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It is well known a fact today that all businesses face competition. With increased use of the internet to buy goods and services and to find places to go, a business unit is no longer just competing with immediate neighbours, but could find itself competing with businesses from abroad. The competitor could be a new business offering a substitute or similar product that makes the counterpart redundant. What is more, the concern is not limited to units that are already out there but also needed to be constantly in the lookout for possible new competition.
FACING THE COMPETITION AS IT SURFACES: In today's business world competition comes in many forms: price / service / quality / of delivery / uniqueness / experience / experience / knowledge / contacts / resources / brand equity, so on and so forth. Boosting of service quality, keeping in view the very nature of effective demand, is the crying need. The challenge is not only to acquire the customer, but also to retain him in the business for furthering the process of improved customer value. Because the fact remains that the market share once gone would be very difficult to regain as not only the number of C O R E [ Competitors, Opponents, Rivals and Enemies ] is on the rise but technology also is being continuously replaced / is on a continuously changing positions.
And of course the formula for trade off comes into play in such a vital context. Be it a commodity marketing or services marketing, ultimately it is the quality that matters. Quality is nothing but a summation of cost and time. Changing any one of these variables would lead to change the outcome. If the amount of time is shortened to complete the assignment, either the cost is to be increased or quality is to be lowered. Quality refers to identifying the quality standards relevant to the assignment and determining how to measure and satisfy them.
MANAGING CAPITAL AND RISK EXIST AT THE FRONT DOOR: Tapping the high growth opportunities ensuring capital efficiency thus stays at the forefront. Essentially, before the broad objectives / strategies are set, the crucial aspects are to be kept in mind. The risk factor, that is to say determining the risks likely to affect the implementation and evaluating possible responses. Business without risk is similar to day without night! It is just like sugar and salt in life.
Consolidation would definitely continue to be the key factor - but obviously it is not the end, rather the tip of an iceberg!! Tying up / amalgamation / merger with the stronger is definitely one of the way outs. Actually, in today's unprecedented talent crunch, the business world as a whole is grappling with developing the leadership, talent, risk awareness and of course the very task of building up / inculcate positive- change- adapting- attitude.
Next, the very aspect of communication comes into play - what information each stakeholder / customer needs and how to deliver the same. Organisation's roles and responsibilities exist in such a boiling context as one of the major determinants - roles, assignments, relationships to make sure that the right people are assigned with the right jobs.
Why not to try with the joint endeavours in a more pronounced way - may be with the telephone, insurance, non-conventional energy agency, post offices having a reach deep and wide and also resorting to PPP (Private Public Partnership) drive. Otherwise, watch like a silent spectator and be ready to capsize! The market share is gone! Crying over spilt milk does not help anyway!
In such a process it is also as clear as anything -- the stakeholders cannot shrug off the responsibility, obviously, under the ongoing facts and circumstances. Measures already taken are good beginnings only - the need is there to continuously changing the strategies best suited under a given situation.
STRATEGY CHANGES OVER TIME: Obvious enough, the choice of strategy also depends on facts and circumstances - may be one particular strategy becomes outdated or calls for supplements not necessarily by discarding the older one. Renovation is thus a continuous process. The redesigning of existing processes can effectively lead to dramatic enhancements in performance that enables the organisation to deliver greater value to customers in ways that also generate higher profits to the stakeholders.
The happenings thus require a conscious and undivided attention. A well-groomed strategy could not only help protect the fund deployed, but also enable to face competition through customers' confidence building.
THE PATH TO SUCCESS IS AN ELABORATE ONE: A long journey before one comes out of the tunnel indeed! Tasks remain unending: [a ] building the credibility; deciding on what to do; identifying the competitive edge, locating what makes service successful, understanding what makes the service fail, what makes ourselves stand out; [b] knowing about our customers & prospects : who needs us at the market, in order of importance, whom do we want to be our customers, whom we don't want, where are they, how do we get to them, when is the best time to get to them, what turns them on and of course what turns them off .
It is the goodwill ladder that is to be ascended. One only gets a single chance to make a first impression and to many first impression becomes the last impression - rightly or wrongly! The fact remains -- the world wants to see the results only! What good is more business if you don't get paid?
So, focusing on, measuring and redesigning the customer-facing and internal processes improvements could be there in cost, quality, speed, profitability and other key areas.
TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY: So for making the new process work, the need is there to ensure that the jobs are redefined broadly backed by updated training system to support them and at the same time enabling decision making. The process and the outcome are to be studied for next course of action.
The broad areas under such a change-over method include, among others: reshaping organisational cultures to emphasise on team performance, fixation of personal accountability, customer's importance, managers overseeing the tasks rather than supervising and realigning the information system so that the cross-functional processes work smoothly than simply support departments.
Without knowing what to concentrate on and when, the executives would be unable to master the science of transforming the business processes!
Business processes must become more mature to deliver higher performance - spatially, temporally, hierarchically and functionally. Obviously, to achieve the same the starting point is designing [the comprehensiveness of the specifications as to how the process is to be executed]; followed by the performers [people executing the process based on skill and knowledge]; owner [persons shouldering the responsibility for the process as well as the results]; infrastructure [information / M I S that support the process]; and of course the metrics [the measures the company uses to track the process's performance].
Enterprise capabilities are the crucial factors for the ultimate achievement - leadership [executives who support the creation of processes]; culture [ values of customer focus, teamwork, personal accountability, and of course the very willingness to change]; expertise [skills in methodology, process design]; and governance [the very mechanisms for managing complex projects and change initiatives].
Who wants to fail? Success succeeds like anything!
DR B K Mukhopadhyay is a Management Economist.