LECTURER Week 12 (3/12/2013)

Assalamualikum,

This week, Miss Ummi recovered 2 chapters, which is Chapter 10 and 11. Before we start the lecture, Miss Ummi gives us a one paper. We need to answer 4 questions about Myers Brigss Type Indicator (MBTI). The test is about ourselves and after we answer the question, Miss Ummi shows us the characteristics of the result of the question. From that, I can know what actually a suitable job to me..hehe. SECRET ^^

Chapter 10: Building an Organization Capable Of Good Strategy Execution: People, Capabilities, and Structure

In this chapter, I can know what managers must do to execute strategy successfully. Executing strategy is an action-oriented, operation-driven activity revolving around the management of people and business processes. The managers should start with a probing assessment of what the organization must do differently to carry out the strategy successfully. They also should consider precisely how to make the necessary internal changes.

It is important to good strategy execution requires a team effort. All managers have strategy-executing responsibility in their areas of authority and all employees are active participants in the strategy execution process.

There are the 10 basic tasks of the strategy execution process:

Chapter 11: Managing Internal Operations: Actions That Promote Good Strategy Execution.

Implementing a new or different strategy calls for managers to identify the resource requirements of each new strategic initiative and then consider whether the current pattern of resource allocation and the budgets of the various subunits are suitable.

         There are many instituting best practices and employing process management tools. The benchmark tool is one of them. Benchmarking is the backbone of the process of identifying, studying and implementing best practises.

How to move from benchmarking and best-practice implementation to operational excellence in strategy execution is as below:

This is an extent that a company is able to successfully adapt a best practice to fit a circumstances, it is likely to improve the performance of activity. A company can make giant stride toward excellent strategy execution by adopting a best-practices mindset and successfully implementing the use of best practices. The more that organizational units use best practices in performing their work, the closer a company moves toward performing of value chain activities more effectively and efficiently. This is what operational excellence in strategy execution is all about.

HOMEWORK

Before I forgot, there is homework to us from Miss Ummi for posted on the blog.

Place each firm you know in one of the four categories of generic business strategies.

Broad cost-leadership	Google Facebook Air Asia Coca Cola Mydin Giant Digi Maxis McDonald’s
Focused cost-leadership	Tesco Proton Subway KFC Perodua Kamdar Toyota Victorious Secret
Broad differentiation	Avon Kia Motors IKEA Old-Town Kopitiam Al-Ikhsan Honda
Focused differentiation	Bonia JW Marriott Louis Vuitton Porsche Malaysia Airlines Systems Rolls Royce Nike

Week 11 (26/11/2013)

Assalamualaikum,

For this week, we don’t have lecturer and tutorial class. However, Miss Ummi wants us to make a forum at GOALS. We have to discuss how a corporate culture can assist in executing strategies in an organization. If you are one of the top managers, what kind of values that you would like to inculcate in your organization?

Corporate culture is the behaviour of humans who are part of an organization. Culture includes the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits. How a corporate culture can assist in executing strategies in an organization which is a corporate culture can affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders. A great culture can make an average strategy successful, but a poor culture can make even a great strategy fail.

           Then, if I one of the top managers, the values that I would like to apply in my organization is Islamic values. It is because; ISLAM is the way of life, which is Islam provides a framework that shapes the moral and ethical behaviour based on Al-Quran and Sunnah. Besides that, as we know, the Muslim is about one quarter of the total world population and represent a majority in more than 50 countries. From that, corporate image very much depend on culture values. If employees are practicing Islamic values within the organization, it will affect the overall performance of the organization. Moreover, the world is now being watched a people of Islam. We need to show that value by Islam is the way of life.

LECTURER WEEK 10 (19/11/2013)

Chapter 8: Corporate Strategy: Diversification and The Multi-business Company

Assalamualaikum,  

The purpose of diversification is to build shareholder value. There are 3 testing whether diversification adds value for shareholders:

   1.  The Attractiveness Test: 

   Are the industry’s profits and return on investment 

as good as or better than present business?

   2.  The Cost of Entry Test: 

   Is the cost of overcoming entry barriers so great 

as to long delay or reduce the potential for profitability?

   3.  The Better-Off Test: 

   How much synergy (stronger overall performance) 

will be gained by diversifying into the industry?

I can know how the important of better performance is through synergy, which is the goal is to achieve the important 1+1= 3 performance benefit rather than just a 1+1= 2 result. When we work together the performance become more benefit to each other.

We also can gain an understanding of how related diversification strategies can produce cross-business strategic fit capable of delivering competitive advantage. Related diversification can provides a stronger foundation for creating shareholder value which is the specialized resources and capabilities that are leveraged in related diversification tend to be more valuable competitive assets than the generalized resources and capabilities underlying unrelated diversification.

LECTURER WEEK 9 (12/11/2013)

Oshima Restaurant (Sharing Session)

Assalamualaikum, n Good Morning ^_^

WoW…the sharing session is very interesting. This is the first time, so I’m very excited to want to know about this Japan Restaurant that owned by Muslim in Malaysia. Many consumer now concern about halal certificate. Oshima Restaurant has a difficult time when to apply a halal certification. There are many things to do, like how to preserve japan cuisine from non-halal sources? How to change non-halal food to halal food to Malaysian customer? They have to know what the customer in Malaysia needs.

