...Basics of Strategy: Strategy decisions are different from other decisions taken for the company. They are distinguished on three levels; Scale: A strategic decision covers the whole circle. Strategy decisions are big decisions and concerns competitors, suppliers as well as customers. Time-span: These decisions mostly impact the medium term and long term objectives of the company although there out come can also be seen in short term. Dedication: This means resources commitment and investment that cannot be undone simply. This is done in the marketing of the company, operation changing etc. (Haberberg A. and Rieple, A. 2008) A company's strategy refers to the when, how and why of its existence and working. It basically entails the efforts that the company's management put in to achieve its objectives that pertains to selection of type of clientele, market situation and market form, what competitive advantage to follow and how to perform successfully in long term with taking into the its implications in short term. (Thompson, A.A. and Strickland, A.J. 2003) Strategic Analysis Strategic analysis is very important for any company, whether operating on small or large scale. If an organization has a vision for long term existence then it has to follow the ground rules. As taken from Business Dictionary, strategic...
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...Topic Gateway Series Strategic Analysis Tools Strategic Analysis Tools Topic Gateway Series No. 34 Prepared by Jim Downey and Technical Information Service 1 October 2007 Topic Gateway Series Strategic Analysis Tools About Topic Gateways Topic Gateways are intended as a refresher or introduction to topics of interest to CIMA members. They include a basic definition, a brief overview and a fuller explanation of practical application. Finally they signpost some further resources for detailed understanding and research. Topic Gateways are available electronically to CIMA Members only in the CPD Centre on the CIMA website, along with a number of electronic resources. About the Technical Information Service CIMA supports its members and students with its Technical Information Service (TIS) for their work and CPD needs. Our information specialists and accounting specialists work closely together to identify or create authoritative resources to help members resolve their work related information needs. Additionally, our accounting specialists can help CIMA members and students with the interpretation of guidance on financial reporting, financial management and performance management, as defined in the CIMA Official Terminology 2005 edition. CIMA members and students should sign into My CIMA to access these services and resources. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants 26 Chapter Street London SW1P 4NP United Kingdom T. +44 (0)20 7663 5441 F. +44...
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...Topic Gateway Series Strategic Analysis Tools Strategic Analysis Tools Topic Gateway Series No. 34 Prepared by Jim Downey and Technical Information Service 1 October 2007 Topic Gateway Series Strategic Analysis Tools About Topic Gateways Topic Gateways are intended as a refresher or introduction to topics of interest to CIMA members. They include a basic definition, a brief overview and a fuller explanation of practical application. Finally they signpost some further resources for detailed understanding and research. Topic Gateways are available electronically to CIMA Members only in the CPD Centre on the CIMA website, along with a number of electronic resources. About the Technical Information Service CIMA supports its members and students with its Technical Information Service (TIS) for their work and CPD needs. Our information specialists and accounting specialists work closely together to identify or create authoritative resources to help members resolve their work related information needs. Additionally, our accounting specialists can help CIMA members and students with the interpretation of guidance on financial reporting, financial management and performance management, as defined in the CIMA Official Terminology 2005 edition. CIMA members and students should sign into My CIMA to access these services and resources. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants 26 Chapter Street London SW1P 4NP United Kingdom T. +44 (0)20 7663 5441 F. +44...
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...A Guide to Case Analysis Hult International Business School Professor Jim Prost San Francisco Campus The purpose of this guide is to help you maximize your learning when using case studies. It outlines some key issues that will help you learn from the case analysis method. In most graduate courses, students use cases from actual companies to practice strategic analysis and to gain some experience in the task of creating and implementing strategy. A case describes, in a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial problem. It’s as if the reader is inside the organization (at the time the case was written) and has most, if not all, relevant information, facts, and circumstances. The student’s role in case analysis is to diagnose and evaluate the situation described in the case. You then develop recommendations, supporting arguments, and the appropriate action steps that should be taken to rectify the problem presented in the case. After reading this guide, you will be able to: * Understand what a case study is * Appreciate the benefits of using case studies in the learning of strategic management and how their use can help develop your managerial skills * Use the key steps in analyzing case studies * Apply theoretical concepts and frameworks to the case material The case approach to strategic analysis is an exercise in “learning by doing.” Because cases provide you with detailed information about...
