, would need to consist of a way to diminish the root of the problem – estrangement of the worker. This would consist of â€Å"emancipation of the workers† because the emancipation of the workers would have a large ripple effect, and result in the universal human emancipation (Marx 1988, 82). As it has been addressed multiple times, the estrangement of the worker is the root of the problem, and a step towards progress would n eed to consist of the workers being emancipated so they are no longer alienated and forced to labor while getting nothing but monetary payment for their labor. The alienation of workers furthers the issue by leading a society towards privateShow MoreRelatedExploitation And Societal Reorganization Of Karl Marx And Mary Wollstonecraft1709 Words   |  7 PagesGibson Honors Mosaics II Professor Smetona 09 November 2015 Exploitation and Societal Reorganization Karl Marx and Mary Wollstonecraft are both philosophers who have observed the relationships between ruling and ruled classes of people. In Marx’s text Capital he discusses how there must exist a bourgeois class that exploits a class of proletarians in order for capitalism to exist. Mary Wollstonecraft in her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman argues that a patriarchal society in which women areRead MoreVisions Of Reforms And Reformation1488 Words   |  6 PagesHow does progress occur? (c) Where is progress headed? Mary Wollstonecraft and Karl Marx both viewed progress as overcoming an reclaiming a true sense of humanity, but defined that humanity, the means of achieving that humanity, and their general worldview in different ways. Wollstonecraft sought progress by reforming private life virtues through voluntary education and action. She wanted to change the hearts and minds of the people, while Marx sought progress through direct means -- political upheavalRead MoreRelationship Between Laborers And Capitalists And Wollstonecraft s Understanding Of Relationships Between Women And Men1118 Words   |  5 Pagesthe relationship between women and men. Come up with your own terms of comparison. 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DuBois, Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels, and Adam Smith. Life in the Iron Mills is a tragic yet poignant story of the effects of a man’s socioeconomic status. Although set in the nineteenth century, the story is all too familiar. The short storyRead MoreThe Enlightenment : The Age Of Reason1126 Words   |  5 Pagesthus challenging the power of religious bodies like the Catholic Church, political regimes of Europe’s monarchies and landed aristocracy (Ritzer, 2000: 12). Mary Wollstonecraft was a liberal feminist and philosopher during this time. As the Enlightenment was generally thought to be a skepticism about and revision of institutions, Wollstonecraft exemplifies this transformation in social thinking. She was philosophically opposed to the institution of marriage, particularly how the law granted rightsRead MoreModern Metropolis, By Fritz Lang1938 Words   |  8 Pageshigher than the nobles and aristocrats because of their values. 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Categories That Generate Stories for School Newspapers

Working at a high school or college newspaper can be a great training ground for an  aspiring young journalist,  but coming up with story ideas can be intimidating. Some school papers  have editors who are full of great story ideas. but finding an assignment is often up to the reporter. Interesting stories are plentiful if you know where to look. Here are descriptions of several types of stories to trigger your search for topics. plus examples of real stories involving those topics done by college journalism students: News This category includes coverage of important issues on campus and developments that affect students. These are the kinds of stories that typically make the front page. Look for issues and developments that make a difference in the lives of students, and then think of the causes and consequences of those events. For instance, lets say your college decides to raise student tuition. What caused this action, and what are its consequences? Chances are you will be able to get several stories out of this single issue. Clubs Student-produced newspapers often report  about student clubs, and these stories are fairly easy to do. Chances are your schools website has a clubs page with contact information. Get in touch with the adviser and interview him or her along with some student members. Write about what the club does, when they meet, and any other interesting details. Be sure to include contact information for the club, especially the website address. Sports Sports stories are the bread and butter of many school papers, but a lot of people just want to write about pro teams. The schools sports teams should be at the top of the reporting list; after all, these are your classmates, and many other media outlets deal with the pro teams. There are almost as many ways to write about sports as there are teams. Events This area of coverage includes poetry readings, speeches by guest lecturers, visiting bands and musicians, club events, and major productions. Check bulletin boards around campus and the events calendar on the schools website for upcoming events. In addition to covering the events themselves, you can do preview stories in which you alert readers to the event. Notables Interview a fascinating teacher or staff member at your school and write a story. If a student has accomplished interesting things, write about him or her. Sports team stars always make good subjects for profiles. Reviews Reviews of the latest movies, plays, TV shows, video games, music, and books are big reader draws on campus. They can be a lot of fun to write, but remember that reviews dont give you the kind of reporting experience that news stories do. Trends What are the latest trends students are following on your campus? Are there trends on other campuses that your classmates might find interesting? Find trends in technology, relationships, fashion, music, and social media usage and write about them.

