CRITICAL THINKING & DESIGNING BUSINESS SOLUTIONS...CRITICAL THINKING & DESIGNING BUSINESS SOLUTIONS Throughout the course, each student will complete four written papers each on a

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Private & Confidential – For Exclusive Use Of The Recipient

Agenda

CRITICAL THINKING & DESIGNING BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

I. Who am I?

II. What is the purpose of this course?

III. How to get the most of out of this course (and do well).

IV. Purpose you want to take this (or any) course.

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I. What is work? What is business? How to become useful?

II. What’s next?

All work contained in this document is property of i.e. Muhanna & co. and is

confidentially being shared with the client listed above.

ANALYSIS COMPLETED BY I.E. MUHANNA & COMPANY.

Design Thinking*Elective Course for Faculty of Sciences, USJ

Spring 2020

Instructor: Michael Muhanna, ASA

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*ALTERNATE TITLE:

Critical Thinking &

Designing Business

Solutions

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* SECOND ALTERNATE TITLE:

How to be a useful

person helping

businesses succeed

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Who am I?

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My Background


Michael MuhannaSenior Manager & Actuary

i.e. Muhanna & co [Consulting Firm]

Executive Director & Founder

afikra [Global Social Enterprise]

Read more at:

afikra.com | muhanna.com | muhanna.org

linkedin.com/in/michaelmuhanna

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmuhanna

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My Background


- Duke University

BS Economics & Music

- Aon Re (now Aon Benfield) in Chicago

Actuarial Consulting (Pricing)

- Teaching in New Orleans

2 Year Teaching Fellowship

- PwC in NYC

Actuarial Consulting (Reserving)

- Morgan Stanley in NYC

Financial Engineering / Quant Fund Mgmt

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My Background


muhanna.com

Consulting all over MENA, GCC, East Africa

~35 years old

~50 Employees

Offices in Lebanon, Cyprus, Tanzania

afikra.com

Global Media + Culture Org

Chapters in 6 Countries

Team of 50+

Global Community of 5000+

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Why are you taking this course?

What is business?

(Why is worth understanding?)

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Purpose of the

Course

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Purpose of the Course


Many students enter the professional world without a clear understanding

of how business works and, most crucially, how to be useful when

thinking about business problems, big and small. This course is designed

around business case studies that will give opportunities to try to

understand how and why different businesses operate in various sectors.

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This course serves two fundamental purposes:

1. to explore how businesses make money and how shifts in the

environment change opportunities to do so and

2. to connect effective responses to those changes with fundamental

principles in business.

To accomplish these objectives, students will be asked to consider the

present-day challenges confronting a selection of firms spanning a

range of industries. Firms will be drawn from around the world to

highlight critical issues in global management.

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Throughout the course, each student will complete four written papers

each on a different business case-study and one final group presentation

on a business case-study.

The course will introduce business concepts such as SWOT analyses,

Design Thinking, the Business Model Canvas and others.

This course does not require a business background; however it is

intended for students interested in working in consulting, business, and

early-stage start-ups.

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The course will be highly interactive and will require that students

complete readings before the discussions.

Please note that if students are unprepared for class discussion and do

not complete all the readings before hand, they will have a hard time

receiving a good score and/or passing the class.

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By the end of the course, the goal is this:

- Get a better understanding of how businesses operate, and how they

respond to challenges

- Gain practice on how to write / think / speak about these businesses &

challenges effectively

- Read, watch, and listen a lot.

Ultimately, I want you to become more hirable, more useful, and

someone that I would want to work with.

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Doing well in

the course

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Doing well in the course


Course page: mikeymu.com/usj

Fill out the class sign up

http://www.mikeymu.com/usj

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Grade Composition:

• 30%: Productive Participation in Class (dependent on completion of

reading + HW)

• 40%: Four Written Company Profiles (10 points each)

• 30%: Final Presentation

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Four Company Profiles: (40% of grade)

• Each week emailed to me before noon the day of the class

• 750-1000 words

• Analyzing one of the weekly companies.

