HOW USEFUL IS ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS PROBLEMS REALLY?

ABP (analysis of business problems: one of the most anticipated courses of the LBS MBA program, for most of us that attended the open day event that Lagos business school hosted on the 1^st of September. Where we had a taste of ABP when analyzing a case where a company had to decide on who to work with: a company offering a good deal at the moment and a company with which they had good history with and trust built over years.

So, we start the course and we are introduced to the word of ABP:  what it entails and what gap it covers so let’s start with the first which is what it entails. Analysis of business problems entails making a concise case out a situation that needs a solution or recommendation for a company or business so as to make a decision that suit certain criteria and more importantly that it be done in a structural way so as to have a repeatable process for arriving at conclusions or Recommendation. Now we learned that when someone arrives at a conclusion without a structure it makes it hard to duplicate the work or present it in a formal or organized manner so as to help someone else see your point of view or argument. As my Facilitator would say, “they may not agree but they will see”. So, it should be structured, concise and clear so that anyone you show can see what you are driving at. Now what gap does ABP cover?

Some businesses have grown to the point where mistakes cost too much and the aim of a business in many if not all cases is to minimize expense and maximize profit and so the need of managers who will manage expense of a company or business and maximize profit of the company long or short term is needed. And these managers need to analyze business problems or dilemmas so they can make the best decision and execute in a way that helps the business or company. If done professionally as we were thought then it involves five steps: identifying the problem, defining the objective, generate alternative against set criteria, identify criteria and set limitations, evaluate each alternative against the set criteria. And as part of the conclusion, to identify the risk involved in the final decision, conclusion or recommendation as the case/requirement may be and make plans to mitigate them if they occur.

Now, before drawing my conclusion, I want to say that I saw that ABP (analysis of business problems) could teach someone how to make life decisions even when they carried serious weight and it started shaping my thought process and changing my subconscious idea to analyze cases in a structured way and not just off the head. Plus, it simplified thinking processes for me. So, I strongly believe ABP is very helpful. I made sure not to use the word important in that last sentences because as humans especially in this current time, we subconsciously assign the word ‘important’ to responsibility and the word ‘helpful’ to reward for mere interest or trial.

So, I conclude: ABP is a very useful course whether its in the word of business, management, personal development  or helping people provide solutions and recommendations for a problem or project, it improves the quality of  thinking and analyzing cases and hence making arguments which can help in many situations, so I recommend it and applaud LBS for exposing their students to it as well as teaching it or as one of our professors would say, ‘facilitate the learning of it’.