Grade 12

TRENDS, NETWORKS, AND

CRITICAL THINKING IN THE 21ST
2
CENTURY
Module 2: Local Networks
1st Semester

____________________________________________________________________________
MDM-Sagay College, Inc.
Office: Feliza Bldg., Marañon St. Pob 2, Sagay City
Campus: National Highway, Poblacion 2, Sagay City, Negros Occidental
Tel.# 488-0531/ email: [email protected].

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Module 2: Local Networks

Lesson 1. Strategic Analysis

Lesson 2. Intuitive Thinking

Learning Outcomes: At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:
1. understand strategic analysis and intuitive thinking;
2. explain strategic analysis and intuitive thinking;
3. Apply strategic analysis;
4. Apply intuitive thinking in solving a problem in the community using a map of social
networks.

Lesson 1. Strategic Analysis

What I know

Read the questions carefully and select the best answer. Write the letter of your answer on a
separate paper.

__________1. It is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing,

applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by,
observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

a. Critical thinking
b. Problem-solving
c. analysing
d. interpretation

__________2. A social science concerned with the production, distribution, and consumption of
goods and services.

a. analysing
b. economic
c. politics
d. trends

_________3. Combining social and cultural factors.

a. Socio-economic
b. Socio-cultural
c. politics
d. government

_________4. The following are the examples of technology, EXEPT!

a. Personal Computer
b. Smart phones
c. drawer
d. automated cabinets

_________5. Relating to the natural world and the impact of human activity on its condition.

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 a. climate change
b. technological
c. socio-cultural
d. environmental

What’s In

The images above show the strategic analysis. Just explore yourself in knowing this lesson!

What’s New

 What is Strategic Analysis

 The process of conducting research on the business environment within which an

organization operates and on the organization itself, in order to formulate strategy.

 Tools of Strategic Analysis

 PEST Analysis
 SWOT Analysis

 Porter Five Forces Analysis

 Value Chain Analysis
 Three Steps for Conducting a Value Chain Analysis

What is It

What is Strategic Analysis?

Strategic analysis refers to the process of conducting research on a company and its operating
environment to formulate a strategy. The definition of strategic analysis may differ from an
academic or business perspective, but the process involves several common factors:
1. Identifying and evaluating data relevant to the company’s strategy
2. Defining the internal and external environments to be analyzed
3. Using several analytic methods such as Porter’s five forces analysis, SWOT analysis, and
value chain analysis

What is Strategy?

A strategy is a plan of actions taken by managers to achieve the company’s overall goal and other
subsidiary goals. It often determines the success of a company. In strategy, a company is

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essentially asking itself, “Where do you want to play and how are you going to win?” The following
guide gives a high-level overview of business strategy, its implementation, and the processes that
lead to business success.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. A SWOT diagram
usually takes the form of a four-box quadrant and a set of short statements related to each
element written in each box. Arranging the quadrants in the way shown below provides useful
views by; internal and external focus (reading across) and; an enabler and challenge focus
(reading down):

The purpose of the SWOT analysis is to summarise an overall position in a single chart. The
following are some of the things to be considered for each area:

Strengths

• What advantages does the organisation have over others?

• What is likely to produce the greatest return on investment?
• What does the organisation do well?
• What would be the best thing to implement quickly?
• If we are not looking at an obvious area, why not?

Weaknesses

• What are the areas where we should and could do better?

• Which areas should we avoid altogether?
• What do our customers consistently complain about?
• What do our employees consistently complain about?
• Do we have any internal/external processes that are obviously slow?

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Opportunities

• What are the obvious opportunities we can see?

• What are the current exciting trends in the marketplace?
• What are the predicted long-term trends in the market and technology?
• Are there any social, lifestyle or population changes we can exploit?
• What is happening with our existing development programmes?

Threats

• What are the biggest external obstacles we face?

• What are our competitors doing?
• Are there any government/regulatory changes we need to note?
• Can we keep up with technological changes?
• How good is our relationship with our suppliers?

A SWOT analysis is a very useful tool that can be used as part of a serious analysis or as a ‘warm-
up’ exercise to kick-start a period of analysis. For the latter, it can show an organisation where,
provided the right people are involved, a wealth of understanding can be gained by using internal
subject matter experts.
PESTLE
PESTLE analysis, or the shortened version PEST analysis, is a mnemonic that stands for Political,
Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental. It is a strategic tool used to
look at ‘the big picture’. It focuses on changes to the business environment that can have either
a positive or negative impact.
For example, a positive impact may be the introduction of a new technology enabling a company
to reach a larger number of customers. A negative impact may be a change in safety legislation
that results in an increased cost and therefore reduced profit.

The PESTLE process usually has three steps:

1. Use the mnemonic to identify the ‘big-picture’ changes

2. Identify the opportunities or threats resulting from the changes
3. Build elements into your strategy to mitigate threats or take advantage of opportunities.

The following questions that can be asked for each element:

Political

• How stable is the government, is an election due?

• Who are the most likely contenders for power positions?
• Are there any pending tax or legislation changes?
• Is there a trend to regulation or deregulation?
• Are there any other political factors that may change?