• Each paper should cover the following four questions:

• What value do they offer the world (or their community)?

• How does this company make money?

• What are their major weaknesses & threats?

• What changes in the business environment should they be concerned

with? How might we want to react to them?

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Class 1 – Ford, Toyota, Tesla

Class 2 – IKEA, H&M, Prada

Class 3 – Netflix, Disney, Google, Facebook

Class 4 – Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, HSBC

Class 5 – Marriot, AirBNB

Class 6 – Final Group Presentations during class.

*These may change

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Final Group Presentations: (30% of grade)

• Final Week

• Each aprox 10-15 minutes long

• Students will deliver an in-class presentation (in groups of

4-5 students) on a different company.

• Each team will be responsible for developing a

presentation on their findings and then managing class-

wide discussion on the issues involved

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Final Note

This course should be interesting.

But you cannot wing it.

Full disclosure:

If you don’t do the readings, and don’t put real effort into

the papers, you will have a hard time passing the class

and getting a good grade.

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Quick Break

Quick Break to talk about being useful

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Again, why are

you in school?

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First, what’s a job?

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My favorite definition:

When someone pays you to do

something that is useful – either

because they can’t do it, or because

they don’t want to do it, or both.

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Speaking to a 21 year old:

I know your job

sucks sometimes...

That’s why we gave

it to you.

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So you are studying in the

Faculty of Science….

What kind of job do you want?

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What jobs are there?

Many client projects.

Wide Spread.

Multi Tasking.

Faster Pace.

Focus on your own

company.

More depth.

More singular focus.

Less fast pace.

Super Fast Pace

Very Volatile

Multi Tasking x 100

Consulting (External) In House (Internal) Start Up

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What jobs are there?

Many client projects.

Wide Spread.

Multi Tasking.

Faster Pace.

Focus on your own

company.

More depth.

More singular focus.

Less fast pace.

Super Fast Pace

Very Volatile

Multi Tasking x 100

Consulting (External) In House (Internal) Start Up

In all cases, your job is basically:

Understand why clients are using your business and

helping improve the product/service you can provide them

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How does

one become

useful?

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Be humble about being

bad, and be proud

enough to get better.Get excited about mastering the

basic tasks and be okay with the

fact that you are probably going to

be bad at basic stuff. Its okay!

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The Best Ability

is AvailabilityBe around.

Be present.

Build mentorships

(as a mentor and as a mentee)

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Listen & Read

IntentionallyDuring meetings take notes,

Become a fan of smart writing:

“Planet Money”, Michael Lewis,

Nate Silver, NYT, World Bank

Reports, etc.

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Speak and

Write PreciselyLearn to Reduce.

Say what you mean.

No hand waving.

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Timing is

everythingBe early.

Know when to listen &

when to chime in.

Don’t leave until you

finish what you said you

would.

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How to become useful

• The Best Ability is Availability

• Listen & Read Intentionally

• Speak and Write Precisely

• Timing is everything

• Be humble about being bad and be proud enough to get

better.

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Remember:We work with people.

So be a great teammate.

Communicate, be friendly,

coach, be coachable, be reliable,

& pass the ball.

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Any questions before we start the first real session?

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Intro to

Business

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Resources


• What makes you valuable?

• Why would someone want to hire you?

• Do you have a special skill?

• Willing to travel?

• Speak multiple languages?

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Resources


• What makes you valuable?

• Why would someone want to hire you?

• Do you have a special skill?

• Willing to travel?

• Speak multiple languages?

• What are your weaknesses?

• Tangible & Intangible

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What is Business?

• A business is usually defined as a commercial enterprise

• Some are run by only one person who carry out all of the required

functions. Others employ thousands of people and provide goods and

services to people all over the world

• Each business can be defined or described by:

• its type of ownership,

• the goods produced or services offered,

• the types of jobs provided,

• And/or the functions it performs in a community

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Stakeholders

• Who are the stakeholders? – Anyone who has an interest in the

success of a business

• Customers

• Managers

• Employees

• Owners

• Local Community/Environment

• Suppliers

• Government

• Creditors

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How Businesses Operate

Take Inputs Process/Manufacture Output

Costs: Fixed and Variable Revenue

Profit

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Industry

A group of businesses that all produce

similar products is called an industry

Example: Automobile manufacturers and

automobile parts is the Automobile Industry

Separated into three categories –

primary, secondary, and tertiary

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Resources


• Let's take a look at three companies to think about their

resources (tangible & intangible)

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Resources


• What are their goals as companies?

