Resilience

Meaning

thrive during the change

process, while a colleague with
apparently similar skills and
experience struggles to cope.

Resilience is the abilit y

tobounce back from a
difficult or adverse situation.
Its the quality that enables one
person to respond well and

Resilience helps people regain

control much more quickly
during times of change. It helps
them maintain higher
performance levels and

improves their overall sense of

wellbeing. Resilience also
helps people make sense of
change more quickly, so they
understand the impact on them
and other people. At the same
time, resilience helps people
deal with multiple changes
without being overwhelmed.

People who are more resilient than others think and do things differently:
1. They believe that there is no such thing as failure only mistakes. They believe that they can
learn from mistakes.
When something happens in their life, they review the situation afterwards, they step back and
ask themselves: what can I learn from this? When things get difficult they are able to stop and
pause. This creates a gap. In this gap they create a conscious choice to respond to whats
happening rather than reacting to the situation.
2. People who are more resilient than others have a well balanced outlook on life.
They believe that yes, some things in life are difficult and challenging, and that some things in
life are also rich, interesting, enjoyable and beautiful. They can experience all of these things.
Resilient people also belief that life is an exploration, that life is to be experienced and that if
something doesnt work, they try something else until theyve found something that does work.
All of us get knocked down, but its resilience that really matters. All of us do
well when things are going well, but the thing that distinguishes athletes is
the ability to do well in times of great stress, urgency and pressure. Roger
Staubach
What resilience really means
In essence, being resilient means being able to adapt and bounce back when something difficult
happens in our lives. It is the ability to once again pick ourselves up after a trauma or painful
experience. Our levels of resiliency will change and develop throughout our live, and at points
we will find that we do not cope as well as others, as well as surprising ourselves when we
manage a difficult situation. In another sense, resilience is just one of many psychological tools
we implement to get us back to feeling normal again.
Why is it important?
As we all know, when we are in a weakened position where we feel as if things are going from
bad to worse, it can be very difficult to find our balance, or swim against the tide, or, recover and
regain stability.
Resilience is important for a number of reasons; it enables us to develop mechanisms for
protection against experiences which could be overwhelming, it helps us to maintain balance in
our lives during difficult or stressful periods of time, and can also protect us from the
development of some mental health difficulties and issues. Some of the various benefits to
becoming more resilient are listed below.

Improved learning and academic achievement.

2

Lower absences from work or study due to sickness.

Reduced use of risk taking behaviours such as excessive drinking, smoking or use of
drugs.

Increased involvement in community or family activities.

A lower rate of mortality and increased physical health.

Different types of resilience

The phrase emotional resilience may be one which you have heard before. It is really quite a
simple term which refers to how able we are to manage the emotional impact of stresses,
difficulties and trauma in our lives. However, there are different sorts of resilience which we
develop and need throughout different points in our lives. I have listed some of these below.
Inherent resilience
This is the natural resilience with which we are born. This natural resilience protects us, and
informs how we discover and explore the world; learn to play, learn and also to take risks. This
sort of natural resilience occurs a great deal within children under the age of about seven,
(provided their development was not disrupted and they did not experience any sort of trauma).
Adapted resilience
This type of resilience occurs at different points in our lives, and is usually brought about
through a difficult or challenging experience. Being made redundant, and going out the next day
to look for a new job, or the end of a relationship, and finding the strength to over time re-build
your sense of confidence to once again meet someone new. Adaptive resilience is resilience
which needs to be learnt on the spot, and can give us the ability to manage stresses and pain.
Learnt resilience
This type of resilience is built up over time, and we learn to activate it through difficult
experiences from our past. We learn to know when to draw on it, and to use it during stressful
times. It is through this resilience, which we learn, grow and develop our mechanisms for
managing, and find ways to draw on strength we did not know we had in times when we need it
the most.
How can we develop more resilience?
There are several ways that we can develop more resilience to difficult or stressful events within
our lives. I have listed some of these below.

Make some lifestyle changes

Practise being more straight-forward and assertive with others - If you feel people are
making unreasonable demands upon you be prepared to tell them how you feel and say no.

Use relaxation tips, and take time to do the things which calm you down, whether it is
taking a bath, going for a walk or listening to music.

Develop interests and hobbies, and make time for them.

Make time to spend with family and friends, and make use of your support network
around you.

Assess the sense of balance in your life - If one area is taking up all your time, then make
some space for other things.
Look after your physical health

Get a good nights sleep, and develop better sleeping patterns.

Be more physically active, and exercise regularly.

Eat a more balanced and healthy diet.

Be less hard on yourself

Find time to praise yourself for your achievements and reward yourself for what you have
accomplished.

Resolve old or existing conflicts - This can be difficult, but settling arguments, or finding
a new way to move forward with a friend or loved one will assist you in finding a sense of
peace.

Forgive yourself - If you did not achieve what you wanted, or you feel you have made a
mistake, ease up on punishing yourself and try to remember that no one is perfect.
Going forward
There will be times in all of our lives when pressures mount or we experience pain and trauma,
and at points we will struggle to cope. However, through learning about ourselves and realising
what we can and cannot manage, we will be able to develop strategies which allow us to become
resilient, to take these difficulties in our stride, and to feel confident in our abilities to manage.
This is a process like any other, and does not just happen, but in each of us, there is strength, and
courage we did not know we had.

Resilience in the Face of Change

When someone tries to get you to change, you can experience a number of different reactions.
If change means you have to leave a present thats comfortable and familiar, youll most likely
resist change and fight to stay the same.
Resilient people can absorb the impact of change and keep going. Those who lack resiliency are
more likely to feel helpless in the face of change. Why are some people more resilient than
others? Differences in resilience come from a combination of physical makeup, genetic
predisposition, and the environment.
You cant do much about your physical makeup or genetic predisposition, but you can manage
your environment. Why are some people more resilient when changes hit them? They have two
important elements in their lives:
1. A commitment to being in control of their lives and not letting circumstances control
them.
2. A willingness to see change as an opportunity to make the desired state into a better place
than the current state.
Gaining more control over your life and the changes required of you can increase your
resilience. And the more you gain control, the easier it becomes to look at each change and
examine the possibility that it has, inherent in it, an opportunity for you. Since the amount of
change is only going to increase in the future, those changes can either wear you down or can be
seen as an inevitable part of your life that you are going to manage, not be managed by.
The first step to increasing your resilience is identifying the emotions that each change evokes
and thinking about why you feel the way you do. Instead of dismissing your emotions as
illogical, understand that those feelings have a legitimate and rational source.
As you start to recognize the emotions you experience around the loss of the current state, you
can prepare for changes that will come along in the future. Youll gain comfort in the knowledge
that you can create a change plan if needed. And as you boost your resilience, your body, mind,
and emotions will benefit.

