week 6

Week 6 (3/28/2013)

External Analysis:

The External Analysis examines opportunities and threats that exist in the environment. It also deals with monitoring and interpreting sweep of social, political, economic, ecological and technological events to spot budding trends that could eventually impact the industry.( www.emeraldinsight.com)

External Force Examples that affect the company:

1. Political, governmental & legal forces

Ø  Government stability & relations with other countries

Ø  Government spending and taxation policies

Ø  Government industrial policies (extent and nature of

Ø  regulation/deregulation)

Ø  State and local government policies and regulations

Ø  Laws and regulations:

Ø  Antitrust & mergers

Ø  Employment (equal opportunity and workplace safety)

Ø  Environment protection

Ø  Foreign trade, duties and tariffs

Ø  Patents, trademarks and copyright

2. Economic forces - Inflation & unemployment rates

 3. Social, cultural and

4. Technological forces - New discoveries/developments in own or related industry

5. Competitive forces* - Rivalry among existing competitors:

Purpose of PESTLE Analysis

Ø  GNP and GNP growth rates

Ø  Disposable income & consumer spending

Ø  Business cycles

Ø  Capital and commodity markets:

o   Availability of capital

o   Interest and currency exchange rates

o   Energy and basic raw materials prices

Ø  Import/export conditions

Ø  demographic forces

·          Population demographics:

·         Age, sex & race distributions

·         Marriage & divorce rates

·         Immigration

·          Distribution of income and wealth

·          Education systems, education levels and attitudes toward education

·          Social class structure and mobility

·          Lifestyle trends: attitudes toward:

·         Leisure time and retirement

·         Sex roles

·         Religion and social responsibility

·          Work place: attitudes toward:

·         Authority and control

·         Cooperation and teamwork

·         Unionization

·          Consumerism: attitudes toward:

·         Product quality and customer service

·         Consumption, saving and investing

·          Environmentalism: attitudes toward:

·         Pollution, ozone depletion & endangered species

·         Conservation, recycling and waste management

·          Speed of technological transfer

·          Obsolescence rates within own or related industry

·          Government policies and spending on research

·          Information & communication technology changes

·         Industry size, growth & overcapacity

·         Product differences & brand identity

·         Switching costs & barriers to exit

·         Market concentration

PESTLE analysis stands for political, economic, social, technology, legal and environmental. PESTEL is a part of the external analysis when conducting a strategic analysis and gives an overview of the different macro environmental factors that the company has to take into consideration. The purpose of PESTLE is to analysis political, economic, social, technology, legal and environmental of the firm so that the manager can achieve its goals and objectives efficiently and effectively.( www.pestleanalysis.com)

References

JohnsonG,ScholesKandWhittingtonR(2009),FundamentalsofStrategy,PrenticeHall.

(n.d.). Retrieved from www.boundless.com: https://www.boundless.com/management/strategic-management/strategic-management/external-versus-internal-analysis/

(n.d.). Retrieved from www.emeraldinsight.com: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1585399

(n.d.). Retrieved from www.pestleanalysis.com: http://pestleanalysis.com/

week 5

 Week 5 (3/19/2013)

Job adverts 1

Strategy Consultant

Job ID CHQ-0565329 Job type Full-time Regular Work country USA Position type Entry level Work city Armonk,NY Posted 15-Mar-2013 Travel No travel Job area Consulting & Services Business group IBM CHQ Job category Consultant Business unit TMEOD Job role Strategy Consultant Job role skillset Business Strategy Commissionable/Sales-Incentive jobs only No

Job description

This position is an IBM internal Strategy Consulting position. The activities and responsibilities to be executed are: Support major IBM business transformation consulting initiatives. Focus on growth and top line revenue enhancement through improved business models, sales effectiveness and efficiency by performing data gathering & research, interviews, fact-based quantitative analysis, administration of engagement activities (charts, analyses, presentations, reports) and creation of original consulting products. Develop consulting and leadership skills through execution of specific tasks within a large program while functioning as a team member and drawing on the experience of others within the team as necessary. Candidates should be able to demonstrate the following skills/experience: Skills requested include quantitative data analysis, problem solving, analytical modeling, the ability to develop/analyze business cases, high technology industry knowledge, research skills as well as strong interviewing skills, excellent oral and written communication skills, client focus and the ability to support and enable teamwork. This position is designed for entry-level/recent university graduate candidates. Prefer MBA with high tech industry, quantitative analysis, management consulting or field sales experience along with a business or technical bachelor degree.

