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Student Publications
Author: Mohamed Fahmy
Title:
Strategic Business Diagnosis Approach
Area:
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Thesis - Presented to AIU's Academic Department
CY 06/07
Chapter I
A. Introduction
For a company to be successful in the market place it needs to build
its business & its
organizational capacity.
Building the business has different essence and approach than
building
organizational capacity. Yet both sides should be integrated,
compatible and are also
developed in a coherence manner.
The main two elements driving any business are about; understanding
of how to
improve its competitive edge and how to maintain its success factors
in the most
economic method.
The case in large scale enterprises is simpler than SMEs as the
large scale enterprises
has discovered the solution and overcame the obstacles toward
growth.
This study is the tool to build a comprehensive understanding of the
business and its
internal organization. It consists of several aspects of assessment,
each of which
looks at the business from a different perspective. Each aspect has
its own
deliverables and applications and combining all together gives the
management
team in-depth understanding of the business. It resembles a puzzle
where each
piece provides information on its own and the combination of all the
parts together
shows the bigger picture. The study will answer the following
questions:
1- What are Business Development Stages?
2- How can Business Evolve "The Business Dynamics"?
3- What are The Forces that drive the business?
In order to understand and revile the current situation of most
types of enterprises
we should investigate thoroughly what we call it "Cross Functional
Operation"
methodology, which means that we have to investigate the outcome of
all functional
relation between the organization's functions and the business
results.
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MBA Final
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CY 06/07
This type of diagnosis enforce us to dig deep inside the
organization's aspects yet
keep monituring the business performance. Accordingly we have to
develop non
traditional approach to achieve the right objective which is the
causes of enterprises'
lacking and weaknesses toward growth.
In this study I'll demonstrate and examine three types of assessment
and diagnosis
methodologies which provide us with better understanding of
assessing any type of
enterprises:
1. Business Development Stages Model
2. Business Assembling Model
3. Corporate Stand Forces Model
It consists of several aspects of assessment, each of which looks at
the business from
a different perspective. Each aspect has its own deliverables and
applications and
combining all together gives the management team in-depth
understanding of the
business performance and also in which area we should focus and
invest.
The main essence of this assessments/ diagnosis composition is to
give the management team the clear view of WHAT do they lack?
WHY does it happen? Also help them finding the right way of HOW
to fix it?
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MBA Final
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CY 06/07
B. General Description
In fact small and medium enterprises are still struggling to have
its growth strategy
toward being large scale business. To enable them to move in that
direction they
have to understand the factors and elements that prevent them from
growth.
Two sides should be assessed and diagnosed, Business and
Organizational Capacity,
in a comprehensive and integrated manner also being holistic and
coherent.
As we described earlier that the study is based on three main
assessment models
which we will elaborate on in a more comprehensive and integrated
manner:
4- Business Development Stages Module (BDS)
� Identifies the development stage of the business.
� Identifies business functions that lag, exceed, or match the
business
development stage.
� Measures the degree of matching between the development of a
certain
business function and the overall business development.
5- Business Assembling Model (BAM)
� Assesses the organization's performance in each business function
� Identifies defected areas in the business
� Measures the overall performance of the organization
6- Corporate Stand Forces Module (CSF)
� Identifies company competences, competent individuals, strategic
result
and relevant success factors.
� Measures the relative strength of each of the specified competency
areas.
� Assesses the coherency level between all the different integrated
forces.
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MBA Final
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Chapter II
A. Investigative Theories
For the time being only some of Int'l consulting firms have issued a
wide number of
diagnostic and assessment tools which are either high level or not
integrated. Most
of world wide consultants are using main source for assessment/
diagnosis tools
which is called Consultant Tool Kit. This source/ reference includes
10s of tools and
methodologies for business and organization assessment, most of them
in
questionnaire format. By examining them in deferent events we found
that we can
nearly know what are the business's problems but almost we can't
answer why!
In fact through a comprehensive reading and using most of those
tools I found that
there are just two holistic and interesting tools/ models which are
SWOT analysis
and Mckinsey 7 S's.
