P3 Study Text Business Analysis ACCA - OpenTuition

515 Pages·2010·2.6 MB·English

PPuubblliisshhiinngg
P3 Study Text
Business Analysis
ACCA
PPuubblliisshhiinngg
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ACCA
Paper
A

C
P3
C

A

Business Analysis

Welcome to Emile Woolf‘s study text for

Paper P3 Business Analysis which is:

(cid:132) Written by tutors
(cid:132) Comprehensive but concise

(cid:132) In simple English

(cid:132) Used around the world by Emile Woolf Colleges including
China, Russia and the UK

PPuubblliisshhiinngg
Second edition published by  
Emile Woolf Publishing Limited 
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© Emile Woolf Publishing Limited, September 2010 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval 
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Acknowledgements 
The syllabus and study guide are reproduced by kind permission of the Association of 
Chartered Certified Accountants. 

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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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iii
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iv
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
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Paper P3: Business analysis
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
The syllabus for Paper P3, Business Analysis, is primarily concerned with two issues. 
The  first  is  the  external  forces  (the  behaviour  of  customers,  the  initiatives  of 
competitors,  the  emergence  of  new  laws  and  regulations)  that  shape  the 
environment of an organisation. The second is the internal ambitions and concerns 
(desire for growth, the design of processes, the quality of products and services, the 
competences of employees, the financial resources) that exist within an organisation. 
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  and 
information technology. It examines how these opportunities may be implemented 
through the appropriate management of programmes and projects.  

The syllabus begins with the assessment of strategic position and is concerned with 
the impact of the external environment, its internal capabilities and expectations and 
how  the  organisation  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 
identified in the assessment of its strategic position.  

Strategic  action  concerns  the  implementation  of  strategic  choices  and  the 
transformation of these choices into organisational action. Such action takes place in 
day‐to‐day  processes  and  organisational  relationships  and  these  processes  and 
relationships need to be managed in line with the intended strategy, involving the 
effective coordination of information technology, people, finance and other business 
resources.  

Companies that undertake successful business process redesign 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 writers, quality issues are at 
the heart of process improvement and the continual emergence of models and 
concepts that focus on quality improvement merits its inclusion in this syllabus.  

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 measures that may be used to 
assess the viability of a strategy and to monitor and measure its success.  

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Syllabus and study guide
Throughout,  the  syllabus  recognises  that  successful  strategic  planning  and 
implementation  requires  the  effective  recruitment,  training,  motivation  and 
organisation of people.  

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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Paper P3: Business analysis
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
The syllabus is assessed by a three‐hour paper‐based examination.  

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 
defined in sections A, B and C of the syllabus, supported by capabilities defined in 
sections H and I of the syllabus. It will occasionally be supported by capabilities 
defined in sections D, E, F and G of the syllabus. The case study scenario will always 
include quantitative information, which might be financial data.  

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