Workbench Purpose
Use the External Environment Definition workbench to compile and maintain the definition of the external environment in which your organization operates - i.e., the competitive influences and stresses; the cultural, political, demographic and economic considerations; the technological (integration) and regulatory requirements; the target market and related market drivers; the business partners and related dependencies; the competitors operating in the target market; as well as other external risk factors that have a direct or indirect bearing on its enterprise.
In other words, the sum total of its 'surroundings' including forces and other entities and parties that set the conditions and context of the organization's commercial endeavors. This definition provides essential background information for various management planning activities, including strategy formulation and enterprise development efforts. Snapshots can be taken of relevant aspects of this information and added to the organization's profile.
Elements of the External Environment Definition may also originate from other sources, such as specialized portals or other projects using external systems. In other words, where appropriate, the information may be created elsewhere and then either be imported, or manually captured with the externally-generated image attached to the relevant aspect of the profile definition.
Foundational Concepts
About the Bizverse
The Bizverse is a controlled, Cloud-based community that allows member enterprises to collaborate and connect with partners, clients and their own people. Each participating member has its own Workspace (also referred to as a Reposistory) in the Bizverse Cloud.
About Workspaces
A Workspace is an organization-specific (private) digital storage area in the Bizverse Cloud that is shared between applications and users of that organization. In other words, a Workspace is a (Cloud-based) container of a particular organization's application data and other information (documents, images, profiles snapshots, etc.) as produced and used by the set of linked web applications and their users. By using web applications that are linked to the Workspace, users place data and information into (and retrieve same from), the Workspace. An organization typically has one Workspace (but may have more). Users are granted access to the portal applications of a specified Workspace - if a user has access to multiple Workspaces, (s)he would have to select the Workspace (using the Workspace Selector Control that is provided in the User Interface of the application), that is appropriate for the particular action such user wishes to perform. Once the Workspace is selected, it is set as the active Workspace and will remain in effect until another Workspace is selected. Users with multi-Workspace access need to be attentive to which Workspace is active to ensure that additions and edits are made to the correct data set.
About Bizverse Communities
A Community is a purpose-oriented collaboratory that is administered and managed by a community sponsor. Bizverse communities espouse a wide range of goals and aims, each community offering a unique value proposition to its members: a portfolio of products and services called Growthware that serves the community's particular objectives.
About Growthware
The term GrowthWare is a generic reference to a wide range of products and services - including intellectual property, tools, instruments, expert know-how and outsourced services - that are provided to members of a community; a product/service offering is considered to be GrowthWare when its use by a community member is controlled by means of an agreement, such as a license or contract.
About the Enterprise Bizverse Profile
An Enterprise Bizverse Profile is composed of the Bio-sheet and snapshots of other information that is considered to be relevant for this purpose, such as the organization's Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Governance Framework, Strategic Objectives and so forth. In other words, a multi-faceted information dossier which, among other items of information includes the organization's history, number and quality of its human, financial, system and other physical resources. It reflects 'who and what you are' as an organization, and thus serves as a reference for your customers, employees, suppliers, investors, media and other stakeholders. It is especially valuable as a roadmap for growth. Appropriate elements of this profile can be selectively shared with business partners and clients via the Bizverse Object Exchange, should you choose to do so.
About Profile Snapshots
Profile Snapshots are historical information information artefacts that reflect the different facets of an enterprise's profile as it existed at a particular point in time. Snapshots can be made of any object that is considered to be relevant for this purpose, e.g., governance frameworks and registers (Risk Register, Asset Register, Policies and Procedures, and so on), registrations, licenses, audits, evaluations, dashboards, analysis outcomes and situation assessments and more.
Workbench Objects
Basis of Competing
Refers to the means applied by an enterprise to distinguish its value propositions (products or services) from competing value propositions (Porter identifies three such schemes namely cost leadership, differentiation, and market segmentation/focus - market segmentation is narrow in scope; both cost leadership and differentiation are relatively broad in market scope).
Business Partner
A Business Partner is a commercial entity with which your organization has some form of alliance. This relationship may range from one that is a highly contractual, exclusive bond in which both entities commit not to ally with third parties, to a very loose partnership arrangement that is based on some 'understanding' between the two parties.
