Business Strategies

Business Strategies

In today’s business the adage one does not plan to fail; one fails to plan is more IMPORTANT than ever!! Business strategies, business plans, human resource management strategies, marketing strategies, marketing plans… While it may sound like a lot, it is not as complicated as one would like to think.
I read somewhere a gentleman indicated you cannot write a business plan if you have never been a business owner. I have to disagree with this gentleman. A business plan is a strategy on paper. It is a road map. It is a guide. It is a map that details the business trip; your company business trip. While a business plan is the map to a successful business, it is important to also develop a strategy. Porter (2008) asserts the job of a strategist is to understand and cope with competition. As an Entrepreneur, the absence of a strategy can be detrimental to the success of an organization. As a small/medium size business owner, one of the most important roles is growing your business.

Porter (2008) also identifies five forces that shape a business strategy: bargaining power of suppliers, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, rivalry amount existing competitors. Assessment of these aspects of one’s environment can position a small/medium sized business to be competitively advantageous in its industry.
Drucker (1985) identifies these Entrepreneurial Strategies:

The Futest with the Mostest strategy focuses on building big businesses and dominating a new market or industry. The Futest with the Mostest strategy is applicable to businesses and institutions.

Creative Imitation – The Creative Imitation is contradictory to “imitation”. In, the creative imitation strategy, the entrepreneur applies their own strategy to another company’s idea. The entrepreneur revises and implements its own innovative ideas, making the product its own. The strategy was utilized successfully by IBM and Proctor & Gamble.

Entrepreneurial Judo is wherein a company exploits the bad habits of a competitor to get ahead. It is a market-driven strategy and also the less risky strategy. The entrepreneurial strategy was utilized by Xerox.
As an entrepreneur one may also research the niche strategy or changing economic characteristics of product or service. I speak of these strategies simply because as Entrepreneurs, we sometimes have to back up and reassess the current business strategy to assure that it is working effectively in growing your business.

We’ll talk strategy again on Friday!

April,
All-4-HR & Business Solutions

Please feel free to contact me at aprilh@halliburtonsupportsu.com to find out more about these and other strategies.