Business Strategy and How to Incorporate It with Your Business Plan

Business plans come as a feasibility study of the business, or while studying how the company perceives itself in the future. However, it is easy to forget that business plans conclude objectively, and without considering different variables such as:

• Mergers and acquisitions set after the publishing of the business plan.
• Financial difficulties of one of the competitions.
• Unplanned collaboration with a business competitor.
• Unexpected entry of a new competitor.
• Increase or decrease in business barriers, without any legal pre-indication.
• Any other external variable which might affect the company, and is set after the business plan has been finalized.

Therefore you have to take into account, during the business planning phase, the dynamic environment and real-time responding of threats that might disturb the established firm.

In light of the above, it is required to phrase and dictate organizational strategy during the business planning phase. An example: one of the most commonly used strategies in the clothing market, although not the most efficient one, is lowering prices and aggressive marketing. It is not an advantage that can serve the company for long, nor to be considered a unique strategy for the company.

The goal of any business strategy is to add a competitive value, which can be preserved and used as a thrive for business growth. It usually serves the company for a limited time (one to three decades at most). During this time, the company should be looking for additional solutions.

The competitive edge must be present in the business plan in and in any future counseling, as the company has to respond in real-time to the uprising threats in the market and the plan must go through updates and changes accordingly. But it must not change frequently – an organizational plan that changes so often is incomplete and must be checked and updated to match the ever-changing needs of the company.

The company has to acknowledge that strategics the competitive advantages the company has is not sufficient to face business threats by itself – although it can counteract threats and risks during the setup stages.

Properly defined strategic planning can create competitive benefits from any aspect of the organization – from high-quality human capital to patent protection or distribution. To define if an aspect can be recognized as a competitive edge, it must:

• Be impossible or expensive to copy.
• Not used or with little use at the competitors.
• Can be channeled to support other aspects, inside and outside the company.
• Can be preserved and upgraded for long.

A company can have many competitive edges. It is important to check which of these can be implemented in its business strategy, and how can the company integrate them in everyday activities and even before that – while drafting the business plan. An equally important tool is executive workshops, which can improve and professionalize management skills at the administrative level in many corporate fields such as budget, employees and so on.