 Professional skills (CCASE)

1) Communication
2) Commercial acumen
3) Analysis
4) Skepticism
5) Evaluation

 Levels of strategic planning (FC Barcelona)(FCB)

 JSW Approach
 Strategic drift


 PESTEL model (External analysis) (Looks at macroenvironent)

1) Political
2) Economic
3) Social
4) Technological
5) Ecological/environmental
6) Legal

 Porter’s five forces model (External analysis) (Industry attractiveness)

1) Buyer power
2) Supplier power
3) Competitive rivalry
4) New entrants
5) Substitutes

 Scenario planning
1) Most likely approach
2) Best case scenario
3) Worst case scenario

 Porter’s diamond (External) (Competitive advantage of Nations)

Two further determinants, chance and government, are discussed outside of the diamond in
terms of how they influence and interact with the determinants inside the diamond.

 Value chain Analysis (Internal) (Competitive advantage within the firm)

 Benchmarking - Benchmarking is the process of systematic comparison of a

service, practice or process.
1) Internal
2) Competitive/industry
3) Activity
4) Generic

 Multivariable performance analysis (appraise performance)

Balanced scorecard Baldrige performance excellence

 Balanced Scorecard
1) Financial perspective
2) Customer perspective
 3) Innovation perspective
4) Internal business process perspective

 Baldrige performance excellence

1) Leadership
2) Strategy
3) Customers
4) Workforce
5) Operations
6) Results
7) Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management

 Porter’s generic strategies

1) Cost leadership
2) Differentiation
3) Focus

 The strategy clock (NLHDF)

 Ansoff Matrix (A tool used by firms to analyze and plan their strategies for growth)

 Diversification types –
1) Conglomerate diversification
2) Horizontal diversification (competitive, complementary and by-
products)
3) Vertical integration (Forward and backward)

 Strategy evaluation – (SFA MODEL)

Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (JSW) argue that for a strategy to be
successful it must satisfy three criteria
1) Suitability
2) Acceptability
3) Feasibility
 BCG MATRIX (commercial and private sector)

 Public sector portfolio matrix (public sector obviously)

 Ashridge portfolio matrix (Benefits that corporate parents can bring to Bus)
 Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)

 Corporate Governance Codes for multiple jurisdictions –

OECD PRINCIPLES ICGN PRINCIPLES

(Organization for Economic (International Corporate Governance Network)

Cooperation and Development)

 Stakeholder mapping: The Mendelow model

 Leadership – Behavioral/Style theories

1) Tells (autocratic)
2) Sells (persuasive)
3) Consults (participative)
4) Joins (democratic)
 Cadbury report – corporate governance

 Greenbury report – director’s remuneration

 Turnbull report – internal control

 There are two methods of measuring sustainability – Quotients approach

and Subjective approach.

 There are two methods to account sustainability – Full cost accounting and
Triple Bottom Line (TBL) accounting (3PS People, Planet and Profit)

 COSO – Committee of Sponsoring Organizations

 Turnbull’s sound internal control systems-


 Management levels –

Planning refers to setting the strategic direction of the company.

Control refers to monitoring the activities of the company with the internal
control systems.
 Fraud risk management strategy-

Risk deterrence/Fraud deterrence is the same thing

 Key roles of an audit committee (ROA) – Review, Oversight and
Assessment.
 Audit report – (OSOR)

1) Objective of audit work

2) Summary of process undertaken by auditor
3) Audit opinion
4) Recommendations

 OECD Principles of good corporate governance –

1) Rights of shareholders
2) Equitable treatment of shareholders and stakeholders
3) Disclosure and transparency
4) Responsibility of the board

 There are 4 stages in any risk audit – Identify, assess, review and report.
(IARR)

 Risk Map-

(TARA FRAMEWORK)
 Risk perception-

 Tools and techniques for quantifying risks-

1) Scenario planning
2) Sensitivity analysis
3) Decision trees
4) Computer simulations

 Contents of a risk register-

1) Risk title
2) Likelihood of the risk
3) Impact of the risk should it arise.
4) The risk owner’s name
5) The date the risk was identified.
6) The date the risk was last considered.
7) What the company has done so far to reduce the risk. (Mitigation
actions)
8) Overall risk rating
9) Further actions to be taken
10) The action lead’s name
11) Due date (action implementation)
12) Risk level target.
 Risk appetite can be determined by risk capacity and risk attitude.