Factors that build resilience

See in phone
The value of resilient people

Resilience is an incredibly valuable quality for employees at all levels in a business.

During any change process, people move from a current state (the way they work now) to a
future state (how they will work in the future) via a transition state. Its the transition period
that is most disruptive, changing the way people think, feel and behave. The process of change
disrupts our sense of control and pushes us out of our comfort zone: it makes people feel
uncertain, even incompetent.
The extent of that disruption, however, depends on a persons resilience.
Resilient people are not immune to change: they experience the
effects just as anyone would, but they recover faster and respond better.
As a result, they tend to be more productive during times of change, and to maintain higher
quality output. They come to terms with change much more quickly, and experience much less
turbulence throughout the process.
In an operating environment thats increasingly characterised by change, the business
benefits
of a resilient workforce are considerable.
An organisation with resilient people, as well as systems and processes, is an organisation that
can be more agile and proactive. It can adapt to meet the changing needs of its market with more
confidence in the results as well as being able to withstand and bounce back from the effects of
unexpected change, whether its economic, competitive or environmental.
See pic in phone
6

What makes people resilient

The seven characteristics of resilient people
Optimistic: resilient people believe that change will have a positive outcome: they are able to
analyse even an apparently dire situation in a way that gives them hope for the future.

Self assured: resilient people have a strong but realistic belief in their own capabilities. As a
result they tend to control change, rather than the change controlling them.

Focused: resilient people have the focus needed to be able to prioritise activities effectively. They
can pursue goals successfully, even in the face of adversity.

Open to ideas: resilient people have an open mind to different tactics and strategies. They tend to
be good at generating alternative approaches and solutions to match the changing situation.

Seek support: resilient people actively seek the support of others during times of change. They
look for opportunities to involve the skills and experience of other people as well as their own.

Structured: resilient people are able to analyse the situation and create an effective plan to
implement change with enough flexibility built in to cope with the shifting situation.

Proactive: resilient people are prepared to step out into the unknown, and take the action
necessary to make change happen.
As individuals we tend to draw on some or all of these characteristics in our normal working
lives, and during the different stages of organisational and personal change experiences.
However, its the right combination of each of them that tends to make people resilient. If we
7

rely too much on one or two of these qualities, or too little, we become less resilient.

Organisational resilience
Organisational (or business) Resilience1 will be the future of Business Continuity Management.
Just like BCM had broadened the approach to improve an organisations ability to cope with a
crisis from mere IT disaster recovery to coverage all business processes, the Organisational
Resilience concept enhances this focus even further.
Definitions
Actually, the term resilience is nothing new. It was (and still is) widely used in engineering,
where it is said to have originated in the 19th century. Sometime last century this term was
transported to psychology, and in the second half of the last century found to be used within
even more professions. A short selection of definitions of resilience includes:
Engineering: Resilience is the property of a material to absorb energy when it is
deformed elastically and then, upon unloading to have this energy recovered.
Psychology: Resilience in psychology is the positive capacity of people to cope with
stress and adversity.
Ecology: In ecology, resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a
perturbation or disturbance by resisting damage and recovering quickly.
Networking: Resilience is the ability to provide and maintain an acceptable level of
service in the face of faults and challenges to normal operation.
Organisations: Resilience is defined as the positive ability of a system or company to
adapt itself to the consequences of a catastrophic failure caused by power outage, a fire,
8

a bomb or similar event.

The Organisational Resilience Model
This leads us to the core of this article, the attempt to create a model of a possible structure of
an OR programme. What I propose is to design a two dimensional matrix of structural elements,
which describe the scope and the tasks of an OR approach.
The first dimension consists of four business management fields, which are
Business Continuity Management (BCM)
Commercial Risk Management (CRM)
Business Security Management (BSM)
Corporate Governance Management (CGM)
each of them combining and aggregating relevant tasks as indicated by the fields names. BCM
is, among the readers of this article, a well known concept of management of operational risks,
contingency planning, crisis management and all the processes around keeping it up to date
and exercised. CRM includes all those risks, which come with partaking in business: market
risks, financial risk, even political risks, among others. It is entirely possible to include
theoperational risk part of BCM in this group, there is no best practice or fixed rule yet, which
would
advise not to do so. BSM covers all the activities which protect an organisation against crime,
espionage, theft or trespassing. CGM finally is the new kid on the block, a rather novel approach
to conduct leadership and to ensure that rules and laws are obeyed.
Organisational Resilience Model:
See pic in phone
9

Measuring organisational resilience

In order to measure resilience it is necessary to identifyits constituent parts (Paton & Johnston,
2006). McManuset al. (2008) do this, providing a useful definition which is
used as the basis for indicators adapted and developedthrough this research. They define
organisationalresilience as,a function of an organisations overall situation awareness,
keystone vulnerability and adaptive capacity in a complex, dynamic and interdependent
system. (McManus, et al., 2008, p. 82)McManus et al. (2008) use this definition to identify
three dimensions of organisational resilience; situationawareness, management of keystone
vulnerabilities,and adaptive capacity. Situation awareness describes an organisations
understanding of its business landscape,its awareness of what is happening around it, and what
that information means for the organisation now and in the future (Endsley, et al., 2003).
Management of keystone vulnerabilities describes the identification, proactive management, and
treatment of vulnerabilities that if realised, would threaten the organisations ability to survive.
This includes emergency and disaster management, and business continuity, and covers many of
the traditional crisis planning activities. Adaptive
capacity describes an organisations ability to constantly and continuously evolve to match or
exceed the needs of its operating environment before those needs become
critical (Hamel & Vlikangas, 2003).
Conclusion
For organisations to invest in resilience there must be an evidenced way of measuring it, and of
demonstrating changes and trends in this measurement over time. This will then enable
organisations to make a business case for resilience and to show the value added by resilience
management programs. Overall the Auckland organisations taking part in this study have a good
level of resilience. Common strengths include a good resilience ethos and a high level of
adaptive capacity; however the distribution of these strengths varies across industry sectors.
10