Competitive Barrier
Competitive barriers are restrictions and obstacles contrived by the enterprise to hamper and obstruct a competitor’s plans and actions aimed at advancing such competitor's market position at the expense of the enterprise. Competitive Barriers are typically positive in nature and include actions that improve the enterprise’s competitive position (e.g., patents, predatory pricing, customer loyalty, advertising, R&D, sunk costs, network effect, restrictive practices, distributor agreements, vertical integration, cost advantages independent of scale, proprietary technology, know-how, favorable access to raw materials, favorable geographic locations, learning curve cost advantages and so on).
Competitor
Competition refers to the effort of two or more parties acting independently to secure the business of a third party by offering the most favorable terms. A competitor is an independent commercial entity that operates in the same business space as the enterprise and competes with the enterprise to secure the business of a third party.
Competitor Plan
Competitor Plans refer to intelligence gained regarding a particular competitor's strategies, plans and market behavior in relation to its specific competitive offerings to the enterprise's target market.
External Dependency
An external dependency refers to a reliance on outside entities (such as lenders, suppliers, customers, competitors, government, unions) who, directly and proportionately, limit a firm's freedom of choice in operations and strategy.
All organizations depend in varying degrees on some elements in their external environment such as supply chains, bank loans, competition for market share and customers, a major stockholder, and labor markets. The options for managing external dependencies are: (1) to reduce external demands and increase countervailing power by (a) the choice of a domain or niche market for products or services, (b) expansion through diversification, (c) favorable relations with external elements, and (d) control of operations in the domain; and (2) to minimize the cost of complying with external demands by modifying organizational design to adapt to the external environment.
To learn more about External Dependencies, click here...
Market Segment
Market Segmentation is a strategic management concept whereby a broad target market is conceptually divided into smaller factions - called segments - each segment being comprised of like-minded prospective customers. A Market Segment is thus an identifiable group of individuals, families, businesses, or organizations, sharing similar interests, attitudes and perceptions - generally referred to as needs - in an otherwise homogeneous market.
Markets can be segmented based on geographic, demographic (age, gender, lifestyle, income), psychographic (lifestyle, social class, personality characteristics), or behavioral considerations, or a combination of these. For example, should segmentation be done on the basis of behavioral considerations the resultant segments would generally respond in a predictable manner to a marketing or promotion offer.
Market segmentation helps marketers to understand the needs of the target market and to devise marketing strategies and promotional schemes accordingly. Well defined segmentation is indicative of a management team that knows and understands its external environment.
Market Driver
Market Drivers are the forces that compel consumers to purchase products and pay for services. Market drivers manifest as the trends that are responsible for markets to grow and develop - consider for example the trends in mobile telecoms (from simple first generation voice-oriented voice telephony to the current fourth-generation multi-service integration using so-called smart devices). The broad market driver categories include (i) new technology innovation and development, (ii) events such as disasters and upheavals, (iii) government policies and legislation (with associated incentives and penalties), and (iv) the needs of the market participants (e.g., cost savings, extensive distribution, customer focus, substitute products and the buyers' propensity to substitute, relative price performance of substitutes, perceived product differentiation, etc.).
Regulatory Requirement
Regulatory Requirements refer to the demands placed upon the organization by government (local or national), international law and treaties, and also by industry self-regulation (the requirement to comply to a minimum standard).
Socio-Political Consideration
Socio-Political Considerations represent the pressures which arise from society and its morals, ethics, prejudices, religious concepts and behavioral precepts (as propagated by - for example - its cultural, religious, environmental, nationalistic/tribal institutions). These pressures are typically not regulated. Acceding to these pressures would indicate that the business is a good corporate citizen.
Workbench Architecture
Workbooks & Functions
A single instance of the Bio-Sheet is maintained per Workspace. In other words, there is only one Bio-Sheet for your organization which reflects its current information (you can take snapshots of this sheet each time it is updated should you wish to maintain a historical perspective of this information; if your organization is part of a group, each organization would have its own Workspace and thus its own Bio-Sheet - you can use the Organization Hierarchy Workbook that is provided by the Enterprise Environment Workbench to show your organization's relationship to others in the group; a snapshot of this hierarchy can be added to the profile).
Besides the normal object attributes that are included with the Bio-Sheet (e.g., organization name, legal type, description, etc.), the workbook object model makes provision for multiple NAIC and SIC industry classifications, multiple executive and management resources, product brands, outside service firms and social media assets. A wide range of snapshot types can also be used to add additional facets to the profile, such as financial performance (e.g., balance sheets and income statements) and any of the outputs of the Enterprise Environment Definition Workbench (such as the organization's hierarchy).