 Roles of the risk committee-

 Risk Management (TARA Model) or (SARA)

 Diversification as a risk management strategy-

 Ansoff’s matrix as a risk strategy-

Where
1- low risk
2- higher risk
3- again higher risk
4- highest risk option
 Stages of a risk audit- (IARR)

 Conflicts of interest and ethical threats –

 Ethical conflict resolution-

1) Gather all relevant facts
2) Establish ethical issues involved.
3) Refer to relevant fundamental principles.
4) Follow established internal procedures.
5) Investigate alternative courses of action.
6) Consult with appropriate persons within the firm.
 7) Obtain advice from professional institutes.
8) If the matter is still unresolved, consider withdrawing from the
engagement team/assignment/role.

 Key concepts/Principles of Corporate governance- (SIRFORPAJI)

1) Fairness
2) Openness/transparency
3) Innovation
4) Skepticism
5) Independence
6) Probity/honesty
7) Responsibility
8) Accountability
9) Reputation
10) Judgement
11) Integrity

 Anti-bribery and corruption (AB&C) procedures

1) Due diligence
2) Risk assessment
3) Communication
4) Top-level commitment
5) Proportionality
6) Monitoring and review

 Barriers to implementing AB&C policies

1) Managerial apathy
2) Competitive advantage
3) Off the shelf solutions
4) Heterogenous cultures
5) Cultures of secrecy
6) Excessive pressure to hit targets
 7) Corporate structures

 IASB ethics education Framework (EEF)

1) Ethical knowledge
2) Ethical sensitivity
3) Ethical judgement
4) Ethical behaviour

 Tucker’s 5 question model (PR Lenge Fir Soyenge) (Ethical decision

making)
1) Profitable?
2) Legal?
3) Fair?
4) Right?
5) Sustainable or environmentally sound?

 Mintzberg’s configurations (Organisational structures)

Ideology is also included in the key building blocks.

 Multinational structure
 Boundaryless organisations
1) Vertical boundaries (Levels of authority)
2) Horizontal boundaries (b/w functions in an org)
3) External boundaries (b/w org and the outside world)

 Main types of boundaryless organisations

1) Hollow structure (focus on core, outsource other activities)
2) Modular structure (divide product into chunks and outsource some parts)
3) Virtual structure (rely heavily on information technology to link people,
assets and ideas)

 Advantages of outsourcing
1) Reduced cost
2) Overcome skill shortages
3) Can bring flexibility
4) Allows organisations to focus on their core skills and activities where
they have a clear competitive advantage.
 Disadvantages of outsourcing
1) Dependency on supplier for the quality- of- service provision.
2) Risk of loss of confidentiality
 3) Risk of being locked in (length of the contract)
4) Lost in-house expertise and knowledge

 Harmon’s process-strategy matrix

 Porter’s link to strategic analysis – (Three ways in which IT can affect the
competitive environment)
1) New businesses might become possible.
2) The industry structure can be changed
3) IT can provide an organisation with competitive advantage by providing
new ways of operating.

 Categories of e-business – B2B, B2C, C2B, C2C

 The stages of e-business –

1) Web presence (website)

2) E- commerce (buying and selling + website)
3) Integrated e-commerce (gathering info about customers)
4) E-business (everything, now its fundamental to business strategy
 Benefits of e-business-
 1) Cost reduction
2) Increased revenue (online sales)
3) Improved marketing
4) Increased visibility
5) Enhanced customer service
6) Market penetration

 Barriers to e-business
1) Set-up costs
2) running costs
3) technophobia
4) Security concerns
5) Customers not likely to be interested in e-business
6) Limited IT resources in house

 E-business hardware-
1) Computers (CPU, RAM, GPU)
2) Networks (Intranets, extranets, extranets)
3) Servers (manage network and store data)
4) Back-up

Data will be stored on a hard disk and a typical server will have 5 hard disks working
together in what is known as a RAID system. 2 disks hold and share the data with users
and these 2 disks are then copied (or mirrored) regularly to 2 back-up disks. A fifth disk is
ready to step into action if one of the other disks fail.

 Making websites interactive-

1) Search
2) Interactive questionnaires/surveys/polls
3) Contact us
4) Members only section
5) Animations
6) Links to other sites
7) Multilingual requirements
 IT Risks
 1) Erroneous input (Where input errors are high, the integrity of the data
and information becomes doubtful.)
2) Hacking
3) Viruses (Trojans, worms, trap doors, logic bombs, time bombs)
4) Information security (Hardware theft, damage to data, fraud)

 Controls in an Information system environment

 Alternative classifications to controls- (SIC)(Shakira’s internal controls)

1) Security controls (prevention of unauthorised access)
2) Integrity controls (data are accurate, consistent and free from accidental
corruption)
3) Contingency controls (back up facility and contingency plans)
 General controls
1) Personnel controls
2) Logical access controls (Passwords)
3) Facility controls (physical access, location of IT facilities)

 Application controls (specific to each application)

1) Format checks, spell checks and all kinds of checks

 Software controls (BEER)

1) Buying only from reputable dealers
 2) Ensuring that the original disks come with the software.
3) Ensuring that licences are received for all software.
4) Retaining all the original disks and documentation.

