Improved Your Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Yourself

¶ … improved your knowledge, skills, abilities, and yourself in this session through this course.

This course taught me to understand the different approaches for analyzing a variety of firms and their strengths / weaknesses. These insights helped me to look at challenges and other issues more objectively. When this happens, I can effectively comprehend what is occurring and troubleshoot the different problems. This improved my ability to conduct self-evaluations and study the mindset of people / organizations more effectively. It is at this point when I was able to see new approaches for enhancing my quality of life and identifying new opportunities when they emerge. (Kaplan, 2005) (Oakland, 2000)

Evaluation of the work you did during the session for the class and explanations of ways you could have performed better.

The work that was performed during the class was accurate, insightful and objective. This is based upon the numerous tools and organizations that were utilized. However, to perform better I could have taken these techniques one step further. This is occurring by studying the balance sheets more in depth and conducting interviews with executives inside the various firms. If this has taken place, my analysis and findings would be more up-to-date by using an insider's perspective. (Kaplan, 2005) (Oakland, 2000)

Topics you have identified that you did not understand or were not successful in trying to implement and suggestions you may have about how to improve the course material on those topics.

The biggest challenge is the conflicting results that can occur with the balance score card approach (BSC). While this will provide insights about what is happening with a firm. Some executives can place too much emphasis on it. To improve their ability to analyze the information requires using different tools in conjunction with each other. During this process, the conclusions need to be equally weighted in contrast to one another. ("What is the Balance Scorecard," 2012) (Kaplan, 2005

Ways you might measure the future effects of what you have learned in this course or your future progress/improvement.

One possible strategy is to create a model that is looking at the different perspectives in the form of a check list. This will have various conclusions from each method and ensure that everyone can compare the results with each other. When this happens, everyone has a better understanding of key challenges and the way they are influencing the findings of the analysis. (Kaplan, 2005) (Oakland, 2000)

State whether you achieved the course objectives (listed on the module 6 home page and course syllabus page)

I was able to gain greater perspectives about what is occurring in the world of business. This is helping me to objectively study firms and with more precise accuracy. Once this took place, is the point that I had a better understanding of the company, its business model and the challenges they are facing. This is when I could offer insights and recommendations for addressing critical issues in the future. (Kaplan, 2005) (Oakland, 2000)