Here I'll try to highlight the main positives and negatives of each
one and how they
help us understanding both business and organizational situation.
Also we will
emphasize on the strength of each one and the limitations that we
may face when
we use any or both of them.
1. SWOT Analysis Model:
The SWOT analysis process includes both an internal analysis of
strengths and
weaknesses and an external analysis of threats and opportunities in
the
environment. SWOT stands for strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats.
The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a research
project at
Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from the
Fortune 500
companies. Following are definitions for the elements of SWOT
analysis:
Strengths:
Controllable internal areas of excellence and ways to provide
competitive advantage
that eventually lead to achieving the vision.
Examples: Dedicated employees, up-to-date technologies, high quality
products.
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MBA Final
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Weaknesses:
Controllable internal disadvantages that hinders achieving the
vision.
Examples: Inexperienced employees, tight budget, unclear
organizational structure.
Opportunities:
External possibilities for success that help in achieving the
company's vision.
Examples: New market trends favorable for the business, new
technologies.
Threats:
Uncontrollable external negatives that hinders achieving the vision.
Examples: Competition, economic recession, new laws restraining the
business, war.
SWOT Analysis Format
Strengths
Weaknesses
l
What do you do well?
What could you improve?
anr
What unique resources can you draw on?
Where do you have fewer resources than others?
et
In
What do others see as your strengths?
What are others likely to see as weaknesses?
Opportunities
Threats
What good opportunities are open to you?
What trends could harm you?
l an
What trends could you take advantage of?
What is your competition doing?
retx
Looking at your strengths, how can you
Looking at your weaknesses, what threats do these
E
turn these into opportunities?
expose to you?
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MBA Final
Thesis - Presented to AIU's Academic Department
CY 06/07
2. McKinsey 7 S's Model:
The Seven-Ss is a framework for analyzing organizations and their
effectiveness. It
looks at the seven key elements that make the organizations
successful, or not:
strategy; structure; systems; style; skills; staff; and shared
values.
Consultants at McKinsey & Company developed the 7S model in the late
1970s to
help managers address the difficulties of organizational change. The
model shows
that organizational immune systems and the many interconnected
variables involved
make change complex, and that an effective change effort must
address many of
these issues simultaneously.
The 7-S model is a tool for managerial analysis and action that
provides a structure
with which to consider a company as a whole, so that the
organization's problems
may be diagnosed and a strategy may be developed and implemented.
The 7-S diagram illustrates the multiplicity interconnectedness of
elements that
define an organization's ability to change. The theory helped to
change manager's
thinking about how companies could be improved. It says that it is
not just a matter
of devising a new strategy and following it through. Nor is it a
matter of setting up
new systems and letting them generate improvements
To be effective, your organization must have a high degree of fit,
or internal
alignment among all the seven Ss. Each S must be consistent with and
reinforce the
other Ss. All Ss are interrelated, so a change in one has a ripple
effect on all the
others. It is impossible to make progress on one without making
progress on all.
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Thus, to improve your organization, you have to master systems
thinking and pay
attention to all of the seven elements at the same time. There is no
starting point or
implied hierarchy - different factors may drive the business in any
organization.
McKinsey 7 Ss Model
The 3Ss across the top of the model are described as 'Hard Ss':
o Strategy: The direction and scope of the company over the long
term.
o Structure: The basic organization of the company, its departments,
reporting lines, areas of expertise, and responsibility (and how
they
inter-relate).
o Systems: Formal and informal procedures that govern everyday
activity, covering everything from management information systems,
through to the systems at the point of contact with the customer
(retail systems, call centre systems, online systems, etc).
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� The 4Ss across the bottom of the model are less tangible, more
cultural in
nature, and were termed 'Soft Ss' by McKinsey:
o Skills: The capabilities and competencies that exist within the
company. What it does best.
o Shared values: The values and beliefs of the company. Ultimately
they
guide employees towards 'valued' behavior.
o Staff: The company's people resources and how they are developed,
trained, and motivated.
o Style: The leadership approach of top management and the
company's overall operating approach.
