It is not, always, easy to formulate a successful business strategy, for getting specific business objectives and leveraging your advantages over the competition! Today the market have been made much more competitive than it used to be while many more competitors, have offered the same or similar product with you. The situation is not always “pretty“, and sometimes the only thing stands between a successful company from an unsuccessful one is its strategy!
What’s The Hurry?
Today, though, and due to a competitive international market on the one hand, and a very demanding and well informed client “ecosystem” on the other, many companies, fall in the “sin” of moving rather quicker in market (the (in)famous ready-to-market clause!) than they should be.
That is, most of the times, a strategy problem. More specifically a “business strategy” flaw(!) signifies one of the two things:
- you weren’t ready to go to the market
- you overlook, some significant or crucial factors, influencing the final outcome (either be the quality, the price, the lack of value, or anything else)
The bottom line is that your precipitation, cause you more damage, than the one you try to solve the first place! And in business, a wrong move may be the dissection line between a surviving company and an “I forgot it” one!
What Business Strategy Is?
Business strategy is a strategy with very specific business objectives, metrics, and premises. It should rely on solid foundations (as the vision and business plan of the company), but it should be flexible enough, in order to cope to the constant variable business environment! Strategy never should be misread for tactics because a misinterpretation may, in the long run, develop more problems, that the ones a good strategy tries to solve.
What a Bad Strategy Brings?
In business strategy (or strategic management, if you prefer!), more than one times, you should be aware the you’re going to need to review your basic premises often and diligently, before you are going to be ready to get a product of value in the market. It is a cascade-like procedure in which you should verified, your action, against solid premises and data, all the time (exactly, as in chess)!
Why? Because precipitation, usually, brings, lost of:
- company’s credibility,
- product’s or service’s quality,
- abnormal price fluctuations,
- true innovation features,
- added value for the client, and
- (after while) lack of interest by the clients and the prospects!
This is the main reason for the development of a good business strategy, especially in today’s competitive conditions!
Intentional Business Strategy
A good business strategy for your company is an intentional business strategy. That means, that strategy in the companies environment should not be secluded or isolated to some lead-type company strata, but should be simple, on-the point and disperse to all the areas of the company (including the associates the collaborators, etc).
A successful business strategy relies on for its validity in the market by its:
- foundation on solid business models and premises (standard, models, common business practices and approaches, result and client oriented principles, value added services and networks, etc; not just “make-money” principles!)
- raison d’être (the why of the particular business),
- acceptance by all people and everybody work for its implementation and employment,
- clear premises and transparent to everyone procedures, it adheres to(!),
- simple, understood by everyone and generally adopted, business objectives,
- periodical reviews in accordance to the metrics have been set,
- goals and metrics for the achievement of its goal and objectives,
- compatibility with the values and principles of the company,
- widespread communication towards all “consumers” of this strategy (personnel, clients, associates, partners, etc),
- business culture, it fosters to be developed,
- clients satisfaction,
- time, location and scope frame for its implementation,
- procedures for its improvement, abandonment and/or modification,
- results measured not only in financial terms but as well as social, innovation, community, business etc, impact!
A business strategy, as such would greatly benefit, a company, not only in the short-run but in the long-run as well, because this strategy would be a “live” ingredient of the overall resources (knowledge, ideas, approach, principles, procedures, financial &human capital, technology, systems, and resources) that constitute a company!
Question: By the change, do you have a solid business strategy, you follow intentionally? Please comment.