Immigration Has Been A Significant Part Of Canada

Immigration has been a significant part of Canada. Immigrants come here to search for work opportunities, a new life, and to prepare to start or support a family. However, there are many challenges that come along with a new life, significantly, social exclusion. Social exclusion is characterised by unequal access to resources, capabilities and rights, which leads to health disparities. Immigrants are experiencing a new circumstance and a new culture, they might lose sense of belonging due to limited support from others like relatives and have less connection with local community members. It causes a lot of mental stress on immigrants and do not ask for help in time. Moreover, different religions, beliefs and cultures bring about conflicts between healthcare delivers and patients, even unstable parent-children relationship. These conflicts affect individuals’ health as well. 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Knowledge Management System Studies

Question: Discuss about the Knowledge Management System Studies. Answer: Introduction The essay looks into the application of various KM strategies in management where the focus is on the effective application of Knowledge Management in various circumstances of business management for the most effective output of the practice. The key areas mentioned in the article and the outcomes of the application of the Knowledge Management techniques are discussed as well. The case also looks into the outcomes of the application of the techniques whereby this essay compares the Knowledge Management systems to the concepts gathered during classwork and further research as represented in the literature review section. According to information on the case study paper, The successful application of knowledge management necessitates the interaction within multi-disciplinary projects (e.g. groups of people working on issues related to standardization) and distributed decision-making processes as basic requirements, (Ruiz, Kamsu-Foguem, Noyes, 2013, p. 172). The factors that determine the effectiveness of KMS include technology, strategy, politics, leadership and management, organizational culture, and organizational processes. The case is a study of the application of effective Knowledge Management (KM) systems in the industrial sector and the subsequent collaboration of the experts involved in maintenance. Such an effective collaboration is studied, taking into consideration the use of various tools of artificial intelligence for an effective knowledge sharing and solutions through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The scenario is divided into five sections. The first part is the introduction, the second part is the discussion of KM as a concept and various techniques involved in KM, and the third part is the proposed approach of the research that discusses the concepts of collaborative maintenance management. The fourth part details the case of the application problem solving that is collaborative in a maintained system from a specific scenario. The fifth part is the discussion of the challenges and the future solutions to such problems. From my assessment, the company applies the Bukowitz Williams Model which explains the process framework where the organization generates the correct knowledge stock with the aim of expansion and maintenance of the purpose of value creation.(Haslinda Sarinah, 2009). The industrial sector deals with diverse environments, various technological evolutions, Information Technology (IT), and the technical help. The need for a team with various skills sets for the management and maintenance of plants including installations that requires careful consideration in the selection and combination of the best skill set. The team must also be positioned in the best possible way to ensure they constantly upgrade their knowledge and skills as the time passes because of the dynamic nature of the current markets, technology, and market(Ibrahim, 2012). The case looks into the necessity of the use of KM by the consideration of multi-disciplinary interactions. The collection of all the relevant information regarding the situations and organization is a vital point needs to be considered prior to the implementation of the change strategies. The selection of the best experts for same achievement requires an expert approach that includes expert application of KM. It also discusses the management of the knowledge of multiple experts and the making of decisions using collaborative approaches such as Transferable Belief Model (TBM). The use of Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) that mainly focuses on addressing new solutions on the basis of decisions made in relation to similar issues in the past is the third element argued in this case study. Literature Review of the selected Theme The delivery of the right knowledge at the right time and making sure it goes to the right person constitute the main definition of KMS(Frost, 2017). Although it sounds simple, it is a detailed process that depends on the corporate strategy of the company in focus. Knowledge management is not a requirement applied for the sake of it. There is a general agreement that effective KM strategies could lead to a company better ability to achieve its goals and objectives. The KM strategy, for instance, depends on the corporate strategy. The interaction within the organization also determines the spread and understanding of knowledge where the culture and politics determine whether the staff adopts the progress and related changes towards the achievement of better KMS(Assegaff Hussin2, 2012). Effective and sustainable KM is the result of a sophisticated and competent leadership. The organizational culture determines the challenges experienced in keeping the staff motivated to move fast enou gh in order to keep up with the external changes such as competition and technology (Chmielewska-Muciek Sitko-Lutek, 2013; Chang Lin, 2015). Abdelrahman Papamichail (2016) claim that Knowledge Management covers the entire system of management