In fact, after reviewing and examining the most famous assessment
models/ tools
(SWOT & 7 Ss), we can discover easily that both models (used as a
representation
of all the different models) are not enough to have a clear vision
and then give
effective means that help the management team in solving totally
their companies
problem.
Here we will explain and examine the three new models which have
been
developed to give the management team or consultants better way of
assessing
and diagnosing both business and organization.
This new type of assessment called the three dimensional diagnosis
techniques
which include three types of assessment models that work together to
give us
integrated diagnosis results and help defining ultimate solutions.
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B. Business Case Study
The three dimensional Diagnosis framework is the tool to build a
comprehensive
understanding of the business. It consists of three modules, each of
which looks at
the business from a different perspective. Each module has its own
deliverables and
applications and combining the three together gives the consulting
team in-depth
understanding of the business. It resembles a puzzle where each
piece provides
information on its own and the combination of all the parts together
shows the
bigger picture.
In this study I'll demonstrate and examine three types of assessment
and diagnosis
methodologies which provide us with better understanding of
assessing any type of
enterprises:
1. Business Development Stages Model
2. Business Assembling Model
3. Corporate Stand Forces Model
1. Business Development Stages Model:
The purpose of this Module is to identify the business development
stages
which contribute to understanding the strengths, opportunities, and
challenges that can potentially face the business.
Business Development Stages Module is based on recognized management
theories
that view business growth as a series of development stages through
which the
business should normally pass. Although these theories disagree on
the exact
number of stages from a minimum of three to a maximum of seven, they
agree that
a certain business confronts different challenges based on its
degree of
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development. The business's ability to overcome these challenges is
what qualifies it
to pass from its current stage to the other.
The Module has many applications that help organizations to
efficiently use their
capabilities to overcome the challenges of their current stage and
to evolve
smoothly from stage to another.
Business development stages are identified using pre-set criteria
that cover many
business functions. In order to accurately depict the minimum degree
of changes in
different stages, the Module adopts a six-stage-model that includes
the following
stages in order of their occurrence: Pre-start up, Existence,
Survival, Success, Take-
off, Maturity and Decline. The time spent in each stage varies
according to industry
average, market development/ growth and business capability to pass
to another
stage.
Business Development Stages
LMC Business Development Stages "BDS" Model�
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BDS's Key terms
Following are brief definitions for the areas examined to determine
the business
development stage. While other criteria might indicate the stage, it
was found that
the below criteria are the most significant indicators for business
development
stages across various industries and organizations' sizes.
LMC Business Development Stages Component "BDS" Model�
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Management
It refers to the group of individuals who make decisions about how
the business is
run. This module focuses on the management style which moves toward
more
decentralization, authority delegation, and empowerment as the
organization
grows.
Human Resources
It refers to the organization's workforce including: number of
employees, age range,
qualifications, recruitment, and retention efforts. This module uses
the capacity and
utilization of the organization's HR as indicators of its business
development stage.
As the organization develops, the number of employees increases, and
the HR
function develops to contribute significantly to leveraging the
employees' caliber
and increasing their efficiency.
Organizational Structure
It refers to the way in which different groups, teams, departments
of an organization
are constructed to enable the organization to perform its functions.
It includes span
of management, mechanisms of control, and centralization of power.
In early
development stages, the structure is likely to be simple and
informal. The
development of a clear, formal and comprehensive organizational
structure goes
hand in hand with the organization development.
Planning
It refers to the process of setting goals, developing strategies,
and outlining tasks
and schedules to accomplish goals. Business plan is used in this
context as an
indicator of the level of development of this function.
Organizations tend to have
comprehensive and clear business plans with well defined directions
as they
approach more developed stages. Employees' participation in the
planning process is
another indicator of the business development. During early stages,
planning is
usually the responsibility of the CEO who is likely to be the
founder. Many
employees from various levels of the organization are included in
the process as the
organization evolves.
