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What type of accounting

professional do you want to be

– thinking beyond numbers.….1

Top five (5) tips for tutorials

……………………………………..1

Top tips – examinations: a five

(5) point plan……………………2

The 1588 Battle of Gravelines.2

True or False – Man United,

Motivation and Maslow……….2

Some cheesy puns……………..2

Tutorials: what kind of student

are you…………………….........3

Tutorials: getting the best out

of them………………………….3

True or False – Cricket Ashes

2010, Centuries, Corram Balls

and CORP 2463………………..3

Separating fact from fiction…3

Getting the best out of your

lectures – decoding the

lectures……….….……………..4

ManStrat Newsletter

C O R P 2 4 6 3 M A N S T R A T

T E R M 1 2 0 1 O R E V I E W

JANUARY 2011

WHAT KIND OF ACCOUNTING PROFESSIONAL DO YOU WANT TO BE?

– THINKING BEYOND NUMBERS

The more astute students have by now figured

out that there is need to go beyond traditional

understandings of the accounting and finance

profession i.e. beyond numbers. This should not

be a surprise given Dr Miles Weaver’s focus on

locating the module within the accounting

profession earlier in term 1.

Charles Tilley, the CIMA CEO in an interview

for insight magazine in June 2010, has in fact

also argued that modern day accountants

should learn to think beyond numbers and

towards impacting more directly on the

strategic directions of their companies.

Charles’ is certainly not a lone voice in this.

Academic papers from the 2010 issues of

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal –

still available for download on Blackboard –

which explore the notion of Accounting as

integral to framing strategy as well as the

discipline and practice of Accounting in relation

to organisational strategy also increasing add

voice to the notion of thinking beyond

numbers. The papers highlight the idea that

accounting and finance should not simply be

mechanisms for implementing and monitoring

strategy but should also be used to actively

shape how strategic matters are formulated and

decided in organisations. Some also review the

40 year literature of the linkages between

Accounting and Strategy.

Strategy is undoubtedly everywhere and part of

most things that you do. Even the completion

of your degree requires significant elements of

strategic planning, management and usage of

available resources. Have no doubt too that

the elements you learn during the module will

be crucial as you progress in your career.

Concepts like leadership, influence, motivation,

teamwork, the tools necessary for

understanding your internal organisational

resources and external environments etc are

going to be critical success factors in the

fulfilment of your career ambitions. If that is not

clear by now, then you need a good rethink of

your career aspirations.

Employers are also certainly getting in on the

act as they increasingly look for ways to

separate the ‘wheat from the chaff’ especially

in a highly competitive job market place. For

students about to venture into this job

market, the ability to have more skills or

understanding that go beyond numbers can

mean the difference between getting your

ideal job earning over 70K or working for

minimum wages in the fast food industry. And

even then, career progressions in blue chip

companies are often dependant on how well

you understand the micro and macro

environmental issues that affect your

organisation and clients. It therefore pays to

get the basics of management and strategy

right this early on. But really the choice –

good salary and career progression or a life of

merely scraping through – is yours to make.

In making that choice, do consider one thing

though: more than four out of ten of the UK's

largest PLCs are now run by individuals with

accountancy or finance or numbers

background, almost double the number

in1996. Of course they got to those positions

not only through their love for accounting,

numbers and fine appreciation of weighted-

average accumulated expenditures on self-

constructed assets but also to large extents

keen understandings of their organisation’s

competitive environment. They also

understood quite early in their careers that

modern accounting and finance professionals

need to think beyond numbers.

Top five (5) tips for tutorials

These may seem like common sense but are

surprisingly not often followed by students

1. Take responsibility for your own learning

- you are no longer in year 1

2. Prepare in advance of the session

3. Take notes...lots of notes

4. Take an interest in what others are

saying, participate and ask questions

5. Always relate the tutorial topic to your

coursework

Engage more with the

module on Twitter

To find Dr Miles

Weaver Search twitter

for

@DrMilesWeaver

CORP2463: ManStrat

Contents

Contact: Chris Odindo

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Top tips – examination: a five (5) point plan

1. Have you understood the question?

Make sure you do, and highlight the key words e.g. Porter’s 5 Forces, teams, motivation, strategy, leadership etc and bear these in mind as you complete your answer.

2. Have you defined the key words? Defining some of the terminologies can often gain you extra marks as long as

you use well recognised and reputable authors or sources. 3. Have you used the relevant model or models?

Better students are usually quick to recognise and work the relevant model (s) into their answers, something that inevitably results in more marks.