 Network controls
1) Firewalls (A firewall will consist of a combination of hardware and
software located between the company’s intranet (private network) and
the public network (Internet))
2) Flow (This regulates movement of data from one file to another)
3) Data encryption (Disguising information to preserve its confidentiality)
4) Virus protection (Anti-virus, educating employees to be watchful of
viruses)

 Push and Pull supply chain models

 Alternative Value chain

 Stages of e-procurement –
1) E-sourcing (electronic methods for finding new suppliers and establishing
contracts)
2) E-purchasing (covers product selection and ordering.)
3) E-payment (electronic invoicing and electronic funds transfers)

 Benefits of e-procurement –
1) Reduced labor costs
2) Inventory holding costs will be reduced
3) Wider choice of suppliers rather than relying on local ones.

 Downstream SCM using e-commerce

 Characteristics of Big Data
1) Volume – lots of it
2) Velocity – generated very quickly
3) Variety – can take many varied forms (further classified into structured
data and unstructured data)

 Implementing software solutions involves three key elements

1) Data migration – transferring data from the old system to the new
2) Training – training staff on the new system
3) Changeover – introducing the new system to the business operations.

 Stages in data migration

 Methods of training –
1) External courses
 2) Internal courses (in-house)
3) Computer based training (software tutorial)

 Changeover techniques
1) Parallel running (new and old run side by side)
2) Direct changeover (new system takes over immediately)
3) Phased

 Marketing mix strategies - marketing mix is the set of controllable variables

that the firm can use to influence the buyers’ responses (Kotler)
1) Product
2) Place
3) Price
4) Promotion
E-marketing has an additional 3Ps
5) People/Participants
6) Process
7) Physical evidence

 E-marketing: 6Is (The 6Is of marketing is a summary of the differences

between the new media and traditional media)
 E-branding strategies
1) Carry out the same branding on the website as in other places
2) Offer a slightly amended product or service, still connected to the original
brand.
3) Form a partnership with an existing brand.
4) Create an entirely new brand, perhaps to emphasize a more modern,
flexible approach.

 CRM can aid an organisation in achieving the following- (ARE)

1) Customer acquisition (Search engine optimization, Pay per click, trusted
feed, Aggregators, co-branding, Affiliate marketing, Evaluating online
customer behavior- RFM Model)
2) Customer retention (
3) Customer extension

 RFM model - Recency, frequency, monetary value analysis (RFM) is the

main model used to classify online buyer behavior. (Also known as FRAC –
Frequency, Recency, Amount, category)

 Customer Retention (SERVQUAL Or Service Quality model)

1) Personalization (of web pages for example)
2) Mass customization
 3) Opt-in e-mail
4) Online communities

 Customer extension –
Propensity modelling - Propensity modelling involves evaluating customer
behavior and then making recommendations to them for future products.

‘Sense, respond, adjust’ model

 Stages in the project life cycle

1) Initiation (building the business case)
2) Planning (
3) Execution
4) Control
5) Completion

1- Project initiation

 Contents of a business case

1) An assessment of the current strategic position
2) The constraints that are likely to exist for any project
3) The risks that might arise for the project and how these will be
managed
4) An assessment of the benefits and costs of performing the project and
how these will be managed.

 Formal business case document elements-

1) Introduction
2) Executive summary
3) Description of current situation
 4) Options considered
5) Analysis of costs and benefits
6) Impact assessment
7) Risk assessment
8) Recommendations
9) Appendices (detailed costs and benefits)

 Strategic Analysis (SWOT Analysis)

 Project constraints

1) Cost
2) Time
3) Scope

The three constraints are linked together – for example, if a manager wants to
increase the scope of the project then he/she is likely to have to increase both
the amount of money spent on the project and the time taken to complete it.