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Operations Management
It refers to the management of resources, the arrangement of
value-added activities
that create outputs, and the distribution of goods and services to
customers.
Fundamentally, it should be aligned with market opportunity for
optimal enterprise
performance. In this context, operations management is concerned
with the
efficiency and quality of operations taking place inside the
company. After
overcoming the operational challenges of the early stages of the
company's
existence, the company tends to focus on firmly establishing its
processes and
procedures to meet the industry's highest quality standards.
Products
The focus of this module is mainly on the number of products
offered, their nature
and their level of development as indicators of the business
development stage.
Most of the companies start with limited number of products/services
at early
development stages. This portfolio grows and diverse, and products
evolve through
maturity stages along with the organization.
Market Position
It refers to the company's status among competitors, relations with
suppliers and
distribution channels, customer base and market share. The normal
evolvement of
the business is usually accompanied by an increase in its market
share, presence in
various markets, and relations with channels.
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Marketing
It refers to the activities associated with building a brand name
and customer base
for the organization. It includes advertising, selling and
delivering products/services
to customers. As the organization matures, its marketing and
advertising activities
become more focused on its pre determined target group/s.
Finance
It refers to the company's financial sustainability. It includes
aspects such as cash
flow, company's access to finance, and profitability. Profitability
and cash flow are
the most significant indicators of the company's development stage.
The BDS module does not assess the business various functions within
an
organization. It simply defines the business development stage as an
initial step in
understanding and defining business priorities. The outcome of this
module suggests
a list of business priorities on which the company should focus in
order to move to a
more advanced development stage. This list is then compiled with the
problematic
areas from the Business Assembling Model (which will be explained
later), which
specializes in assessing each of the business components to come up
with the
business development priorities based on its development stage and
current
problems.
The BDS module is based on the assumption that in order for the
business to
move to a more advanced development stage, all its critical
functions
should have reached the maturity level of this stage.
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2. Business Assembling Model
The purpose of this module is to provide a comprehensive assessment
of the
business essential elements and the dynamics that govern the
interaction between
them in an attempt to identify business strengths and weaknesses.
Business Assembling Model was developed by Logic Management
Consulting as a
tool for assessing business essential elements: Thoughts, Resources,
and Market/s.
This model was designed based on the conventional theory that in
order for an
establishment to generate business results, it should have a
specific Business Idea
that is deployed using the business both tangible and intangible
resources to
generate product/s or service/s. This product/s or service/s is
exploited in the
suitable market: a process that results in feedback that is used to
develop the idea
again.
The three elements, Thoughts, Resources, and Market/s, are
interrelated and
interdependent. It is the dynamic reintegration between them that
generates
business gain.
The outcome of the business assembling model contributes
significantly to
determining business priorities and designing action plan to cure
the weak areas.
While there might be some degree of overlapping among the three
elements, in
reality, the model intends to separate them in an attempt to isolate
the factors that
might affect management perception of a problem to be able to
accurately pinpoint
the weak and strength points.
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The graph below represents the dynamic relationship between the
various elements
of this model. The successful interaction between the triangle's
elements results in a
business gain that could or could not match the pre determined
expected results.
Business Assembling Model
LMC Business Assembling Model 2006�
Key Terms
Following are brief definitions for the areas examined in this
module. The selection
and the grouping of these areas were done to assure that defected
areas could be
isolated smoothly for accurate identification of the business
problems.
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A. Thoughts
LMC Business Assembling Model Thoughts Component 2006�
It is the first element in the BAM. It describes the various aspects
of the idea
around which the business is built. While the degree of the
sophistication of the
business thought may vary from an organization to another. The
ability to transfer
these thoughts into a sustainable business depends on the dynamic
interaction
between the business thought and the other two elements: resources
and
markets. This is a challenging process that transfers an abstract
idea to a tangible
result.
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Thoughts are essential throughout all business development stages to
guarantee solid foundation and continuous development for the
business. In
assessing the organization's thoughts, three categories are
identified then
dividend in more specific sub categories to assure covering all
aspects. Below
are brief definitions for each examined area.
