Seminar Report on Business

Prof. Dr. Damri Sukotanung introduced the class the definition of "strategy" in management in which is the decisions and actions that is related to the forecast of the environmental changings and the relationships of the changes with the business. He identified the conceptual framework for Strategic Management, consisting of Environmental Scanning (both external and internal), Strategy Formulation (immediate term to long term with indicators), Strategy Implementation (relationships and practicality/realistic), and Evaluation and Control. The Environmental Scanning, therefore, focuses on using SWOT Analysis as a tool, in which evaluates external Opportunities and Threats' in light of a corporate's internal Strengths and Weaknesses. It also concentrates on analyzing the Competitive Structure, the Porter's Five Competitive Force Model, the Mckinsey's 7s Model, the Competitive Advantages, the Resources-based Capabilities, and the Stakeholders in business. As pointed out by Prof. Dr. Damri, the question "Where do we want to be?" is dealt with by a clear, inspiring, and communicative Vision and Mission of the corporate. The question "How will we get there?" is answered not only by business planning and tactics but also by functional strategy and by implemented programs and procedures, in which can be divided into 3 level including Corporate Strategy, Business Strategy, and Functional Strategy. The strategies evolve around the Generic Strategic Alternatives - Stability Strategies, Expansion Strategies, Retrenchment Strategies, and Combination Strategies. The tools that can be used to analyze includes the Growth-Share Matrix (BCG), 5W1H Questions, Distinctive Competitiveness, and Balance Scorecard, etc. The last question "How are we doing?" is the primary emphasis of the evaluation and control element of strategic management model identified by the Key Performance Indicators.

Prof. Dr. Damri began the Case Study 1 with the briefing of the Thai government's interest in promoting the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector after the calamitous financial crash of 1997, or so called the "Tom Yum Kung Crisis". Originally, the Thai Government had started developing this project by firstly scanning the overall SMEs in the Thai economical structure. An important tool that was used was the SWOT analysis, which gave an Environmental Threat and Opportunity Profile and Organizational Capability Profile. After comparing the current SME and the desired future SME in Thailand, the scope of the strategic SMEs in the New Economy Landscape was refined down to the enhancement the Value Creation, Global Local Links, Industry Clustering, and Enabling Environment. The Value of Creation was consisted of Investing Strategy, Strengthening Strategy, and Extending Strategy. The Global Local Links was centered on three Key Success Factors including Differentiation, Logistics, and Qualities & Safety.