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...BSP028 Strategic Management Guideline for Assignment Complete the following task: Evaluate the suitability of General Electric’s corporate strategy, within a time period of your choice. Word limit 5000 words including supporting, charts, diagrams and tables, but without references. Writing guidelines The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you have learned from this module. There are many, equally valid ways to fulfil the assignment tasks. You will therefore have to make many own choices. For example, you have to decide on the time period, you have to decide what aspects of the strategy to focus on, and you have to choose which tools and concepts to apply to this case. Please note that the case study focuses heavily on Jeff Immelt’s role, but you should focus more on the evaluation of the strategy itself. You should not draw only on the printed case study, but you also need to conduct more research into the company, its strategy, and its environment. Internet search, in particular the company website, news articles, and MINTEL reports will be useful. You should also draw on knowledge from other readings, including journal articles. You have to choose a time period to focus on. The case study printout gives you some of the information you need to complete the tasks with regard to the time between 2001 and 2012, and provides some historical background, but you should get additional...
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...concerning their experiences with monetization of big data. 1 Corresponding Author 1 Data Monetization: A Retailer’s Journey The ability to monetize a company’s data has been an elusive goal. However, in the era of big data, business intelligence and analytics, and cloud computing, this goal is becoming more achievable. The retail industry, with its exacting merchandising strategies and tight supply chain relationships, has taken the lead in demonstrating that monetizing data can provide a significant revenue stream and be an IT cost sharing mechanism. Point of sale, consumer loyalty, and inventory data can be sold to suppliers and some of the cost of analyzing the retailers' data can be recovered from their suppliers. This case study outlines the path one retailer followed in monetizing its data,...
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...segments, Ethics and Governance, Financial Reporting and Strategic Management Accounting. In the increasingly complex business environment in which organisations operate, characterised by change, uncertainty and escalating competition, the disciplines of strategy and leadership have become critical to successful organisational performance. The aim of this segment is to link the knowledge of management and financial accounting to the concepts of strategy and leadership. Accountants use a variety of technical information to make decisions for the future of the business within an ethical framework of operation. This segment shows that accounting information, ethics, strategy and leadership are applicable to accountants working throughout the world in diverse organisations. As discussed in Ethics and Governance, accounting as a profession is respected internationally and CPAs are employed worldwide. The segment materials address the needs of candidates operating in different international markets in varying roles. This segment builds upon knowledge gained in the other three compulsory segments of the professional level. The concepts of professional ethics and good governance underpin the segment. Candidates who have previously undertaken the Advanced Audit and Assurance or Strategic Management Accounting segments will be familiar with the use and application of Porter’s five forces model. Those candidates who have studied Strategic Management Accounting will note a number of concepts...
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...all the background information you need for the whole course, together with the lecture and tutorial programme. Use this book as your key reference for information on the course. Most of the frequently asked questions you are likely to raise are answered here. Please note that while this information is correct at the time of going to press, we reserve the right to alter the programme and other course details from time to time. This will be done through announcements in lectures and on Blackboard, the web-based learning environment. It is imperative that students access Blackboard regularly to ensure they are aware of any changes. This course is intended to be an informative and interesting introduction to strategic management. The very words ‘strategic management’ can occasionally lead some people to think that there is some kind of dark art or mystery about this supposedly senior management activity. In fact it is possible to approach strategy in the same structured way as any other subject like marketing, finance, or human resources. Every subject has ambiguity and areas of debate and strategy is...