B. Resources:
It is the second element in the BAM. Resources are defined as
elements used
in the production of goods and/or services. Examining the resources
allows us
to determine if the organization is utilizing all its available
resources to
implement the Business Thought.
It includes both tangible resources, which refers to the material
resources the
organization uses to produce goods and/or services such as Human
Resources, Financial Resources, and Tools and Machines and
immaterial
resources the organization uses to produce goods and/or services
which
represent a collection of intangible assets also known as knowledge
assets. It
includes Intellectual Capital, Reputation and Networks
C. Markets
It is the third element of the model. It refers to the place/s where
the goods
and/or services produced by the organization are sold.
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The Corporate Stand Forces Module asses the company's competitive
advantages on
both the organizational and the business levels. It is based on the
theory that in
order for a company to have strong long term presence, it should
have certain
competences that are cascaded throughout all business areas by
competent
individuals. It should also have some internal and external factors
(Critical Success
Factors) that contribute to producing the company's Strategic
Result. The strength as
well as the synergy among these factors are what determine the
company's ability to
grow.
LMC Business Assembling Model 2006�
The purpose of this module is to identify and to assess the
Corporate Stand
Forces in an attempt to assess the company's ability to face its
current
challenges and to meet future expansion opportunities.
The outcome of this module determines the company's Power of
Improvement, which reflects the potential for development and
improvement of the company under study.
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Key terms
Below are brief explanation and definitions for the main areas under
examination in this module. While companies usually have very
specific
Competences, the broad identification for Core Competences' areas
allows us
to determine the relative strength of every factor and its impact on
the
organization.
A. Core Competences
They are the collective learning in the organization especially how
to
coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple streams
of
technologies. A core competence is defined as "a bundle of skills
and
technologies that enables a company to provide a particular benefit
to
customers." The most valuable Competences are the ones that
represent a
gateway to a variety of potential product markets for the company.
Unlike
physical assets, core Competences do not wear out; rather, they are
developed and refined over time.
B. Core Competent
They are the individuals who contribute significantly to
establishing,
strengthening, and cascading company's Core Competences. To qualify
for a
Core Competent, a person should have an influential (Top Management
Position) role in the organization that is relevant to its core
Competence.
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C. Critical Success Factors
Critical Success Factors (CSFs) are key areas of performance that
are essential
for the organization to accomplish its mission. Managers implicitly
know and
consider these key areas when they set goals and as they direct
operational
activities and tasks that are important to achieving goals. When
these key
areas of performance are made explicit, they provide a common point
of
reference for the entire organization. These could be external or
internal
environmental factors.
D. Strategic Result
Strategic Result is what differentiates the company from its
competitors in
the eyes of its customers. It could be described as the Customer
Value
Proposition: what customers value most in certain company's products
and
services and thus influences their decision of purchasing this
particular
product or service.
The Relationship among Corporate Stand Forces:
The dynamic interaction between corporate stand forces is what leads
to
positive business results. For each Core Competence, there are
number of
Core Competent individuals who contribute to producing Strategic
Result in
the presence of certain Critical Success Factors.
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Main Points About CSF Module:
While companies might have more than one core competence area, it is
the
dynamic interaction between all four factors that contribute
significantly to
the organization's long term success. Thus, identifying areas of
Competences
allows the company to focus its resources and investments in
strengthening
this relation. A company might have core Competence in a certain
business
area, but the surrounding environmental factors do not support the
development of this Competence. In this case, understanding this
situation
allows the company to make strategic decisions regarding these
Competences.
