Last topics for this semester ^_^

In The Name of ALLAH, The Most Beneficent and Merciful

Assalamu'alaikum w.b.t.

There no words I want to say except Alhamdulillah for His uncountable blessings and very thanks to Prophet Muhammad SAW for the light of Islam for the whole world. 

Peace and Blessings be Upon The Prophet Muhammad SAW, His family and friends.

This is the last week for us to update the blog because the last date to submit it is tomorrow, 8/12/2013.

For this week, there are 2 topics combined here which are chapter 10 and chapter 11. 

Chapter 10 is about building an organization capable of good strategy execution: people, capabilities, and structure. But, what I want to focus is what managers must to do to execute strategy successfully.

There are 10 basic tasks of the Strategy Execution Process:

1) Build the organizational capabilities required for successful strategy execution

2) Establish a strategy supportive organizational structure

3) Allocate sufficient resources to the strategy execution effort

4) Institute policies and procedures that facilitate strategy execution

5) Adopt best practices and business processes that drive continuous improvement

6) Install information and operating systems that support strategy execution activities

7) The rewards and incentives directly to the achievement of strategic and financial targets

8) Instill a corporate culture that promotes good strategy execution

9) Exercise strong leadership to propel strategy execution forward

10) Staff the organization with the right people for executing the strategy

Figure 1: Building an Organization Capable of Proficient Strategy Execution: Three Types of Paramount Action

Now, we move on the chapter 11 which we learnt about managing internal operations: the actions that promote good strategy execution. 

How Policies and procedures Facilitate Good Strategy Execution? 

Policies and Procedures can facilitate good strategy execution by 3 steps, which are:

Figure 2

Figure 3: Instituting Best Practices and Employing Process Management Tools

5 best practices and employing management tools, first is benchmarking, second process engineering, third six sigma quality programs, fourth total quality management (TQM), and last but not least is best practices.

Figure 4: From Benchmarking and Best-Practice Implementation to Operating Excellence

The more that organizational units use best practices in performing their work, the closer a company moves toward performing its value chain activities as effectively and efficiently as possible.

This is what excellent strategy execution is all about

RE-ENGINEERING THE ORGANIZATION

Figure 5

ACHIEVING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

 Figure 6

A STATISTICAL APPROACH TO ACHIEVING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Figure 7

Em, I think that's all for this week. By the way, 2 weeks more we will sit for final examination and apart from that, I want to apologize in lack of the information and over -sharing in this blog. Any comments or suggestions can write in the comment column below. Everything comes from the lack of my own weakness and goodness only from ALLAH SWT. Thanks for your attention and good reading for this blog. 

Aamin :)

Assalamu'alaikum :D

No lecture and Tutorial ;p

In The Name of ALLAH, The Most Beneficent and Merciful

Peace and Blessings be Upon The Prophet Muhammad SAW, His family and friends...

Assalamu'alaikum and good evening ;)

Since there is no lecture on this topic , Dr . Ummi give us one assignment in slides to be shared in the blog. There are 2 questions which I think good question to ask for those whoever holds the highest position in the company.

The questions are:

1) If you one of the TOP managers, what kind values would like to inculcate in your organization? Why does it so? 

2)Could you find an example of any organizations that have a good corporate culture? Name one of them.

My answer is:

1) If I'm the one of the TOP managers, the values i want the fertilizer is discipline , responsibility and respect for each other. Discipline here means in terms of time management work. One of the problems of the employees are not working in a timely manner. Coming late to work and come home early of time. An employee responsible will not squander the tasks entrusted to it. Obeying the order, as long as not violating the law and the importance of Islam. Respect not only for workers with employer. In fact, anyone must respect between each other. Regardless of the employee with the employer, employees or other subordinates. For example, cleanliness worker. They also need to be respected. My mom always said for me, "if we want the respect , first of all we must be respectful of others first. No matter young or old. Follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, In Sha Allah, blessings on it :D

2) I think, one of the organization that have a good corporate culture is Takaful Ikhlas Sdn. Bhd. which is established a strong presence in the provision of Islamic financial protection services based on the Takaful System. It stresses on a spirit of cooperation and joint responsibility among participants. In this corporate, they have their core values name is IQRA. IQRA is the combination of 4 values, which are IKHLAS Values (Siddiq, Amanah, Tabligh, Fatanah), Quality (People, System, Strategy, Sales), Results Driven (Soul and Spirit), and the last is Attitude (Right Mind Set).

