Human Relations in Systems

Engineering

by
John F. W. Zaki
Course Contents
⚫ Companies and Departments (1 Lecture 4/10)
– What Makes a Company
– Value added
– Core Competence and Competitive Advantage
– Strategy, Mission, Vision
⚫ Business Case (6 Lectures 11/10, 18/10 , 25/10, 1/11, 8/11, 15/11, 22/11 )
– Elements of a Business Case
– Corporate Strategy
– Products and Services
– Competitive Analysis
– Marketing Analysis
– Human Resources
– Operations
– Risk Analysis
– Financing
⚫ Labor Law and Hiring (1 Lecture 29/11)
⚫ Bidding, Tenders and Purchasing ( 1 Lecture 6/12)
⚫ Contracts and KPIs ( 1 Lecture 13/12)
⚫ Guest Speaker (1 Lecture 20/12)
⚫ Revision ( 1 Lecture 27/12)
Course Objective

⚫ Be able to develop a business plan

⚫ Understand the building blocks of companies
⚫ Understand the hiring process
⚫ Understand the procurement process
⚫ Be able to develop contracts and set KPIs
Session Objectives

⚫ Understand what is a business case

⚫ Understand the main elements of a business

case
Why do you need a business case?

⚫ To justify its risk of investment

⚫ To convince decision makers to endorse your
idea.
⚫ To analyze the project and ensure you
logically think through everything.
⚫ To have written responses to problems you
are facing.
What is a business case?

• It is a document written to communicate to target audience.

What does the business case communicate?

• It communicates the problem, the solution, and the results.

Who are the target audience?

• Mainly people who will make a decision such as investors, partners,
and those responsible (Top Management) to implement the business
case.
Business Case Structure

Business Case

Problem and Alternative &

Executive Management Mission & Vision How to solve the
Key The Benefit Exit Strategy
Summary Team Statements problem
Strategic Issues
Some Definitions:

⚫ Executive Summary: One page snapshot of the whole business case. It is

written last but available first!

⚫ Management Team: Who are the people who will implement your
business plan? They must have expert knowledge in the field.

⚫ Problem and Key Strategic Issues: Define the main problem from the
customer perspective. Define what the problems you will face to implement
your solution.
⚫ How to solve the problem: The solution through analysis of different
directions in this course. What should be done to
⚫ The Benefit: Why your idea is unique and why it is innovative. Does not need
to be a completely new idea and it has to create value to the business and the
customers.
⚫ Alternatives and Exit Strategy: What if things go wrong?
Management Team

• What is the structure of a management team?

Corporate Strategy Model
The Strategic Position

⚫ It is concerned with identifying the impact on

strategy of the external environment, the
organization capability, the expectations and
influence of stakeholders, and how historical
influence can influence strategy.
The Environment

⚫ The organization exists in a complex environment

surrounded by Political, Economical, Social,
Technological, Environmental, and Legal issues. The
change in such environment affects the
organizations. Some organizations are affected more
than others. Some of these changes could result in
opportunities or threats. To analyze such an
environment, the use of external analysis tool such
as PESTEL is applied.
The Capability

⚫ The strategic capability of the organization is

made up of resources and competences.
One way to think about the strategic
capability is through strengths and
weaknesses. The aim is to form a view of the
internal influences and constraints on the
strategic choices of the future. For such,
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, Threats) analysis is required
Some Templates of a Business Plan

⚫ Articles.bplans.com/a-standard-business-
plan-outline/
⚫ www.princes-trust.org.uk/need-
help/enterprise_programme/explore_where_t
o_start/business_plans
⚫ http://www.gov.uk/write-business-plan
⚫ www.sba.gov/writing_business_plan
References

⚫ Exploring Corporate Strategy (text and cases) by Gerry Johnson,

Kevan Scholes, and Richard Whittington

⚫ Human Resource Management – A contemporary Approach by Julie

Bardwell and Tim Claydon

⚫ Marketing Management 13th Edition by Kotler Keller

⚫ Modern Financial Management by Stephen Ross, Randolph

Westerfield, Jeffrey Jaffe, Bradford Jordan

⚫ Financial Accounting for Non-Specialists by Peter Atrill & Eddie

McLaney

⚫ Accounting in a Business Context by Aidan Berry and Robin Jarvis

Any Questions??
Thanks
for
Listening