Business Strategies

How to set your business strategy?

This site analyzes some of the most important strategies that a small business could

adopt to achieve competitive advantage and increase profitability.

What is business strategy?

The word 'Strategy' comes from the Greek word 'stratagus'. 'Stratagus' in Greek refers to the art of the general. The various tactics and ploys adopted by the general to achieve victory was his strategy. Therefore we see that the word strategy is very suitable in the business context too. As the business has many 'enemies' both within and without.

Low moral, high wastage, reworking, returns, high overheads, machine downtime and rejects are all internal weaknesses of the organization. To overcome these the Chief Executive has to implement action plan developed under a effective strategy. Total quality management, activity based management, total productive maintenance, quality circles etc are the concepts that can be applied to eradicate internal weaknesses.

The external 'enemies' of the business are: competitors, substitute products, new entrants, bargaining power of buyers and sellers. To overcome these external factors many strategies could be adopted (and many more are available - in excess). Choosing the most appropriate strategy is the most important function of top management and the chief executive.

How do I set the business strategy?

Setting the business strategy is to an extent complex. But the complexity can be defined in very simple terms i.e. match your business with the environment in which it operates.

How to Choose the optimal business strategy?

Choosing the correct business strategy is critical for the success of your business venture. Very often early decisions made cannot be undone - therefore it is vital that you GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

This guide will help you make the all important decision of setting your BUSINESS STRATEGY.

Management strategy Index

Corporate planning, diversification, deliberate strategy and environmental scanning	Igor Ansoff
Strategy and learning	Chris Argyris
Global competition	Christopher Bartlett and Samantha Ghoshal
Economic value added	G Bennet-Stewart
The BCG matrix	Boston Consulting Group
Perceived use value/ relative price	Cliff Bowman
Strategy-making as fluid process	Braybrook and Lindblom
Strategy and styles	Campbell A and Goold
Strategy and structure	Alfred Chandler
Scenarios	A De Gues
The theory of constraints	Eliyahu Goldratt
Resource based theory of competitive advantage	Robert Grant
Case competencies	Gary Hamel and S K Prahalad
The virtual organization	Charles Handy
Strategic management of acquisitions	P Hapeslagh and D Jemison
The strategy process and paradigms	Gerry Johnson and Kevin Scholes
Strategic change and catalysts	Rosebeth Moss Kanter
Balanced Scorecard	Kaplan and Norton
Force field analysis and resistance to change	Kurt Lewin
Strategic alliances	P Lorange and J Roos
Shareholder value	McTaggart, Kontes and Mankins
Emergent strategy	Henry Mintzberg
Uncertainty analysis	Ian Mitroff
Competitive positioning	Kenichi Ohmae
Contention in strategy, the seven s model	R T Pascale
Seven S model and organizational challenge	Tom Peters
Stakeholder analysis	Nigel Piercy
Porters five forces, the generic strategies, industry dynamics, the value chain	Micheal E Porter
Logical incrementalism	J B Quinn
Shareholder value	Alfred Rappaport
The learning organization	Peter Senge
Value migration	A Slyvosky
Strategic recipes for decision making	J C Spender
Time based competition	E Stalk
Organizational capability and competing from within	David Ulrich
Scenarios	P Wack
The 'GE' way	Jack Welch
Global strategies	George Yip

Functional Strategies

Marketing Strategies
Understand marketing for small business - understanding marketing for small business Relationship Marketing - This is one marketing technique that ensures that will keep you ahead of the competition permanently i.e. important technique of developing competitive advantage. Key Account Management - Key accounts in marketing are referred to as key customers or groups of key customers. In a competitive environment the ability to manage key customers is a vital ingredient for business success.	Perceptual Mapping - Recognize marketing opportunities and exploit them - identifying market niches is complex. Perceptual mapping will help you achieve success. Marketing Oriented Business - Being customer oriented is vital for business success. Find out how you too can introduce the marketing philosophy to your organization. Marketing Strategy - standard templates Product/Market Matrix - (Ansoff Matrix) Ansoff matrix will teach you the easiest ways of increasing sales.
Financing Strategies	Take a look at some of these articles to better understand the financing needs of your company.
Production Strategies	Manufacturing Best Practices - Managers reveal their secrets to best manufacturing practices - you can imitate them. Quality & Productivity Assessment Checklist - This checklist will provide the guidelines to improve the quality and productivity of your business. Especially relevant for medium-large manufacturing companies.

Business Strategies to Improve Competitive Advantage

Trading Best Practices	A list of the best trading practices and how they will help you achieve business objectives.
Balanced Scorecard	This is a method used to allocate the resources of the business to competing ends. Current product Vs future product development.
Productivity Improvement	Explains how to increase the productivity of your business. Several Japanese techniques of productivity improvement have been discussed.

Developing your soft skills

Conflict Management
Harness the power of conflict management to achieve corporate goals

Spirituality in the Workplace
Understand your self-actualization (and spiritual) needs and those of your employees

The Seven Habits
Use the seven habits to manage your business better.