15 things that will make your business strategy a winner

 

Every move you make has an effect on the progress of the company

When your business is up and running you have to give the activity a frequent check to ensure that you actually are doing the right thing. You ought to be able to explain from the perspective of the customer what you are bringing to the table and why the customer should prefer you above other organizations like yours. Call it the unique selling proposition if you like.  Here are few questions that would serve as a guide to determine if the new plan for that period would actually measure up to your expectation.
1. Can we clearly articulate how the company creates value for customers. There ought to be something you focus on that is easily identifiable that would make the product or the service attractive. It could speed, taste, color or even the shape.
2. How efficient is the business activity? Is it at the best mode possible, could it be done better or is it being done better in any situation you know? The efficiency of the business should be determined from the perspectives of time, cost, quality and the scope as well as the ultimate satisfaction of the customer.
3. Can we clearly articulate how we translate value creation into cash? The satisfaction on the part of the customer should draw profit (cash) to the organization.
4. The value creation process does not end in the present period. If we want the business to last we have to have eyes on the future. How will the value creation process evolve over the next three to five years?
5. Can we scan the business environment and determine immediate threats and how to deal with them on large scale?\
6. Are all our positions on ethical issues clearly articulated? What will the organization tolerate and what will it not?
7. Are our vision, mission, values understood and embraced by a majority of the people who work in the organization?
8. Are the objectives of the organization clearly understood and unambiguous in all situations to all players in the organization?
9. Does our strategy reflect our objectives, vision, mission and values?
10. Do our strategies have the support of all our key stakeholders?
11. Its one thing to have a strategy and another to match it with capability. Does our strategy match our capability. An organization can only plan based on the resources that it has in hand.
12. Our short and medium term strategies should be linked or consistent with our long term perspectives and the scenarios we wish to create.
13  Are major decisions taken by the MD in consonance with the board of the organization which should consist of knowledgeable people of the sector concerned. \
14  Does the company have the resources to execute the strategy that is being considered and also to make sure that strategy evolves as the organization develops.
15  Are our profit margins threatened by buyer power. If the power of purchasing our products is taken from some buyers would we be faced with a sink or swim situation?