Common weaknesses include organisations ability to utilise resources from outside of their
organisation during a crisis. The high level of interconnectivity and interdependency between
organisations makes this a critical indicator that organisations and industry groups should
continue to monitor. The resilience measurement tool also enables analysis of organisational
resilience by industry sector. Industry groups, regulators, and local and regional government
groups may find this information useful in understanding training and education needs, the most
common resilience challenges, and how they can help organisations to address these. Analysis of
organisational resilience by industry sector is also important for individual organisations.
Organisations can identify whether they are more or less resilient than other similar organisations
and can also identify the resilience strengths which stand them apart from others. These strengths
can then be translated into competitive advantage during and after industry wide crises or
negative trends such as rising costs of raw materials, agricultural disease outbreaks, or product
recalls. Individual organisations can also use the tool to examine their resilience internally,
allowing them to address gaps in awareness and silos between offices, departments and business
units, or organisational functions. The limitations of the tool at this time are that it is still
in its early stages of development and that it requires a high level of staff participation to create
accurate results for individual organisations. This in itself though is not a bad thing as staff
participation will increase awareness and generate discussions around resilience. The next
steps in developing this tool are to complete further tests including organisations in other areas of
New Zealand and in other countries.

11

Analysing Threats
SWOT Analysis is a useful technique for understanding your Strengths and Weaknesses, and for
identifying both the Opportunities open to you and the Threats you face.
Used in a business context, it helps you carve a sustainable niche in your market. Used in
a personal context , it helps you develop your career in a way that takes best advantage of your
talents, abilities and opportunities.
This article looks at how to use SWOT in a business context. (Click here to learn how to do
a Personal SWOT Analysis .
Business SWOT Analysis
What makes SWOT particularly powerful is that, with a little thought, it can help you uncover
opportunities that you are well-placed to exploit. And by understanding the weaknesses of your
business, you can manage and eliminate threats that would otherwise catch you unawares.
More than this, by looking at yourself and your competitors using the SWOT framework, you
can start to craft a strategy that helps you distinguish yourself from your competitors, so that you
can compete successfully in your market.

12

How to Use the Tool

Originated by Albert S Humphrey in the 1960s, the tool is as useful now as it was then. You can
use it in two ways as a simple icebreaker helping people get together to "kick off" strategy
formulation, or in a more sophisticated way as a serious strategy tool.
Tip:
Strengths and weaknesses are often internal to your organization, while opportunities and threats
generally relate to external factors. For this reason, SWOT is sometimes called Internal-External
Analysis and the SWOT Matrix is sometimes called an IE Matrix.
To help you to carry out upir analysis, download and print off our free worksheet, and write
down answers to the following questions.
Strengths

What advantages does your organization have?

What do you do better than anyone else?

What unique or lowest-cost resources can you draw upon that others can't?

What do people in your market see as your strengths?

What factors mean that you "get the sale"?

What is your organization's Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

Consider your strengths from both an internal perspective, and from the point of view of your
customers and people in your market.
Also, if you're having any difficulty identifying strengths, try writing down a list of your
organization's characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths!
When looking at your strengths, think about them in relation to your competitors. For example, if
all of your competitors provide high quality products, then a high quality production process is
not a strength in your organization's market, it's a necessity.
Weaknesses
13

What could you improve?

What should you avoid?

What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?

What factors lose you sales?

Again, consider this from an internal and external basis: Do other people seem to perceive
weaknesses that you don't see? Are your competitors doing any better than you?
It's best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.
Opportunities

What good opportunities can you spot?

What interesting trends are you aware of?

Useful opportunities can come from such things as:

Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale.

Changes in government policy related to your field.

Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, and so on.

Local events.

Tip:
A useful approach when looking at opportunities is to look at your strengths and ask yourself
whether these open up any opportunities. Alternatively, look at your weaknesses and ask yourself
whether you could open up opportunities by eliminating them.
Threats

What obstacles do you face?

What are your competitors doing?

Are quality standards or specifications for your job, products or services changing?

Is changing technology threatening your position?

14

Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?

Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

Tip:
When looking at opportunities and threats, PEST Analysis can help to ensure that you don't
overlook external factors, such as new government regulations, or technological changes in your
industry.
Further SWOT Tips
If you're using SWOT as a serious tool (rather than as a casual "warm up" for strategy
formulation), make sure you're rigorous in the way you apply it:

Only accept precise, verifiable statements ("Cost advantage of US$10/ton in sourcing

raw material x", rather than "Good value for money").

Ruthlessly prune long lists of factors, and prioritize them, so that you spend your
time thinking about the most significant factors.

Make sure that options generated are carried through to later stages in the strategy
formation process.

Apply it at the right level for example, you might need to apply the tool at a product
or product-line level, rather than at the much vaguer whole company level.

Use it in conjunction with other strategy tools (for example, USP Analysis and Core
Competence Analysis ) so that you get a comprehensive picture of the situation
you're dealing with.

Note:
You could also consider using the TOWS Matrix . This is quite similar to SWOT in that it also
focuses on the same four elements of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. But
TOWS can be a helpful alternative because it emphasizes the external environment, while
SWOT focuses on the internal environment.
Example

15

A start-up small consultancy business might draw up the following SWOT Analysis:
Strengths

We are able to respond very quickly as we have no red tape, and no need for higher
management approval.

We are able to give really good customer care, as the current small amount of work
means we have plenty of time to devote to customers.

Our lead consultant has strong reputation in the market.

We can change direction quickly if we find that our marketing is not working.

We have low overheads, so we can offer good value to customers.

Weaknesses

Our company has little market presence or reputation.

We have a small staff, with a shallow skills base in many areas.

We are vulnerable to vital staff being sick, and leaving.

Our cash flow will be unreliable in the early stages.

Opportunities

Our business sector is expanding, with many future opportunities for success.

