...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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...|Unit Title |Unit Code/No Unit12 |Date Issued | |Strategic Planning | | | |Student Name |Student ID |Date Received | |Lecturer Name |Internal Verifier Name | |Michael Brown |M. Azam | Rules and regulations: | | |Plagiarism is presenting somebody else’s work as your own. It includes: copying information directly from the Web or books | |without referencing the material; submitting joint coursework as an individual effort; copying another student’s coursework;| |stealing coursework from another student and submitting it as your own work. Suspected plagiarism will be investigated and | |if found to have occurred will be dealt with according to the procedures set down by the College. Please see your student | |handbook for further details of what is / isn’t plagiarism. | Coursework Regulations 1. Submission of coursework must be undertaken according to the relevant procedure – whether online or paper-based. Lecturers will give information as to which procedure...
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...Difficulty: Moderate Chapter LO: 1 AACSB: Reflective thinking Course LO: Discuss the fundamental concepts of marketing 3) The perceived value equation can be represented as Value = Price/Benefits. Answer: FALSE Difficulty: Easy Chapter LO: 2 AACSB: Analytical thinking Course LO: Discuss the fundamental concepts of marketing 4) Companies can increase prices if costs are low because of process efficiencies in manufacturing. Answer: FALSE Difficulty: Easy Chapter LO: 2 AACSB: Reflective thinking Course LO: Identify and describe the processes and tools of strategic marketing 5) If Nestlé decides not to market biscuits (cookies) in the United States due to competitive reasons, it is considered as a lack of strategic focus and missed opportunity. Answer: FALSE Difficulty: Moderate Chapter LO: 2 AACSB: Reflective thinking Course LO: Identify and describe the processes and tools of strategic marketing 6) The Yugo automobile achieved a modest level of U.S. sales in the 1980s despite a "don't buy" rating from a consumer magazine. Answer: TRUE Difficulty: Easy Chapter LO: 2 AACSB: Reflective thinking Course LO: Identify and describe the processes and tools of strategic marketing 7) Walmart's recent exit from the German market was due, in...
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...transform row data into meaningful information for business processes. The most important functions of BI are reporting, online analytical processing, analytics, data mining, process mining, complex event processing, business performance management, benchmarking, text mining, predictive analytics and prescriptive analytics. BI can be applied in the following business processes, in order to add business value: * Measurement - create hierarchy of performance metrics in order to inform managers about the progress toward the goals * Analytics - build quantitative processes for a business to arrive at knowledge discovery * Reporting - build the infrastructure for strategic reporting * Knowledge management - identifies, creates, represents and distributes insights that are true business knowledge. Who uses BI? Business intelligence is used by decision makers throughout the firm. At senior managerial levels, it is the input to strategic and tactical decisions. At lower managerial levels, it helps individuals to do their day-to-day job. According to Gartner, BI supports strategic decision making in the following areas: * Corporate performance management * Customer relationship optimization, business activity monitoring, traditional decision support * Supporting of BI applications for operations or strategies * Management reporting of business intelligence BI components Business Intelligence is a natural outgrowth of the systems that previously...
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...firms worldwide, which is adopted in the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management: ″Business development is defined as the tasks and processes concerning analytical preparation of potential growth opportunities, and the support and monitoring of the implementation of growth opportunities, but does not include decisions on strategy and implementation of growth opportunities.″ Background In practice, the term business development and its actor, the business developer, have evolved into many usages and applications. Today, the applications of business development and the business developer’s tasks across industries and countries, cover everything from IT-programmers, specialized engineers, advanced marketing or key account management activities, and sales and relations development for current and prospective customers. For this reason, it has been difficult to discern the unique features of the business development function and whether these activities are a source of profits.. Recent systematic research on the subject has outlined the contours of an emerging business development function with a unique role in the innovation management process. The business development function seems to be more matured in high-tech, and especially the pharma and biotech, industries. Business development had its origins in the Industrial Revolution. Professionals The business developer is concerned with the analytical preparation of potential growth opportunities...
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...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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...THE VALUE OF ANALYTICAL TOOLS IN COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS: HOME NURSING PROVIDERS ABSTRACT In business, analytics tool is a fast emergent field and there are many tools obtainable in the market to serve the essential needs of organizations. Analytical tools are used to help managers in making clear decision on the outcome of their findings enabling a shift in how businesses support operational decisions: from intuition to data-driven. Thus, analytics tools enable businesses to make better, more informed decisions and compete more successfully. In today’s global business environment, managers require the latest analytical and decision-support tools to cope with market complexity, regulatory change and pervasive uncertainty. For companies, the most valuable tools are those woven into the fabric of day-to-day business activities: forecasting trends, sizing markets, benchmarking practices, assessing risks, and quantifying results. INTRODUCTION Strategic analysis as an independent object of scientific study has been dealt with but insufficiently (Vaitkevičius et al., 2002). It has been reviewed, however, by comparatively numerous authors. It may be stated that some authors assigned more functions to strategic analysis (Lindblom, 1959); Cyert and March, 1963; Hammeresh et al., 1978; Porter, 1980; Stoner and Fry, 1987; Johnson and Scholes, 1993; Rowe et al., 1994; Grant, 1998; Peel et al., 1996; Godet, 2000; Barnes, 2002; Analoui and Karami, 2003; Eng, 2004; McNamee et al...