Applying continuous improvement process that unites Takaful Ikhlas in their commitment to a culture of quality through 4 quality policy, which are Inspired leadership, Teamwork, Professional and more important is Inculcation of Islamic Values.

Since we have taken the subject of Islamic ethics and human capital development for this semester, it is related with how to practice good moral values ​​in an organization. In fact, it all started from the employer itself. They must show good ethical values ​​to employees. For example, in terms of the discipline and work ethic. Besides that, the most important is for managers who are Muslims, they have to set the breaks for workers pray. With the prayer time care, In Sha Allah, Allah SWT will make it easier each work and valued goodness.

I think that's all for this week. Thank you and see you again in the next topic. :)

Sharing session: Oshima Restaurant ^_^

In The Name of ALLAH, The Most Beneficent and Merciful.

Assalamu'alaikum w.b.t.

Peace and Blessings be Upon The Prophet Muhammad SAW, His family and friends...

Actually, for this week, we didn't have a lecture. Okay, I want to ask.. what your feeling if you did not have a class or lecture?

Is it this?

or this? Hehe :D

Or like this picture? Not have feelings?

I don't how your feelings now, by the way although we didn't have lecture but we must attend to talk as replacement for the lecture. 

Do you want to know what the talk is? The talk was presented by the owner of Japanese Halal Restaurant, Oshima Restaurant which her name is Madam Hasnidar Hanim. What makes me feel amazed is she did not take a course of Business or any related about that but she had a Degree and MBA in course of Engineering. Masya-ALLAH ^_^. What makes she open a food business is she likes to eat, and her husband loves to cook. Then, she open business with her lovely husband. This is one and only 100% HALAL Japanese Restaurant in Malaysia which are located at Shah Alam, Selangor. It is not easy to open Halal Japanese food, but with hard work and want to help the Muslims , she succeed  to open food restaurant which have HALAL certificated. May ALLAH Bless her and whole family. Aamin :)

For those who likes and searching for HALAL Japanese Food and living near to Shah Alam, this is an opportunity for you to go to their Restaurant.

O-SHIMA RESTAURANT

NO.12 JLN SEKINCHAN 26/9, SEC.26

40400 SHAH ALAM SELANGOR,

MALAYSIA

O-SHIMA RAMEN,

OASIS 9, SEKSYEN 9, SHAH ALAM,

SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

O-SHIMA KAFE,

PLAZA ALAM SENTRAL, SHAH ALAM,

SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

********************************************************

See you again, In Sha ALLAH :D

Week 8: STRATEGIES FOR COMPETING IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

In The Name of ALLAH, The Most Beneficent and Merciful

Assalamu'alaikum w.b.t.

Peace and Blessings be Upon The Prophet Muhammad SAW, His family and friends...

 Not too late for me to wish you welcome the beginning of Muharram, the new year for Muslims all over the world. Keep the old "book", and open a new "book" with high spirits. Muslims who are believe are constantly renewing itself by good deeds. Make today better than yesterday. In Sha ALLAH :)

Let's take a moment to say Alhamdulillah for everything. All praises to ALLAH, with HIS blessings and love we are able meet again at for this week. 

*********************************************************************

For this week, the topic is about strategies for competing in International Markets. I want to focus on five major strategic options for entering foreign markets. 

As the Founder and CEO of  business, we often find our self working with companies that want to develop a presence in various international markets. Before embarking on new territory, it's important to understand the specific country's culture, customs, needs, and unspoken rules that will be a better for that market.

WHY COMPANIES DECIDE TO ENTER FOREIGN MARKETS?

