Decision Analysis

Every decision we make requires us to think in terms of objectives, alternatives, and potential risks. That choice may involve a thousand criteria plus the inputs and deliberations of a hundred or more people. Or it may involve only five criteria and ten minutes of deliberation by one person. The dimensions are immeterial because the basic process is always the same. And the final judgment is always: “This is what ought to be done.”

The decision situations fall into five categories:

• The complex decision that requires examination of a large amount of information, and involves the judgments of many people.
• The “Yes/No” decision that involves only two alternatives: to take or reject a course of action; to do something in a different way or continue as before.
• The decision as to whether a single proposed course of action is sound enough to be implemented.
• The decision in which an original alternative must be developed by the decision-maker or team.
• The routine decision: hiring, purchase of equipment or services, development of personnel policies, and other everyday decisions.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Know your Customer

The conventional wisdom for product design and marketing says pay attention to the customers. Learn as much as you can about their needs and wants and then design the product on the basis of information. The customer is then part of you R&D department.

But the customer can be crucial to your R&D in a totally different and often overlooked way. You can learn a great deal by watching how your customers misuse and abuse your product after they buy it. Major breakthroughs in new products and innovative product redesigns have come from watching the customer “trash” the original intent and use a product in a totally different way.

By paying attention to how customers actually use, misuse, and abuse products, you’ll have the world’s largest R&D team and an endless supply of ideas with which to work.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Decision-making in Crisis Situations

Corporate transformation often occur in situations of crisis. Classic studies of crisis decision making have highlighted the tendency to focus on the short term, and to concentrate upon fewer options, when the ‘going gets tough.’ There is a danger that a sense of balance and perspective might be lost just when it is most needed.

Members of board can experience a tension between the requirement to become more deeply involved in order to demonstrate commitment, and the desirability of maintaining a distance in order to preserve a degree of independence and objectivity. A corporate change program can increase this schizophrenic pressure upon the individual director.

In situations of crisis there is a tendency to cut out information and individuals who do not fit, and to concentrate power in the hands of a smaller group of people. This prospect can pose problems for directors who have genuinely reservations which they feel duly bound to express.

A chairman should think twice before ‘wielding the knife’. It is important to probe the reasons for hesitency. Enthusiasm could be the product of sycophancy, and caution the result of thought. Team players are not those who just go along without thinking. Some colleagues are cautious. They are not obstructive. They are realistic.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Expanding into New Functions

A common difficulty for entrepreneurs during the growth of their business is expanding into another distinctive business function. When we read or hear about outstanding entrepreneurs we see the exponential portion of their record. The long, slow foundation building is not interesting to the investment community or the media. But the truth is there was a long period of solid building within one distinctive business function.

A new business or a young business can barely support the management, administration, and marketing it has to have to operate in one distinctive function. Different business functions require different handling in each of these areas. This imposes an additional nonproductive burden on an already overburdened revenue-generating segment of the business.

Successful entrepreneurs start the smallest possible viable business concept and concentrate on it until it works very well. They get to know more and more about their little business until they know more about it than anyone else. They become the expert about their business.

When discussing the entrepreneur’s career path they perceive growth opportunities. At this point it is very easy for them to conclude that having made this business work they can make any business work. They frequently see green pastures on the other side of the fence. The successful entrepreneurs develop and refine a business concept for the growth they will undertake. They then expand their little business. They don’t leap after someone else’s headaches. They build on their own experience and expertise.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Customer Needs’ Gap

Not every customer has explicitly defined the gap between his or her present state and desired state. Defining the gap requires converting vaguely defined problems into clear statements of need. The more concrete and explicit the statement, the more likely is to recognize the need to take action.

