Business Strategy

Business strategy today is a far more complex discipline, as compared to the earlier days when a single person could afford to take sweeping decisions that he or she felt was good for the business. The person could force the financial support heads to accede to his or her terms.

Despite severe criticism from people who supported him financially and technical heads who expressed their doubts about the system’s usefulness in assembling motor cars, Henry Ford had taken the decision of installing an assembly line production methodology for the automobiles in his Highland Park, Michigan plant way back in 1914. This strategic decision, as we all know, has not only benefited the man who took it but the motoring public all over the world. And not only that, it showed the world how a business could mass produce and reduce costs.

The modern day Henry Ford, Bill Gates although he created the business empire based on his vision, himself admits that Microsoft was founded on the company’s 7-part competitive strategy. Yes he had a role to play, but did he have that much control over the business strategy? The answer is in the negative.

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Determining the business strategy for a large or even a mid sized company today has become a complicated affair. One way the business strategy is decided today is by carrying out a SWOT analysis to find out how effective it would be in guiding the business in the right direction.

SWOT here stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats where strength and weakness are totally internal factors. Saying more lucidly, Strength could identify certain business skills like specialist marketing expertise or superior technical skill not usually available in similar trade or business, while Weakness could be the lack of innovative products.

Just as strength and weakness are internal factors, Opportunities and Threats are external factors. The Internet, for example, could be identified in terms of great opportunity as it opens up a new and innovative vista of online distribution and sale. Change in consumer lifestyle may be a form of Opportunity for a business whose beauty products were so long used by females but with the change in lifestyle among males, suddenly the company can see a doubling of the sales potential.

Business Strategies

The Threat factor includes near at hand as well as far too distant loss of market due to abrupt technology changes that can ruin a company whose products are considered obsolete due to the arrival of radically improved merchandise that uses cheaper but effective ingredients to satisfy the consumer.

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Strategizing today is much more than just planning, visioning and forecasting since most substantive issues of strategy have now been redefined as issues depicting implementation.

And thus businesses are looking both internal and external trying the best they can to stay in touch with the changing world. Remaining close to the market is another priority because they can then understand the shifts that can help them plan better and come out with more relevant business strategies.