1) To gain access to new customers

2) To achieve lower costs through economies of scale, experience, and increased purchasing power

3) To further exploit core competencies

4) To gain access to resources and capabilities located in foreign markets

5) To spread business risk across a wider market base

WHY COMPETING ACROSS NATIONAL BORDERS MAKES STRATEGY-MAKING MORE COMPLEX?

1) Different countries have different home-country advantages in different industries

2)Location-based value chain advantages for certain countries

3)Differences in government policies, tax rates, and economic conditions

4)Currency exchange rate risks

5) Differences in buyer tastes and preferences for products and services

STRATEGIC OPTIONS FOR ENTERING AND COMPETING IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

Figure 1

Though that every strategies have their own advantages and disadvantages, which are:

 

Figure 2: Export strategies

Figure 3: Licensing and Franchising Strategies

Figure 4: Foreign Subsidiary Strategies

 #A greenfield venture is a subsidiary business that is established by setting up the entire operation from the ground up.

Figure 4: Advantages and disadvantages of Greenfield strategies

# Collaborative strategies involving alliances or joint ventures with foreign partners are a popular way for companies to edge their way into the markets of foreign countries.

# Cross-border alliances enable a growth-minded company to widen its geographic coverage and strengthen its competitiveness in foreign markets; at the same time, they offer flexibility and allow a company to retain some degree of autonomy and operating control.

COMPETING INTERNATIONALLY: THREE STRATEGIC APPROACHES

Figure 5: Three approaches for Competing Internationally

1) Multidomestic Strategy- one in which a firm varies its product offering and competitive approach from country to country in an effort to be responsive to differing buyer preferences and market conditions. It is a think-local,  act-local type of international strategy, facilitated by decision making decentralized to the local level.

2) Global Strategy-one in which a company employs the same basic competitive approach in all countries where it operates, sells much the same products everywhere, strives to build global brands, and coordinates its actions worldwide with strong headquarters control. It represents a think-global, act-global approach.

3) Transnational Strategy- is a think-global, act-local approach that incorporates elements of both multidomestic and global strategies.

Enough for this week, thank you :)

Blue Ocean Strategy

In The Name of ALLAH, The Most Beneficent and Merciful

Assalamu'alaikum w.b.t

Peace and Blessings be Upon The Prophet Muhammad SAW, His family and friends...

How your days? Is it difficult, worse or worth? Hope will be okay. Everything that happened in our life make it simple and always thinks that ALLAH doesn't make anything in this world without a purpose. Testing is not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes there are also form of favor, and every hardship there is ease from it.

ALLAH SWT said in the Holy Quran, means:

"Surely, with difficulty is ease. With difficulty is surely ease"

(Surah al-Insyirah: 5-6)

Put your trust on ALLAH, He knows the best :)

*****************************************************************

Okay, turned back on what I want to talk about the headlines. Blue Ocean Strategy. Do you ever heard before it?

There may be ever and probably never heard and want to know about it. Okay, I will explain what I understand and know about it.

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY? WHAT IS IT?

"Blue Ocean Strategy is a business strategy book first published in 2005 and written by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne of the Blue Ocean Strategy Institute at INSTEAD, which is one of the top European business schools. The aim of BOS is not to out-perform the competition in the existing industry, but to create new market space or a blue ocean, thereby making a competition irrelevant"-Sorce

A "blue ocean" market space, where the industry has yet to take shape, with no long-term competitiveness and growth of the wide-open spaces and the potential benefits for firms that can create demand for new types of products. It seeks to make the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for both the company and its buyers.

RED OCEAN

Before I forget, I want to explain what the Red Ocean. Red Ocean is the basis of competition is trying to get a bigger share in the same defined market. Basically, it's boundaries are defined and accepted in the market. For example is phone. At the beginning, it's become blue ocean which not all people use it. But, it's became a red ocean since many phone with vary types many sells in the market.

Table 1

Table 1 above shows that the different between Red Ocean and Blue Ocean, which one of the difference is exploit existing demand for red ocean while for blue ocean is create and capture new demand. We can see that, in blue ocean strategy, they create to make the product become more advanced and nicer than the previously.