Prepare for a customer call by speculating about the customer’s probable needs. You can often identify the general needs your potential customers may have before beginning formal discussions with them. This general understanding of problems can then be a springboard for a more detailed exploration of needs.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Disadvantages of the Single Proprietorship

The literature describes the various disadvantages of the proprietorship as follows:

o Owner’s possible lack of ability and experience

o Limited opportunity for employees

o Difficulty in raising capital

o Limited life of the firm

o Unlimited liability of proprietor

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Production Smoothing

Production smoothing (aggregate planning) is an important special case of supply capacity problems for firms whose demand is subject to heavy seasonal variation. The firm can typically produce enough on average, but not during peak periods. It must choose some mixture of:

• Producing in off periods, and carrying “seasonal” inventories into the peak periods
• Working overtime in the peak periods
• Hiring and laying off workers for peak and down periods
• Subcontracting

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Employee Orientation

Employee orientation provides new employees with the basic background information required to perform their jobs satisfactorily, such as information about company rules. Programs may range from brief, informal introductions to lengthy, formal courses.

The HR specialist (or, in smaller firms, the office manager) usually performs the first part of the orientation, by explaining basic matters like working hours and vacations. The person then introduces the new employee to his or her new supervisor. The supervisor continues the orientation by explaining the exact nature of the job, introducing the person to his or her new colleagues, familiarizing the new employee with the workplace, and helping to reduce first day jitters. Orientation typically includes information on employee benefits, personnel policies, the daily routine, company organization and operations, and safety measures and regulation, as well as facilities tour.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Distinguishing between Tasks and Responsibilities

Make sure people understand the difference between the responsibilities of their jobs and the tasks that must be performed in order to fulfill those responsibilities.

If a person receives a laundry list of tasks instead of a list of major responsibilities, he will have difficulty understanding how the job contributes to the accomplishment of the department and company goals. He may also restrict his activities to the list of tasks instead of the overall job to be accomplished.

A comprehensive list of responsibilities, as opposed to a detailed list of tasks, provides the person with a larger view of the job. It also gives people more freedom in deciding how to  go about fulfilling the responsibilities of the job and meeting the established goals and objectives.

This is not to say that the manager shouldn’t delegate tasks to the people who work for him. In some cases the manager should be quite specific as to what tasks should be performed in fulfilling the responsibilities. As a general rule, the more authority a person has and the greater the responsibility, the more freedom he should have in determining the tasks he will perform.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Objectives of Advertising

There are at least three different viewpoints taken in attempts to evaluate the contribution of advertising to the economic health of the firm. The generalist viewpoint is primarily concerned with sales, profits, returns on investment, and so forth. At the other extreme, the specialist viewpoint is represented by advertising experts who are primarily concerned with measuring the effects of specific ads or campaigns. A middle view, one that might  be classified as more of a marketing management approach, understands and appreciates the other two viewpoints but, in addition sees advertising as a competitive weapon. Emphasis in this approach is given to the strategic aspects of the advertising function.

Building on objectives for advertising can be assigned that focus on creating awareness, aiding comprehension, developing conviction, and encouraging ordering. Within each category, more specific objectives can be developed that take into account time and degree of success desired. Obviously compared to the large number of people advertising makes aware of the product or service, the number actually motivated to purchase is usually quite small.

In the long run and often in the short run, advertising is justified on the basis of the revenue it produces. Revenue in this case may refer either to sales or profits. Economic theory assumes that firms are profit maximizers, and the advertising outlays should be increased in every market and medium up to the point where the additional cost of gaining more business equals the incremental profits. Since most business firms do not have the data required to use the marginal analysis approach, they usually employ less sophisticated decision-making models. There is also evidence to show that many managers advertise to maximize sales on the assumption that higher sales mean more profits (which may or may not be true).

The point to be made here is that the ultimate objective of the business advertiser is to make sales and profits. To achieve this objective, the actions taken by customers must encompass purchase and continued repurchases of the advertised product. Toward this end, an approach to advertising is  is needed that provides for intelligent decision making. This approach must recognize the need for measuring the results of advertising, and these measurements must be as valid and reliable as possible. Marketing managers must also be aware that advertising not only complements other forms of communication but is subject to the law of diminishing returns. This means that for any advertised product, it can be assumed a point is eventually reached at which additional advertising produces little or no additional sales.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight