let's expand our business using 'five generic competitive strategies'..:)

Peace be upon you! *wink*

Ah, today is Sunday..should I just relax around?? Hee, I better not or else this blog is continuously get postpone. Before I start, I would like to share what I’ve got from yesterday’s programme. It just like a seminar called ‘Bimbingan Kerjaya’ organized by Pembimbing Rakan Universiti (PRU) with collaboration from TaHa@u, Berita Harian, Media Prima Berhad and Avon. It mostly talked about the preparations to go to an interview and also in a workplace. For instance, communicate well in Malay and English language, confident, have a positive and good credibility etc. The third slot was so interesting. It was given by Zahariz Huzaima titled the ‘Malaysian nomad’ which was referred to him. He shared his experience on how he first got to be a nomad person. It started on 2010 in China, he bought a bicycle, tent, and other equipment to live and travelled alone. There are also times where things get so dangerous and his life could be taken away. The first one was when he nearly fell into a cliff when preventing himself from getting hit by a bus in a mountain in China. The second one was when he run out of water in Taklamakan dessert and he had to cycle 400km more to get out of the dessert, but thankfully there are Chinese army passing through and helped him. The third time was when he fell into a freeze river in Sweden and struggled to get out of it. I need to watch his stories to know more. So everybody, let’s watch his documentary every Sunday at 8.30 pm only on tv al-Hijrah. The fifth and sixth slot is also so enjoyable slot which conducted by Ustaz Dr Mohd Izhar Ariff and Ally Iskandar. They really bring much laughter to all of us.

      Okay, how if we start the sharing about my SM lecture. This time, we learned about the five generic competitive strategies. They are; 1) A low-cost provider strategy. 2) A broad differentiation strategy. 3) A focused low-cost strategy. 4) A focused differentiation strategy. 5) A best-cost provider strategy. 

     These strategies are so important as to differentiate our product with other competitors and gain customer’s loyalty. Through this class, I had more understand about economies of scale which is where we can reduce the cost for one unit of production by producing big amount or by bulk. I also want to touch about direct selling, where we use agent to sell our product to people directly. During tutorial class, Madam Huda had shared her experience working as direct seller. It was so hard as she had to turn down her shame and meet any people she see to promote and sell her company’s product, something like snack but I forgot the name/brand. She got her wages by commission, so it depends on her selling. If she work hard and manage to sell many of snacks means she will get high commission and also otherwise. Through this lecture also I learned that offering a low cost product is the best way to win the business of price-sensitive buyers, set the floor on market price and still earn a profit. Well, it makes sense, buyers definitely seek for low price for certain product or service and we as the seller will find the best low price to satisfy the buyers but still gain profit. The companies that use this strategy are Mydin, Air Asia, Dell and McDonalds. But, to succeed in employing a low-cost provider strategy, a company must have the resources and capabilities to keep its costs below those of its competitors. Mistake in any part of the management maybe will lead to loss..who knows? All in all, for all types of generic strategies, success in sustaining the competitive edge depends on resources and capabilities that rivals have a hard time duplicating and for which there are no good substitutes.

I think that’s all for now. I’ll meet u later..Assalamualaikum! 

week five..larger scope awaits me..

Assalamualaikum for anyone who read this post..

1st from all, i would like to apologize to miss ummi as i had postponed this post for too long..

before i start to write about SM, i would like to share my valuable experience that i got from doing a programme called Program Transformasi Diri at SMK Bandar Tasik Selatan last week. It was my first time being a facilitator for secondary school student and it was really 'best'..hehe..i and my classmates did the programme for one and a half day. This programme really teached me a lot on how to conduct a group of people. It is not easy actually to make everyone in the group pay attention and participate in the activities, but alhamdulillah i had overcome the difficulties and finish the programme 'dengan jayanya'..*feeling proud, eyes tearing..sob..sob..* 

       oh, i had some picture..where is it..haa..

these are some facilitators who participated in the programme..guess which one is me?..huhu..

I think that's enough for the sharing..now,we move to things i learned in week 5 (1/10/2013)..

The topic is evaluating a company's resources, capabilities and competitiveness. That day, Miss Ummi had shared a video about McDonald..the content seems blur in my head now but i know that it is about the foundation, their specialties and strategies to make their brand meet the taste of people with different places. I remembered one picture shown that McDonald is written in Arabic language in Middle East which i found very interesting. Then, she asked us about market leader and the example. Now I know that it means a company who dominating the market. For example, Shell dominating fuel market. 

There are many new term that i learned. Do you know that there is a specific term for a knowledge that we learned without realize? it is called tacit knowledge. i also just heard about it. There are some specific indicators of strategic success. First one is VRIN test. VRIN stand for valuable, rare, inimitable (hard to copy) and non-substitutable. The tool used to discover VRIN test is called causal ambiguity which means a tool or strategy that make the rival don't know what makes a company become competitive advantage. Meaning, their resources and capabilities remain safe and confidential. 

          If before i had learned about SWOT analysis, now i know that there is also TOWS matrix.. just a backward order in term of the spelling but it  has wider scope than SWOT analysis. Miss just touched about it in brief. But it's okay..I will learn more about it in the next  tutorial class. 

I think, that's all for my overall understanding for this week. Ahh..i started to feel sleepy even it only 10 p.m..no Waznah, you cannot sleep right now!..there is more assignment to do! aja,aja fighting!!!

I'll get my sweets..bye everyone..salam alayk..

PESTEL..five forces..what are they??

24/9/2013..today, we learned about evaluating a company’s external environment. Miss Ummi started the lecture by asking us what macro-environment is. She explained that it includes all the environmental factors that have an impact on all organizations and firms within the economy whether directly or indirectly. There are six components included but it must be difficult to remember without an acronym right? PESTEL..there you are..simple and easy to remember. It refers to political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental and legal & regulatory. Then, we also learnt about five competitive forces. They are substitute products, buyers, new entrants, rival firms and suppliers. These forces can be competitive pressures for a company in managing and secure their business so that their product will be continuously gain loyalty from the customers.
       During lecture, suddenly Miss Ummi asked our opinion about Chin Peng, the president of PKM (Parti Komunis Malaya). Many of us said that he is cruel and his people kill the Malay people without mercy. But, she said we cannot just accept the fact blindly and added that most of the history has been manipulated. I was confused at that time. Then, I made some searching and found out about head(pemimpin) of PR (Pakatan Rakyat) had visited the funeral of the late Chin Peng. It was a big issue because PR was criticised badly by the government especially UMNO. I think I don’t want to talk more about that because I’m afraid if I’ll give a wrong judgement. So, that’s all for now..see you again!