Local government wants to encourage local businesses.

Our competitors may be slow to adopt new technologies.

Threats

Developments in technology may change this market beyond our ability to adapt.

A small change in the focus of a large competitor might wipe out any market position
we achieve.

16

As a result of their analysis, the consultancy may decide to specialize in rapid response, good
value services to local businesses and local government.
Marketing would be in selected local publications to get the greatest possible market presence for
a set advertising budget, and the consultancy should keep up-to-date with changes in technology
where possible.
Key Points
SWOT Analysis is a simple but useful framework for analyzing your organization's strengths and
weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats that you face. It helps you focus on your strengths,
minimize threats, and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available to you.
It can be used to "kick off" strategy formulation, or in a more sophisticated way as a serious
strategy tool. You can also use it to get an understanding of your competitors, which can give you
the insights you need to craft a coherent and successful competitive position.
When carrying out your analysis, be realistic and rigorous. Apply it at the right level, and
supplement it with other option-generation tools where appropriate.
Porters Five Forces And Swot Analysis
Porters five forces analysis is a framework for industry analysis and business strategy
development formed by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School in 1979. It draws
upon industrial organization (IO) economics to derive five forces that determine the competitive
intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. Attractiveness in this context refers to the
overall industry profitability. An "unattractive" industry is one in which the combination of these
five forces acts to drive down overall profitability. A very unattractive industry would be one
approaching "pure competition", in which available profits for all firms are driven to normal
profit.
Three of Porter's five forces refer to competition from external sources. The remainder are
internal threats.
Porter referred to these forces as the micro environment, to contrast it with the more general
term macro environment. They consist of those forces close to a company that affect its ability to
serve its customers and make a profit. A change in any of the forces normally requires a business
17

unit to re-assess the marketplace given the overall change in industry information. The overall
industry attractiveness does not imply that every firm in the industry will return the same
profitability. Firms are able to apply their core competencies, business model or network to
achieve a profit above the industry average. A clear example of this is the airline industry. As an
industry, profitability is low and yet individual companies, by applying unique business models,
have been able to make a return in excess of the industry average.
Porter's five forces include - three forces from 'horizontal' competition: threat of substitute
products, the threat of established rivals, and the threat of new entrants; and two forces from
'vertical' competition: the bargaining power of suppliers and the bargaining power of customers.
This five forces analysis, is just one part of the complete Porter strategic models. The other
elements are the value chain and the generic strategies.
Porter developed his Five Forces analysis in reaction to the then-popular SWOT analysis, which
he found unrigorous and ad hoc.[1] Porter's five forces is based on the Structure-ConductPerformance paradigm in industrial organizational economics. It has been applied to a diverse
range of problems, from helping businesses become more profitable to helping governments
stabilize industries.
Porters Five Forces Model
Porters five forces model helps in accessing where the power lies in a business
situation. Porters Model is actually a business strategy tool that helps in analyzing the
attractiveness in an industry structure. It let you access current strength of your competitive
position and the strength of the position that you are planning to attain.
Porters Model is considered an important part of planning tool set. When youre clear about
where the power lies, you can take advantage of your strengths and can improve the weaknesses
and can compete efficiently and effectively.
Porters model of competitive forces assumes that there are five competitive forces that identifies
the competitive power in a business situation. These five competitive forces identified by the
Michael Porter are:
Threat of substitute products
18

Threat of new entrants

Intense rivalry among existing players
Bargaining power of suppliers
Bargaining power of Buyers
porters-five-forces-model
Threat of substitute products
Threat of substitute products means how easily your customers can switch to your competitors
product. Threat of substitute is high when:
There are many substitute products available
Customer can easily find the product or service that youre offering at the same or less price
Quality of the competitors product is better
Substitute product is by a company earning high profits so can reduce prices to the lowest level.
In the above mentioned situations, Customer can easily switch to substitute products. So
substitutes are a threat to your company. When there are actual and potential substitute products
available then segment is unattractive. Profits and prices are effected by substitutes so, there is
need to closely monitor price trends. In substitute industries, if competition rises or technology
modernizes then prices and profits decline.
Threat of new entrants
A new entry of a competitor into your market also weakens your power. Threat of new entry
depends upon entry and exit barriers. Threat of new entry is high when:
Capital requirements to start the business are less
Few economies of scale are in place
Customers can easily switch (low switching cost)
Your key technology is not hard to acquire or isnt protected well
Your product is not differentiated
19

There is variation in attractiveness of segment depending upon entry and exit barriers. That
segment is more attractive which has high entry barriers and low exit barriers.
Some new firms enter into industry and low performing companies leave the market easily.
When both entry and exit barriers are high then profit margin is also high but companies face
more risk because poor performance companies stay in and fight it out. When these barriers are
low then firms easily enter and exit the industry, profit is low. The worst condition is when entry
barriers are low and exit barriers are high then in good times firms enter and it become very
difficult to exit in bad times.
Industry Rivalry
Industry rivalry mean the intensity of competition among the existing competitors in the market.
Intensity of rivalry depends on the number of competitors and their capabilities. Industry rivalry
is high when:
There are number of small or equal competitors and less when theres a clear market leader.
Customers have low switching costs
Industry is growing
Exit barriers are high and rivals stay and compete
Fixed cost are high resulting huge production and reduction in prices
These situations make the reasons for advertising wars, price wars, modifications, ultimately
costs increase and it is difficult to compete.
Bargaining power of suppliers
Bargaining Power of supplier means how strong is the position of a seller. How much your
supplier have control over increasing the Price of supplies. Suppliers are more powerful when
Suppliers are concentrated and well organized
a few substitutes available to supplies
Their product is most effective or unique
Switching cost, from one suppliers to another, is high
20