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...Data Monetization: A Retailer’s Journey Mohammad S. Najjar University of Memphis Department of Management Information Systems 363 Fogelman Administration Building Memphis, TN 38152-3120 (901) 678 2478 msnajjar@memphis.edu William J. Kettinger1 University of Memphis Department of Management Information Systems 346 Fogelman Administration Building Memphis, TN 38152-3120 (901) 678 4547 bill.kettinger@memphis.edu A Paper submitted to the MISQ Executive special issue on “Big Data” Acknowledgements: The authors are indebted to Cynthia Beath and the special issue editors and reviewers for their advice on how to substantially improve this article. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the Pre-ICIS 2012 SIM Academic Workshop on “When Data is Ubiquitous: How to Succeed in a World of Big Data”. We are thankful to Omar El Sawy and other participants at the workshop for their insightful comments. We would also like to offer our sincere gratitude to the anonymous retailer and big data analytics company that provided so much time and insight 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...
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...perspective.’ Model of Strategic Analysis Tools Typology ‘…the process of conducting research on the business environment within which an organization operates and on the organization itself, in order to formulate strategy.’ BNET Business Dictionary ‘… a theoretical informed understanding of the environment in which an organization is operating, together with an understanding of the organization’s interaction with its environment in order to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness by increasing the organization’s capacity to deploy and redeploy its resources intelligently.’ Professor Les Worrall, Wolverhampton Business School Definition of strategic analysis often differ, but the following attributes are commonly associated with it: 1. Identification and evaluation of data relevant to strategy formulation. 2. Definition of the external and internal environment to be analyzed. 3. A range of analytical methods (strategic analysis tools) that can be employed in the analysis. Example of analytical methods used in strategic analysis which will be discussed in this paper includes but not limited to the following: 1. SWOT analysis 2. PEST analysis 3. Porter’s five forces analysis 4. Four corner’s analysis 5. Value chain analysis 6. Early warning scans 7. War gaming An overview of these strategic analysis tools will be provided. Strategic Analysis Tools Definition Analytical methods and tools are key to ensuring...
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...Homework: Specify one area or field which makes use of Operations Research as a tool. Give specific and real examples. According to the website scienceofbetter.org, Operations Research (OR) is basically a discipline of applying advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions. OR can also be called as Management science which also concerns methods for strategic planning and strategic decision support. Therefore, using operations research will be very helpful for executives and companies in order to sustain and even improve their systems or businesses. Some of the fields that use operations research as a tool are education, decision analysis, engineering, marketing, supply chain management, mathematics, project management and a whole lot more. However, the field of supply chain management will be focused in this paper. Supply chain management (SCM) is a sequence of business processes and information that provides a product or service from suppliers through manufacturing and distribution to the ultimate customer (Roger Schroeder, 2007). Basically, this is the management of the flow of goods. Having the right and efficient supply chain management system can increase coordination in a company as well as maintaining the demand for a particular product. On the other hand, this can also be very crucial since a company must be able to think of strategic ways in order to be competitive and keep their customers. However, just like any other function or activity, SCM also...
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...procurement and the supply chain overall are increasingly more diverse and complex. Procurement must be positioned to anticipate changes in business requirements, adapt to these changes, and accelerate change implementation to capture opportunities ahead of the competition. The capability to align customer segments with the right products/services and to develop adaptive supply chains are core elements of the value-added contributions that procurement is increasingly expected to deliver. A.T. Kearney’s recent Assessment of Excellence in Procurement (AEP) study determined that among the companies identified as leaders, 73 percent of their procurement activities were strategic in nature, the remainder tactical. In the “follower” organizations only 49 percent of their procurement activities were described as strategic. March 2009 Today’s responsive procurement organizations must break the...
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...BUSINESS PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN RETAIL INDUSTRY ABSTRACT The ability of businesses to drive sustained improvement in their performance is significantly hampered by the seven challenges (strategic misalignment, local optimization, uncompetitive reactions times, etc.). The situation is being continually exasperated due to the factors such as volatile economic and regulatory conditions, emerging management techniques, multi-organization business models and underutilized operational information. In this research paper we are discussing as how BPM helps in resolving the above factors, BPM in retail industry and also about how business performance provides businesses with solutions that allow them to cost-effectively adopt the cultural changes to their management process by providing a systems infrastructure that spans the entire business, regardless of business unit or even enterprise boundaries. KEYWORDS Business Performance Management, Process Management, Business Intelligence, Enterprise Application Integration, Strategic Business management, Retail Business Performance Systems. INTRODUCTION In the face of an increasingly fast-paced business environment, many businesses struggle to anticipate, let alone meet, their stakeholders’ objectives. At the same time they are under increasing pressure to maintain strong corporate controls and offer greater degrees of transparency. Misaligned strategies, outdated plans and unreliable forecasts inhibit success. Many businesses...
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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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...Excellence in Financial Management Course 12: Competitive (Part Intelligence (Part 2 of 2) Prepared by: Matt H. Evans, CPA, CMA, CFM This course provides more in-depth coverage about competitive intelligence – 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...
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