Example for "Blue Ocean" is Apple's, a new mobile phone-is an excellent example of a product where additional value has been created in a market where competition is fierce. By doing so, Apple found its Blue Ocean.

That's all from me for this week. I try the best to explain for this topic. Hope you understand. See you later with a new topic :)

Assalamu'alaikum :D

"Go where profits and growth are – and where the competition isn’t." 

                                                                                                                      - Kim & Mauborgne (PDF)

What is 5 Generic Competitive Strategies?

Assalamu’laikum w.b.t.

In The Name of ALLAH, The Most Beneficent and Merciful

Peace and Blessings be Upon Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., His family and Friends

Welcome a new week for us, Alhamdulillah :D

For this week, we have learned about which one to employ for The Five Generic Competitive Strategies. The topic for this week is focused on Five Generic Competitive Strategies and their functions. What they are? Let’s me explain one by one.

THE FIVE GENERIC COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES

   First of all,  in employing a low-cost provider strategy, a company much does a better job than rivals of cost-effectively managing value chain activities and/or it must find innovative ways to eliminate or by-pass cost-producing activities. In other words, it’s striving to achieve lower overall costs than rivals on products that attract a broad spectrum of buyers.

  Secondly, broad differentiation strategies seek to produce a competitive edge by incorporating attributes and features that set a company’s product/service offering apart from rivals in ways that buyers consider valuable and worth paying for.

  

 Focused Low-cost defined that concentrating on a narrow buyer segment by meeting specific tastes and requirements of niche members.

 Second last of 5 generic is focused differentiation. This is concentrating on a narrow buyer segment by meeting specific tastes and requirements of niche members.

    Last but not least is Best-Cost Provider. Best-cost provider strategies combine a strategic emphasis on low cost with a strategic emphasis on more that minimal quality, service, features, or performance. The aim is to create competitive advantage by giving buyers more value for the money. It’s include Giving customers more value for the money by offering upscale product attributes at a lower cost than rivals.

“Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities than rivals to deliver a unique mix of value.”

-Michael E. Porter

Evaluating A Company's Resources, Capabilities, And Competitiveness

Assalamu’alaikum w.b.t.

In The Name of ALLAH, The Most Beneficent and Merciful

Peace and Blessings be Upon to Muhammad SAW, his family and friends.

EVALUATING A FIRM’S INTERNAL SITUATION

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

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

3.     Is the firm able to take advantage of market opportunities and overcome external threats to its external well-being?

4.     Are the firm’s prices and costs competitive with those of key rivals, and does it have an appealing customer value proposition?

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

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

Picture 1

Do you know about SWOT analysis? It is a powerful tool for sizing up a firm's, which is:

v  Internal strengths (the basis for strategy)

v  Internal weaknesses (deficient capabilities)

v  Market opportunities (strategic objectives)

v  External threats (strategic defenses)

 SWOT analysis is a simple but powerful tool for sizing up a company’s strengths and weaknesses, its market opportunities, and the external threats to its future well-being.It's also basing a company's strategy on its most competitively valuable strengths gives the company its best chance for market success.

For illustration, figure 1 below is the example of SWOT Analysis of one business company:

Figure 1

Picture 2

THE CONCEPT OF A COMPANY VALUE CHAIN

#  A company’s value chain identifies the primary activities and related support activities that create customer value. In other words, value chain is an analysis which looks at every step a business goes through from raw materials to the eventual end-user. The objective is to deliver maximum value for the least possible total coast.

                Do you know what is benchmarking? Benchmarking can be simply defined as a continuous process to find and perform best practices that will lead to superior performance. In other words, this is the process of comparing one's business processes to industry bests from other industries. As the definition envision, benchmarking is a process that will make the company's operations lean, and improving quality and productivity. There are many resources of benchmarking information, it is include reports, trade groups, analysis and customers. Besides that, we can also visit to benchmark companies and the data from consulting firms.

   

That's all for this week, thank you :)