5 Tips To Adopt A Competitive Strategy In An Organization

Creating a competitive strategy as part of a marketing and business plan can aide you in competing in the marketplace and focus your efforts. When developing a competitive strategy, it is imperative that your organization determine if the advantage is sustainable over time. As you plan, it is crucial to adopt a competitive strategy in an organization to bring value to your consumers and the community.

Instructions

1.Identify the focus areas of your organization and how you differentiate yourself from the competition. Will your organization be a leader, follower or a company that provides challenges? Determine who your target consumer is and identify your target population. Consider what kind of clients you serve or will serve and their characteristics, what you will provide, and where you will provide them. This is important on several levels, as it will help your organizational strategy.

2.Make a list of competing organizations in your area or online that may have part of the current or future market share. Rank the competition from the strongest competitor to the weakest and consider trends in the market that may affect its size and consumer base. Outline the strengths and weaknesses of companies that offer the same or similar services. You may consider breaking this into four distinct categories, including consumer base, funding/investors, human resources, and online or regional publicity. Making this determination can help you find ways to push yourself ahead as a leader in your market and give you methods of competing with others in the marketplace.

3.Create a list that focuses on how you will expand your market. This may include finding new users, creating new customers or even encouraging more usage of specific products or services. Based on this information, consider how you can protect your current market, while increasing your relationship with untargeted consumers.

4.Gather all the information you have created and write a statement that describes your organizational strategy and your competitive strategy. You may also consider writing a statement that brings the two together, focusing both on the competition and organizational strategies.

5.Examine and discuss the competitive strategy with shareholders or other organizational executives. You need to determine if the statement can prove sustainable over the next several years. Once you have a consensus that the competitive strategy will remain sustainable, you can then adopt it as your organization's business strategy.

Top 10 Do's And Dont's While Business

THE TOP TEN DO'S WHEN STARTING A BUSINESS

1. Live frugally and begin saving up money for starting your business.
2. Learn your intended business by working for someone else in the same business first.
3. Consider the benefits of starting a moonlight business.
4. Consider the advantages of operating a family business.
5. Objectively measure your skills and training against potential competition.
6. Consider subcontracting to low cost suppliers if you're manufacturing a product.
7. Test market your product or service before starting or expanding.
8. Make "for" and "against" list describing the specific business you are considering.
9. Talk to lots of people in your intended business for advice.
10. Make a comparative analysis of all opportunities you are considering.

THE TOP TEN DON'TS WHEN STARTING A BUSINESS

1. Think about leaving your job before you have completed start-up plans.
2. Consider starting a business in a field you do not enjoy.
3. Risk all the family assets. Limit your liabilities to a predetermined amount.
4. Compete with your employer in a moonlight business.
5. Hurry to select a business. There is no penalty for missed opportunities.
6. Select a business that is too high a risk or hurdle. Go for the two-foot hurdle.
7. Select a business in which you must have the lowest price to succeed.
8. Ignore the negative aspects of an intended business.
9. Permit self-confidence to outweigh careful diligence.

Look Business Sustainability As A Transformative Process

In contrast to the current economic forces, business sustainability is creating a bright spot of opportunity for new and evolving business. Specifically, leading organizations are finding ways to address today’s challenges and transform economic roadblocks into business sustainability opportunities. Currently there are several trends continuing to create business and individual opportunity. Our sustainability consulting practice keeps a watchful eye on the leading-edge of this pursuit, as we now explore business transformation.

In an Industry Week article, Achieving Transformative Success Requires Convergence, the author discusses the need to adapt to the dynamics of today’s business environment. Reviewing some historic business missteps and the business sustainability challenges of today, Industry Week searches for answers in the convergence of organizational structures, processes, and information flows.

“We are living in a transformative age, and no industry is immune to waves of change. The business landscape has never been more littered with the remains of companies that rose to great heights only to have their fortunes plummet because they were unable to transform themselves as times changed. Now more than ever we need to question and rethink each thing we do -- leaving no stone unturned, and asking what's working, what isn't, and why?”

As the guidance offered in the post goes on to explain, sustainable business transformation is a necessity in order to respond to the challenges today. Thus, the author offers what is refered to as "The Transformation Triangle". This three pronged approach includes:

• Business Agility -- the ability to sense changes in economic conditions and competitive landscape, and proactively implement a response.

• Sustained Innovation -- the ability to develop new products, services, and methodologies that advance beyond the competition through repeatable processes.

• Operational Excellence -- the ability to consistently deliver cost-effective services at defined performance levels to internal and external customers.
With the changing landscape of business and greater evidence now pointing to sustainability as critical component to future business success, the companies that are ready to get started today can make some quick progress. Leveraging internal knowledge and enthusiasm for sustainable business programs is a great way to engage the entire organization and an easy place to start. Whether your company leverages the insight above or inspiration from some other source, the pursuit of business sustainability transformation has become a true best practice.