Snapshots can take one of two formats; it can either be an instance of a specifically defined object type, or alternatively, it can be an undefined attachment. Undefined in this context refers to (image) attachments, where the details of the attachment are undefined (the snapshot instance is described in terms of the date, time, source and the 'kind of' snapshot is is, but the attachment's content elements are not defined).
When a snapshot is an instance of a specifically defined object type, it means that an Object Type definition exists which describes each element of the snapshot instance (in other words, a subtype definition is available for the particular snapshot, e.g., Balance Sheet, Income Statement, etc.). These snapshots are typically created using the functions provided by another Bizverse portal (for example, a Growthware offering that is provided by a certain Community sponsor may allow the user to develop a strategic enterprise development plan; using the facilities provided by such portal one would be able to take a snapshot of the resultant Strategic Portfolio, which can then be added it to the Enterprise's Bizverse Profile).
For more information, see Related Topics below.
Navigation & Processing Options
With the Enterprise Bizverse Portal active - www.bizverse.biz - use the Workbench Selector to activate the Enterprise Profile Workbench. Workbook objects and related structures that can be accessed once this workbench is active are as follows:
Enterprise Bio-sheet - use the Workbook Selector to pick this option from the list that is presented in the drop-down control; use the Edit button control located in the Workbook Toolbar to update the Bio-sheet information; use the Drill-Down button control located in the Workbook Toolbar to activate the Attributive Objects Pane which allows you to manage the following sub-components of the Enterprise Bizverse Profile:
Snapshots - click the Snapshots Tab in the Attributive Objects Pane to view the set of snapshot instances that are part of your organization's profile; with the Snapshots Tab in the Attributive Objects Pane active, double click the desired snapshot instance to open and view its content; use the Add Snapshot Instance Button control to add another snapshot instance; use the Delete Snapshot Instance Button control to remove and archive a selected snapshot instance;
Industry Classifications - click the Industry Classifications Tab in the Attributive Objects Pane to view the set of industry classification instances that are part of your organization's profile; with the Industry Classifications Tab active, double click the desired classification instance to open and view its content; use the Add Industry Classification Instance Button control to add another classification instance; use the Delete Industry Classification Instance Button control to remove and archive a selected classification instance;
Product Brands - click the Product Brands Tab in the Attributive Objects Pane to view the set of product brand instances that are part of your organization's profile; with the Product Brands Tab active, double click the desired product brand instance to open and view its content; use the Add Product Brand Instance Button control to add another product brand instance; use the Delete Product Brand Instance Button control to remove and archive a selected product brand instance;
Executives & Management - click the Executive & Management Tab in the Attributive Objects Pane to view the set of executive and management resource instances that are part of your organization's profile; with the Executive & Management Tab active, double click the desired executive and management resource instance to open and view its content; use the Add Executive & Management Resource Instance Button control to add another executive and management resource instance; use the Delete Executive & Management Resource Instance Button control to remove and archive a selected executive and management resource instance;
Outside Service Firms - click the Outside Service Firms Tab in the Attributive Objects Pane to view the set of outside service firm instances that are part of your organization's profile; with the Outside Service Firms Tab active, double click the desired outside service firm instance to open and view its content; use the Add Outside Service Firm Instance Button control to add another outside service firm instance; use the Delete Outside Service Firm Instance Button control to remove and archive a selected outside service firm instance;
Social Media Assets - click the Social Media Assets Tab in the Attributive Objects Pane to view the set of social media asset instances that are part of your organization's profile; with the Social Media Assets Tab active, double click the desired social media asset instance to open and view its content; use the Add Social Media Asset Instance Button control to add another social media asset instance; use the Delete Social Media Asset Instance Button control to remove and archive a selected social media asset instance;
Processing Sequence
When a Bizverse Workspace is created (as part of the registration procedure), the Bio-sheet record instance is automatically created (in other words, it is created when you register a Bizverse Workspace for your organization). Once a user has been granted appropriate access rights, the Bio-Sheet can be accessed and updated.
The attributive objects (or sub-components) of the Enterprise Profile (e.g., snapshots, product brands, executives & management, etc.) can be accessed and updated from this point in the portal's user interface. That is, from the Bio-Sheet display, use the Drill-down Button control to access the desired attributive object - the Attributive Objects Pane will appear with the attributive object options shown as tabs across the top of the pane; click the tab label to bring the related sheet into focus.
With the relevant attributive object sheet active, select and use the appropriate tool to perform the required action (e.g. add, edit or remove an instance of the active object type).