PORTERS FORCES

Areas covered by the Porters Forces are below. Recommendation is to combine SWOT and Porters Forces together.

Direct Competition

You as a business need to under the forces around competition. For instance, what are your competitors doing, that they may even be doing it better.

Threat Of Entry

If there is a lot of money to be made in the sector then it's a matter of time before you start getting loads of competitors. 

Threat of Substitute

What is the likelihood that the customers can simply find an alternative product to use instead of yours.

Supplier Power

If you have just one supplier for a product then you are bound to be squeezed heavily, hence ensure you have various option.

Buyer Power

Do the customers have money or too much leverage that they can squeeze profit. 

NEGOTIATING

You can always draw up a "contingency contract", which in the sense means one party get more share if it goes one way, and it is reverse if it goes the other way.

The ordering way of information is presented has an effect on the way the negotiating is going. 

When you go into the a car show room, you will see the cars and also the price in bold. They know you will come and negotiate, but the reason for putting it there is to serve as the "anchoring point" for the start of negotiating.

BUSINESS CASE - NOTES

1. Understand your language and ensure you speak their language. Majority of the investors are older and not up to date with the technological terms used by the younger generation, hence crucial that things are kept simple
2. The product/process needs to be clear.
3. Writing the document in tiny fonts is not recommended as majority of people will need glasses.
4. Repeat key messages several times, in the executive, body, and financial sections.
5. Avoid cliches, as a good business case does not have that.
6. If you don't have access to concrete business case, speak to potential customers, and reflect that in the document.
7. The financial section should be written in a story form, the figures can be there. E.g. say there is need to £400k to move to the next stage, which in turn will increase revenue in year 2 by 30%.
8. When you are presenting financial forecast, 3-4 years is more than sufficient, anything beyond that timeframe means it will be guessing. 
9. Any pessimistic aspect should be reviewed with strategy in place to address it.
10. State clearly what is the benefit objective for the Managers(including you). 
11. Don't use words like substantial market share, it is essential for instance to say "we aim to achieve 4% of the market share".
12. When you have completed the document, read it out loud.

TOUR – HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

Ticketmaster was clever enough to have brought the tour of the Westminster Parliament to my attention when I went browsing their site for random stuff to do. After 9+ years residency in the country, it was only right for me to check out the story behind the seat of power. Since my visit to the German Budestag parliament trip, have caught the bug to try more.

In a nutshell, will recommend that everyone attempt to visit British parliament (aka Westminster Palace) at least once in his or her lifetime. Those that love politics will not need any form of persuasion, but can adequately confirm that those that not even into politics will enjoy it equally, hence if you are ever thinking of where to go or do in London, then a tour of the parliament is a high recommendation.

Cost and Tour Duration

Ticket for adults does retail for £15, if you are lucky to be a student, then it’s £10. The guided tour last approximately 75mins. You will be wishing it was longer by the end of the tour.

Rules and Regulations

Below are some of the guidance we were told to adhere to during the visit, in summary, breathing is the only thing you are allowed to do. It’s quite a strict procedure, but as my accomplice expressed, it actually makes you focus more on the tour. Some of the ones highlighted were:

1.     No death – neither you nor the MPs are allowed to die in the parliament building, hence if you have any idea that you might have heart attack or something, then please stay out. This is serious and not a joke as you might be thinking.

2.     No camera allowed once the tour begins. The only exception is the “Westminster Hall”, the point where we are gathered when waiting for the tour to begin.

3.     No Mobile phones – preference is for the phones to be switched off but you are also allowed to put it in silent mode. So those of you Facebooker and Twitterers that like to keep people up to date with your affairs might not be able to do that for 75 mins, lets hope your followers don’t think you are dead.

4.     No seating – you must adequately be abled for the tour as there is no seating allowed during the tour. Reason for this is because you need to be a Lord or member of the parliament to seat in the House of Lords and House of Common respectively. Seating facilities in the other rooms are for important dignitaries and goes along with the same principles.

5.     No riff raff behaviour – e.g. chewing gums, spitting, swearing, and all those crazy characteristics that you exhibit anywhere else.

Statistics

The parliament seats on an area of 8 acres (3.2 hectares), 3 miles of passageways, 1,100 rooms, height of clock Tower is 316 feet (96m), and height of the Victoria Tower is 323 feet (98m).

Facts

1.     Red is the colour denotation for the house of Lords, and Green for the house of common.

2.     As you might have suspected, the décor in house of Lords are splendid and probably defined as out of this world, but house of common is very basic (probably secured from Ikea).

3.     Lords respond by answering “Content” (in favour) or “Not Content” (against the motion).

4.     Members of the house of common respond to motion by saying either "Aye" (in favour of the motion) or "No" (against the motion).

5.     If you watching the debate on TV, and see the MPs leaning their head against the seats, was informed they are not sleeping, what in fact they are doing is listening to the questions/responses through the speakers integrated into the side of the seats.

6.     During the Prime Minister question time, the opposition is allowed to asks six questions, with the first one very basic such as how was the week going.

7.     The reason why the Prime Minister of the day always has a very large file is because it contains response(s) to all possible questions that the opposition might raise. This means that the advisers to the PM need to have thought off all the questions the opposition could ask, and provide the response (or data) in the folder which the PM has in front of him(or her).

8.     As of today (2012), there are currently 650 elected MPs, but there is a plan to cut that down to 600 for the next election (2015).Yep, some MPs are not happy as their constituencies might disappear entirely, and some will have to do a merger. Discussion on the implementation strategy remains a hot debate.

9.     There is also a recommendation to cut down the amount of the Lords, a motion tabled by the current (2012) coalition partner, Lib Dem.

Westminster Hall

Work commenced on the hall during the reign of Williams the conquerer’s son, William Rufus, in 1097. It was completed in 1099 and designed to host great state occasions and be a place for feasts and entertainment. It is has witnessed some of the pivotal moments in British history (e.g. trial of Guy fawkes and King Charles I).

At 240 feet x 68 feet (73m x 20.7m) in dimension, it was the second largest building in Europe during it’s early days. Am in agreement with the guide that confirmed that it is an architectural spectacle, with the largest surviving single span mediaeval timber roof in Northern Europe, and has witnesses

Keep a close on the floor as you will notice some of the key events commemorated on brass plaques.

Click Here to read more about Westminster Hall

One most important thing, please arrive about 20 mins earlier in order to pass through security and make your timeslot for tour. The show will begin with or without you being present. 

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