Business Cooperation Create Your Career

The contributions themselves come from an individual's specific mix of passions and talents. The loyal and trusting relationships make up the "how" of an individual's career.
These flourishing relationships are the result of an individual's character and conscience. Because anyone can make unique contributions and maintain trusting and loyal relationships, anyone can have a great career.
Individuals need to practice and improve their skills to be able to contribute effectually to the organization, and they need to have a character that is worthy of the loyalty and trust of others. Career-seekers also need to maintain the right kind of ambition.
If someone is ambitious solely for financial success and is not willing to work hard for it, their ambition will likely destroy their career and make them miserable. However, if they are ambitious to make a positive and helpful contribution to their organization and the public as a whole, they will be much more likely to experience success and fulfillment both in their personal lives and in their career.
By committing to doing what is right, individuals will become driven to contribute more, feel better about themselves, earn more money, and have a wider range and greater number of positive opportunities. The landscape of the global economy is experiencing a shift from the Industrial Age to the Knowledge Age.
The Industrial Age used machines to increase productivity and required workers to fulfill specific roles and complete very specific tasks. In the Knowledge Age, however, people are expected to choose the problems they work on.
They need to make unique and effective contributions by using their own skills and talents to solve the issues at hand. And because of the dependence on skill and knowledge rather than machinery, there is no limit to the number of contributions an individual can make so long as they continue enriching themselves.
While it is true that the current state of the economy is resulting in a decrease in job security, it is also true that organizations still face a wide variety of problems, and by making oneself useful by posing solutions to those problems, they can ensure the security of the position they already have or obtain an entirely new position. Many employees feel as though they are just going around in circles, getting nowhere with their career.
They feel imprisoned by their job description, they limit themselves and their abilities to so that they can fit within the constraints they've imposed upon themselves. These employees need to realize that their jobs are no longer defined by their job descriptions, and that if they truly are dissatisfied with their line of work, it is never too late to reassess themselves and their career and begin the search for a position that melds better with what they have to contribute and what they would like to achieve.
In the Knowledge Age, individuals can challenge old assumptions and bring new insight to the table, they can stop pigeon-holing themselves into unsatisfying jobs, and they can address problems with a ride range of easily available informational resources. Individuals need to ask themselves what their actual contribution will be, not what their job description says.

How To Make a Career Satisfying

The ideal career is an enjoyable one that utilizes a person's skills and abilities in a pleasant environment with good co-workers. However, a self-defining career that brings joy is unattainable for most people.The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 67 percent of American workers are unhappy on the job because they dislike their boss or co-workers, the duties they must perform, lack of a challenge, and other reasons. To better understand why two thirds of Americans are dissatisfied, interviews were conducted with individuals experiencing both joy and disdain for their careers.
One worker enjoyed her job because of some of the conditions: decent pay, an easy commute, and prior knowledge of what she was expected to do. In addition, despite feeling a little bored about the work itself, she appreciated having the job during a period of high unemployment.
At the other end of the spectrum, another worker cited politics, too many changes, and 60-hour workweeks as reasons for the stress and dread he faced each day. Instead of appreciating what he had, he felt the company owed him more.
The first challenge around the aspect of career is for both employers and employees to ask the hard questions to better understand the roots of any dissatisfaction. Employers should consider whether or not they are respecting their staff by providing fair wages, competitive benefits, clear expectations, the right tools to do their jobs, recognition for their work, and opportunities for them to voice their opinions.
Employees are recommended to explore the following questions:
* Are you giving it your all? In other words, workers need to determine if they are performing to the best of their abilities, doing an honest day's work, and surpassing both their supervisor's expectations and their own.
* Would a different job matter? People who stay in unsatisfying positions are not helping themselves, their bosses, their customers, or the company as a whole, and would be better off making a change. Showing up at any job with the wrong frame of mind contributes to a culture of disengagement.
* Is it time for a change? Some workers fail to realize that what started out as a "job," has turned into a "career," and that it is not the right fit for them. Perhaps they lack the skills to excel and make a contribution, knowledge of their industry, or the motivation to deal with office politics or other challenges. The other challenge is to continually focus on one's own personal growth. By enhancing their own skills, employees not only add value to their company and earn more appreciation and respect from their bosses, but they prepare themselves for more satisfying opportunities that become available.

