Term Paper Assignment

A. Strategic Managers at Ghana Free Zones Board

Estate and Enclave Manager

Develop and plan for modernized physical structures for the secretariat
Develop modern physical infrastructure and work environment for the Free
Zone Enclaves at Tema, Kumasi and Sekondi/Takoradi
Develop two other enclaves in Tamale and Sunyani

Compliance Manager

Develop a smart program to effectively monitor free zone enterprises

Reduce abuse of incentives by free zone enterprises
Develop mechanism to track all imports of free zone companies
Review compliance audit programs to meet future challenges
Develop compliance manuals for specialized sectors in the free zones
Build compliance capacity of staff in the specialized areas

Investor support/Marketing Manager

To increase the license of free zone companies

Establish and promote the Boards brand
Enhance the Boards image
Develop client relationship management team
Enhance the effectiveness of clients service units
Develop effective program to attract investors

Adm/H/R Manager

Effective planning system to attain overall goals and objectives of the

Board
Develop coordinating plan to integrate activation across the Board
Develop a program to inculcate the organization reputation and values
Design effective recruiting, development and retention mechanism for
employees
Develop incentives program to motivate employees

Accounts/Finance Manager

Develop standard accounting procedures to improve financial operating

efficiency
Establish key financial strategies to enhance portability
Make investment decisions
Review the Boards reports and seek ways to reduce cost
Prepare financial statements, business activity reports and forecast

B. (1)
The duration of the plan is a three year period (2015-2017). The
expected outcome of the goals outlined in the plan is to strengthened
systems and process to achieve the desired results.
The formulation and development of the strategic plan for the GFZB is the
responsibility of the Governing Board. Although the strategic managers
defend the Boards mission and directions, functional managers at the
secretariat make decisions about specific project that will be undertaken and
drive the success or failures of each initiative.
The secretariat has registered a lot of benefits it has achieved after the
institution and implementation of the plan. Among the current challenges
that the plan is resolving in the Board are the following:

The plan is helping to identify risks by encouraging analysis of future

scenarios and highlighting what might happen in future
Managers are now being forced to think and encourage consistency at all
the level: long term, medium and short term objectives, plans and controls
are made consistent with one another
Managing control is now better exercise of targets and explicit
Again the plan focus managing to take decisions, highlighting the need to
change and adapt, not just stand still and survive
Another important areas in the implementation of the plan is the fact that
it ensures the functions of the various departments/units are well
coordinated and directed towards a common goal
The plan currently is resolving a long time problem by classifying
objectives of various departments/units and management is now being
forced to define what they want to achieve
Another very salient area which the plan is currently resolving is the
ineffectiveness budget systems and performance measurement which had
no previous strategic content
The plan also provides long term plans as a means of future projections in
achieving the objectives for which the free zones scheme was established

Before the introduction of the plan, management and staff at the secretariat
being public servants adopted the civil service attitude. There were no
benchmarks to be followed and no strictly formal way of doing things. As
there was no strategic guidelines, management and staff operated the
various activities the way they liked or wants it to be; a clear case of
jurisdictional ambiguity.
The operations of the secretariat before the formulation of the strategic plan
was like a sailor on the high seas without a compass. With the formulation
and implementation of the plan, all the above stated problems are now being
resolved. Performance targets are met by management, clear cut policies are
adhered to and accountability is now the order of the day at the Ghana Free
Zones Board

C. The understanding, knowledge, skills and competences of strategic planning

at the GFZB is dramatized by the turnaround of the Board after the
formulation and execution of a strategic plan.
As strategic management consist of analysis, decisions and action plans of an
organization, the secretariats strategy formulation is developed at several
levels.
First, business-level strategy addresses the issues of how to compete in the
given business environment to attain competitive advantage.
Secondly, corporate-level strategy focuses on two issues: (1) what business
to compete in and (2) how business can be managed to achieve synergy- that
is to create more value to the government.
Thirdly, the organization must determine the best method to develop the
strategies.
With the meaning and objectives of strategic management in mind, the GFZB
has developed core competence and skills to execute the plan.
GFZB does this by the various levels of strategy. The game plan flows from
the top level to the lower level for implementation. Thus the three levels of
strategy which the secretariat adopts are: corporate, business, functional and
operational
These levels are being implemented by the following management systems:
Risk management Plans
Human Resource plans
Financial management plans
Investor support/marketing plans
Compliance/Monitoring plans
Estate and Enclave Development plan

As strategic decisions give rise to strategic operations/actions, the

implementation of these plans are the responsibilities of the operational and
functional managers.
To achieve the desired results, GFZB uses internal analysis as a criteria.
These are analysis used to determine the act of understanding the quality
and determination of the secretariats capacity to attain its goals. The main
purpose is to identify the strengths and weakness of the Board.
Among the tools for internal analysis used by the Board are the following:

Accounting model
Resource audit
Critical success factors
Value chain analysis
Organization structure analysis

Aside the internal tool model used, the secretariat also uses external
analysis. This aims to identify threads and opportunities of the investment
program. Methods under this tool are the physical model, the social
environment and the competitive environment.
With the application of these basic strategic management principles, the
current position of the Board in terms of operations is not gloomy as it once
existed prior to the formulation of the strategy as a tool for good cooperate
governance