Economic

• Is the economy stagnating, growing or declining?

• Are important exchange rates volatile?
• Is disposable income rising or falling?
• What is the unemployment rate?
• How easy will it be to build a skilled workforce?

Socio-Cultural

• Is the population growing, what is the age profile?

• What are the current employment patterns?

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 • Are there any generational shifts in attitude?
• Are there changing attitudes to regular employment?
• Do lifestyle or religious choices impact products choice?

Technological

• Are there new technologies on the near horizon?

• Do your competitors have access to new technologies?
• Are there research bodies you should be affiliated to?
• Are technological changes causing social change?
• Are there new communications system available?

Legal

• Have there been any recent major changes to law?

• Are there any recent international changes to law?
• Have any regulatory bodies been highlighted?
• Has consumer protection changed or about to change?
• Are there any new industry specific regulations?

Environmental

• Do environmental issues impact your products?

• Have your stakeholder or investor values changed?
• Does pollution or waste management impact you?
• Is staff engagement and morale high or low?
• Are there any global factors that need consideration?

Once a set of big-picture factors has been identified they should be categorised as opportunities
or threats. The factors can then be used in the strategic process to develop objectives that either
mitigate the problem or take advantage of the opportunity.

Porter’s Five Forces

Unlike PESTLE analysis which concentrates on a big-picture, Michael Porter of Harvard

University, the principal innovator of the ‘Five Forces’ suggests that this analysis is aimed at micro-
environment. That is, it looks at the forces close to a company that affect its ability to serve its
customers and make a profit.

The five forces are:

1. Buyers – Buyers are always happier to pay less and get more. In the mobile phone
network industry price competition is fierce. Consumers simply want the cheapest
connection option.
2. Suppliers – Suppliers want to be paid more to deliver less. Powerful suppliers will insist
on higher prices or more favourable terms. Especially when they are the only supplier in
town.
3. Substitutes – Where a product or service can be easily substituted for something else.
These may not be obvious rivals, they may come from different industries.
4. New Entrants – New entrants can often cause tension. Occasionally a new company
arises that does something differently at a lower cost but provides the same service. This
can cause existing companies to spend more to retain customers.
5. Existing Rivals – The existing competition still needs to be accounted for and intense
competition reduces everyone’s profitability.

These five forces define every company/organisation structure, once they are understood they
can be used to shape the future and enable better predictions and a more competitive strategy.

The following questions can be asked to identify factors related to the five forces:

Bargaining Power of the Customers

• How many buyers are there in the market?

• Can the buyers ‘group’ together to buy in force?

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 • Are the buyers concentrated in a geographic region?
• Can a buyer switch easily?
• What is the total amount of trading?

Bargaining Power of the Suppliers

• How many suppliers are there in the market?
• Which of the supplier’s control prices?
• How easy is it to switch to a new supplier?
• How different are the supplier’s services/products?
• How good is the supplier’s distribution channel?

Threat of Substitutes
• How easy is it to find a near-equivalent?
• Can the service be outsourced?
• Can the service be automated?
• What is the perceived level of differentiation?
• Are quality, availability or price determining factors?

Threat of New Entrants

• How easy is it to start this line of business?
• What are the major barriers to entry?
• Are there any regulatory or government policy requirements?
• Are there significant established economies of scale?
• Is customer loyalty or brand loyalty an influencing factor?

Existing Competitive Rivalry

• What is the existing level of competition?
• What is the competitive situation?
• Are there opportunities for innovation?
• What is the customer acquisition cost comparison?
• What is the level of transparency between competitors?

The five forces are often presented in a diagrammatic form with Existing Competitive Rivals in the
middle indicating both the importance of this force and the impact the other forces have upon it.

Benchmarking

Strategically you should not be looking at improved results in comparison to your organization’s
previous results. A 10% increase in sales may appear to be a good thing, but it becomes

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insignificant if your nearest competitors are increasing sales by 30%. The same applies to many
other factors, for example, the introduction of new technology or customer satisfaction.

To ensure you can compete effectively, you must compare your performance to the best in the
industry. This is benchmarking. By looking at industry standards you can see how you are
progressing to a reference other than your own performance.
In some instances, it may be worthwhile looking at ‘similar’ industries rather than the same as
your own. For example, in the last decade, a well know airline gained a massive competitive
advantage (granted for only a short time) when examining airport turnaround times. Rather than
looking at other airlines, they looked at the motor industry, specifically motorsports. They carefully
examined what happened during pit-stops. They we able to translate some of the activities to a
much larger scale and improve the airport stop-overs considerably. The net effect was more
scheduled flights that had fewer delays.

Benchmarking can be undertaken in a formal or informal way. Formal benchmarking usually

requires a source benchmark to be either purchased or researched by a benchmarking
organization. Output from formal benchmarking can be of high quality and provide valuable
insights, however, its preparation can be expansive and time consuming.

Informal benchmarking requires some level of research as well but can also be undertaken by
subject matter experts who simply apply common knowledge. Benchmarking brainstorming
sessions can be remarkably effective. One method often used in informal benchmarking is the
use of a ‘Strategy Canvas’.
The Strategy Canvas is one the Blue Ocean Strategy strategic tools. It can be used to provide
benchmarking insights while at the same time providing the basis for identification of a
differentiated ‘extension’ to a service or product.

