…or are you stuck on the trees?
Business Strategy
One of the most overlooked jobs of a successful manager or business operator is to regularly evaluate and correct your overall business strategy[1].
Weak information strategy in established business can limit access to new opportunities, and tends to be a principal cause behind new enterprise failures.
Businesses without sound information management practices are incapable of managing expansion, and can easily lose focus on existing profit streams while attempting to generate value from new projects. The big boys can afford such losses from time to time, but for many SME operators this is the stuff of nightmares.
The important task developing sustainable business information strategies can easily get put off while addressing the daily management demands of a busy organisation. The need for business strategy restructuring can manifest in an intractable feeling... "There is something more I should be doing."
Simply approaching the issue of business strategy redevelopment can be a problem in itself. Allocating resources and time can be a challenge[1], as can the viewpoint of those working on the task. Organisational involvement with stakeholders and daily management tasks can easily deny them the required level of business objectivity.
Failure of a new enterprise often stems from a lack of strategic management practices[2]. In fact, "Small businesses that engage in contemporary strategic management practices tend to outperform those that do not" (Beaver, 2007).
Warning Signs
If your organisation is under threat from strategic management issues, then you are, unfortunately, in good company. Many businesses have lapses in focus when it comes to overall strategic planning, and can have difficulty catching up.
Many new businesses in emerging markets and technologies can get complacent. Since they start out ahead of the curve, they can do well with their initial strategic plan for some time. This can be like driving down a long straight road with your hands off the steering wheel - so long as conditions don't change very much this can work for short periods of time.
However, unexpected situations or errors in the initial plan can easily result in catastrophe. When the business environment changes or competitors develop new strategies, a nimble and aware operator can develop appropriate strategies.
Competitive Efficiency Issues
Keeping an eye on your competitors is crucial, but it is not possible without the right information resources and proper analysis[1].
To remain competitive, the business and peripheral projects need regular analytical reviews[1]. Cost savings may be the prime goal in this, but reviewing a business can identify resources which are currently serving unproductive purposes, and can help to identify new revenue generating opportunities.
Warning signs of poor competitive efficiency:
- Shrinking margins
- Weakening negotiating position
- Low repeat business
- Rising staff turnover
- Poor awareness of business environment
- Incomplete or patchy competitive knowledge
- Unexpected market trends are affecting sales
Information Structure Issues
If a business has expanded, or if it has recently downsized, its information structure may not be scaling properly. If this is happening there are usually symptoms which include:
- Paperwork is incomplete, inappropriate or absent
- Customer/client information is poorly managed
- Debtor management issues
- Communications have become fragmented
- Poorly understood inventory and supply levels
- Problems take too long to solve, or get put in the "too hard basket".
We can help
If the business you represent is experiencing any of these problems or issues, please take 10 minutes to fill out the free evaluation form found via the link - Make a project request. Your issue will be submitted to Octothorn Consulting, and an initial analysis will be undertaken in consideration of your position free of any charge.
1. KM vital to small-business competitiveness, study finds. (2008, November). Knowledge Management Review, 11(5), 7. Retrieved December 23, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database.
2. Graham Beaver (2007). The strategy payoff for smaller enterprises. The Journal of Business Strategy, 28(1), 11-17. Retrieved December 23, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database