Monday 9 November 2015

Must read for every MBA grad:Week-1

Hi Everyone,

I took up the challenging task of documenting list of tools/techniques that are commonly used in management field across industries.With help of industry experts,professors and my little experience, I was able to list down top 40 important tools/techniques which are most widely used.

There are countless tools/techniques, strategies and Laws etc., that are used in management filed but these tools/techniques which are quite commonly used and have significance relevance in our day to day professional life.

I will be publishing the list in a batch of 5 every week, so please stay tuned.

Below are list top 5 tools/techniques with description

1.SWOT Analysis: Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats.
         This analysis is used to monitor individual/corporations. It is divided into internal and external parameters. Opportunities and Threats are treated as external parameter and Strength and Weakness are treated as internal parameter.

2.Porter's Five fore model: Micheal porter has identified five forces that determine market attractiveness. The five forces are:industry competitors, potential entrants, substitutes, buyers and suppliers.

3.McKinsey's 7'S Framework: This framework is widely used for improving organization effectiveness. It is divided into hard and soft elements on the basis of influence/dependency of this elements to the success of organization.The hard elements are:Strategy, Structure, Systems. The soft elements are:Shared Value, Skills, Style and staff.

More details: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/strategy/enduring_ideas_the_7-s_framework


4.PESTLE model: The most common analysis for underatnidng the external environment, they are Political, economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental.

5.BCG matrix:It is the growth share matrix, having 4 quadrants.It helps companies to prioritize their investments and strategies for growth.


More details:  https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/corporate_strategy_portfolio_management_strategic_planning_growth_share_matrix_bcg_classics_revisited/


Note: This top list may change from industry to industry, person to person.



Sunday 1 November 2015

Learning from the book "Jack:Straight from the Gut"

Recently I completed reading the book "Jack:Straight from the Gut" by Jack Welch.

About the author:
Jack Welch: CEO of GE Corporation from 1981 to 2001.

About the book:

It is must read book for every person who needs to taste success in their life, it will be more appropriate to senior executives and senior managers. It is autobiography of Jack, who describes his journey in GE. The book describes his family, education, career in GE and reaching the pinnacle as CEO in GE.

It clearly depicts how he struggled to manage his early life in GE as entry level executive in plastics division and getting promoted as General manger and responsible for the entire operations of the plastics division. His No.1 or No.2 agenda made company to concrete on core areas/domains, rather than diversifying into various fields [the major reason to do reduce their portfolio is to improve on their financial numbers i.e., revenues doubling, margins improvement and PAT  improvement].

In early years as CEO, he invested heavily on new plants and machinery, new acquisitions and selling of no-core business, during 2nd year as CEO he was know as "Neutron Jack" for firm decision in removing employees from GE payroll and many critics came as he laid  profits first ahead of people.During this period he laid importance on capacity building of employees through training and other initiatives. His strategies in making GE a global corporation. The thing which was not achieved by him is Honeywell deal.

His famous performance curve called as "vitality curve"[Top 20; Vitality 70; Bottom 10]. The famous RCA deal, which lead to NBC acquisition. His ability of proactive thinking, thereby devising four game changing  plans for GE they are:

  1. Globalization
  2. Services business
  3. Six Sigma
  4. E-business
Key takeaways from the book:
  • Believe your "Gut" and believe in yourself
  • Thinking ahead of crowd make you a valuable person.
  • Managing people
  • Create a company were legacy is ingrained in the employees.

Every page has a takeaway, so difficult to mention all.

Note: I strongly recommend this book for every MBA grad.