MBA 735 – Reflections on Module 5 Concepts

Even if you are not the top decision maker of an organization, why is it important to understand your organization’s competitors?

In order for a business to remain competitive, it is important that everyone understand the competition to some degree. While a “C” level person may have a good overview of the competition, they are often not aware of the “detail” information. Those who report to the executive level should be even more aware of competitive information to be able to provide the necessary details.

What are your personal competitive advantages? What do you do better than your counterparts in your current job? In your industry? Compared to workers in general (in and out of your field of expertise)?

I am very well versed in database tools and data analysis. My particular strength is in understanding retailer data systems (Wal-Mart’s RetailLink, Target’s Info Retriever, and so forth). I learn very rapidly and can quickly pick up new systems.

As a company grows, will its competitive advantages change? Have you seen this happen in your place of business? Is this good or bad? Explain your responses.

To an extent, competitive advantages change. As the company grows, it learns. The more experience it gets in the marketplace, the more it knows what works and what doesn’t. The core drivers and the advantages they entered the market with usually do not change. Advantages should improve as the business grows.

July 29, 2007 | Filed Under MBA 735 | Leave a Comment 

MBA 735 – Reflections on Module 4 Concepts

How will your knowledge of information management help you in your future projects and proposals?

Knowledge management is already a part of my everyday work life. It will continue to be important to me in order to have an understanding of who and what I am dealing with. Maintaining the right data in the correct amounts will make proposals and analysis considerably easier than having to go out and find the needed information.

How can you work to improve the internal marketing activities at your organization?

Improving internal marketing can be done in a lot of ways. One in particular is making my voice heard. If I see better ways of communicating internally, then it is up to me to make the suggestion or recommendation. If I do not make my voice heard, then my suggestions will never have the chance of being reviewed and possibly implemented, thus no improvement.

How will your preference of the four-lens approach impact your ability or desire to assist new employees in becoming acclimated to the culture of your organization?

I am more on the relational and creative side. I enjoy training and instructing, so I’m able to show new employees “the ropes” with minimal discomfort. Some personalities do not do well in showing others the road to follow and would prefer to stay off on their own. Where I am challenged is in organizing and planning the methods to acclimate.

July 22, 2007 | Filed Under MBA 735 | Leave a Comment 

MBA 735 – Reflections on Module 3 Concepts

Week three has wrapped up and 735 is halfway complete. As we continue to pursue the concepts of the growth stage of a business, here are some questions for review.

How will your knowledge of the financial concepts help you in your future projects and proposals?

In order to better analyze projects in my job, the financial concepts reviewed in this week of class will be very beneficial. Understanding capital expenditure budgeting will be of particular importance. There are often projects that I get the chance to review that will involve capital expenditures and it is important to have the knowledge of how to budget these expenses.

Does the risk level of a leader come into play when making such financial decisions? How so?

A leader’s characteristics will most always bleed over into all of the decisions he or she makes. If an entrepreneur, for example, is a risk-taker, he will most likely be more aggressive in making his business decisions. If a leader is more conservative in her approach, she will probably be more likely to be conservative when budgeting for business decisions.

Will the decision-makers’ preference of the four lens impact his or her decision making based on the financial models reviewed in this module? Why?

A decision maker will be impacted based on their four lens preference. If a decision maker is more analytical, then the financial documentation for decisions to be made will probably need to be very detailed when delivered for review. If a decision maker is more direct, then he or she is most likely going to want to see just the bottom line results of the analysis for the impact on the company.

July 15, 2007 | Filed Under MBA 735 | Leave a Comment 

MBA 735 – Reflections on Module 2 Concepts

Look at your own organization. How has supply and/or demand changed at your organization within the past year? What factors impacted or instigated the change?

The steel industry has a lot of ups and downs, and it supplies the chief component of our products. There has also been a shortage of some of the metals used in our valve components. Due to that, the price of our components went up and had to be passed along to our customers.

Reflecting on your past professional life, briefly describe one mistake you have made in your professional career. What have you learned from that mistake?

Not delegating. It is a challenge, even today, for me not to do the job myself so it gets done the way I want it done. I learned through that particular instance that a lot of stress and additional work could have been avoided if I had assigned certain tasks to others in my department.

If factors are changing rapidly, which is common in growth organizations, when do leaders find the time to “reflect” on the mistakes to make corrective action?

Unfortunately, in many cases it’s after the leader leaves. He takes the time to look back on the mistakes made and learn how not to make the same errors in his next venture. If it’s possible, the leader should try to build time somewhere in his agenda in order to review his performance and fix things while they are fresh.

July 8, 2007 | Filed Under MBA 735 | Leave a Comment 

MBA 735 – Reflections on Module 1 Concepts

A new six-week period and a new class. MBA 735 begins and we move from the launch phase of a business into managing its growth. This course will focus on the leadership necessary to move a company into rapid growth and hopefully manage it into a mature product stage. Businesses can often make or break during this time. If a strategic plan has not been put into place, this business will be challenged to handle the incoming rush of business. Here are this weeks reflection questions…

How do growth characteristics vary depending on the waves of change an organization experiences?

Depending on the change waves, a company may experience growth simply in terms of the number of items produced and ordered. Or, the business may see development of technological advances as being the key to their growth. These are just a couple of examples. If a business is more industrial, for example, it will probably see its growth focus on hiring more employees or increasing facility capacity. A more knowledge type company may be more focused on improving the technology training inside the company in order to expand the production abilities.

Have you experienced growth in your current or other employment? What factors led you to believe you did or did not experience growth?

I have experienced growth in a couple of my employment settings. One factor that really seems to convey growth is acquisitions. When my company realized that there were customer needs not being met, we looked for companies that were already providing best-in-service products. Once located, we acquired these organizations and were able to grow our business to meet the needs of our growing customer base.

If you were given the new project assignment of managing a fast-growing division/department/segment of your organization, what personal skills would you need to improve upon to be successful in your endeavors?

The biggest challenge I would have in meeting this project assignment is learning to manage others to meet the goal. I am very much a person who will typically do the job until it’s done. It’s important to bring others on board and manage them to completion of the project. When working to grow a segment, I will need to improve on delegating tasks out and expecting the team to assist in accomplishing the goal, and not taking everything on myself.

July 1, 2007 | Filed Under MBA 735 | Leave a Comment