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...Strategy development by using SWOT - AHP Dijana Oreski1 1 Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb, Pavlinska 2, Varazdin, Croatia Abstract –This paper employs combination of SWOT analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in strategic planning for tourism of small mid-european city Varazdin, which is located in the north west of Croatia. SWOT analysis identifies internal and external factors which are prioritized by expert in tourism domain by means of AHP. The prioritized SWOT factors are used in strategies formulation using TOWS matrix. Results indicate that proactive communication strategy and isolation strategy with effective marketing promotional strategy were the best strategies that could have been implemented. Keywords – SWOT, AHP, strategy formulation. cases in the strategic management process. One of them is the SWOT analysis. This article explains the SWOT analysis, provides the theoretical background and an overview of the application of the SWOT analysis. As some authors have identified weaknesses of the SWOT, analysis is combined with a method for multi-criteria decision analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in order to avoid these disadvantages. Therefore, in the second part of the paper AHP method and SWOT AHP hybrid method are described. Following the basic steps method, SWOT AHP is applied to the example of the city of Varazdin strategic marketing plan definition. 2. SWOT analysis SWOT is an acronym of strength, weakness, opportunities...
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...Iqra University MBA Program Strategic Management Instructor : Prof. Mohammad Ahsan Durrani Address : adurrani@iqra.edu.pk Pre-requisite : Marketing Management, Human Resource Management, Organization Behavior, Financial accounting, and Financial Management Introduction: Strategic management is a capstone, integrative course for graduating business students. This is an exciting challenging course that focuses on how firms formulate, implement, and evaluate strategies. Strategic management concepts and techniques are studied. Students use all the knowledge acquired from prior business courses, coupled with new strategic-management techniques learned, to chart the future direction of different organizations. The major responsibility of students in this course is to make objective strategic decisions and to justify them through oral and written communication. I have attempted to design this course taking the following consideration 1. Discuss a reasonable comprehensive description of various strategic management concepts, tools and techniques that are useful in understanding Strategic Management 2. Through experiential exercises and case analysis apply the strategic management techniques in making objective strategic decisions. . Overall Course Objectives: Strategic Management, focuses on organization as a whole and its transactions with its environment. This course being a capstone course integrates functional courses in marketing, accounting, finance...
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...– specific techniques and models used as well as CI Systems. Before taking this course, you should complete Part 1 of this course. This course is recommended for 2 hours of Continuing Professional Education. In order to receive credit, you will need to pass a multiple-choice exam which you can take over the internet at www.exinfm.com/training/course12-2 Chapter 1 Critical Concepts Before we get into Part 2 of this short course, let’s touch on the fundamentals behind competitive intelligence. From Part 1 of this course, we learned that competitive intelligence relies on a very analytical process to transform data and information into intelligence. We also understand that competitive intelligence is not just about studying the competition, but studying the entire external landscape - customers, suppliers, regulators, and all forces that impact the organization. Therefore, our analysis must be very broad in scope. The primary output from competitive intelligence is the ability to make forward-looking decisions. For example, Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric determined strategy based on key intelligence questions: What is the detailed global position of your business and that of your competitors: market shares, strengths by product line, and by region today? What actions have your competitors taken in the past two years that have changed the competitive landscape? What are you most afraid your competitors might do in the next two years to change the landscape?...
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...Week 3 Tutorial Exercise Introduction to Data Warehousing Task 1 Answer to Discussion Question: * How is a data warehouse different from a database? Ans : Data Warehouse 1. Used for Online Analytical Processing (OLAP). This reads the historical data for the Users for business decisions. 2. The Tables and joins are simple since they are de-normalized. This is done to reduce the response time for analytical queries. 3. Data – Modelling techniques are used for the Data Warehouse design. 4. Optimized for read operations. 5. High performance for analytical queries. 6. Is usually a Database. Database 1. Used for Online Transactional Processing (OLTP) but can be used for other purposes such as Data Warehousing. This records the data from the user for history. 2. The tables and joins are complex since they are normalized (for RDMS). This is done to reduce redundant data and to save storage space. 3. Entity – Relational modeling techniques are used for RDMS database design. 4. Optimized for write operation. 5. Performance is low for analysis queries. * Describe the major components of a data warehouse. * Ans: 1. Multi Dimensional Data: * Data Mart are normally a multi dimensional database using industry standard STAR Schema approach. This will include: * Dimensions tables * Fact Tables * Hierarchies (For Drill down and drill across) * Role Models (Multiple references of Dimension to...