Madam Asnidar run the business even she study and got qualification in field of engineering. It is OK right? Anyone can do the business as long as they have knowledge and have an interest about business.

In this sharing session I learn much new knowledge. The first thing, we should make our intention right which is 'ikhlas kerana Allah’. Don't do something for just you want money. When we ‘ikhlas’ to do something because ALLAH, insyaAllah that money will come later. Always put Allah as number one. Trust and think positive towards Allah and also always make a doa’. “Everyone has their own fail but the most important thing is how you bounce back after the failure” – said Madam Asnidar. Do what we think is the best.

Ooooh… Madam Aznidar states that we should have the knowledge and information about business before we start the business. Furthermore, to enter any business and become entrepreneur is not easy and have many challenges. To become successful person, we need to face obstacles and challenges bravely. InsyaAllah, the tips that have given can help me to face the real world of business in the future. 

LECTURER WEEK 8 (29/10/2013)

Chapter 7: Strategies for Competing In International Markets

In this chapter, i can understanding what the reasons companies choose to enter and compete in foreign markets. The reason is: the companies want to gain access to new customers, wish to achieve lower costs through economies of scale, experience, and increased purchasing power, also want to further exploit core competencies, and beside that, to gain access to resources and capabilities located in foreign markets and spread business risk across a wider market base.

However, to compete the national market is more complex. It is because, the different countries have different home-country advantages in different industries, there are also the location-based advantages to conduct the value chain activities for certain countries and the different in government policies, tax rates, and economic conditions also different in buyer tastes and preferences for products and services. Furthermore, companies can face risk due to adverse shifts in currency exchange rate. 

There are 5 major strategic options for entering foreign markets:

In the process of exploring these options, miss Ummi explained about a strategic to approach a competing internationally such as multidomestic, global and transnational strategies. Miss Ummi also clarify the advantages and disadvantages of that multidomestic, global, and transnational approaches.

In tutorial class, for this chapter, Madam NurulHuda briefly explain one by one how to use Porter’s Diamond of National Advantage for concerned to expand internationally that usually grounded in home country advantages.

Porter’s Diamond of National Advantage

LECTURER Week 7 (22/10/2013)

Chapter 6: Strengthening A Company’s Competitive Position: Strategic Moves, Timing and Scope of Operations.

The best strategic option to company is to seize the initiative, go on the attack, and launch a strategic offensive to improve its market position. The best offensive is using a most powerful resources and capabilities of company to attack rivals in the areas where they are weakest. If the rival good at product then we need to change our course to buyer segment. Therefore, it is important finding and search the rival weaknesses. However, a company should avoid a price competition. Avoid a price war is so far as the best policy, but it is advice which may not always be taken if the benefits seem attractive.

We also learnt about blue-ocean strategy. Blue-ocean strategy offers growth in revenues and profits by discovering or inventing new industry segments that create altogether new demand. For example, Starbucks Coffee is the first company that provide coffee that show wealth when drink coffee.

In the tutorial class, we discussed about blue Ocean strategy and so on.  Then madam also asked us about the case. She ask to whose wear a blue clothes at that day…haha.. She also says that she will not ask anyone that wearing the same colour clothes as her.

In this chapter, I have learnt various new strategies beside Blue-ocean strategy to be applied for strengthening a position a company competitive. Include:

Red-Ocean Strategy	A situation when company do not have any competitive advantage because has been taken or copied by other company.
Horizontal Scope	The range of product and service segments that a firm serves within its focal market.
Vertical Scope	The extent to which a firm’s internal activities encompass one, some, many, or all of the activities that make up an industry’s entire value chain system, ranging from raw-material production to final sales and service activities.
Backward Integration	Involves entry into activities previously performed by suppliers or other enterprises positioned along earlier stages of the industry value chain system
Forward Integration	Involves entry into value chain system activities closer to the end user. Outsourcing involves contracting out certain value chain activities to outside vendors.

LECTURER Week 5 (8/10/2013)

Chapter 5: The Five Generic Competitive Strategies: Which One To Employ?

          Low-Cost Provider

A company must do a better job than rivals of cost-effectively managing value chain activities or it must find innovative ways to eliminate cost-producing activities. Low-cost provider strategies work particularly well when the products of rival sellers are virtually identical or very weakly differentiated and supplies are readily available from eager sellers. Air Asia is among one of company that use low-cost provider strategy. How Air Asia could manage to offer the cheaper airfares? It is because Air Asia not provided with luggage, potter and a passenger cannot choose seat. Air Asia has reduced the cost to pay for workers with provides the online check in and booking.

          Broad Differentiation

Seek to produce a competitive edge by incorporating attributes and features that set a company product or service offering apart from rivals in ways that buyers consider valuable and worth paying for. Successful differentiation allows a firm to command a premium price for its product, increase unit sales and gain buyer loyalty to its brand. For example, Apple’s company is a one that uses a broad differentiation strategy by targeting a range of customers from sophisticated power users to in experienced new users. The firm differentiates is on exceptional design, consistent quality, and outstanding customer service. Apple’s goal is to provide customers with the best personal computing and experience.

