Business strategy: When starting a project it is easy to forget about strategic planning , we believe that by finding a need to cover in the market and providing the product or service, we will have success and sustained growth. Perhaps we will start well, but if there is no minimum 3-year planning, it is 100% certain that we will not sustain growth .
Making a strategy increases the possibility of success and growth . It is important to research and analyze the market, the competition and the trends , which will provide us with the bases and tools to generate a long-range vision .
Generally, companies develop their strategy based on the price or the product , where the premise is to increase the value of the product, but directly affecting its price; or lower the price and engage in the war for the market, encouraging customers to defect and be mercenaries, decreasing brand and product loyalty.
However, there is another way to increase the value of our product and lower the sale price, it is called the “Blue Ocean Strategy”, but we will dedicate another article in our blog to expand on this interesting topic.
Now, developing a strategy means developing the map that will indicate where you want to take your project , and for this there are thousands of techniques, literature, models, etc. Today we recommend that you start with a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) .
Strengths
- Look inside your project and describe all those positive characteristics that differentiate you from your competition ; They can be characteristics of your product, your operation, distribution, service, etc.
Opportunities
- Now look outside your project and find in the target market those features that may be optimal for introducing your service ; perhaps you are improving the offer, you are going to bring the product closer to its consumers, nobody has done it before, etc.
weaknesses
- It is time for you to do an exercise of honesty and analysis about yourself. Are you really prepared in financial and operational terms? Do you have the best staff at your service? Do you act as fast as the market demands? Find those areas where you are limited or can still improve and list them .
threats
- Stop to analyze your competition and find out what their actions can weaken your position in the market ; You should also take into account some other market facts that could affect you, such as the economic, political, financial, industrial, technological environment, etc. You must pay close attention to all the variables that can change the current map of the market you are part of.
From this simple but enriching analysis, you will be able to make the decision of where to direct your business strategy . For this, there are only 3 directions , called “value disciplines” , and when you choose one of these, you have to give up the rest. This means that you must be very good in your chosen discipline, but competitive in the others.
1. Operation
- If you base your strategy on this discipline, you must achieve operational excellence . Take the case of Domino’s Pizza as an example, its excellence in operation leads it to guarantee that if your pizza is not delivered in 30 minutes, it is free. The entire business is focused on making the operation perfect and running like clockwork, its strategy is based on the perfection of the operation.
2. Product
- You should base your strategy on this discipline when your product accomplishes a task in the most efficient way or gives greater customer satisfaction . Take the case of Apple’s iPhone as an example; Perhaps some other cell phones fulfill or cover the same function as this one, but by having it, the customer feels satisfied, that is, he obtains greater gratification when using this product.
3. Service
- This discipline inclines you to go beyond your product and the price you offer to your customers , regularly the purchase-sale relationship with the customer is not enough. If you base your strategy on service, you are obliged to develop a very close relationship with your client , you are going to direct him to better use and capitalize on the product that he consumes, you will be with him in training or after use, etc. Knowing how to develop a close relationship with him will allow you to focus properly on service .