Required          Master's Degree          English: Fluent

Preferred          Business/Management          Basic knowledge in Perform Strategy Consultant-Corp Bus Strat          Basic knowledge in Apply Thought Leadership

Additional information IBM relies on dedicated teams of professionals who develop and maintain our world-class global business operations in 170 countries, helping us identify trends and plan for the future. Within IBM's corporate staff organizations, you will find the heart of our globally integrated enterprise organizations. IBM Corporate Headquarters could be the place for you if you have interest or skills in Finance, Human Resources, Marketing and Communications, Legal and Regulatory Affairs or Enterprise Transformation and are intrigued by work that transcends all of IBM's various business organizations.

IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

Job adverts 2

Business Strategy Manager

Location

Nottinghamshire

Career Level

Senior Specialist / Project Manager

Industry

Financial Services

Details to the job Business Strategy Manager in Nottinghamshire:

Business Strategy Manager Business Strategy Manager This new Business Strategy Manager position is a rare opportunity for an ambitious entrepreneur to take responsibility for the planning and delivery of software product development across this organisation. Experience in data and innovative technology and a proven track record of successful software project management will help you transform business requirements into new products. The Company: As Business Strategy Manager you will join a highly regarded and well respected financial services organisation in Nottingham. A talented and experienced project manager or strategic business analyst is needed to drive to their pioneering data solution.

Job adverts 3

Collections Strategy Analyst

Salary Benchmark

Location

Birmingham

Career Level

Senior Specialist / Project Manager

Industry

Financial Services

Details to the job Collections Strategy Analyst in Birmingham:

We have a number of exciting opportunities in our Business Services division, within Retail Banking Operations (part of our Group Operations department). You'll be joining the Collections & Recoveries team as Collections Segmentation and Contact Strategy Analyst for Debt Management Operations (DMO). Debt Management Operations are responsible for the end to end management of a significant multibillion problem arrears portfolio across the three value streams of Unsecured, Secured and Business and Commercial which impacts hundreds of thousands of customers. As Collections Segmentation and Contact Strategy Analyst, you'll support your Manager to develop data driven solutions to improve business position.

week 4

Week 4 (3/17/2013)

1. Who is a strategist? Describe the main types of jobs that have a strong strategy element.

Answer

Strategists are the individual people in an organization who are responsible for making strategies to achieve the long term objectives which are apparently based with the vision of an organization. Strategists are directly responsible with the success or failure of the company. Formulation, implementation and evaluation of good strategies lead the organization to the success.( www.forbes.com)

The types of jobs that have strong strategy element in their job responsibility are:

Ø  CEO / COO/ MD

Ø  Director / Executive

Ø  Consultant / Business Analyst

Ø  Leader / Associate

Ø  Owner / Founder

2. What’s the difference between a strategic planner and a strategy consultant? (Use your own          words or referenced quotes)

Answer

Strategic Planners are the employees within an organization who are responsible for making and implementing strategies for the organization. Their strategy is totally responsible for maintaining the correct pace of profit and growth of an organization. They help to grab the benefit from lucrative market and to counter the competitor move in market.

 Strategic consultants are the experts related to strategy from outside the organization. They are hired in company to make effective plan and for the settlement of strategic change in an organization. They study and analyze the environment and they pin point the relevant options and issues proper strategy for the organization. Basically they are hired for short terms projects.