For a company to achieve long term success, it should have internal
embedded Core Competences that differentiate the company from its
competitors. The company should also have the core competent caliber
who
will carry and disseminate such core Competences across the whole
organization. Besides, the external and internal factors affecting
the
organization, known as the Critical Success Factors, should be
aligned and
supportive to the utilization of such core Competences by the core
competent caliber. As a result of such interaction, the company
generates
strategic outcomes known as the strategic result, which is what the
customers perceive as a value proposition at the end. Such cycle is
further
reinforced with more strengthening for the core Competences and
critical
success factors. However, using the Corporate Stand Forces
assessment
during the early stages of the business development allows companies
to
focus on building the most suitable core Competences for its status.
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Chapter III
A. Discussions & Main Results
The objective from Assessing or diagnosing the business and
organizational capacity
at any enterprises (specially small and medium scales) is to help
them indicating
their deficiency and overcoming the obstacles and barriers that are
preventing them
from improving and escalating their performance toward growth. It
will also provide
enterprises' management with reliable measures for assessing their
current
performance and predicting future expansion.
Accordingly, analyzing the outcome of these three modules, allows
consultants to
draw a full picture of the company's current situation. However, in
analyzing the
business and organization performance, it is important to determine
how good the
company can be.
Methodological Framework
Business performance is an important indicator for the company's
strength, but
it is not sufficient to comprehensively evaluate the company's
capabilities to
overcome challenges and make use of opportunities. The three modules
introduced in this kit offer comprehensive assessment of the
company's status
quo from various perspectives as follows:
� Business Development Stages Module: Where the company stands in
the
normal business development cycle.
� Business Assembling Model: How good the company's performance is
with
regards to every business function.
� Corporate Stand Forces: What the essential forces for the
company's success
are and how powerful they are.
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This analysis is essential in setting realistic expectations about
the company's
future performance. Corporate Power of Improvement (POI) indicator
was
designed to provide this information.
The POI is built on the hypothesis that in order for the company to
be able to
realize its full potential, it should have the right combination of
resources and
forces that are appropriate for its current business development
stage.
The strengths and the synergy among these forces are what determine
the
corporate capability of overcoming business challenges and
capitalizing on
market opportunities. Therefore, a higher POI indicates that the
company is
achieving better utilization of its resources to maximize its
business gains.
The POI is calculated as a percentage of the company's full
potential. Following
are the meaning of each range:
� Less than 30%: weak potential.
� 30%to 60%: average potential.
� More than 60%: strong potential.
Thus, the POI is a company specific measure that benchmarks the
current
performance to the optimum performance of the same company.
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MBA Final
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The POI has many usages in various areas that cover company's
analysis/
evaluation, and strategic planning.
The POI is not an absolute measure that can be used to compare
different
companies. Having a higher POI does not necessarily reflect stronger
resources,
advanced business development stage or stronger stand forces, it
simply says
that this company is currently utilizing more percentage of its
potential, and
therefore, has higher capabilities of solving current problems and
capitalizing on
opportunities.
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B. CONCLUSIONS
Whilst the subject of assessing business or organizational capacity
has been
addressed and explored extensively in several events and studies yet
the advanced
and sophisticated methodologies are still far behind delivering
clear and reliable
results. So far this study explored new way of a comprehensive
assessment and
much reliable diagnosis which enable us to understand clearly WHAT
IS LACKING,
WHY DO WE LACK IT & HOW CAN WE FIX IT. Finally, from the previous
explanation
of the three models we can evaluate them as follow:
Name
Business Development Stages (BDS).
Benefits
Using a variety of data gathering tools and a quantitative data
interpretation
module, the Business Development Stages Module is capable of:
Identifying the development stage of the business.
Identifying business functions that lag, exceed, or match each
business development
stage.
Measuring the degree of matching between the development of a
certain business
function and the overall business development.
Expected Deliverables
Objectives based identification of the overall business development
stage.
Detailed and summary reports for the development of every business
function.
Accurate comparison between the development stage of every
evaluation category
and subcategory in relation to the overall business stage.
Identification of the business challenges in relation to each stage.
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Advantages
Comprehensive: the module identifies the business development stages
based on a
wide array of criteria that covers the majority of business
functions which results in a
complete picture of the reality.
