EARLY

THIRD CLASS (BE FRIENDS THROUGH BLOG)

December 02. Today is the third class of IT with PUAN LIANA. Today our task is adding friends into our own blog. First friend that I'm adding is PUAN LIANA, myloveprelove.blogspot.com. Her blog full with IT knowledge. I actually can search the IT information from her blog as I diligent to do so.

Next, I'm started adding my classmate's blog into my blog page. Their blog are very interesting and very full with various design. Jealousnya.. That’s all what we do until the class dismiss.

FOURTH CLASS (CHAPTER 2)

December 03. Today we learn about IDENTIFYING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE-CHAPTER 2. When Puan Liana said the topic, I started asking myself, WHAT IS THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE???

After Puan Liana explain, I get the answer for my question. The answer are "Competitive advantages is a product or service that an organization's customers place a greater value on than similar offerings from a competitor".

Michael Porter, a university professor at Harvard Business School introduce three tools to analyze and develop competitive advantages. First, THE FIVE FORCES MODEL, second, THE THREE GENERIC STRATEGIES, and third, VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS.

THE FIVE FORCES MODEL-Evaluating Business Segments

This five forces model consists of BUYER POWER-assessed by analyzing the ability of buyers to directly impact the price they are willing to pay for an item, SUPPLIER POWER-assessed by the suppliers' ability to directly impact the price they are charging for supplies, THREAT OF SUBSTITUTE PRODUCT AND SERVICE-high when there are many alternatives to a product and service and low when there are few alternatives from which to choose, THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS-high when it is easy for new competitors to enter a market and low when there are significant entry barriers to entering a market, and lastly, RIVALRY EXISTING COMPETITORS-high when competition is fierce in a market and low when competition is more complacent.

THE THREE GENERIC STRATEGIES-Creating A Business Focus

When entering a new market, an organization can follow this Porter's three generic strategies : BROAD COST LEADERSHIP, BROAD DIFFERENTIATION, and FOCUSED STRATEGY (focused cost leadership and focused differentiation). For broad strategies reach a large market whereas for focused strategies target a niche market.

VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS-Targeting Business Processes

To evaluate the effectiveness of its business processes, an organization can use Michael Porter's value chain approach. Value chain approach views an organization as a series of processes, each of which adds value to the product or service for each customer.

End of chapter two. Until here. TATA!