American University of Armenia (AUA) Master of Business Administration (MBA) program hosted Hayk Lorikyan, Deputy CEO, Business Development at the Galaxy Group of Companies. Hayk Lorikyan particularly focused on the “Strategic Foresight and Execution” that has helped the holding company develop agile approaches to successfully overcome rapid changes in the business landscape and remain competitive.
Hayk Lorikyan first presented the structure of the Galaxy Group of Companies, demonstrating how vertical and horizontal integration afford agility to pool in the necessary talent for business development and deployment, and to identify and pursue unique business opportunities, ranging from hospitality to entertainment, retail, telecommunications, and IT. Emphasizing the importance of strategy building for the success of any large company, he elaborated that the process involves more than just setting goals and objectives; it is more about understanding the market dynamics, analyzing the competition, and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the company to determine whether a new project organically fits into its overall vision and leads to desired outcomes. According to Lorikyan, a well-crafted strategy could give a company the competitive edge to help it achieve its long-term goals.
Lorikyan went on to discuss some of the key elements of strategy building, highlighting the importance of understanding the market, most importantly customer needs, trends, and behaviors. He noted that a complex strategy that lacks focus can lead to confusion and could fail to align with the vision of the organization, therefore hinder its success.
Through the use of specific examples, the speaker also discussed how the Galaxy Group of Companies has successfully implemented its own strategy-formulation process, how it has identified new opportunities, diversified its portfolio, and expanded into new markets, including Belarus, Georgia, and Uzbekistan.
AUA alumna Elina Gabrielyan (MBA ’11), the deputy CEO, Business Operations at the Galaxy Group of Companies also joined the session to share her perspective and experience in strategy building, particularly in the areas of operations, human resources, and logistics. She spoke about the importance of understanding the internal operations of the company and aligning the strategy with the organization’s capabilities and resources.
The session was followed by Q&As to allow participants to raise questions and delve deeper into strategy formulation and execution. This allowed exploring a diverse range of aspects complementing the attendees’ understanding of the topic and associated context.
Industry-academia connecting sessions of this nature provide hands-on experience to students of the MBA program and fulfill the Program’s goal of preparing future professionals the knowledge and competencies to drive them ahead in the existing marketplace. They are also meant to sharpen students’ vision and strategy on how to start and grow a business rapidly despite the peculiarities of the Armenian market, while taking advantage of global developments that could drive changes in the local context.
