3. Environmental Analysis

This approach is also known as PEST analysis.

According to me, it really is not a stand-alone approach to strategy. This is because in environmental analysis, you analyse the environment using these subdivisions: Politicalt-legal factors, Economic factors, Socio-cultural factors and Technological factors (PEST factors).

In analysing these factors, you use SWOT analysis to determine any strengths, weaknesses, opportunities or threats arising from PEST factors. That is, use SWOT analysis to analyse PEST factors.

For example, in analysing Economic factors, look at the economic environment to ascertain any opportunities or threats. Areas that could be considered include inflation, trends in level of consumption, infrastructural support etc.

Previous.
Next: CSF Analysis.

2. Michael Porter’s Competitive Forces Model

Michael Porter identified five forces of competition that influence success.
These are:

1. Bargaining power os suppliers. This is high when you, as an organisation or person, can easily move to another supplier.The supplier here is the main source of your main asset, so to speak. This can be a traditional goods/services supplier or even a pal who gives you cash.

2. Bargaining Power of customers. It is the highest when the customers can easily switch from you to another person/organisation.Customer here may bear its traditional meaning or may take the meaning of the specific organisation/person whose attention you are seeking, in any way.

3. Rivalry Within the Industry. This relates to the jostling of position between the players within a particular industry i.e. are there any people doing something similar to what you are trying to do? Are they friendly?This influences the actions that can be done by an individual member of the industry because he/she/it has to consider how others will react.

4. Threats of New Entrants. This is the ease with which a particular organistion/person not previously in the indutry can enter into the industry as a competitor.

5. Threats of Substitutes. Substitutes are things or people that achieve the same general purpose of your product (or you) but they are not of the same industry. This will put some constraints on the activities that one in the industry can do.

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Use of this model is normally often confined to business strategy but let us attempt to diversify its use, shall we?

If you are female, replace: girl, guy, she, boyfriend with: boy, chick, he, girlfriend respectively.

Ok. There’s a girl you want and so you are in need of a strategy. Lets develop your strategy using Michael Porter’s model.

Firstly, look at the 5 competitive forces and analyse them.

Bargaining power of suppliers: Is there another girl you can chase after? Analyse your options and pick the easiest target.

Bargaining power of customers: Can she easily move from you to other guys? How many guys are after her? Knowing this, adjust your strategy to effectively curb the problem of other guys.

Rivalry within the industry: Identify the guys who are really after her. Note their moves and approach(es). Come up with ways of pacifying them and prevent them from doing the same to you.
Threats of new entrants: Is there a chance of even more guys coming after her?If ye, you need to figur out how to prevent this. Malicious rumor mongering may work-just kidding 🙂

Threats of substitutes: What can replace you, as a boyfriend, in her life? Studies? Work? Perhaps a …er… liking for other girls? Good luck trying to find ways of dealin with these.

Voila! Analyse the situation like this and you’re almost done as far a strategising is concerned.

More reading.
Next: Environmental Analysis.
Previous: SWOT analysis.

Strategy can be defined as a broad based plan for doing something.

It is important to apply a strategy to everything you endeavour to do to ensure a high probability of success. Beleive me, you can strategise on how to do anything, and you should! Some of things that you can aplly strategy are sports, running a business, taking exams or even finding that elusive life partner. By the way, this list is definitely inconclusive.

So, how do you or anyone go about formulating strategies?

There are several approaches to strategy. Today, right now, we’ll talk (actually, I’ll write) about one approach:
1.SWOT Analysis
This entails critically analysing yourself or your business to ascertain your Strengths and Weaknesses. The rule is: identify your Strengths and take advantage of them while trying to minimise the effect of your Weaknesses.

With this in mind, you scan the environment( which can be the team you’re playing against, the industry your business is in or even the girl you’re trying to court) to find Opportunities and determine how you can use your Strengths to exploit them. In addittion, you determine what Threats – things that can cause your failure – exist and ways of containing them.