You are not an important customer to Supplier

When suppliers have more control over supplies and its prices that segment is less attractive. It is
best way to make win-win relation with suppliers. Its good idea to have multi-sources of supply.
Bargaining power of Buyers
Bargaining Power of Buyers means, How much control the buyers have to drive down your
products price, Can they work together in ordering large volumes. Buyers have more bargaining
power when:
Few buyers chasing too many goods
Buyer purchases in bulk quantities
Product is not differentiated
Buyers cost of switching to a competitors product is low
Shopping cost is low
Buyers are price sensitive
Credible Threat of integration
Buyers bargaining power may be lowered down by offering differentiated product. If youre
serving a few but huge quantity ordering buyers, then they have the power to dictate you.
Michael Porters five forces model provides useful input for SWOT Analysis and is considered as
a strong tool for industry competitive analysis.
Each element of a Porters five forces model is best considered in the context of other elements in
the model. Examples: supplier power is increased if there is a high degree of rivalry between
companies trying to obtain the supplies; entry barriers are increased if there is a substitutes
threat.
A Porter's five forces analysis can be usefully performed alongsideSWOT analysis, PESTLE
analysis, and other analysis techniques. The next two sections outline how analysis techniques
can be used together in the pursuit of an understanding of the multitude of elements affecting the
bottom lines of companies like Tesco plc.
21

Porters five forces and SWOT analysis

A Porters five forces model can be enhanced by using SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is an
analysis of the strengths, weaknessesopportunities and threats affecting the company. Each
element of a Porters five forces analysis can be looked at in the context of each element of a
SWOT analysis, leading to twenty different ways of looking at the company.
Porters five forces and other analysis techniques
Other corporate analysis techniques, like PESTLE analysis and Gap analysis, add further
possibilities for understanding a company. PESTLE analysis can give you an impression of the
political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental factors that influence
Porter's five forces. Gap analysis allows you to see the gap between where a company is and
where it should be, and what forces need to be applied.
Porters five forces at Tesco PLC
This section considers how Porters five forces might be applied to the problems facing Tesco
PLC, including an investigation of the threat of substitutes from other supermarkets, buyer power
in relation to grocery purchases, grocery supplier power, and the power of the customer at the
till.
Classical economics predicts that rivalry between companies should drive profits to zero. This is
partly down to the threat of substitutes. For instance, Tesco has competition from companies like
Sainsbury that can provide substitutes for their goods. This drives the price of groceries down for
customers of both companies.
Buyer power acts to force prices down. If beans are too expensive in Tesco, buyers will move to
Sainsbury. Fortunately for Tesco, there are few other large supermarket companies. This means
the market is disciplined; that is, the supermarkets have a disciplined approach to price setting.
Discipline stops them destroying each other in a profit war.
Supplier power is an important part of the Porters five forces model. Implications for Tesco are
many. Supplier power is wielded by suppliers demanding that retailers pay a certain price for
their goods. If retailers don't pay the price, they don't get the goods to sell. But large
supermarkets, like Tesco, have an overwhelming advantage over the small shopkeeperthey can
22

dictate the price they pay the supplier. If the supplier does not reduce the price, they will be left
with a much smaller market for their produce.
Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and other supermarket chains put up considerable barriers to entry.
Anyone starting up a new supermarket chain has barriers imposed on them, implicitly or
explicitly, by the existing supermarkets. For instance, Tesco may have cornered the market for
certain goods; the new supermarket will not be able to find cheap, reliable suppliers. Tesco also
has the advantage of economies of scale. The amount it pays suppliers, per-item, is a lot less than
the corner shop. It achieves this, partly, through buying large volumes of goods. A small
supermarket chain can only buy a relatively small volume of goods, at greater expense.
Porter's five forces in other industries
Before developing a Porters five forces model of Tesco consider other industries, from real estate
agencies to the bicycle manufacturing industry. This will give you the broadest picture of how
Porters five forces can be used. Here we'll consider, briefly, two industries outside the
supermarket sector.
Porters five forces and the auto industry
Anyone planning to launch an automobile company would do well to consider Porters five
forces. Such a model would highlight the intense rivalry and the high barriers to entry found in
this industry. It might make them think again about moving into this area.
Established auto companies, though, might find they have a lot going for them if they produce a
Porter's five forces model of their activities. They tend to be more powerful than their suppliers,
and they have little threat of other companies producing ready substitutes, given the long lead
team needed to produce new car designs.
Porters five forces model in the airline industry
It's worth looking at Porters five forces models of significantly different industries when
formulating a Porters five forces models of Tesco. So don't just look at Porters five forces
models of Sainsbury, Asda or other obvious competitors.

23

By looking at a Porters five forces model of British Airways you might might get some useful,
new insights. For instance, British Airways is the dominant player in its industry, so a Porters
five forces model of British Airways might teach you something about dominant players in
general. This could be very useful when creating a Porters five forces models of Tesco plc.
The bottom line
A Porters five forces model provides a "bottom line" way of understanding a company. It
considers economic rivalry to be of central importance, and suggests you should concentrate on
factors affecting the company's profit in a systemic model defined by that rivalry. Critics of
Porters five forces analysis suggest it is too limited, but it can be supplemented with other
models like SWOT or PESTLE analysis.
Basics
The five forces in Porter's model are the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, threat of new
competitors, threat of substitute products and industry rivalry. Porter's diamond model has four
determinants of competitive advantage: demand conditions, factor conditions, presence of
supporting industries and company strategies. Factor conditions refer to a country's resources,
such as labor and natural resources, while demand conditions refer to local demand for a
company's products and services.
Importance: Five Forces Model
Porter's five forces determine a company's competitive environment, which affects profitability.
The bargaining power of buyers and suppliers affect a small company's ability to increase prices
and manage costs, respectively. For example, if the same product is available from several
suppliers, then buyers have bargaining power over each supplier. However, if there is only one
supplier for a particular component, then that supplier has bargaining power over its customers.
Low-entry barriers attract new competition, while high-entry barriers discourage it. For example,
opening a home-cleaning business is simple, but starting a manufacturing company is
considerably more difficult. Industry rivalry is likely to be higher when several companies are
vying for the same customers, and intense rivalry leads to lower prices and profits.
24

