ACCA P3 Business Analysis - 2010 - Study text - Emile Woolf Publishing
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ACCA
P3 Study Text
Business Analysis
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ACCA
Paper
P3
Business Analysis
Publishing
Publishing
Welcome to Emile Woolf‘s study text for
Paper P3 Business Analysis which is:
Written by tutors
Comprehensive but concise
In simple English
Used around the world by Emile Woolf Colleges including
China, Russia and the UK
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Paper P3
Business analysis
c
Contents
Page
Syllabus and study guide 1
Chapter 1: The purpose of strategic and business analysis 15
Chapter 2: Strategic position and the business environment 39
Chapter 3: Competitive forces 57
Chapter 4: Marketing and the value of goods and services 85
Chapter 5: Internal resources, capabilities and competences 105
Chapter 6: Stakeholder expectation. Ethics and culture 123
Chapter 7: Strategic choice: corporate strategy 149
Chapter 8: Strategic choice: achieving competitive advantage 177
Chapter 9: Strategic direction and strategy development 197
Chapter 10: Strategic action 227
Chapter 11: Modelling and redesigning business processes 269
Chapter 12: Information technology solutions 295
Chapter 13: Business strategy and quality initiatives 329
Chapter 14: Project management 359
Chapter 15: Finance and business strategy 387
Chapter 16: Leadership and human resources management 399
Practice questions 431
Answers to practice questions 455
Index 495
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Paper P3
Business analysis
S
Syllabus and study guide
Aim
To apply relevant knowledge, skills and exercise professional judgement in
assessing strategic position, determining strategic choice and implementing
strategic action through beneficial business process and structural change;
coordinating knowledge systems and information technology and by effectively
managing quality processes, projects and people within financial and other resource
constraints.
Main capabilities
On successful completion of this paper candidates should be able to:
A Assess the strategic position of an organisation
B Evaluate the strategic choices available to an organisation
C Discuss how an organisation might go about its strategic implementation
D Model and redesign business processes and structures to implement and
support the organisation’s strategy taking account of customer and other
major stakeholder requirements
E Integrate appropriate information technology solutions to support the
organisation’s strategy
F Apply appropriate quality initiatives to implement and support the
organisation’s strategy
G Advise on the principles of project management to enable the implementation
of aspects of the organisation’s strategy with the twin objectives of managing
risk and ensuring benefits realisation
Paper P3: Business analysis
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H Analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of a company’s strategy and the
financial consequences of implementing strategic decisions
I The role of leadership and people management in formulating and
implementing business strategy
Rationale
ThesyllabusforPaperP3,BusinessAnalysis,isprimarilyconcernedwithtwoissues.
The first is the external forces (the behaviour of customers, the initiatives of
competitors, the emergence of new laws and regulations) that shape the
environmentofanorganisation.Thesecondistheinternalambitionsandconcerns
(desireforgrowth,thede
signofprocesses,thequalityofproductsandservices,the
competencesofemployees,thefinancialresources)thatexistwithinanorganisation.
This syllabus looks at both of these perspectives, from assessing strategic position
and choice to identifying and formulating strategic action and its formulation. It
identifies opportunities for beneficial change that involve people, finance an
d
information technology. It examines how theseopportunities maybe implemented
throughtheappropriatemanagementofprogrammesandprojects.
Thesyllabusbeginswith theassessmentofstrategicpositionandisconcernedwith
theimpactoftheexternalenvironmen t,its internalcapabilitiesandexpectationsand
how the or
ganisation positions itself. It examines how factors such as culture,
leadership and stakeholder expectations shape organisational purpose. Strategic
choice is concerned with decisions which have to be made about an organisation’s
future and the way in which it can respond to the influences and pressures
identifiedintheassessmentofitsstrategicposition.
Strategic action concerns the implementat
ion of strategic choices and the
transformationofthesechoicesintoorganisationalaction.Suchactiontakesplacein
day‐to‐day processes and organisational relationships and these processes and
relationships need to be managed inline with the intendedstrategy, involving the
effectivecoordinationofinformationtechnology,people,financeandotherbusiness
resources.
Companies that undertake successful business process re
design claim significant
organisational improvements. This simply reflects the fact that many existing
processes are less efficient than they could be and that new technology makes it
possible to design more efficient processes. For some writ
ers, quality issues are at
the heart of process im provement and the continual emergence of models and
conceptsthatfocusonqualityimprovementmeritsitsinclusioninthissyllabus.
Strategic planning and strategy implementation has to be subject to financial
benchmarks. Financial analysis explicitly recognises this, reminding candidates of
the importance of focusing on the key ratios and mea
sures that may be used to
assesstheviabilityofastrategyandtomonitorandmeasureitssuccess.
Syllabus and study guide
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Throughout, the syllabus recognises that successful strategic planning and
implementation requires the effective recruitment, training, motivation and
organisationofpeople.
Syllabus content
A Strategic position
1 The need for, and purpose of, strategic and business analysis
2 Environmental issues affecting the strategic position of an organisation
3 Competitive forces affecting an organisation
4 Marketing and the value of goods and services
5 The internal resources, capabilities and competencies of an organisation
6 The expectations of stakeholders and the influence of ethics and culture
B Strategic choices
1 The influence of corporate strategy on an organisation
2 Alternative approaches to achieving competitive advantage
3 Alternative directions and methods of development
C Strategic action
1 Organising and enabling success
2 Managing strategic change
3 Understanding strategy development
D Business process change
1 The role of process and process change initiatives
2 Improving the processes of the organisation
3 Software solutions
E Information technology
1 Principles of e-business
2 E-business application: upstream supply chain management
3 E-business application: downstream supply chain management
4 E-business application: customer relationship management
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F Quality issues
1 Quality control, quality assurance and quality management systems
2 Quality in the information systems development lifecycle
3 Quality initiatives: Six Sigma
G Project management
1 Identifying and initiating projects
2 Managing and leading projects
3 Monitoring, controlling and concluding projects
H Financial analysis
1 The link between strategy and finance
2 Finance decisions to formulate and support business strategy
3 Financial implications of making strategic choices and of implementing
strategic actions
I People
1 Strategy and people: leadership
2 Strategy and people: performance management
3 Strategy and people: reward management
4 Strategy and people: job design
5 Strategy and people: staff development
Approach to examining the syllabus
Thesyllabusisassessedbyathree‐hourpaper‐basedexamination.
Section A
This section contains one multi‐part question based on a case study scenario. The
question is worth 50 marks. The question will be firmly based on capabilities
definedinsections A,BandC ofthesyllabus, supportedbycapabilit
iesdefinedin
sections H and I of the syllabus. It will occasionally be supported by capabilities
definedinsectionsD,E,FandGofthesyllabus.Thecasestudyscenariowillalways
includequantitativeinformation,whichmightbefinancialdata.