Manage the Mid-Space or Your Vision Will Fail

“Our company had a big meeting a few weeks ago where the president laid out his vision. It means big changes and a lot of us were skeptical about it. But I have to say that by the end of his presentation, he had us all sold. It was pretty impressive.”
Frank had introduced himself during a break at a conference where I was speaking last week.
“Very impressive,” I responded. “What’s going to happen next?”
“I’m in charge of the eastern sales force. Part of the vision requires moving our sales force away from the corporate headquarters and closer to the properties we own so they can be close to our customer base. We have major properties in eight cities in my region, so my sales folks will relocate there.”
Frank was telling me what his people were going to be doing, not what he was going to do. It occurred to me the company might be in trouble unless their next step was helping Frank and his peers understand the important role they need to play.
One of the top reasons leaders fail to implement their vision is because they don’t manage the “mid-space.”
The biggest failure in implementing vision successfully is in not effectively managing the airspace between the 3000 ft view from the hot air balloon and the on-the-ground view of day-to-day activity.
The view on the ground looks quite different than it does when you’re way up high. The “mid-space” view translates the high level concept into practical action.
The Critical Role of Middle Management
Too often organizations don’t properly equip middle management to fulfill their role as a conduit between the front-line and senior management.
Frank has a major responsible for the mid-space – connecting the people on the ground with the vision so they understand their role and how they contribute to the vision. It’s up to him to help his people understand the implications of the vision on a day-by-day basis.
A charismatic sell, like the president’s, isn’t going to work for Frank, nor would it the best approach, even if he were oozing with charisma. Frank needs to engage in conversation with his people, not “sell” them.
Jumping From “Selling” to “Doing.”
A chief reason for failure in vision implementation is the bias in jumping from “selling” to “doing.” The mid-space requires involving.
To successfully navigate the mid-space, people need time to reflect on the meaning of the vision, the implications for themselves and their work, and to have an opportunity to give input into the vision itself.
When you involve people in creating the vision, they have a deeper understanding of what it really means and they become more committed to it because they see their contribution. And because they see the organization from a different perspective, they are likely to have ideas that will make the vision even stronger.
Leaders at all levels need to take responsibility to manage the “mid-space.”

Step 1 To Find a Better Career In Business

Tough times can shake people’s faith in their ability to make a career change to something better. In the midst of a sluggish economy many people are staying in unsatisfying jobs where they are unhappy and under-employed. To pull free of the wrong job fit or find a rewarding career after a job loss, it’s time to rethink your approach. Here is one important step to take to begin the process of finding a better career.
1. Discover YOU—your strengths and passions.
Often individuals who thrive consistently have high self-awareness about their strengths and passions. Many successful people including Oprah and Richard Branson, Virgin Air have said a condition for great achievement is passion. When your strengths and passions are applied in your work, your potential and enthusiasm are limitless. People who use their strengths and talents are more than three times as likely to report an overall excellent quality of life.
Once you clarify your authentic strengths and interests, you’ll be a powerful force when interviewing and striving toward your career goals. Do not look for a new job before you identify your strengths because you are likely to become underemployed and mismatched in the wrong position.
So how do you determine strengths to select a path that is right for you? Begin by brainstorming what triggers your enthusiasm and what motivates you. Sit down in a quiet place to list 20 things you like to do. Then look for patterns. Do you prefer working with data, people, things or ideas. You may discover, for example it’s more important than you realized to be physically active and your work should not be behind a desk all day. Or you want to be around busy and loud environments, which might rule out a secluded one-person office. You’ll know a particular career is right when you are curious and enthusiastic about getting started.
Get clear about yourself by answering the following questions:
- What is one skill or strength you do well that you would like to use in your work?
- Which of your previous work results are you proud of—and what were you doing?
- What tasks and topics get your heart racing?
- If you could do one thing in your professional life that would have the most positive impact, what would it be?
After completing the questions, it helps to talk through your answers with someone. Talking about yourself with a peer helps to uncover patterns and shines a brighter light on your skills and interests. It is critical not to isolate during a career move—it’s the kiss of death. Sometimes what you need most is a person who believes in you. It’s interesting that other people often can see for us what we may not see for ourselves. Other people can push us through walls that block us, sometimes just by having a new set of eyes on the problem. Often creative ideas are born during discussions with a different perspective. Many times, all it takes is an encouraging word or new idea from a friend to move forward. But a career change is not easy and next time we will cover the next step to help you handle change.

Corporation About The Business

The world in which we live is most happening place in terms of business and finance. Business news is complementing the entire arena of the corporate world when it comes to the larger extent of decision making and augmenting the process of redefining the growth process. As an individual when you are moving forward to the best management decisions and corporate strategies, it's always mandatory to call upon a process where thoughts are rectified and process is transparent.
The business decisions are somehow and somewhere very much dependent on the happenings and events that keep the greater impact on the business endeavors. Take the instance of the recent recession that has gripped the economy in very decisive manner. Hundreds and thousands of the organizations were either stopped the business executions are slashed their work force in larger extent to survive against the hard times.
Not only in India but across the globe this recession and financial downturns made the things harder to manage and maintain. The people now become very cautious while taking the investment decisions. They do believe now on the expert advice and the market news comes from several resources. Cyberspace is now flooded with number of resources that allegedly offer stock news and expert advices for all those who are interested to make big money from the business. The reason being is that sometimes the authenticity and the reliability of these sources are always on the dock.
In.com, a dedicated venture of Network 18 is best and most applauded place where all the corporate news and business events are listed in very comprehensive manner. The news from various sorts of corporate domains, the market news, corporate trading fundamentals, rising and falling status of the stocks and several other beneficial suggestions and advices are the splendor of this business portal.
The business specifications offered on the portal in.com are suggested and devised by the business experts and the industry legends with immense experience and skill base in business mechanisms and different stock scenarios.
In.com provides the latest Business News, business updates, happenings and events of the corporate world. Here you can get latest Corporate News from all aspect of the life such as current happenings and events.