 Risk Analysis (3 elements)

1) Identifying risks
 2) Assessing risks (Likelihood and impacts of the risks)
3) Managing risks (TARA)

 Scale of benefits (Project benefits)

1) Observable (intangible benefits)
2) Measurable (measure may exist, but can’t estimate by how much)
3) Quantifiable (benefits are forecastable) (produce 20% more units per
hour)
4) Financial (benefits can be given a financial value)

2- Project planning

 Project initiation document (PID)

Formal, detailed document that contains all information necessary for the
execution of the project.
The business case is aimed at gaining project approval whereas the PID is
aimed at ensuring that an approved project is successfully completed.

Contents of a PID-
1) A purpose statement
2) Project and investment objectives
3) A scope statement
4) Project deliverables
5) Cost and time estimates
6) Benefit and change owners
7) Chain of command
8) Team responsibilities
9) Performance measures and results

 Contents of a project plan

3- Project execution

1) Assembling team members (specialist staff removed from existing roles OR

Add on to the project while retaining existing roles)
2) Project sponsor (Senior member, person with most to gain or lose from the
success/failure of the project, job is to direct the project)
3) Project manager – (leads the team and manage it on a day-to-day basis)

While there are clearly overlaps, there are some important differences
between a project manager and a ‘normal’ line manager:
 line managers are usually specialists whereas project managers are often
generalists
 line managers operate close to the technical tasks in their departments,
whereas project managers may have to oversee work in many different areas
 line managers exercise direct supervisory authority, whereas project
managers facilitate rather than supervise team members.
4- Project monitoring and control

 Project control has three elements

1) Setting targets
2) Assessing performance against these targets
3) Taking actions if the targets are not being met

Examples of corrective action include-

 ‘fast tracking’ – a project management technique used to ensure that
projects are completed within the shortest time possible, often by doing
some activities in parallel that would normally be done in sequence (such as
design and construction)
 ‘crashing’ – project crashing is a method for shortening the project
duration by reducing the time of one or more of the critical project
activities to less than its normal activity time. The object of crashing is to
reduce project duration while minimizing the cost of crashing
 adding additional resources (people, money, time, etc.)
 scope reduction
 adopting higher risk but potentially more efficient approaches
 employee motivation.

5- Project completion

 Post Project Review (PPR)

The focus of the post-project review is on the conduct of the project itself,
not the product it has delivered. The aim is to identify and understand what
went well and what went badly in the project and to feed lessons learned
 back into the project management standards with the aim of improving
subsequent project management in the organisation.

Contents of a PPR
1) Acceptance by client (dissemination plan)
2) Review of outputs against goals (evaluation plan)
3) Disbanding the team and ‘tying up loose ends’ (exit and sustainability
plan)
4) Performance review
5) Lessons learnt that relate to the way the project was managed.
6) Formal closure by the steering committee.

 Post implementation Review (PIR)

A PIR is an essential component of the benefits management process. A
post implementation review focuses on the product delivered by the
project.
Without a PIR, a business cannot demonstrate that its investment in the
project was worthwhile. It is typical to perform a PIR two to twelve months
after completion of the project.

The PPR focuses on the performance of the project, whilst the PIR focuses
on the performance of the product of the project.


 Key sources of internally generated finance
1) Using retained profits
2) Better working capital management
3) Sale of surplus assets

 Initial Coin Offering ICOs

An (ICO) is a means of crowdfunding centered on cryptocurrency, which
can be a source of capital for start-up companies. Like an Initial Public
Offering (IPO), an ICO can be used to raise funds, but unlike an IPO, it is less
familiar to regulators. ICOs are increasingly seen as an alternative to classic
debt/capital-funding.

 Factors to consider when choosing a financing package

1) Cost
2) Control
3) Availability (restrictions like covenants in existing loans)
4) Gearing
 5) Security (usually needed for debt)
6) Cash flow (forecast of project CFs to pay back)
7) Exit routes (repay)

 Risk – quantifiable – there are a number of possible outcomes and the

probability of each outcome is known.

 Uncertainty – unquantifiable – there are a number of possible outcomes

but the probability of each outcome is not known.

 Managing uncertainty - It is common in practice to consider three possible

outcomes: the most likely outcome, the pessimistic (worst possible)
outcome and the optimistic (best possible) outcome.

 Managing risk – Expected values and decision trees

 Budgeting - Budgets are distinct from forecasts. A forecast is a prediction of

a future outcome. A budget is a plan (usually in financial terms) that looks
to use and/or achieve that forecast.