Reliable: the module uses a combination of data collection tools
that takes into
consideration the judgment of employees, management, and
consultants. The
quantitative data interpretation module has various functions for
testing data
validity and reliability.
Objective: the module uses pre specified ranges that are translated
to numbers to
minimize the degree of subjectivity in data interpretation.
Flexible: while assuring a high degree of consistency in output, the
module offers a
degree of flexibility that allows the consulting team to adjust the
module according
to the specific requirements of each project.
Limitations
This module is a strong support tool for identifying the business
development stage.
However, it does not substitute for the qualitative assessment of a
senior consultant,
which is highly recommended to avoid any percentage of error.
The module is designed to identify the business development stage.
Accordingly,
only criteria that show significant development from phase to
another are
evaluated. Thus, the module should not be used to identify business
problems in
absolute terms as it does not necessarily cover all business
functions.
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MBA Final
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� Name
Business Assembling Model (BAM)
� Benefits
Using a variety of data gathering tools and a quantitative data
interpretation
module, the Business Assembling Model is capable of:
Assessing the organization's performance in every business function.
Providing accurate identification of the defected areas in all
aspects of the
business.
Measuring the overall performance of the organization.
Delivering valuable output for determining business priorities in
relation to
the business development stage.
� Expected Deliverables:
Detailed report of the performance of each business function.
Accurate identification for the defective areas in all aspects of
the business.
Comprehensive assessment for the overall business performance.
� Advantages:
Business Assembling Model is:
Comprehensive: the model uses a comprehensive approach that covers
all
business functions and independently assesses various aspects in
relation to
these elements.
User Friendly: using a quantitative data assessment approach, the
module is
an ultimate solution for providing standard output that can be
easily
compared with the Business Development Stages Module to come up with
business priorities.
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MBA Final
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Reliable: the module uses a combination of data collection tools
that take
into consideration the judgment of employees, management, and
consultants. The quantitative data interpretation module has various
functions for testing data validity and reliability.
Organized: while providing comprehensive assessment that covers all
business functions, the covered areas are divided into very specific
points
that are grouped according to general categories that fall under one
of the
business's main elements: Thoughts, Resources, and Markets.
Objective: the module uses pre specified ranges that are translated
into
numbers to minimize the degree of subjectivity in data
interpretation.
Flexible: while assuring a high degree of consistency in output, the
module
offers a degree of flexibility that allows the consulting team to
amend the
module according to the specific requirements of each project. The
assessment provided by the model can be used to fulfill variety of
business
needs.
� Limitations:
This model is a strong support tool for providing comprehensive
assessment for the
business performance. However, it does not substitute for the
qualitative
assessment of middle management, which is highly recommended to
avoid any
percentage of error. While being highly capable of providing multi
usage data, the
model is designed specifically to assess the performance of the
business's various
functions. Thus, no conclusions about business development
priorities should
depend solely on this model as business problems should be
identified in relation to
the business development stage.
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MBA Final
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� Name:
Corporate Stand Forces (CSF)
� Benefits:
Using comprehensive assessment tools that include qualitative as
well as
quantitative analysis, this module is capable of:
Identifying corporate areas of Competences, Competent individuals,
strategic
result and relevant success factors.
Specifying corporate exact Core Competences and matching them with
their
related other Corporate Stand Forces.
Measuring the relative strength of each of the specified areas.
Assessing the coherency level between all the different integrated
forces.
Determining the company's Power of Improvement.
� Expected Deliverables:
Detailed and summary assessment reports for the strength of each of
the
Corporate Stand Forces.
Accurate measurement of the dynamic relation between Corporate Stand
Forces.
Specific identification for the corporate Core Competences and the
other
factors relevant to each Core Competence area.
Objective evaluation for potential areas of improvement.
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MBA Final
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CY 06/07
� Advantages:
Corporate Stand Forces Module is:
Reliable: the module uses a combination of data collection tools
that takes
into consideration the judgment of employees, management, customers
and
consultants. The quantitative data interpretation module has various
functions for testing data validity and reliability.