Importance: Diamond Model

Government policies can influence the components of the diamond model. For example, some
economists suggest that lower income taxes stimulate consumer demand, which leads to higher
sales and profits. Countries that invest in education have a skilled workforce, which helps
companies engage in research and development. The presence of supporting industries in close
proximity to manufacturing companies can reduce input costs and increase profits. Supporting
industries include raw materials suppliers and component manufacturers. A competitive industry
structure is also important because companies that can survive tough competition at home are
usually able to withstand even tougher competition in a global business environment.
Considerations
Porter's cluster model is an extension of the diamond model. Clusters refer to geographical
concentrations of interconnected companies. For example, a high-technology cluster -- such as
California's Silicon Valley -- may have hardware and software companies located in the same
area, along with universities and government research agencies. Clusters influence the
competitive environment by increasing the productivity of companies in each cluster,
encouraging entrepreneurial activity and driving the direction and speed of innovation.
Building organisational resilience in turbulrnt times
Resilience is a crucial characteristic of any successful business. For example, the financial crisis
of 2008 and 2009 has created an environment of uncertainty and anxiety. The future of
companies and even whole industries is under question. It will be the most financially resilient
that survive.
For many organisations resilience has a natural association with these kinds of scenarios how
you keep processes, systems, networks and infrastructure going when things go wrong.
However, resilience is about much more than just business continuity and disaster recovery. Its
a key factor in how an organisations people respond to significant change events.
This is just as true when an organisation responds to external forces of change, like natural
disasters, as it is of internal changes to business processes, systems and organisational structures.
And this, of course, is where the majority of business change really takes place.
25

Resilient organisations need resilient people

The very nature of change is changing. A modern business and its people have to cope with an
increasing number of economic, technological and organisational change processes, most of
which are happening simultaneously.
Outsourcing, mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, financial difficulties, downsizing, expansion,
competitive pressures, new IT systems considered alone, any one of these forces can cause
significant disruption to individual performance, from employees on the front line to Board-level
executives. Considered together, they can disrupt the performance of the workforce to such an
extent, that the performance of the whole organisation suffers.

Developing personal resilience

Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most significant findings in psychology in the
last twenty years is that individuals can choose the way they think.
Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism
Most writers on resilience agree on two things. Firstly, a persons general level of resilience is
determined by their experiences during their upbringing. And secondly, that while people have
this starting level of resilience, they can learn to improve it. Resilience is a skill that can be
developed.
Changefirst has developed a unique coaching methodology and workshop that exploits both of
these facts for the benefit of employees, executives and its people. These sessions are designed
to achieve tangible, lasting improvements in personal resilience and to offer practical advice for
the issues people will face back in the office.
26

By analysing an individuals starting level of resilience, in terms of the seven key characteristics,
we help people identify areas of strength and weakness and develop a plan to enhance personal
resilience. By learning to be more resilient, people can recover from the effects of change more
quickly and more successfully.
The Changefirst approach not only benefits people as individuals: it provides them with the tools
to develop resilience in their teams, and generates ongoing benefits for their organisation by
increasing its overall ability to cope with and benefit from ongoing change.
leaders in almost any organisation. Central to this is something we call the Personal Adaptability
Inventory, or PAI.
The Personal Adaptability Inventory (PAI)
The Personal Adaptability Inventory focuses on the seven key characteristics of resilient people,
and how an individual draws on those characteristics under the kind of pressure thats typically
introduced by significant organisational change.
The PAI is developed and analysed in conjunction with Changefirsts resilience and change
management expert practitioners during workshop sessions tailored to the needs of an
organisation, and its people. These sessions are designed to achieve tangible, lasting
improvements in personal resilience and to offer practical advice for the issues people will face
back in the office.
By analysing an individuals starting level of resilience, in terms of the seven key characteristics,
we help people identify areas of strength and weakness and develop a plan to enhance personal
resilience. By learning to bemore resilient, people can recover from the effects of change more
quickly and more successfully.
The Changefirst approach not only benefits people as individuals: it provides them with the tools
27

to develop resilience in their teams, and generates ongoing benefits for their organisation by
increasing its overall ability to cope with and benefit from ongoing change.

Developing Resilient Teams for Managing Change

Introduction
When teams address the challenges of todays turbulent work environment, there is potential for
effective and often creative and innovative solutions. Often, though, teams never realize this
potential. In fact, research has determined that under certain circumstances, teams are often less
successful and less productive, including generating creative and innovative results, than various
individuals working separately to achieve the same goal.
Research has further shown that to be effective, teams must combine many factors, including a
mission or goal, defined tasks, diverse but relevant skill sets, and processes that facilitate
interaction. Although any of these factors alone might contribute to a teams success, their
impact is intensified if they are leveraged in a way that builds upon the teams strengths and
offsets any potential weaknesses.
Specifically, a resilient team combines two factorsindividual resilience and synergy. Each
member of the team possesses a specific complement of the five resilience characteristics
positive, focused, flexible, organized, and proactive. How they use these characteristics is
28

determined by the level of synergy among the group. A high degree of synergy allows the team
to leverage its strengths and guard against its weaknesses. For example, although not every
member of a team may be highly flexible, a synergistic team can draw from those members who
are to maximize its performance. Not only does synergy leverage the groups resilience
resources, it also produces solutions that are better than and different from the original ideas of
team members.
The resilient team is more likely to implement change in todays fast-paced work environment.
In addition, a resilient team serves as a coach for resilience and synergy for each member of the
team. This raises conscious competence so that skills move from intuitive to overt and are thus
readily transferable. Exaplain little bit resilience
Synergy
In its simplest state, synergy is characterized by an outcome that is better than and different from
any of the original inputs. Working together synergistically, a highly resilient team combines its
individual resilience strengths to produce a level of resilience that is higher than that of any
individual on the team.
Without synergy, teams often suffer from a reverse of the above phenomenon. Specifically, the
members of the team combine their individual resilience strengths to produce a level of team
resilience that is lower than every individual on the team. In this situation, the team puts more
energy into the process of working together than it gains from outputs.
Prerequisites to Synergy
Willingness
Common Goals: Team members understand and share a central purpose that drives their
efforts.
Interdependence: Team members recognize that they can only accomplish their shared purpose
through the collaborative effort of every team member.
Ability
Empowerment: Team members perceive themselves as valuable and influential in
accomplishing the teams work.
Participative Management: The team structures mechanisms to elicit the input of individual
team members.
Interacting
29