3. What were your answers to question 1 and 2 on the group exercise this week?

Answer

I mentioned the following five strategists for question 1 due to the following reasons:

a)      Business leader

Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com

He is pioneer in the world of internet commerce. He discovered the concept of “predictive analytics” leading the online commerce more profitable and making online shopping a better experience.                                                                   

    

b)      Inventor or Scientist

Stephen William Hawking

He is a modern physicist and a cosmologist. He has discovered various theories about black hole and radiations, despite the fact that he is suffering from motor neuron disease and is almost entirely paralyzed.

c)      Sport manager

Jose Antonio Camacho

He made long term strategy to take the Chinese national football team to the level of Japan and South Korea.

d)   Civil rights campaigner

Pushpa Basnet, Founder of Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC)

She works to strengthen the rights of children living behind bars with their imprisoned parents.

e)   Musician, writer, film-maker or artists

Shahrukh khan, Indian superstar

Due to his entrepreneurship venture and brand endorsement he has labeled himself as a     “Brand SRK”

4.You need to start preparing for week 5. See if you can find your first strategy job advert right now and post it as a picture or attachment to this week’s learning journal entry.

Answer

Below is a job advert I found for a strategy job as a strategy consultant in New York, USA.

Position: Strategic Analyst – Full Time

The Company

OPENLANE is the leading online auction company in North America for automotive dealers to buy and sell wholesale vehicles. The company offers proven, end-to-end auto remarketing solutions to auto manufacturers, captive finance companies, lease and daily rental companies, financial institutions and wholesale auto auctions throughout the United States and Canada. Since 1999, OPENLANE’s products and services have enabled customers to reduce cycle times, costs, and achieve greater profitability. Recently our company was acquired by KAR Auction Services (NYSE: KAR). Joining the KAR family greatly increases the growth potential of the company itself as well as our employees. We are currently looking for new, talented team members to grow with the company. We offer a dynamic, challenging, and fun atmosphere with a competitive salary and generous benefits.

Primary Role

We are looking for a Strategic Analyst for our Toronto office. In the role you will assist in the continued entrenchment of OPENLANE as the leading online auction company in North America for automotive dealers and consignors to buy and sell wholesale vehicles by focusing on data-driven decision support via the compilation, interpretation and application of quantitative measures; as well as the collection of business intelligence to support existing and new business initiatives.  

In addition to working independently in the execution of assigned duties, you will also interact with clients and internal personnel to fully understand information requests and effectively communicate findings.

The company has three locations – Toronto, Ontario, Mesa, AZ and Redwood City, CA; some travel may be required

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver key company and client reporting for the measurement of program results; supported by succinct analyses as required
• Leverage a solid understanding of relevant data sources and reporting metrics to proactively investigate and analyze potential opportunities and/or significant deviations from existing trends.
• Perform quantitative data analysis, research competitive strategies, pricing models and program attributes in order to make intelligent comparisons and recommendations.
• Liaise with various cross functional groups concerning programs and special projects.
• General business development support activities and other ad hocs as required

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in a Quantitative / Analytical / Business discipline.
• 0 - 2 years of experience in business/analytics an asset
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel and Access is required
• Good working knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite of applications (Excel, Word, Power Point, Outlook, etc.)
• Basic knowledge of Relational Databases is required
• Working knowledge of standard data collection systems and Business Intelligence (BI) software (ie. Cognos, Salesforce, etc); knowledge of SQL an asset
• Demonstrated aptitude for interpreting business requirements into measurement-oriented, results-focused metrics and analytics
• Superior analytical and interpersonal skills with proven ability to effectively interpret and communicate quantitative concepts to diverse audiences
• Detail oriented with proven ability to meet deadlines, balance projects and operate proactively in a highly flexible fast paced environment
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills and attention to accuracy with detail
• Proven ability to prepare and deliver professional documents and presentations to all levels of an organization.
• Strong, effective communication skills; both verbal and written.
• Strong planning and organizational skills, with the ability to anticipate problems and opportunities, and develop effective strategies with clear objectives.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills to meet deadlines and handle changing priorities.
• Ability to work in a cross functional team at the divisional and corporate level
• Demonstrated ability to work independently without constant supervision

References:

(n.d.). Retrieved from www.forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml

(n.d.). Retrieved from ch.tbe.taleo.net: http://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH11/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=OPENLANE&cws=4&rid=968&source=Indeed

WEEK 3

Week 3 (3/13/2013)

1. Strategy making is like a science because strategies are made with extensive analysis and with unbiased and uncontaminated judgment and opinion. Strategy maker only use the logical facts and delivers the rational decisions to the organization. Before making any strategy managers also understand the each and every detail like scientists and they also follow definite steps which are used also used for the scientific research.