Objective: the module uses pre specified ranges that are translated
to
numbers to minimize the degree of subjectivity in data
interpretation.
Flexible: while assuring a high degree of consistency in output, the
module
offers a degree of flexibility that allows the consulting team to
adjust the
module according to the specific requirements of each project.
Comprehensive: the module covers a wide array of areas that might
have
impact on the corporate powers.
� Limitations:
The module is a very strong tool in assessing the Corporate Stand
Forces as it
uses objective ways of assessing each potential Competence. However,
a high
degree of caution should be taken in data collection to avoid the
negative
impact of any misleading information. This assessment is no
substitute for
consultants' qualitative assessment that should be assigned a
reasonable
weight during all phases of the assessment process.
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Chapter IV
A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Harvard Business Review on Measuring Corporate Performance
(Harvard
Business Review Paperback Series), Peter Ferdinand Drucker, Robert
Eccles,
Joseph A. Ness, Thomas G. Cucuzza, Robert Simons, Antonlo Dbvlla,
Robert
Kaplan, David Norton (1998)
2. The Consultant's Toolkit: High-Impact Questionnaires, Activities
and How-to
Guides for Diagnosing and Solving Client Problems, Mel Silberman
(2000)
3. Power Tools for Family Business, Russell S. Allred MBA, Roger C.
Allred CPA,
(2006) Diagnosis for Survival, Success, and Succession.
4. Organizational Diagnosis and Assessment: Bridging Theory and
Practice,
Michael Harrison, Arie Shirom (2004).
5. Harvard Business Essentials: Performance Management: Manage and
Improve
the Effectiveness of Your Employees, Richard Luecke, Brian J. Hall,
(2006)
"PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT begins with goals...".
6. Changing Patterns of Management Development (Managements,
Organizations,
and Business) (Author), John Storey (2000).
7. LOGIC Management Consulting (Knowledge Bank, The Logic Way) over
250
practical business cases in functional assessment and strategies
formation (1998
to 2007)
8. Mohamed Fahmy's Corporate Assessment- Research and development
results
and findings (2002 to 2007)
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B. Appendices
In this study we used set of Questionnaires and analysis tools, for
better
understanding of how previous models are working, I will demonstrate
some
examples for better understanding, as follow:
Questionnaires Examples:
CSFs
Relevant
Rate
Impact
Customers Education and
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
Awareness
No
Quality Assurance System
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
No
Standardization of Regulations
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
No
Internal Quality Oriented Culture
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
No
Customer Value of the Service
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
No
Internal customer service culture
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
No
Interactive & Efficient Customer
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
Interface
No
Regulatory Laws that Protect
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
IPRs
No
High Market Development Rate
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
No
Understanding Customers Needs
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
No
R&D facilities
Yes
1 2 3 4 5
No
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The table below to rate the candidate strength on each criteria
using a scale from 1
to 5 where 1 is very weak and 5 is very strong
Comments or Further
Core Competent Criteria
Rate
Explanation
Technical Expertise
1 2 3 4 5
Details Orientation
1 2 3 4 5
Analytical skills
1 2 3 4 5
Customer Centric Approach
1 2 3 4 5
Communication Skills
1 2 3 4 5
Social Intelligence
1 2 3 4 5
Business Judgment
1 2 3 4 5
Creativity
1 2 3 4 5
Organization Skills
1 2 3 4 5
Understanding of the business
1 2 3 4 5
stakeholders
Strategic Perspective
1 2 3 4 5
Communication Skills
1 2 3 4 5
Familiarity with Company's Values
1 2 3 4 5
Methodological Thinking
1 2 3 4 5
Willingness to Develop
1 2 3 4 5
Ability to Develop
1 2 3 4 5
Quality Orientation
1 2 3 4 5
Relevant Education and Training
1 2 3 4 5
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Analysis Tools:
Screen view of the Critical Success Factors data input sheet
Screen view of the Strategic Result data input sheet
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CY 06/07
Screen view of the detailed report sheet
Screen view of the data input sheet
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