• What are their resources?

• Who are their stakeholders?

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Resources


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Industry

• Those involved in the first stage of development of products

• Harvest natural resources that are later used to manufacture products

• Mining, fishing, agriculture, forestry, and oil and gas extraction are all primary industries

• Large amounts of money is needed for research, equipment and machinery

• Automation reduces the need for labour

Primary Industry

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Industry

• Manufacture raw materials into finished products

• Gold and silver ores are refined and made into jewellery

• Crude oil is refined into machine oil, gasoline, and plastics

• Wheat is milled into flour and baked into breads and cookies

• Technology innovations has led to automation with computer assisted design

• Production is increasing using fewer workers

Secondary Industry

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Industry

• Provide services to consumers and other businesses

• Often involves selling or using products produced by secondary industries

• Tertiary industries are rapidly expanding creating job opportunities in service occupations

• Due to advances in technology (including electronics, communications, and computer science and aerospace), an aging population, busy consumers with less free time, and consumer demand for higher quality services

Tertiary Industry

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Influences on Business

Marketing

Objectives and Strategy

Human Resources

Production and

Operations Management

Accounting and Finance

External Factors

Internal Factors

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Marketing

Market Analysis

• Market Size

• Market Segments

Marketing Strategy

• Objectives of Business

• Niche versus Mass Marketing

• Marketing Portfolio

Market Research

• Primary and Secondary

The Marketing Mix

• Price

• Place

• Promotion

• Product

Marketing


Human Resources

Production and



External Factors

Internal Factors

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Legal Structure

• Sole Proprietor

• Partnership

• Corporation

Business Objectives

• Mission Statements

• Starting Business

Stakeholders

• Customers

• Suppliers

• Employees

• Communities

SWOT Analysis

• Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

Marketing


Human Resources

Production and



External Factors

Internal Factors

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Human Resources

Management Structure and Organizational Design

• Top Managers, Middle Managers, Front Line Managers

• Operatives

Leadership and Management Styles

• Autocratic, Democratic, Laissez-Faire

Management by Objectives (MBO)

Marketing


Human Resources

Production and



External Factors

Internal Factors

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Human Resources

Motivation

Recruitment and Training of Employees

Workforce Planning

Communication

Marketing


Human Resources

Production and



External Factors

Internal Factors

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Production/Operations Management

Efficiency and Effectiveness

• Stock and Quality Control

• Capacity Utilization

Production Methods

Economies and Diseconomies of Scale

Marketing


Human Resources

Production and



External Factors

Internal Factors

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Profit and Loss

Break Even Point

Balance Sheet

Budgeting

Revenue

Marketing


Human Resources

Production and



External Factors

Internal Factors

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External Influences

Market Structure

• Perfect Competition

• Monopoly

• Imperfect Competition

• Oligopoly

The Macro-Economy

• Business Cycles

• Government Objectives and Policies

The Legal Environment (The Law)

Social Responsibility

Business Ethics

Marketing


Human Resources

Production and



External Factors

Internal Factors

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SWOT Analysis


• Evaluates strategic position of the business

• Strengths (MATCH to opportunities)

• Weaknesses (turn into strengths?)

• Opportunities

• Threats (minimise or turn into opportunities)

• RELATIVE to competitors!

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i.e. Muhanna & co.

muhanna.com

+961 1 371 611

[email protected]

Thank YouMichael Muhanna

Documents

CRITICAL THINKING & DESIGNING BUSINESS SOLUTIONS...CRITICAL THINKING & DESIGNING BUSINESS SOLUTIONS Throughout the course, each student will complete four written papers each on a