STRENGTHS / WEAKNESSES
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OPPORTUNITIES / THREATS

To drive the point home, lets take an example, shall we?
Until recently, I was the unofficial champion of chess in my neighbourhood. I lost my ‘title’ to someone who I though would never beat me. Ever!
After the game, I was embarrased to learn that he had used a simple strategy to beat me. He just used SWOT analysis and came up with:

Strengths: I never lose my concentration.
Weaknesses: I’m a novice and can’t always see all the options available to me.
Opportunities: Kelvin probably won’t be using any specific strategy. He also tends to lose his concentration in longer games.
Threats: If I let him, he can win the game very quickly.

So what did my good friend do? His strategy was: Defend very strongly in the beginning and ensure that the game lasts as long as possible. Later, take advantage of Kelvin’s loss of concentration.

Simple, right? It did work. The game was really tight in the beginning-my friend didn’t attack at all. Needless to say, once the game was past the 2-hour stage, I made some horrendous mistakes that cost me the game.

Thats strategy for you: it’ll take you places everyone else thought you coud not go.

Next time: Part 2-Michael Porter’s Competitive Forces Model.

Motivation is the will to do, the urge to achieve goals or the drive to excel. It is concerned with why YOU choose to do one thing over another and with the amount of effort or intensity of action that YOU put into anything you do.

So, what exactly motivates you, or any of us?

The answer to this question is of particular importance to managers and/or leaders. This is because these people need to stimulate active and enthusiastic interest in what their employees/subordinates/followers do. This is important, no doubt.

But aren’t you also a manager? In fact you are a special type of manager. You are in the business of managing your life. Therefore, knowledge of how or what motivates people (and you in particular) is important to all of us. Why?

We all do many things and many of these things you do only because you have to. Take me, for example, I do not do a lot but some of the things that I do are necessary evils: sitting for exams, going to work, studying etc. These are things that I have to do but I do not always want to do. In doing these things, I need to find ways of motivating myself -ways of ensuring that I don’t just do them but I do them well.

This, I believe, may apply to you and everyone else.

Fortunately, a lot of people have studied motivation and presented various theories that critically analyse motivation. You can even use these theories to understand what motivates YOU.

The theories are classified into two:
A) Contact theories-also called ‘need’ theories, they focus on what arouses, sustains and regulates motivation i.e. what particular things motivate people?
These theories are:
a. Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs
b. Herzberg: Two Factor Theory
c. McClleland: Need Based Theory
d. Argyle: Motivational Drives

B) Process theories-also referred to as ‘goal’ theories. They emphasize on the goals and processes by which people are motivated. They attempt to explain and describe how people start, sustain and direct behaviour aimed at the satisfaction of needs or reduction of inner tensions i.e. how does motivation start?
These theories are:
a. Vroom: Expectancy Theory
b. Adam: Equity Theory
c. Handy: Psychological Contracts

C) The yet unclassified Theory X and Theory Y by Douglas McGregor.

As an ACCA student, I got to learn of all these theories and it intrigued me to try and find out what motivates me.

I’ve studied all the theories and found that the one that best describes my situation is McCllelands Need Based Theory.

According to this theory, needs are learnt. Two people may be motivated by different needs. There are three categories of motives and people are drawn to one set of motives more than another.

i. Needs of Achievement
These are needs to attain something according to a certain standard that you either set yourself or someone else sets. There are two extremes:
A strong desire for success
A strong fear of failure

ii. Affiliation Needs
This is the need for a sense of belonging or membership to a group. The concern here is to obtain good personal relationships.

iii. Power
It is the need to influence others and make them behave in a way that you want them to.

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Looking at this, I found that I do crave for both power and affiliation, to a certain degree (don’t we all?), but what really drives me is the need for achievement.

At this point in my life, I have a strong desire for success-I desperately want some of my grand life-plans to succeed. I feel like I am destined for, at least some, greatness.

I have not dealt with all to do with motivation but I guess anyone can only do so much. However, if you want any more information, I’ll gladly answer any questions.

Have a lovely day( or night).