Chapter 3 : Evaluating A Company's External Environment

Learning Outcomes :

1.Become aware of factors in a company’s broad macro-environment that may have strategic significance. 
2.Gain command of the basic concepts and analytical tools widely used to diagnose the competitive conditions in a company’s industry. 
3.Become adept at mapping the market positions of key groups of industry rivals. 
4.Learn how to use multiple frameworks to determine whether an industry’s outlook presents a company with sufficiently attractive opportunities for growth and profitability.

On 24th September 2013 , I have attended my third lecture of strategic management . The title of the chapter is "Evaluating A Company's External Environment" . 

 I learned about the PESTEL analysis in the organization , which are Political , Economic , Social , Technological , Environmental and Legal .Let's talk about the political factors first . Political factors include political policies and processes including tax policy, fiscal policy,tariffs,the political climate.Secondly,the economic conditions which include the general economic climate and specific factors such as interest rates,exchange rates,the inflation rates and the unemployment rates. 

Thirdly,the sociocultural forces which include the societal values,attitudes,cultural factors and lifestyles.

Forth,the technological factors that include the pace of technological change and technical development that have the potential of wide-ranging effects on society.Fifth,the environment forces which includes ecological environmental forces such as weather,climate and water shortages. Last but not least is the legal and regulatory factors that include the regulations and laws with which companies must comply such as consumer laws,labor laws and antitrust laws. 

 Besides , I also learned about the Five Competitive Forces which are the competition from the rival seller,potential new entrants,producers of substitute products,supplier bargaining power and customer bargaining power.

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS ; the strategy elements,product and service attributes,operational approaches,resources,and the competitive capabilities that are essential to surviving and thriving in the industry.

The Nature of Strategic Management

Bismillah .. In the name of Allah , The Most Gracious , Most Merciful ..

Last week , I attended my second lecture of strategic management . We learned about the nature of strategic management . The topic is quite interesting as if we want to know about the the whole thing , it is important for us to know and understand about the nature of the thing . From the lecture , I know that the natures of strategic management involved formulating , implementing and evaluating . In the process of formulating , we set our vision , mission , objective and many other principles including the SWOT analysis . Besides , in the implementing process , we establish annual objective , devising policies , motivating employees an many more . These process are also called the action stage . Evaluation process involves the reviewing of the internal and external factors . We also learned about the terms 'intuition' in this chapter . Intuition is just like instinct and it is very important in making a decisions . The benefits that we get form strategic planning are we'll be able to enhance communication , improve understanding an build a greater commitment . There are many reasons why some firms failed in strategic planning : lack of knowledge , poor reward structure , firefighting , self-interest , waste of time , too expensive and many more .

Our First Inspiring Class

Bismillah .. In the name of Allah , The Most Gracious , Most Merciful .. 

My name is Norhashima binti Md Tahir and this is the first day in my life that I got involved in this blogger activities . What a miracle ! Haha Okay , straight to the point , let's share some information about my first class of Strategic Management on 10th September 2013. I think I have attended a very enjoyable class with a very inspiring lecturer , Miss Ummi . I like the way she talk , it's was very "sempoiii" in malay word . I did remember the first scary quotation that Miss Ummi mentioned " In my class you have to speak ! " , once we heard the quotation , we looked at each other restlessly , OMG ! haha It's was like a challenge and opportunity I think , so I promise to grab it . 

SPEAK SPEAK SPEAK !

In the first class , Miss Ummi have asked us to play a game . It's all about building the tallest tower that we can by using the newspaper . All of the students were struggling to think creatively to build a very strong and tallest tower that we can . After 10 minutes ,  all the 'towers' that we created were presented in front of the class . There are about 10 towers had been created and proud to mention here that our tower were the top 3 towers among others that still standing strongly after being tested many times by Miss Ummi . I do think that was a very challenging task that were given to us . There are many lessons that I learned from the task . Firstly , in order to do or settle some problems in our life , we have to create a strategy . Erm , I think STRATEGIES is more suitable . Second , whatever that we create or organize , the main or the basic line are the most important think to be created . If the basic line or the main root is very strong , it can support all the loads given . Third , as we all already know , cooperation is the best thing ever in solving a problem . I think all the students were being motivated well by the activities . So thanks to Miss Ummi for giving us a very inspring lessons and a good  introduction for this subject . Can't wait for the next class !