Item 6.4 in Project Plan. Smorgon Steel origin / connection.

Talk of a Smorgon steel / Onesteel Merger in August 2006 was countered by Bluescope buying in 19.9% of Smorgon Steel to "ensure that the OneSteel/Smorgon Steel merger proposal does not proceed in its current form".
http://www.bluescopesteel.com/go/news/bluescope-steel-acquires-stake-in-smorgon-steel
Accessed 7/9/09

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") reveiwed proposals for Merger between the three businesses (Bluescope, Smorgon and OneSteel and approval was given 7th June 2007
http://www.bluescopesteel.com/go/news/smorgon-steel-/-onesteel-/-bluescope-steel-transactions-cleared-by-accc
Accessed 7/09/09

BlueScope Steel today announced it has acquired Smorgon Steel's metal distribution business (Smorgon Steel Distribution) .
As part of the transaction, BlueScope Steel has sold its 19.9% stake in Smorgon Steel to OneSteel

http://www.bluescopesteel.com/go/news/introducing-bluescope-distribution
Accessed 7/9/09

Interview Questions

I couldn't see a thread discussion for the Interview Questions so here are mine- sorry they have a financial bias- still have my head in the numbers..

1. Is there a graph which represents surplus capacity in a supply and demand graph similar to this one from Corrus Steel in 2005?
2. Days in Inventory appears to have reduced in 2009. Is this a result of deliberate planning or is it a product of the factors in question 1? What methods are being used to reduce inventory in the sales process- IE blast furnace reline, planned delay of blast furnace start up etc
3. Has there been a conscious effort to reduce days in debtors to improve cash flow from operations in 2009?
4. Property, Plant and Equipment (PPE) payments have grown substantially from 2002 ($78m) to 2009 ($733m). It appears from the financial performance that BlueScope are financing most of their assets from shareholder equity as opposed to debt. Is this a conscious strategic decision or did the strong revenue growth in 2005/6 enable a better debt position?
5. It is noted that a sharp reduction in debtor payables between 2008 ($1.282b) and 2009 ($940m) was recorded. Given the reduction in business activity over the same period, is this a product of effective debtor management or is it strictly related to operational revenue?
6. Are days in inventory a concern for BlueScope? This ratio decreased by 10% in 2009 but is still on average more than 55days. Is this a risk of obsolescence, does it erode profit through storage and insurance costs?
7. Sustainability is clearly a focus and source of strategic advantage for BlueScope. The water conservation initiative has saved over 14b litres of freshwater at Port Kembla since October 2006. Does the business consider the implementation of a carbon trading scheme to offset some of the gains made by efficient water conservation?
8. What political influence has BlueScope had in customising the government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) proposal to protect its competitive position in the Australian market? Has BlueScope and One Steel arrived at a combined position to drive government attention to the side effects (reduced export capability) of the proposed scheme?
9. Acquisitions such as Smorgon Steel, HCI Building Systems and IMSA Steel Corp form the basis of increased competitive advantage. Is this likely to feature in the strategic approach going forward or has BlueScope reached a critical mass?
10. Can BlueScope quantify it’s R&D capital fro the period 2002 to 2009 and forecast this into the medium and long term?
11. It is noted that the are several categories of initiatives contained in the 2008 Blueprint- grow domestic markets and steel penetration; drive manufacturing excellence; enhance supply chain; continue focus on productivity; procurement optimisation; improve capital planning and execution; monetise surplus assets; disciplined growth. Has the blueprint changed in 2009 and is it aligned to the BlueScope Bond- Customer, People, Shareholders, Community.
12. Has BlueScope recognised any efficiency in the establishment of a PMO in 2008? This office is reported to be tracking more than 120 initiatives aimed at EBIT and working capital improvements.

Bluescope Marketing Material

Bluescope utilize Television, print media and have developed "Brand Partnership Program" with businesses utilizing Bluescope steel.

Liks to Television and Print Media.
Advertising sites

http://www.colorbond.com/index.cfm?objectid=FF97D12A-C23D-69B5-53600FF4F7DFC3AD
Accessed 2/9/09

http://www.bluescopesteel.com/go/news-and-media/advertisements
Accessed 2/9/09

http://www.bluescopesteel.com.au/go/tools-and-resources/steel-by-program/how-we-ll-help-you
Accessed 3/9/09


Press releases

http://www.bluescopesteel.com.au/go/news/what-s-behind-zincalume-steel
accessed 2/9/09

http://www.bluescopewater.com/index.cfm?objectid=B87C8883-A3B6-7C77-255615291BBCBF20
accessed 2/9/09

I also had a go at interveiwing one of the "Brand Partnership Program" members.

This was interesting as he perceived price being ultimately the most likely determinate of steel selection within his area of steel usage.

I am in the process of writing up a second interveiw i held this morning with Mr Alan Hall, Research Technician with our business and previously the coated product lines (Zincalume, Galalume, Zincanneal, coulourbond , aquaplate lines.

There is quite a lot on capabilities and technological resources available.

I will post both interveiws in Wiki Shortly.

Top 5 Customers (Point 15 in Meeting Minutes)

Guys,

Since I cannot add the excel sheet to the blog.
I have emailed you all the Top 5 customers for Bluescope ex Westernport in VIC based on tonnage.