4. Have you incorporated a real world or recent example in your answer?

This is usually the best way to illustrate your understanding of the question and issues. Here you can use your chosen organisation, i.e., the one you have

been researching the whole year and any current ones in good quality press. 5. Have you demonstrated high order thinking and analysis in your

answer? It is one thing to restate definitions, models etc and another to apply them in a

show of an excellent analytical mind. So instead of simply stating that one of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is love and belonging, why not relate this to the

increasing use of teams in many current organisations like Google and Royal Band of Scotland. It is the high order analysis that gains the most marks.

True or False:

Motivation, Manchester United FC and Maslow Football clubs have for the last few decades been focusing on finding new ways of fulfilling people’s

psychological needs. As a service provider, Manchester United FC continues to seek ways to

met several of the unmet needs. These include:

Satisfying consumers’ psychological needs to belong and to achieve identity through supporting a team with others. In this case the basic product is

not consumed, although other non-football products (jerseys etc) are.

Football fans and their associates seeking to

satisfy leisure pursuits, including entertainment, excitement (through the game or gambling),

socialisation, engagement with families etc.

Secondary needs are various and include food, drink, memorabilia, paraphernalia etc.

No self respecting newsletter should be without some cheesy puns, so… 1. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.' 2. Gates leaves Microsoft, is it curtains for Windows? 3. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi. 4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption. 5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery. 6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering. 7. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie 8. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.' 9. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too. 10. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large. 11. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes. 12. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.' 13. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!' 14. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did. …and yes, we will not quit our day jobs as tutors.

The 1588 Battle of Gravelines: CORP2463,

Sir Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada

Is it possible that Sir Francis

Drake used the concept of

competitive advantage to

defeat the Spanish Armada as

well as a SWOT analysis

before the fighting at

Gravelines? OK, let’s consider

some of the evidence.

English ships had considerable

advantage being smaller, faster,

and more manoeuvrable than

the Spanish galleons. The

English also utilized the

weather gauge and long-range

gunnery to hammer the

Spanish. This approach worked

to their advantage as the

preferred Spanish tactic and

expertise called for one

broadside and then an attempt

to board.

The Spanish were furthermore

hampered by a lack of gunnery

training and correct

ammunition for their guns. In

addition, the English chose to

fight on familiar grounds near

their naval ports.

Interesting…

The 1588 Battle of Gravelines:

CORP2463, Sir Francis Drake

and the Spanish Armada

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Tutorials: what kind of student are you? 1. Do you attend tutorials regularly?

2. Do you turn up prepared to discuss the case study or your chosen organisation?

3. Do you participate in the wider discussions and ask your tutor questions?

4. Do you take notes and ask questions to clarify your understanding of the issues?

5. Are you never bothered to regularly turn up for tutorials? 6. When you turn up, do you sit there silently with little or

no interest but expect to be spoon fed the answers? 7. Do you also walk in and walk out rarely taking any notes, if

any at all? 8. Do you know your tutor’s office number?

It should not surprise you that people who answer mostly yes to the first 4 questions will have got good grades in the

recent assignment, whereas those that mostly answered yes to the last 4 will not have done so well.

Tutorials: getting the best out of them

It should be clear to most of you by now that things are

different for second years. There is a high expectation that you

will take much greater responsibilities with regards to your

learning especially during the tutorials.

Some students still expect tutors to spoon feed them during

tutorials which by now you should have figured out are really

much more about self study. University is indeed about lots of

independent self study. It really is that straight forward.

We want the best for you and are going to push you hard to

understand the concepts and ideas which will stand you in very

good stead as you career progresses. However, tutorials are

ultimately opportunities for you to challenge yourself and take

charge of your own learning…so, don’t waste them.

True or False: Cricket Ashes 2010, Centuries, Corram Balls and Corp 2463 Andy Flower is a fan of the Resource Based View Theory …

True or False?

In the last couple or so decades, resource based view theorists have contended that superior performance can

only be determined by an approach which radically differs from formulating strategy off the back of external environments – as argued for by positioning school

proponents. These theorists, including Jay Barney and Biger Wannerfelt, have argued that the superiority of

performance is dependant on internal resources and competences hence the term resource based view. The

resource based view ‘inside-out’ is often taken as a contrast to positioning school and especially Porter’s 5

forces ‘outside-in’ perspective. Winning strategies are therefore about having a set of resources which can be

configured in ways that make your performance much more different – and superior – to others, i.e., the notion

that competitive strategy is about being different or doing things differently.

