Explain where business goals sit in relation to the management philosophy and business strategy.
Say what happens in each stage of PDCA, and explain how the way it runs differs from the OODA loop.
Explain what a BCP lays down and what BCM keeps doing in normal times, and explain that the results of a risk assessment feed into decisions when drawing up a BCP.
Business goals (経営目標) are the concrete levels a company aims to reach within a set period in order to realize its management philosophy (経営理念).
Management philosophy
Business goals
Business strategy
Business plan
They are often stated as figures you can check afterward, such as sales, profit, or market share. The management philosophy is the beliefs and values a company holds; the policy for how to use management resources toward the goals is the business strategy (経営戦略), and breaking that down into a schedule of actions for each period gives the business plan (経営計画).
AnalogyIt is like deciding "we will stand on the summit" before a climb. Which route to take and how far to get each day are worked out afterward.
How to rememberThe philosophy is the direction you face; the goal is a flag planted in that direction. With a flag, you can measure how far you have come.
Exam points
ExamA management philosophy (経営理念) states the company's beliefs and values to people inside and outside it, a different role from business goals (経営目標), which set concrete targets.
ExamA business strategy (経営戦略) sets the policy for allocating resources toward the business goals, such as which businesses get the bulk of the company's management resources.
Financial, asset, HR, and information management (財務・資産・人事・情報管理) are the areas of management, divided by four management resources: money, things, people, and information.
Area
Resource
Typical work
Financial management
Money
Raising and using funds, managing budgets
Asset management
Things
Acquiring and maintaining equipment and buildings
HR management
People
Hiring, placement, evaluation, development
Information management
Information
Collecting, protecting, and using information
The four areas do not run separately; each is managed through planning, doing, and checking toward the business goals. Building a new factory, for example, needs funding, equipment, staffing, and a system for production information all at the same time.
AnalogyIn a household, it is like having someone handle the budget, someone look after the house and car, someone divide up chores, and someone keep the family calendar.
PDCA is a management cycle that runs four stages in order, Plan, Do, Check, and Act, to make work a little better each time.
Plan
Do
Check
Act
Act: deal with the causes of any gap, and carry the improvements into the next Plan.
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One kind of measure used in Check is the KPI (key performance indicator). In Act, you address the causes of gaps between plan and result, and build those fixes into the next Plan.
AnalogyIt is like choosing a recipe, cooking it, tasting it, and deciding to use a little less salt next time.
Exam points
ExamThe C (Check) in PDCA is the stage that measures how the plan is being carried out, using indicators such as KPIs, and evaluates it.
The OODA loop (OODAループ) is a decision-making cycle that quickly repeats Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act to choose actions that fit a changing situation.
Observe
Orient
Decide
Act
Act: carry out the chosen action at once, and feed the result into the next observation.
4 / 4
John Boyd of the US Air Force proposed the idea based on decision-making in air combat, and it is also used for decisions in fast-moving markets. The shorter the interval from observation to action, the better you can revise your judgment without falling behind changes.
AnalogyIt is like a soccer player who sees where opponents are, reads the open space, decides to pass, and kicks, repeating it all in an instant.
Exam points
Mix-upThe OODA loop (OODAループ) starts from observing the situation at hand, so it suits switching judgments at shorter intervals than PDCA, which starts from a plan made in advance.
PDCA vs. OODA loop
Aspect
PDCA
OODA loop
Key differenceStarting point
Plan
Observe
Main aim
Continually improve work
Respond quickly to change and decide on action
Best suited to
Improving routine work over time
Situations that are hard to predict and change quickly
A BCP (business continuity plan) is a plan made in advance so that, even if disasters, accidents, or system failures damage management resources, critical operations (重要業務) do not stop, or restart quickly if they do.
Arrangements in normal times
Initial response
Continuing or restarting critical operations
Full recovery
Full recovery: bring other operations back in turn and return to the normal structure.
4 / 4
First, pick the operations whose stoppage would hurt most, and set a target for how soon each must restart (the recovery time objective, 目標復旧時間). Then lay down alternatives for when sites, staff, or systems are unavailable, along with the emergency contact and decision structure and the procedures to follow.
AnalogyIt is like a note written ahead of a blackout night: where the flashlight is kept, and who in the family does what.
How to rememberThe final P in Business Continuity Plan is "plan". Read it as the written plan for keeping things going (Continuity).
Exam points
ExamThe purpose of a BCP is to keep high-priority critical operations (重要業務) going even when a disaster or similar event leaves only limited people, equipment, and information to work with.
BCM (business continuity management) is the management activity that repeats, from normal times onward, drawing up the BCP, keeping its preparations in place, education and training, and inspection and review, so that the plan actually works in an emergency.
Analysis and BCP drafting
Keeping preparations
Education and training
Inspection and review
Inspect and review: reflect the weak points found and changes in circumstances in the BCP, and repeat the cycle.
4 / 4
A plan assumes the organization and systems as they were when it was written, so left alone it drifts away from reality. Finding weak points in the procedures through drills and revising the BCP for organizational changes and new risks keeps the plan effective.
AnalogyIt is like not stopping at writing the blackout note, but also checking the flashlight batteries, switching off the lights once a year to try it out, and rewriting whatever fell short.
How to rememberThe M in Business Continuity Management is "management". Read it as the name of an activity you keep running.
Exam points
ExamBCM covers not only drawing up the BCP but also, after that, checking in normal times through drills and the like whether the plan works, and continuing to revise it.
Risk assessment (リスクアセスメント) is the series of steps that identifies the risks (リスク) threatening a business, estimates how likely each is and how big its impact would be, and decides the priority of responses.
Identification
Analysis
Evaluation
Evaluate: compare the estimated size against criteria and decide which to address first.
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JIS Q 31000:2019, for example, treats it as a process of three stages: risk identification (特定), analysis (分析), and evaluation (評価). The evaluation results lead to choosing a response, such as avoiding, reducing, transferring the risk to others, or accepting it.
AnalogyIt is like listing the trouble you might run into before a trip, ranking it by how likely and how bad each would be, and deciding which to prepare for first.
How to remember"Assessment" means appraisal. Read it as the work of putting a price tag on risk.
Exam points
ExamIn risk assessment (リスクアセスメント), you analyze and evaluate both how likely an event is and how large its impact on the business would be if it happened.
Mix-upRisk assessment evaluates the size of risks and decides the priority of responses; it is not the BCP itself, which is the plan for continuing and restarting critical operations. Its results are one input to decisions when drawing up a BCP.
Business goals turn the management philosophy into concrete targets; the policy for allocating resources toward them is the business strategy, and the schedule of actions for each period is the business plan.
Management is carried out by management resource (money, things, people, information) in the areas of finance, assets, HR, and information.
PDCA does not end after one round: feeding the results of Act into the next Plan and keeping it turning is how improvements build up.
In BCM, the preparations set in the BCP are maintained, drilled, and reviewed over and over from normal times, so they stay usable in an emergency.
The results of a risk assessment inform the choice of risk responses and the decisions made when drawing up a BCP.