Synergy begins with interaction among team members. To improve interaction, team members
must learn to listen actively and communicate their ideas directly and with clarity. Teams learn to
recognize that members may vary widely in their communicating style preferencesthat facts,
contexts, actions, and feelings may be perceived very differently from one individual to another.
Such tools as the Communicating Styles Survey (CSS) identify each team members preferred
communicating style (e.g., thinker, sensor, intuitor, or feeler). The team must then learn the
advantages and drawbacks of communicating in their preferred styles and understand the
importance of communicating in the most appropriate style, not the most favored. Ideally, good
communication includes the use of all four communicating styles exhibited appropriately at
different times depending on the situation.
Figure 1 shows how a team typically functions during interaction. Individual members
(represented by circles) may be turning their resilience resources outward (large arrows), away
from each other. Individual diversity, whether that diversity is reflected in knowledge about
change or a strength in applying a particular resilience characteristic, is not exploited by the
team. Communications are characterized by transactional rather than interactive dialogue (small
arrows). In such cases, individual resilience characteristics may or may not be optimized, let
alone leveraged to accomplish group goals. A major step toward successful interaction is the
open discussion of each members resilience strengths and weaknesses.

Appreciative Understanding
As important as effective communication is to resilient teamwork, something more must occur.
Team members must learn to value and use their diversity. A basic condition for this to occur is
an open climate where differences can be surfaced appropriately and different perspectives can
be viewed as legitimate though conflict may arise. When differences surface, the team is taught
to address such issues in a timely and deliberate manner conducive to resolution, always with the
30

goal to optimize the teams collective resilience.

Appreciative understanding is a process in which team members learn to accept input from
others and encourages looking at perspectives from anothers point of view or strength. Figure 2
reflects the positive results of successful interaction as members come to appreciate and value
the knowledge, skills, preferences, and strengths of each member. The resilience of each member
(large arrows) is now more focused on the process for accomplishing the teams goals. At the
same time, interactions between the team members are more truly two-way, where ideas are
shared and mutual learning is valued. The team members begin to understand and value each
others strengths and defer to a particular member should his or her resilience strength be
needed. Members begin to coach each other in optimizing personal resilience as it is used in
service of the team.

Figure2
Integrating
While effective communication and valuing diverse perspectives are important to achieving team
resilience, integrating or merging diverse viewpoints and skills is an important step toward
achieving tangible results. Team members must next learn to step back from their ideas and
evaluate all possibilities. The result is a team that can combine diverse ideas into mutually
supported alternatives.
Integrating is perhaps the most critical phase of the process because team members must learn to
merge four distinct behaviors. First, team members must learn to tolerate uncertainty
orambiguity while being persistent. Many teams look for quick solutions when faced with the
uncertain nature of the change process. This process helps team members in seeing the futility of
this approach and teaches them to resist the quick fix. They learn to examine change projects
as complex endeavors that require a great deal of patience and perseverance. Second, teams must
31

learn to modify their views, beliefs, and behaviors to support the team. Synergy occurs when all
team members can amplify their collective resilience and better modify their own views in a way
that is accepting of and integrated with the views of others. Third, team members learn to
generate creative ways of merging diverse perspectives into mutually supported action plans.
This activity encourages creative thinking. The team learns to use methods that help it to use
each members resilience strengths to solve problems deliberately.
Finally, the team must learn to identify issues or concepts that cannot or should not be integrated.
Here, the team learns to balance the importance of tolerating ambiguity with the need to continue
struggling when integration appears impossible. Figure 3 illustrates the cumulative effects of
interacting and appreciative understanding and the beginning of the integrations of ideas through
the conscious use of the team members resilience strengths. The communications among team
members have become highly interconnected. Dialogue between any two team members related
to the teams goals is perceived as important to all team members. Ideas are clarified as the
teams conscious use of the resilience characteristics are used to solve problems. Individual
resilience (large arrows) clearly begins to converge, in service of the teams needs. True team
resilience is the dynamic and balanced use of individual members resilience to achieve the aims
of the team.
Figure 3. IntegratingMerge Diverse Ideas

Implementing
Resilient teams are not easy to establish and maintain at productive levels. Teams must learn to
harness the energies generated by their work and channel it toward the implementation of a task.
There are three conditions that must be considered:
Team members must establish overall strategies and specific measurable goals and objectives
regarding the change initiative. When this condition is met, the team has a blueprint for all goals
32

and objectives that follow.

Team members must monitor implementation progress and supply the necessary consequences to
ensure success. The team learns the importance of follow-through and understands its impact on
a change implementation.
Team members must modify the implementation plan when necessary to ensure its relevance to
current reality. Turbulent environments produce constantly changing conditions. The team learns
that responding to these shifts in reality is necessary for goal achievement.
Figure 4 illustrates how the optimization of each team members personal resilience and the
teams ability to consciously leverage individual strengths, skills, and ideas converge in the
powerful outcome of highly effective plans and well-targeted action in service of implementing a
change.

Figure 4. ImplementingInitiate and Complete Action Plan

Conner Partners has identified several characteristics that describe the resilient team. They are
described below.
Or managing change with resilience
Resilience is the ability to return to the original state or form after being stretched, compressed or
bent. It is the ability to recover from adversity. Needless to say, developing resilience is a highly
desirable quality in todays ever-changing world.
In his book Resilience: A Change for the Better, Daryl R. Conner outlines five characteristics of
resilient people. They are:
positive
focused
flexible
organized
33

 proactive
Positive
A resilient team is positive, both about the capability of each member to contribute to the teams
work and the teams ability to influence the organization during change.
Focused
A resilient team is one in which individual energies are centered on the teams shared objectives
during change rather than toward multiple agendas, irrelevant discussions, or other off-task
activities.
Flexible: Ideas
A resilient team can incorporate a wide range of perspectives into its approach to changeboth
those brought by various team members and those from outside the team, seeing varied ideas as
contributing to effective solutions.
Flexible: Interpersonal
A resilient team can elicit the open participation of team members. Each person recognizes that
he or she cannot accomplish the teams task in isolation but benefits by drawing on the strength
of others.
Organized
A resilient team can translate the confusion that typically accompanies change into meaningful,
patterned information by doing such things as evaluating relevance and setting priorities. This
enables it to identify workable solutions for addressing change.
Proactive
A resilient team engages action in the face of ambiguity, even when risk is involved, rather than
waiting for stability. Because team members seek to learn from experience rather than merely to
avoid failure at all costs, the team can change its plans when they are not effective.