 Types of budgeting –

1) Rolling budgets (also known as continuous budgets) (useful with more

uncertainty)
2) Incremental budgets (previous year’s budget + inflation/other cost
increases) (not very useful in dynamic/uncertain environments)
3) Zero based budgeting (complete alternative to incremental budgeting.
All activities and costs are budgeted from scratch) (huge implementation
costs) (complex, time consuming and expensive)
4) Activity based budgeting (budgets based on Activity Based Costing)
 Why budgets may not be useful for control purposes
1) Organization’s environment has changed but the budget has not been
adapted to reflect this.
2) The budget itself may not be useful for control purposes due to the
behavioral aspects of budgeting.

 Behavioral aspects of budgeting

1) The level of difficulty in the budget (should be realistic)
2) The links to the organization’s objectives
3) The level of staff involvement

 Forecasting in budgets
1) Market forecasts of expected growth
2) Linear regression
3) High low method (dunno what it means)

 Variance analysis
Before any meaningful comparison can be made the original budget should
be 'flexed' to the actual level of performance.

Budgets, standard costing and variance analysis are most often seen as
control mechanism.

 Feedforward control- Many organisations implement what is known as

feedforward control in order to take preventative rather than corrective
action. Feedforward is the comparison of the results that are currently
expected in the light of the latest information and the desired results. If
there is a difference, then it is investigated and corrected.

 Types of strategic change

 Where,

Transformation - This entails changing an organization’s culture.

Realignment – Does not change the organization’s culture.
Incremental change – change over a long period of time
Big bang change - Forced, reactive transformation in a relatively short
space of time.

 Triggers for revolutionary strategic change

1) Competitive pressure
2) Regulatory pressure
3) First mover advantage

 Using the cultural web to map change-

1) Organizational structures
2) Power structures
3) Control systems
4) Symbols
5) Rituals and routines
6) Stories
7) Overall (what is the dominant culture?)

 Resistance to change
 Overcoming resistance
1) Unfreezing
2) The change process itself
3) Re freezing (stabilizing the change)

 Lewin’s force field analysis

 Leadership styles for facilitating change

Participation – allow some input from employees’

Education and comm – communication of benefits of change
Power/coercion – compulsory approach
Facilitation and support – counselling
Manipulation – stealthy attempts to sidestep potential resistance
Negotiation – Bargaining leading to compromise and agreement
 The context for change (Balogun and Hope Hailey) (CTDSPCPR)(Chutiya
Tera Drama Sanjana pe CPR)
Balogun and Hope Hailey suggest that there are a number of contextual
features that should be considered before an implementation approach
(for example a style of leadership) for the change is determined-

1) Capacity
2) Time
3) Diversity
4) Scope
 5) Preservation
6) Capability
7) Power
8) Readiness

 Changes to the business system (POPIT model)

The POPIT (or four-view) model provides details of the key aspects that should be
considered in managing changes within any business system.

 Talent management is an organization’s commitment to identify, recruit,

engage, retain, and develop the most talented and superior employees
valued by the organisation.

 Matrix structures - Projects are often inter-disciplinary and cross

organisational reporting lines. The project team is likely to be made up of
members drawn from a variety of different functions or divisions: each
individual then has a dual role, as he or she maintains functional/divisional
responsibilities as well as membership of the project team.

The advantages of a matrix or project team structure are as follows:

• The teams do not lose sight of their long-term objectives. They can
remain more focused.
• There is more integration between the differing functional specialists –
they become inter-disciplinary, resulting in greater co-operation and
understand opposing or alternative opinions. • Such a team is more
responsive and flexible to environmental and technical change. Because the
team is now less bureaucratic and more focused, outcomes are much
quicker as the bureaucracy is now replaced by a direct interplay between
specialists
• No one single functional area is likely to dominate
• Because staff are more directly involved in planning, control and decision
making they become more motivated and committed – a key benefit for
any company.
• Junior staff experience a wider range of inputs from a broad spectrum of
areas. They lose their specialised isolation and become more valuable and
‘rounded’ employees. This provides a good training platform for future
general managers.
• Experiences from one project team can easily and quickly be transmitted
to other teams.

There are also disadvantages:

• Because of the dual representation within the teams there is a potential
for conflict between project managers and functional heads.
• The two reporting lines can lead to confusion for members of the team.
Where does their long-term future lie and where is it being determined?
• There is increased complexity in reporting, making such a structure costly
to administer.
• Decision making can be slower and not be more responsive if every
participant insists on full participation. This is a problem with all democratic
and participatory organisations, as has been experienced by a number of
Japanese companies.
• Because of dual reporting, there is a problem of allocating responsibilities.
Who is in charge?
• This proposed new structure may lead to a dilution of priorities,
particularly in resource allocation.