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...in Marketing as well as other business/social disciplines. Topics include marketing strategy, customer behavior, segmentation, market research, product management, pricing, promotion, sales force management and competitive analysis. 211. (MKTG773) Consumer Behavior. (C) Cutright, Reed. Prerequisite(s): MKTG 101. This course is concerned with how and why people behave as consumers. Its goals are to: (1) provide conceptual understanding of consumer behavior, (2) provide experience in the application of buyer behavior concepts to marketing management decisions and social policy decision-making; and (3) to develop analytical capability in using behavioral research. 212. (MKTG756) Marketing Research. (C) Shen, Eliashberg. Prerequisite(s): MKTG 101, STAT 101. Students are highly encouraged to take statistics in the semester immediately preceding this course. This course examines the role of marketing research in the formulation and solution of marketing problems, and the development of the student's basic skills in conducting and evaluating marketing research projects. Special emphasis is placed on problem formulation, research design, alternative methods of data collection (including data collection instruments, sampling, and field operations), and data analysis techniques. Applications of modern marketing research procedures to a variety of marketing problems are explored. 221. New Product Management. (C) Armstrong, Adams. Prerequisite(s): MKTG 101; NOTE: Students may not take this...
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...2014 onwards, and can be accessed via the portal (https://my.richmond.ac.uk/) This syllabus should be read in conjunction with the Course Specification Document; the University Catalogue; and the relevant Programme Specification (via the University’s website http://www.richmond.ac.uk) Course Description: The course focuses on strategic analysis and evaluation, long-range planning and policy implementation. Early lectures outline the basic strategic analysis models and case study analyses relate to both the firm's internal operations and the environment in which it operates. Prerequisites: Completion of the FNN, or INB, or MKT Core courses Aims and Objectives: The Course aims to develop within the student a full understanding of the nature and role of competition and strategy. It aims to introduce students to strategic management concepts and to increase students’ awareness of the role that strategic management plays in organizational life and survival. Its objective is to familiarize students with the theories, analytical tools, terminology and language of strategic management and to develop critical judgment of strategic issues through application of theory to practice. Learning Outcomes: Programme Outcomes: A 1-7 B 1-5 C 1-2 D 1-5 Programme outcomes are...
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...Case for critical analysis: Pinnacle Machine Tool Co. Introduction Pinnacle Machine Tool Co., it is a small, publicly held Indiana-based machine tool Company, it was founded in 1976. This company specializes in manufacturing all kind of machine centres. They too have excellent experiences in Technology, Quality and Service (Pinnacle Machine Tool Co. Ltd.). Problem Statement How is Pinnacle going to avoid its company to fall off the market? Is entering a new market the only solution to defend itself from rival companies to take over the market or company? Don Anglos mentions in the case that the current situation of the Pinnacle shows that it is facing an increasing amount of rivalry with foreign manufacturers. Anglos managed to slightly increase Pinnacle’s revenue growth and market share however it came with a price which is a drop in profitability. This issue can lead to the loss of the business, this is causing Anglos to make a change as there is a credible rumour of Pinnacle’s chief competitor’s plan to take over the company Porter’s Five Forces Analysis: Economies of Scale Brand Identity Proprietary Product Access to Distribution Economies of Scale Brand Identity Proprietary Product Access to Distribution Diversity of competitors Industry Growth Brand Identity Product & service Differences Exit Barriers Diversity of competitors Industry Growth Brand Identity Product & service Differences Exit Barriers Buyers might tend to...
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