The classic, and well known, example of this technique which has been widely discussed is that
of South West airlines:

Lesson 2. Intuitive Thinking

What’s In

The images above show different types of speech acts. Just explore yourself in knowing this
lesson!

What’s New

What is Intuitive Thinking?

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  Intuitive thinking is basically the kind of thinking that helps you understand reality in the
moment, without logic or analysis. There’s no language involved in it, either. It’s entirely
about signs and sensations. Most of the time, it goes against whatever we might think of
as “rational”.

4 Types of Intuitive Thinking

 Emotional intuitive thinking

 Mental intuitive thinking
 Psychic intuitive thinking
 Spiritual intuitive thinking

What is It
Intuitive Thinking- Even now, intuitive thinking is a mystery to the world of science. However,
we’ve managed to make some progress and get a better understanding of this fascinating,
unpredictable part of our brains. It’s somewhere between emotions and rationality, which is
exactly why it’s so mysterious.
According to science, intuitive thinking happens in a region of our brain close to the pineal gland.
In other words, it lines up with the middle of your forehead, between your eyebrows. You can’t
use intuitive thinking whenever you want, though. It only shows up in “moments of inspiration”.
Plus, it really works. It’s what some people call doctors’ “clinical eye” or being a “visionary”.

The 4 Types of Intuitive Thinking

1. Emotional intuitive thinking. This has to do with your ability to immediately pick up on other
people’s personality traits or emotional states. You can see who they are, or how they are, without
them having to say anything.
2. Mental intuitive thinking. This is about finding an immediate answer to a problem, without
analyzing it. It’s very common in people with jobs that require quick decisions, like firefighters or
bomb technicians.
3. Psychic intuitive thinking. This means having the ability to choose the best path to overcome a
personal difficulty, without putting much mental effort into it. It also means being able to pick up
on social and work-related dynamics.
4. Spiritual intuitive thinking. This has to do with states of enlightenment” or “revelations”. They’re
more of an experience than a fact. Buddhists talk about this kind of intuition more than anyone
else, which has given it a mystical quality.

What’s More

ACITVITY: Answer the following questions. Choose the correct answer and write it on the space
provided.
__________1. It means going with one's first instinct and reaching decisions quickly based on
automatic cognitive processes.

a. Critical thinking
b. Problem-solving
c. Intuitive thinking
d. metacognition

__________2. “A little help is better than a lot of pity” What type of Intuitive thinking is it?

a. Critical thinking

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 b. Problem-solving
c. Emotional Intuitive thinking
d. Spiritual intuitive thinking

___________3. Anna and friends are planning to eat dinner outside. Upon checking her wallet,
she doesn’t have enough money and she decided not to go with friends. What type
of intuitive thinking is it?

a. Mental intuitive thinking

b. Psychic intuitive thinking
c. Emotional Intuitive thinking
d. Spiritual intuitive thinking
___________4. It includes a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and it
typically involves a search for meaning in life.

a. Mental intuitive thinking

b. Psychic intuitive thinking
c. Spiritual intuitive thinking
d. Emotional Intuitive thinking

____________5. Has the ability to know what other people are thinking or what will happen in the
future.

a. Mental intuitive thinking

b. Spiritual intuitive thinking
c. Psychic intuitive thinking
d. Emotional Intuitive thinking

What I Have Learned

Intuitive Thinking- Intuitive thinking means going with one's first instinct and reaching decisions
quickly based on automatic cognitive processes. Reflective thinking involves the questioning of
first instinct and consideration of other possibilities, thus allowing for counterintuitive decisions.

4 Types of Intuitive Thinking

1. Emotional intuitive thinking. This has to do with your ability to immediately pick up on
other people’s personality traits or emotional states. You can see who they are, or how they
are, without them having to say anything.

2. Mental intuitive thinking. This is about finding an immediate answer to a problem, without
analyzing it. It’s very common in people with jobs that require quick decisions, like
firefighters or bomb technicians

3. Psychic intuitive thinking. This means having the ability to choose the best path to
overcome a personal difficulty, without putting much mental effort into it. It also means
being able to pick up on social and work-related dynamics.

4. Spiritual intuitive thinking. This has to do with states of enlightenment” or “revelations”.

They’re more of an experience than a fact. Buddhists talk about this kind of intuition more
than anyone else, which has given it a mystical quality.

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 What I Can Do
Reflect on what you have learned after taking up this lesson by completing the chart below.

I thought…..
What were your
thoughts or ideas →
about strategic →
analysis and
→
intuitive thinking
prior to the
discussion of this
lesson?

What new or
additional ideas I learned that…..
you learn after →
taking up this
lesson? How can →
you apply that in →
your lives?

Assessment
ACTIVITY: In not less than ten (10) sentences, explain what is asked. (5points)
1. In your own words, how intuitive are you?

Additional Activities

Essay Writing: In maximum of 300 words, differentiate strategic analysis and intuitive thinking.
(Own words)

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