 Strategy making is also like the art and craft because to create a good strategy a                    mutual team work, creativity and knowledge to tackle problems is needed. And to get perfection in those things, many years of practice is needed.

2. Intended strategy is planned or intended course of action which is used for achieving a predetermined goals of the organization. Simply, we can understand the intended strategy as strategy that an organization hopes to execute. when a strategic plan is created for a new venture, it is called a business plan. To some extent we can also state intended strategy as a deliberate strategy. It is well structured and formal kind of strategy.

Content of a strategy is basically an exposition of the current position of the company and the desired status the management would like to attain at the end of the plan period. It is nothing but a detailed brief of where it is now and the broad steps to be taken to reach where it intends to. The context part of a strategy deals in detail with the internal and expected external environment of an organization and in effect undertakes an extensive SWOT analysis to ensure that the organization can reach the set targets with least effort. The process part of a strategy actually lays down the timing of different actions and clearly defines who would take part in the actions directly and who would remain in indirect support thus ensuring unity of action and streamlining of efforts to prevent efforts getting wasted by working at cross purposes or overlapping and repetitive actions. But, this analysis of strategy into various components only goes on to further emphasis the basic nature of intended strategy – it is pre-planned and depends entirely on the quality of forecasts available with the management. (McGee, John; Thomas, Howard and Wilson, David, 2005)

An emergent strategy is an unplanned strategy that is made in order to tackle the unexpected opportunities and challenges. In emergent strategy it’s all about exploring rather than analyzing. It is unstructured and informal kind of strategy in organization. It basically helps to deal with the things which occur in the market and falls out the range of intended strategy.

 Henry Mintzberg was the first expert who coined the word ‘emergent’ while describing the continuous evolution of corporate strategy of an organization as it not only strived to keep pace with but also attempted to overtake the external environment to reach the pre-determined targets. The emergent strategy however, is not a brainwave of one person or a group of persons at the helm of affairs of a company. It is not a flash of individual brilliance or motivation but a learning process where the entire corporate entity absorbs facts and figures from external environment and evaluates the changes in external (and internal) environment and proceeds to formulate a proper and relevant answer in the form of a revised strategy. (Mintzberg, The Strategy Concept 1: Five Ps for Strategy, 1987) 

Figure 1.3 A Model of Intended, Deliberate, and Realized Strategy

3. School of strategy:

Ø  The entrepreneurial school:

 This school takes strategy making as a visionary process. Basically the visionary process starts with the mind of the CEO or the leader of the company. Their intuition, judgment, wisdom and experience makes the strategy worthy. simply, we can say that CEO'S are the an architect of strategy. If company is leaded with the good visionary CEO than it will perform good in any kind of situation.

For example:

GE is the very good example of this school. GE claims that it has produced more CEO's than Harvard. When Jalk Welch took over the leadership he dismantled the way the organization was functioning under Jones and same was the case when Jeff took over Jack.(www.nickpelling.com)

Ø   The learning school:

This school takes strategy formation as emergent process. The management continuously see the time to find out what things work and what doesn't. They will apply the learning to their plan for action. this school thinks that learning all in one time is very difficult in this complex world so, step by step learning is good idea. this school helps to deal with the complexity and unpredictability in process of strategy making. 

For example:

Arvind Eyecare Hospital has an objective to provide affordable eye care to poor people. the skill was obtained when a large number of operations were performed which helped the organization in identifying the bottlenecks and removing them which was possible because of continuous learning.(www.academia.edu)

References:

(n.d.). Retrieved from liu.diva-portal.org: http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:21644/FULLTEXT01.pdf

(n.d.). Retrieved from www.nickpelling.com: http://www.nickpelling.com/dissertation/chapter4.pdf

(n.d.). Retrieved from www.academia.edu: http://www.academia.edu/4493694/Different_schools_of_thought_on_Strategy