within a company towards the achievement of maximum where the tools and techniques, models and processes, organizational learning, knowledge sharing and trust, communities of practice, the application of knowledge for innovative purposes, the creation of new knowledge, knowledge management and organizational memory, and knowledge management organizational culture play an important role in regards to the creation of an all-round organization that is successful in its style of management. Studies indicate that KM is multi-faceted and always customized to the industry or the company situation; the availability of effective intranet search engines, whose complexities vary based on the company current data system, the type of industry, and the size of the company, is considered as an essential necessity to gain an effective KM (Matayong Mahmood, 2013; Gunasekeran Ngai, 2007). Effective search engines provide all marketing reports, human resource databases, customer information, patent records, and product data sheets. The availability and accessibility of company information highly depends on proper storage, labeling of information content as well as the availability of effective intranet search engines. Thus, all the content of the company would be easily accessible and comprehensive upon identification(Bhat Shaffi, 2014). In addition to, there is the second requirement which is the classification and accessibility of company information and knowledge. Ravi S. Sharma Morales-Arroyo (2008) state that accuracy and customization of the various taxonomies are profound factors leading to an easy access of such information. The coding system is another significant requirement that must be understood throughout the company since it is likely to reduce the instances of stranded parties during the times of need for such information (Pee Kankanhalli, 2010; Al-Shammari, 2010). Entity extraction and the analysis of customer feedback bring in new knowledge about the state of the company and the areas that need change in the most honest form. To expand it more, entity extraction ensures that the unstructured data that exists within the organization is well structured for effective data processing procedures(Expert System Semantic Intelligencee, 2017). A Critical Discussion and a Review of the KMS The ideal KMS enhances the competitive advantage of a company as well as its efficiency in the implementation of tasks. The tools and techniques applied in the case study include a Rapid Evidence Review (RER) of the scenario both before and during the activity of the implementation of the analysis of the industry. The knowledge banks have also been discussed prior to the case; there is an evidence to prove the effectiveness of the search for the required information from the classified information. The information exists in taxonomies were pre-prepared to provide an easy access. Based on the taxonomy, there is an identification of faults and the subsequent proposal of solutions to those investigated problems. The case study does not provide any application of the KM tools and techniques for knowledge sharing as there is only the discussion of existing experts. There is an additional consideration of similar past problems, the approaches used in their solutions, and the relevance of s uch approaches in the current scenarios. The company under analysis indicates the comprehensive use of the tactical and strategic approaches where the tactical approach is more obvious as the result of the company response to the market(Frost, Three KM Models, 0212). Vasconcelos, Kimbled, Carreteiro Rocha (2017) argue that the technology, processes, and the workflow are precisely represented in the application of the KM tools and techniques; the smoothness of the whole process significantly impact on the development and maintenance of the information and the related software. The lessons learned are recorded and the achievement laid out when the problem with the equipment and the collaboration of various parties was identified and analyzed. However, the scenario in the case study is unique since it mainly emphasizes more on the equipment at fault as opposed to the focus on the entire organization including the staff. A Review of the KMS The maintenance has a multidisciplinary problem-solving approach that uses various expertise to ensure the best outcome for the decisions made on the company. The approach gives them the opportunity to give diverse opinions about the possible solutions. One of the most valuable organizational resources is knowledge. It gives the organization a competitive advantage and a strategic perspective of the nature of events within the company and the industry. Knowledge loss comes as a result of employee turnover, crash of systems, outsourcing, and resignations. However, factors such as outsourcing can be resourceful in the discovery of the information gaps A clear understanding of the contextual situations gives clear information of the root of a problem. The knowledge base depends on the structure of the base of the storage of such knowledge and information, which determines the retrieval process. Inquiries, clarifications and working with outsourced contractors becomes easier where there is a solid knowledge base and an orderly information structure. It is very important to plan in advance and summarize the analysis of the problem to decide what needs to be done. Afterward, the comparison of what actually happens with the planned process is crucial for the record of the lessons learned. This could also contribute to the maintenance of better practices and processes that should be adopted in the case of a similar situation in the future(Leask, Lee, Milner, Norton, Rathod, 2008). Knowledge Storage Retrieval The activities involved in the storage and retrieval of knowledge within an organization include the classification of information and equipment where the different classifications of knowledge are encoded and stored in a given structure into the memory of the organization. The must-have applications of KM consist of intranet search engines, the