BUSINESS STRATEGY

THE MEANING OF BUSINESS AND STRATEGY

Business is defined as an organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial, or professional activities. The term business also refers to the organized efforts and activities of individuals to produce and sell goods and services for profit.

On the one hand, business is the activity of making one’s living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). Simply put, it is “any activity or enterprise entered into for profit.

Strategy is a high-level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. A strategy describes how the ends goals will be achieved by the means resources. Strategy generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions.

A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources). It involves activities such as strategic planning and strategic thinking.

THE KINDS OF STRATEGY

In the business world, there are three basic kinds of strategy with which people must concern with themselves:
-plain strategy or strategy in general
-corporate strategy
-competitive strategy

Strategy in General

Generally, strategy refers to how a given objective will be achieved. Therefore, strategy in general is related to the relationships between ends and means, between the results we investigate and the resources at our disposal. Strategy and tactics confuse each other but it is clear that these are different in terms of usage and time.

On the one hand, strategy relates to how you deploy or allocate the resources at your disposal. Similarly, tactic relates to how to employ or make of them. Consequently, strategy and tactics are constituted a bridge between means and ends with employ and deploy.

Corporate Strategy

Corporate strategy is defined as the markets and the businesses in which a company will operate. Besides, corporate strategy is decided in the context of defining the mission and vision of a company, that is to say, why it exists and saying what the company does.

Competitive Strategy

Competitive can be defined for a given business the basis on which it will compete. Besides, competitive strategy rides on a company’s strengths, capabilities, and weaknesses with reference to market characteristics and the corresponding capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses of its competitors.

WHAT IS A BUSINESS STRATEGY?

A business strategy is a set of competitive moves and actions that a business uses to attract customers, compete successfully, strengthening performance, and achieve organizational goals. Actually, it outlines how business should carry out to reach the desired ends. The definition of business strategy is a long-term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal or set of goals or objectives.

Strategy is management’s game plan for strengthening the performance of the enterprise. It states how business should be conducted to achieve the desired goals, that is to say, the course of action or set of decisions which assist the entrepreneurs in achieving specific business objectives.

It can be defined as a master plan that the management of a company implements to secure a competitive position in the market, carry on its operations, please customers and achieve the desired ends of the business.

Besides, a business strategy is a combination of proactive actions on the part of management, for the purpose of enhancing the company’s market position and overall performance and reactions to unexpected developments and new market conditions.

The company of present strategy is a result of formerly initiated actions and business approaches, but when market conditions take an unanticipated turn, the company requires a strategic reaction to cope with contingencies. Therefore, a part of the business strategy can formulate as a reasoned response for unforeseen development.

Elements of Business Strategy

-Creating the key objectives and goals of your business for the short and long term and creating a message employees and colleagues can stand behind.
-Evaluating future market changes that will or may affect your customer and anticipating those changes.
-Evaluating the possible risks your business may encounter i.e. weakness in product/service performance compared to the competition.
-Describing your financial features and requirements
-Reflecting critically on the real weakness of your business internally and externally.
-Once you have created your business strategy it is important to then monitor its success. You can make sure your business strategy is on schedule and progress is always on track by using this planning document as a benchmark.

HOW TO MANAGE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT WITH SOFTWARE?

With Business Management Software, analyze your company, and compare it with industry data. Also, set goals, delegate these goals to your employees. Moreover, track all the work done to achieve your company goals for success.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN SUBJECTS FOR BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE?

1.GOALS

Goals include four main subjects such as analyze, benchmark, set, delegate.

–ANALYZE: Integrating with your accounting software so that immediately make financial analysis based on your past company performance. So, you will know current situation of your company to make better goal setting for your future plans.

-BENCHMARK: Doing financial benchmark analysis based on your own data specific to your industry. The values of public companies average these data. So, you will know general best practices, ratios and numbers that will guide you to determine your company’s current situation and possible prospective position in your industry.

-SET: Making fixes for your goals. You will have your sales revenue, customer satisfaction rates, marketing budget and all other targets set just in one simple page.

-DELEGATE: Keeping track of the given tasks and follow-up process. You will not need to worry each day about your goals that work on or not. Depending on your reporting preferences, you will get periodic brief reports.

2.TRACKING

Having the ability to evaluate your employee performance based on these plans. You will get performance reports about your employees and also about your overall company. So that will be a driving force for you and for your employees to perform better based on your plans objectives.

3.SUCCESS

Your overall organization will be aligned for ultimate goals, objectives will be achieved and operating performance will be enhanced.

THE BENEFITS OF BUSINESS STRATEGY

–Identifying the key steps needed to achieve your strategy.

Working on your business strategy will enable you to identify the key steps and milestones to move your business from where it is now to where you want it to be. This will be invaluable for informing your planning and day to day business activities.

–Drive and impetus.

To be more spesific, developing your business strategy will give you and your team the drive and impetus to perform at your best and take the business to where you want it to be.

–A better understanding of your current business.

To develop a business strategy you need to understand where your business is now. This involves looking at your business overall, including the key internal drivers such as financial performance, customer satisfaction, staff turnover, sales and marketing trends, conversion rates etc.

You will also need to consider the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with your business and understand the external business environment, your competitors and the market you are in. This will all put your business in a much better place to move forward.

-Clarity, focus and direction.

If you have a business strategy in place you will be clear on where your business is now, where it is going and what you need to do to get there. This will give your business clarity, focus and direction as you can align the business to achieving the business strategy. You will be making your business strategy happen rather than letting your business drift along without purpose.

-Agreement on the longer-term future of your business.

In developing the business strategy, you will agree on the longer term vision and what you want your business to achieve. You may be looking to increase your profitability by x%, to create value in your business for a future sale or keep your business at the size it is now. By working on your strategy and debating the issues you will come to an agreement in your business as to where you want your business to be in the longer term.

-New opportunities for the business.

Reviewing and working on your business strategy involves a lot of creative thinking which is likely to generate new ideas and opportunities for the business which you may not have identified otherwise.

-Better business results.

Developing a business strategy is likely to lead to better business performance as you focus on taking the business to where you want it to be. You are less likely to get distracted and waste time on areas that are not moving you towards your long-term objectives.

-New opportunities for the business.

Reviewing and working on your business strategy involves a lot of creative thinking which is likely to generate new ideas and opportunities for the business which you may not have identified otherwise.