Vlade

Coal/ Steel background

Financial forecasts when BHP and Bluescope demerged

http://www.bluescopesteel.com/file/download.cfm?DownloadFile=4AFC2142-AF4F-4973-897591EE555DBA5A

Comments on Assignment 2

1. As we research we should start to get a clearer picture of Bluescope and its strategy. From this we can start to analyse using SWOT as a basic tool.
2. Agree with Arv. We can use Porters 5 Competitive forces model and PESTLE to understand the effect of the external and internal environment on the organisation.
3. Units 3 can help us with the external environment, Unit 4 can assist with understanding the strengths and capabilities of the organisation and Unit 5 has tips on agility.
4. Unit 10 should help us with section 2 as we analyse and dissect the organisation across divisions and borders.
5. Units 6 and 7 are more technology and innovation focused and I think should assist us with section 3 of our project document.

I think we should nominate 5 questions that we want to present to Bluescope, here are some examples:
1. What is the strategic intent of the organisation for the next 3 years?
2. How is Bluescope using innovation/technology to gain a competitive advantage?
3. What innovating techniques is employing/ has employed?
4. What type of strategy will be used to remain competitive in the global market?
5. What is its current balance sheet and ROI?

ASX links

ASX links:
http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/companyInfo.do?by=asxCode&asxCode=BSL#chart

http://asx.netquote.com.au/summary.asp?code=BSL

Links on company’s strategy and financial focus

Gents,

In general ASX publications on Bluescope can be found here:
http://www.bluescopesteel.com/go/news-and-media/asx-announcements

I found the below to be good reading in terms of the company’s strategy and financial focus.

BlueScope Steel Ready For Recovery - Encouraging Signs Following A Tough Year
http://www.bluescopesteel.com/index.cfm?objectid=25225CCE-D2DB-B222-655D99ED27051D88


BlueScope Steel Unveils Blueprint to Significantly Build on its Heritage and Capabilities
http://www.bluescopesteel.com/index.cfm?objectID=846B921F-9454-4616-0056C636EDB67423

Some links found by Arv

Sri Lankan Daily News - BlueScope Steel leads with nerves of steel
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/03/10/bus02.asp

Nerves of steel needed as metallic bubble bursts - from ABC Inside business
http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/content/2006/s1578550.htm

SMH Business day - BlueScope posts $66m loss - and more to come
http://business.smh.com.au/business/bluescope-posts-66m-loss--and--more-to-come-20090817-empe.html

A whole bunch of links from BNET
http://resources.bnet.com/topic/bluescope.html

Arv's initial thoughts on assignment 1

Hi guys, here are my initial thoughts on the assignment. Please feel free to post comments about this.

Analysis

1. I think the main to analysis tools we'll use will be PESTLE and Porter's five forces model - the frameworks we use will largely be drawn from unit 3. It will be interesting to see what people get for assignment one. We should leverage our learnings from this - trying to take the best from the feedback we get from each team member's assignment.
2. We will need to agree on the list of strategic stakeholders. I believe we will need some theoretical framework to assess this.
3. This will build on the first part of the analysis. We can incoporate SWOT into this part. Again, the framework for this can come from unit 3. This is where our industry research will come into play. From our task list, I think the ASX reports and historical financial performance will be important. We can try to identify trends in the steel market and also markets that the steel industry relies on...like construction. These dependent industries will help us formulate the likely scenarios.
4. Vlade and Dave's access to Bluescope will become invaluable in this part. Units 7 and 8 will provide a good foundation to assess the strategies against. These units talk about strategy of product development companies and we can assess Bluescopes product development process against this. Unit 10 gives some insight into managing companies that span foreign markets. It will be interesting to see how bluescope's strategies have changed as they have expanded into countries outside of australia.

The Report

1. This will just take from conclusions drawn from the the analysis. Nothing to elaborate on here.
2. We should draw heavily on frameworks in the course notes. Unit 11 talks about how to effectively monitor strategy. It would be good to understand how bluescope monitor the success of their strategy and then respond to it and change. Unit 5 talks about the need to be agile in responding to change. How agile is bluescope? can we find evidence of this agility? what recommendations can we make so that bluescope can become more agile?
3. When making recommendations we should understand clearly what the company's mission, vision and objectives are and how successful they have been. We shuld try and draw on case studies and examples of companies that have similar vision or mission to Bluescope and see if we can apply some of their strategies to bluescope. I think we need to think outside the square here. Recognising company's with similar strategies, not just from the same industry as bluescope, but other industries.

Getting to understand this technology

Hi Guys,

I have joined a blog.

If you think google docs is a good way to manage this assignment documentation, i am happy to use this format.

All this new technology is a bit daunting to me but i will work on my competency.

I think i am going to be stuck here a but longer.

Warwick from Hidden Valley

Using Google docs

Hi guys,

I think that google docs might be a good way to manage our docs. We just need to create a document for each section. We can then edit these online. At the end we can collate the docs into the required format prior to submission.

Let me know what you think.

Arv.

Welcome team

Hi guys, welcome to the team blog. I am sure we'll get good use oout of this. I suggest that any information that you find about Bluescope you upload here. Try to use the label functionality to tag the item you post so that we can use the search facilities later down the track.

Cheers,
Arv.