Developing resilient empoyees

Explain resilience
Resilient People

34

 Look for opportunities in problems

Have a positive attitude
Fight the victim mentality
Find their power in every situation
Overcome difficulties
Learn from mistakes
Creating a Resilient Workplace
1. Hardiness skills
2. Psychologically healthy work environment
3. Immediate coping skills and resources
1. Provide hardiness skills
Components of Hardiness
Control make decisions
Commitment - involved
Challenge stress is positive
Individuals with Hardiness Skills
Dont give up easily under pressure
Are ill less often
Adapt to stress
Hardiness Results
Managers with high hardiness and low stress 35% fewer sick hours
Managers with high hardiness and HIGH stress 57% fewer sick hours
Cultivate Hardiness
In hiring practices

35

 Develop coping skills

Supportive workplace policies
2.Create a Psychologically Healthy Workplace
Guidelines from the American Psychological Association
Psychologically Healthy Workplaces have:
Employee involvement
Work-life balance
Employee growth and development
Health and safety
Employee recognition
Employee Involvement
Self-managed work teams
Employee committees or task forces
Continuous improvement teams
Participative decision-making
Employee suggestion forums, such as a suggestion box and monthly meetings
Work-Life Balance
Flexible work
Childcare assistance
Eldercare benefits
Personal financial resources
Benefits for family members and domestic partners
Flexible leave options beyond FMLA
Employee Growth and Development
Continuing education
Tuition reimbursement
Career development or counseling
Skills training
Opportunities for promotion and internal career advancement
Coaching, mentoring, and leadership development
Health and Safety
Training and safeguards
Health promotion programs
Adequate health insurance
Health screenings
36

 Access to health/fitness/recreation facilities

Resources for life problems
Employee Recognition
Fair monetary compensation
Competitive benefits packages
Acknowledge contributions and milestones
Performance-based bonuses and pay increases
Employee awards
Recognition ceremonies
Lead by Example
Encourage key organizational leaders to regularly participate in psychologically healthy
workplace activities in visible ways
3. Provide immediate coping skills and resources
Immediate Coping Skills
Mindfulness meditation
Relaxation techniques deep breathing
Yoga or Tai Chi
Massage
Food
Laughter
Problem-solving skills
Sleep
More Coping Skills
Cognitive Appreciation
Positive Re-appraisal
Imagery
Smile when stressed
Attitude management
Heart Math or Freeze Frame techniques
Positive psychology
Developing resilience in managers
Explain resilience
Why do we need resilient managers?
Much stress related absence is caused by the behaviour of line managers towards their
staff and their refusal or inability to identify when employees are suffering from stress

Personal resilience
Demonstrate confidence, adaptability and flexibility
Display energy and stamina in meeting challenging goals physical health
Draw on all areas of life to maintain a healthy balanced perspective emotional wellbeing
Resilient Organisations
understand and clarify roles, goals, expectations and personal priorities
37

demonstrate support, trust and mutual respect of business and personal priorities
experiment with new ways of working to better meet business goals and personal needs
explain little bit emotional intelligence meaning features imp
attitude and culture in an organisation
attitude , job satisfaction and values explain
managing personal stress
explain stress fully
resilience and stress
combine resilience and stress together
organizational resilience planning

The Organisation Resilience Planning domain addresses:

Continuation of critical business processes when a disaster destroys data processing
capabilities
Preparation, testing and maintenance of specific actions to recover normal processing (the
Organisation Resilience Planning)
Disasters natural, man-made
Fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, volcanoes
Plane crashes, vandalism, terrorism, riots, sabotage, loss of personnel, etc.
Anything that diminishes or destroys normal data processing capabilities
Organisation Resilience Planning objective
Create, document, test, and update a plan that will:
Allow timely recovery of critical business operations
Minimize loss
Meet legal and regulatory requirements
Scope of Organisation Resilience Planning
Used to be just the data center
Now includes:
Distributed operations
Personnel, networks, power
All aspects of the IT environment
Creating a Organisation Resilience Planning
Is an on-going process, not a project with a beginning and an end
Creating, testing, maintaining, and updating
Critical business functions may evolve
The Organisation Resilience Planning team must include both business and IT personnel
Requires the support of senior management
The five Organisation Resilience Planning phases
Project management & initiation
Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
Recovery strategies
Plan design & development
38

Testing, maintenance, awareness, training

I - Project management & initiation
Establish need (risk analysis)
Get management support
Establish team (functional, technical, BCC Business Continuity Coordinator)
Create work plan (scope, goals, methods, timeline)
Initial report to management
Obtain management approval to proceed
II - Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
Goal: obtain formal agreement with senior management on the MTD for each timecritical business resource
MTD maximum tolerable downtime, also known as MAO (Maximum Allowable
Outage)
Quantifies loss due to business outage (financial, extra cost of recovery, embarassment)
Does not estimate the probability of kinds of incidents, only quantifies the consequences
III Recovery strategies
Different technical strategies
Different costs and benefits
How to choose?
Careful cost-benefit analysis
Driven by business requirements
4. Organisation Resilience Planning development / implementation
Detailed plan for recovery
Business & service recovery plans
Maintenance
Awareness & training
Testing
V Organisation Resilience Planning final phase
Testing
Maintenance
Awareness
Training

Self Descipline and Self Understanding

Self discipline
Meaning:
Concept of Delayed Reward:
Reward is with reference to the output of any action
Resist the temptation of early reward
Consciously delay the reward of any action
Think about the consequences of that action and then manage the response
Self Understanding
Identify focus in life
39

Clarity about objectives

Orient your mind towards the objectives
Chalking Out A time bound curriculum
Curriculum for Self Understanding
Spend Half an hour on our psychological work out every day
What to do in the work out
Identify your thinking pattern
Writing
Oral identification
meditation
Identify where is it correct and where is it going wrong
Plan a schedule to correct the wrong thinking habits by deciding to
change it and then practice the change
What fronts of the Self to study
Motivation
Attitude
Personality
Learning
What to examine while looking into
Do I always stay in a positive frame of mind?
Anger Control
Am I Patient
Am I Persevering
Do I get overly excited/anxious about things around

40