2.Name the service sectors of the economy : Tertiary and quaternary sectors
4. The mission of a business is… its purpose of existence.
5. Why are we analyzing the external factors that affect a business? : Because they let us know where we are right now. Only by knowing where we are standing right now, we can improve ourselves, move ahead and proceed, that’s why we need to analyze STEEPLE and the internal environment (the 7-S Matrix) of our business. By knowing them, we can plan our actions about the future.
After having the quiz and discussing the answers, Mr.Sen presented a new acronym called SWOT.
We figured out that “SWOT” represents strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a business.
The “SW” part of SWOT represents the internal factors (7-S Matrix =Structure, Strategy, Shared Values, Systems, Style, Skills, Staff), while the “OT” part represents the external factors (STEEPLE) affecting a business:
All the negative external factors are Threats.
All the positive external factors are Opportunities.
All the negative internal factors are Weaknesses.
All the positive internal factors are Strengths.
Mr.Sen informed us that we can conduct SWOT to a lot of things; we can even make a personal SWOT analysis by conducting this concept when were choosing our colleges for example. While looking at a collage’s brochure, we can ask ourselves “Is this collage a weakness or an opportunity for me to develop my instrumental skills?”
The next question was “Why do we need SWOT analysis?” The answer was to know where we are NOW, to look ahead and plan our actions.
Mr.Sen made a great metaphor to help us understand the SWOT concept better. He said “Imagine flying with a helicopter. When you look below, you can see everything from a bird’s eye view. You can see everything that is below you, what is surrounding them in a whole etc”. And the helicopter view of this subject is SWOT. It is the first step to determine where we are.
4 STEPS OF PLANNING
Planning is the process of answering these questions: (The time factor applies to all of them, time x = horizon)
The plans and goals change according to SWOT, but what does not change is the mission statement since it is the broad purpose.
Also, control, that represents the 4th question is a process which is sometimes regarded separate from planning.
While discussing, Mr.Sen told us that a business cannot get anywhere without constantly checking where it is. Then he asked us the difference between “goal” and “target”. Goal is what, target is why. Target is the “push thing”, while goal is the reason why you’re going there.
Then Mr.Sen said “Put yourself in the shoes of someone who wants to walk to Ankara.” First of all, he has to figure out a few things.
1) How far he is from Ankara?
2) By when he wants to get there?
3) What does he do to get there?
After this example, we understood the planning concept better.
Moreover, Mr.Sen mentioned about the time factor : Businesses cannot make a plan based on hopes, they cannot say “Hopefully we will get there.”
Additionally, he claimed that “where do we want to be” is NOT a business question.
“Where do we want to be BY THIS TIME” is a business question. He said that everything is related to time; without its precision, a business cannot go anywhere.
Ecem, I compared goal with purpose, not target.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I didn't use the helicopter view metaphor to explain SWOT, but to explain what I meant by understanding the 'big picture'. I may have used it also in relation to understanding where we are meant to be going with what we are doing in class. If the details of something confuse us, we should rise up (metaphorically) in a helicopter to see the surrounding context, where we got where we are, and where we are meant to be going (why we need the concept or theory or technique).
But SWOT is a good way of ANALYZING where are now, which is often useful to discover where we should or can go.
Finally, your class notes often read like a simple account of what Mr. Sen said. What I'd also love to see is what Ecem thought of it: what did she appreciate, where did she disagree (and why), what left her confused, what further questions did this raise in her mind...