This belief in resource based view has resulted in Andy’s

overall vision, strategy, man-management and maximisation of the resources available to him. This was certainly evident in the 2010 fielding – perhaps the

greatest evidence of excellent team unity –, which resulted in England taking 66 wickets in the series as compared to

57 in the last series and 63 in 2002-3.

So, Andy Flower a fan of the Resource Based View Theory… True or False? You decide.

BLOGOFF DEAL

ANY CORP 2463 BLOG NOT RESPONDED TO BY THE MODULE TEAM WITHIN FIVE BUSINESS DAYS WILL GET

……A MYSTERY PRIZE*

*genuine deal and the prize is guaranteed not to be a rubbish one

Separating fact from fiction… The exam will contain material not

covered in the lectures.

False, no module team would do that as it

is simply illogical.

Wiki and blogs are compulsory

False, they are extra resources for groups

and individuals to use as and when they

like, and are not assessed.

Material covered in class is not the

same as in the module handbook

False, see blackboard and handbook.

Groups should not be more than 5

True, ask your tutor to change that.

Miles buys chocolate for all tweeters

Find him on twitter to get an answer.

“What’s the definition

of an accountant?

Someone who solves a

problem you did not

know you had in a way

you don’t understand”

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W I N T E R 2 0 1 1 W I N T E R 2 0 1 1

Getting the best out of your lectures – decoding the lectures ‘Abandon hope all ye who enter here’: From Dante's la Divina Commedia or Divine Comedy (circa) 1308 - 1321

Unlike many accounting and finance modules, ManStrat does not have nice black and white

numbers to tuck into, but it does not always have to be a case of ‘Abandon all hope, all ye

that enter here’ each time you approach HU0.10. This small piece is about dispelling any

‘Danteresque’ feelings each time you come to class.

Lecture styles will of course vary depending on the lecturer, but there are however three

things to bear in mind and watch out for. These are:

Theory from core texts, theorists and academic journals

Real life examples to illustrate theory

Links to coursework or other assessments

Take the first term 2 lectures on strategy:

Started with Boddy on strategy as something concerned with deciding what

business an organisation should be in and providing a road map to getting there. Also,

Porter on strategy as choosing to perform activities differently from rivals or

performing similar activities differently, and Johnson, Scholes and Whittington on

strategy as something that shapes the scope and direction of the organisation’s

activities towards achieving a competitive advantage over others.

Links to lots of real life examples in the academic papers including Neutrogena,

Southwest Airlines, J C Penny, Honda Motor, Toyota and more.

Links to coursework: the notion of environmental scanning – Hunger and

Wheelen – based on the ideas of Mintzberg and Porter. E.g. Porter’s 5 Forces

as key in any understanding of an organisation’s environment and thus strategy

development and implementation. This links to the term 2 coursework which

expects your group report to have an element of environmental scanning. Indeed, the

first tutorial exercise this term is designed to get you started on your assignment with

BP as an example.

As another example, take the week 8 organisational structure and culture lecture:

Started with the theory (in this case forms of organisational structure, relation between

structure and strategy and business life cycle – all from the Boddy core text – then went

on to look at real life examples – Tesco, RBS, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Facebook etc.

Then links to organisational culture theory – Schein and Mintzberg – followed by case

studies – The NHS, Canon and Xerox, 3M and BP Oil spill)

Links were also made between the content and coursework (in this case the BP Oil spill

– a management issue and possible management theories that could be used to

analyse the issue – organisational structure and (safety) culture)

Students were also sign pointed to other resources e.g. a BBC money programme on BP

that was on the week of that lecture, the DVD copy of the programme specifically

ordered for students and a US Senate report on BP oil’s safety culture.

Further links to coursework: in other lectures, current examples and multimedia tools

were used e.g. a case study on Cisco systems using social networks and IT systems to

create professional networks and sign posts to a video blog interview the CEO John

Chambers did for Harvard Business Review. Again this was to link a key management

issue (problems of central command and control) to theory and concepts being learnt

in class (teamwork and collaboration, and managing people). Other examples used in

lectures and signposted to students include a Radio4 podcast discussing Robert

Murdoch as the most powerful leader in business and his characteristics (leadership

traits theory) and a then management issue at Manchester United with Rooney who

was apparently dissatisfied and wanted to leave (motivation theory).

So there you go….the lecturer’s code decoded.

Try watch out for the three key things during the remaining lectures.