organized classification of documents to display a known taxonomy, entity extraction, and the analysis of customer feedback(Arisha Ragab, 2013). The case study demonstrates a complete KMS because the logical classification and storage of organizational knowledge and information makes the retrieval process relatively easy. There is a creation of taxonomy of the functionality of the equipment whose information on details goes beyond the sub-class relationships (180). Taking the case into consideration, the maintained system begins with the domain ontology that comprises of machine classification in the order of their functionality. The next step in the domain ontology is the classification of the machines according to their types which are classified into hydraulic, mechanical, electronic, electrical, and pneumatic. There is an addition of classification concepts on the basis of symptoms, concepts, and status of the machines and their relevant components,(Ruiz, Kamsu-Foguem, Noyes, 2013, p. 179). Knowledge application is referred to the integration of knowledge among different experts for the implementation of organizational processes. According to the case of the industry, there is an integration of the skills among the three experts (E 1, E 2, and E 3) from different fields. E 1 and E 3 are the members of the same domain whereas E 2 belongs to a different one; they are involved in the hypothesis of the machines for the identification of possible causes of the problems. The experts are subjected to analyze where the validity of their coordination is determined by the similarity threshold of their hypothesis on the machines. The solution-building process for the scenario using case 5 reveals a solution suggestion where the suggestion must be flexible enough to be incorporated into different scenarios and to fit the suggestion of each of the different professionals. The combination is both conjunctive and disjunctive for Evidence of Knowledge Transfer Knowledge transfer that constitutes the transfer of knowledge to achievement set of goals among individuals, groups, departments, and organizations could be observed in the discussion of the maintenance problem with several other departments in order to integrate all the relevant expertise. The two departments stated in this case are the Quality department and the maintenance department. The combination of different and different departments carries out the extent of complementary element of the professionals in the various departments to bring the maintenance back on its feet. The maintenance consists of multiple experts whereby some are outsourced since the company has collaborations with other companies for the expertise (Ruiz, Kamsu-Foguem, Noyes, 2013). The extent of knowledge presentation makes it easy for external parties such as partners to understand the concept of the knowledge information accurately to avoid misunderstandings. Previously used information is easily accessible and the level of organization high as seen in the analysis method where the information about the systems and problems of the company is presented in an orderly manner. The previous records and analyses are also available for use to classify the various taxonomies represented in the analysis tables. There is a process in which the analysis of the root cause is done by experts and industry analysis mainly includes the combination of subjective expert opinions and more objective results obtained from the validation of the experts hypothesis. According to the case, the industry applies a multi-disciplinary approach to remove the maintenance problem. Conclusion To sum up, the elements of KMS applied in various companies are different from one another depending on the industry and the nature of the company. The determination of the KM process framework to be used within a given setting is influenced by two vital factors such as the leadership and management as well as the culture of that particular company. The approaches applied in the company under analysis are comprehensive and responsive to the market, maintaining the competitive position of the company. There is the application of tactical and strategic approaches and the clear organization of information systems into identifiable taxonomies. The knowledge and retrieval processes are made easier by the arrangement. The company applies the Bukowitz Williams Model and ensures the availability and accessibility of company information. The availability is dependent on proper storage and the availability of effective intranet search engines. References Abdelrahman, M., Papamichail, K. N. (2016). The Role of Organizational Culture on Knowledge Sharing by Unsing KMS in MNC's. Northumbrial Research Link, 1-11. Al-Shammari, M. (2010). Knowledge Management in Emerging Economies: Social, Organizational and Cultural Implementation: Social, Organizational and Cultural Implementation. New York: IGI Global. Arisha, A., Ragab, M. (2013). Knowledge Management and Measurement: A Critical Review. DIT, 1-37. Assegaff, S., Hussin2, A. R. (2012). Review of Knowledge Management Systems Review of Knowledge Management Systems as Socio- As Socio-Technical System. Program Pasca Sarjana Magister Sistem Informasi, 1-6. Bhat, M. H., Shaffi, S. M. (2014). Taxonomies in Knowledge Organization-Need, Description, and Benefits. Annals of Library and Informative Studies, 102-111. Chang, C. L.-h., Lin, T. C. (2015). The role of organizational culture in the knowledge management process. Journal of Knowledge Management, 433-455. 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Sharma, S. F., Morales-Arroyo, M. (2008). Developing Corporate Taxonomies for Knowledge Auditability A framework for good practices . Knowledge Organization, 1-21. Ruiz, P. A., Kamsu-Foguem, B., Noyes, D. (2013). Knowledge reuse integrating the collaboration from experts in industrial maintenance management. Knowledge-Based Systems, 171186. Vasconcelos, J. B., Kimbleb, C., Carreteiro, P., Rocha, . (2017). The application of knowledge management to software evolution. International Journal of Information Management, 14991506.