Tuesday 21 October 2014

What I have learned this week : SWOT analysis



Assalamualaikum and have a good day ;) 

When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is about letting go. Yes, life never makes it easy for us to go through. 

Alhamdulillah. I’m here. Regards all the things that happen, I am bless with the love from everyone. So, this is my third post regarding the lesson that I have learned in Strategic management and operation subject. For the last 2 weeks, we are learning about SWOT analysis. 

What is SWOT analysis?

It is a tool that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. Specifically, SWOT is a basic, straightforward model that assesses what an organization can and cannot do. The method of SWOT analysis is to take the information from an environmental analysis and separate it into internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external issues (opportunities and threats). Once this is completed, SWOT analysis determines what may assist the firm in accomplishing its objectives, and what obstacles must be overcome or minimized to achieve desired results.

On that day, we are being separated into 4 groups and Miss Ummi was asking us to do an analysis about our upcoming final year project, an ICEPS10.



The Faculty of Economics and Muamalat , USIM will continue the tradition of organizing the Islamic Entrepreneurship Convention (iCEPS) for the tenth time. This program is a continuation of the policy of academic FEM in organizing the Islamic Entrepreneurship Convention (iCEPS ) for a final year students. Therefore, the continuation of the Tenth Islamic Entrepreneurship Convention 2014 (iCEPS10 2014) to be held on 13 November to 16 November 2014 at the Great Hall of the Convocation of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) will continue. The theme of the convention was "Entrepreneurship-based Internationalisation and reviving Islamic Sunnah of the Prophet".



In some ways a SWOT analysis pushes us to think "inside the box". It does help us in analyses how ICEPS10 is going. Knowing what the positives and negatives of our program are puts us in a better position for action. While a SWOT analysis is not in itself action, it can be great tools to help us. First and foremost, identify the issues or problems you intend to change and then set or reaffirm goals as well as create an action plan. We can use SWOT to justify a course that has already been decided upon, but if our goal is to grow or improve, we will want to use it differently. 




The purpose of SWOT analysis is to analyse and evaluate information and identify strategic at a given time. SWOT Analysis is a very effective way of identifying strengths and weaknesses, and of examining the opportunities and threats one tends to face. Carrying out an analysis using the SWOT framework helps to focus activities into areas where one is strong and where the greatest opportunities lie. This knowledge is then used to develop a plan of action. 

An individual person also can develop their level of understanding themselves by doing a SWOT analysis. So have fun and do yours now !

currently I'm keeping an eye on one person, but I'm not a nutty as a fruitcake. saranghae.

Saturday 18 October 2014

What I have learned this week : External Environmental Factors

Assalamualaikum..

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time”

Today, I would like to continue another posting relate with Strategic management and Operation subject. For the past few weeks, we are learning about Strategic Planning Process: The External Environmental Analysis. An external environment factor is referring to the factors that are beyond the control of an organization. Which means, these factors are influenced the organizations in decision making process.  In external environment factors, it is divided into two categories which are general environment and industry environment. 

PESTEL is simple acronyms that are included in General environment factor.

P : Political factors

Employment laws and Consumer protection laws

E : Economic factors

Unemployment rates and Inflation rates

S : Socio-cultural factors

Demographic factors

T : Technological factors

Rate of technology transfer and Energy use and cost

E : Ecological factors

Global Warming and sustainable Economic Growth

L : Legal factors

Minimum wages and price control act

So, these 6 factors are taking into consideration when a company making a decision. While, the industry environment refers to the factors that directly affect the firm and its competitive responses. These factors have the ability to affect the firm’s probability.  Michael Porte’s 5 Forces Model is one of best known conceptual framework to assess the industry environment. These are the elements in Porter’s 5 Forces Model:

Bargaining power of Buyers

Buyer groups have the power because they are the main industry’s output. We have large buyers and they could switch to another product in anytime because they did not involve in any significant switching cost.

Bargaining power of Suppliers

A group of supplier also has their power. The suppliers’ goods are critical to the buyers’ marketplace success.

Threat of new Entrants

For your information, new entrants to an industry could raise the level of competition between the organizations.

Substitute Power

Substitute product can be a threat when the buyers group are price sensitive and customer do have a little brand loyalty. It also happens when the product itself is undifferentiated and customer can easily switch away from one supplier to another supplier.

Rival among Competitors

The competitions between companies cannot be avoided in the industry. If rivalry among the competitors is intense, companies may earn less profit. Intense situation may happen if the products offered by companies are undifferentiated and are viewed by customers as commodities.

It is not an easy task in building a successful company. We have to take many things into consideration. Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals. The successful leader must plan his work and work his plan.

This is what I have learned in Strategic management and operations subject for week 3.

Thank you for reading and till then, wassalam.

currently I'm keeping an eye on one person, but I'm not a nutty as a fruitcake. saranghae.

Wednesday 8 October 2014

What I have learned this week : Build the tallest tower

Assalamualaikum and have a good day everyone. 

For this semester, I am learning Strategic Management and operation subject. This subject is teaching us the elements of strategic management in organization as well as our daily life. For the first week, we are doing an interesting activity with Dr Ummi. Before the first class, I was a bit curious about her because from what I heard, she is really an interesting lecture. And yes,  I  do agreed with her previous students. Dr Ummi is really entertaining.

Our activity for the first lecture is to build the tallest tower. In 15 minutes, build a tallest tower than the other groups and you will win the game. Dr Ummi provided us with two packed of newspaper. We should use our creativity on how we should accomplish the mission. We form into nine groups.
Move quickly. That is our motto for that day, is it true?  hihi 

This is the photos that will help you to understand how our first week activity is proceeding. Dr Ummi evaluation and the other colleagues reaction is really make our first lesson happening. At the end of the lecture, we were given a task to describe what we have learnt from that activity. As for me, I would say the strategizing is the most important. This activity needs us to be clever. We need to think a solution to the problem we haven’t seen yet. 




But other than that, teamwork is also important. Because to accomplish things, it’s really needs a good teamwork to make things going smoothly.  I really like the quotes of “alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much”. Talent will win the games but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. Cewwahh gitu.  I really love about teamwork. I love the idea of everyone rallying together to help each other’s to win. 



The other criteria point for me is time management. People always complain about lack of time when the lack of direction and management is the real problem. Of course in our daily life, time management is so important. How often do we find ourselves saying “okay, hang on”, or “I’ll get it in a minute” or “its okay, tomorrows good enough” and every possible excuse come out from our lips. Please do compare it with how often you decide it’s got to be done.

 “If you spend too much time thinking about how to accomplish thing, you’ll never get a things done” – Bruce Lee

Congratulation to the winner and let’s have fun doing a learning activity together. Because this is our last semester being together, we should cherish every single thing with great memories to be keep and hoping that in future, we will miss each other a lot.
Desa jati 27092014 : 1239

currently I'm keeping an eye on one person, but I'm not a nutty as a fruitcake. saranghae.