          Best-Cost Provider

Combine a strategic emphasis on low cost with a strategic emphasis on more than minimal quality, service, features, or performance. The aim is to create competitive advantage by giving buyers more value for the money. It is an approach that entails matching close rivals on key quality, service, features, performance attributes and beating them on the costs of incorporating such attributes into the product or service. A best-cost provider strategy works best in markets where buyer diversity makes product differentiation the norm and where many buyers are also sensitive to price and value.

         Focused Low-Cost And Focused Differentiation

A focus strategy delivers competitive advantage either by achieving lower costs than rivals in serving buyers comprising the target market niche or by developing specialized ability to offer niche buyers an appealingly differentiated offering than meets their needs better than rival brands. A focused strategy based on either low cost or differentiation becomes increasingly attractive when the target market is big enough to be profitable and offers good growth potential.

Deciding which generic strategy to employ is perhaps the most important strategic commitment a company makes. It tends to drive the rest of the strategic actions a company decides to undertake and it sets the whole tone for the pursuit of a competitive advantage over rivals.

LECTURER Week 4 (1/10/2013)

Chapter 4: Evaluating a Company Resources, Capabilities and Competitiveness.

In this chapter we discuss the techniques of evaluating a company’s internal situation. There are six key questions to consider in analysis and evaluating resources, capabilities and competitive strength:

    1)   How well is the firm’s present strategy working?

The best indicators of how well a company’s strategy is working are whether the company is achieving its stated financial and strategic objectives and whether the company is an above-average industry performer. The stronger a company's current overall performance, the less likely the need for radical strategy changes and the weaker a company's performance or the faster the changes in its external situation which can be gleaned from industry and competitive analysis. In Malaysia, the currently product that become the market leader is such as Colgate, Maggie, Shell, Nestle and so forth.

    2)   What are the firm’s competitively important resources and capabilities?

A company’s business model and strategy must be well-matched to its collection of resources and capabilities. An attempt by management to create and deliver customer value in a manner that depends on resources or capabilities that are deficient and cannot be readily acquired is unwise and positions the company for failure. A company’s competitive approach requires a tight fit with a company’s internal situation and is strengthened when it exploits resources that are competitively valuable, rare, hard to copy, and not easily trumped by rivals’ equivalent substitute resources. In fact, many companies pursue resource-based strategies that attempt to exploit company resources in a manner that offers value to customers in ways rivals are unable to match.

     3)   What are the company's resource strengths and weaknesses, and its able to seize market opportunities and nullify external threats?

A SWOT analysis provides an overview of a firms situation and is an essential component of crafting a strategy tightly matched to the company's situation. The two most important parts of SWOT analysis are drawing conclusions about the company's overall situation and acting on those conclusions to better match with the company's strategy. A company's resource strengths, competencies, and competitive capabilities are strategically relevant because they are the most logical and appealing building blocks for strategy and the resource weaknesses are important because they may represent weakness that need correction. External opportunities and threats come into play because a good strategy necessarily aims at capturing a company's most attractive opportunities and at defending against threats to its well-being.

     4)   Are the company's prices and costs competitive?

One telling sign of whether a company's situation is strong or precarious is whether its prices and costs are competitive with those of industry rivals. Value chain analysis and benchmarking are essential tools in determining whether the company is performing particular functions and activities cost-effectively, learning whether its costs are in line with competitors, and deciding which internal activities and business processes need to be improvement. Value chain analysis teaches that how competently a company manages its value chain activities relative to rivals is a key to building a competitive advantage based on either better competencies and competitive capabilities or lower costs than rivals. The example company who use the concept of value chain is Dell. The component of Dell comes from all around the world because they seek supply from the country who can supply with lowest price.

     5)   Is the firm competitively stronger or weaker than key rivals?

How the company matches up against key rivals on industry key success factors and other chief determinants of competitive success and why the company has a competitive advantage or disadvantage. These indicate where a company is competitively strong and weak, and provide insight into the company's ability to defend or enhance its market position. When a company has important competitive strengths in areas where one or more rivals are weak, it makes sense to consider offensive moves to exploit rivals competitive weaknesses. When a company has important competitive weaknesses in areas where one or more rivals are strong, it makes sense to consider to moves to reduce the weakness.

    6)   What strategic issues and problems merit front-burner managerial attention?

The last question defines about Strategic “How to” Issues and Strategic “Should We” Issues. Zeroing in on the strategic issues a company faces and compiling a list of problems and roadblocks creates a strategic agenda of problems that merit prompt managerial attention. It involves using the results of both industry and competitive analysis and company situation analysis to identify a "worry list" of issues to be resolved for the company to be financially and competitively successful in the years ahead. The purpose is to identify the specific issues or problems that management needs to address. Actual deciding on a strategy and what specific actions to take is what comes after the list of strategic issues and problems that merit front-burner management attention is developed.