The four steps to developing your business strategy

This week, I had the privilege of spending some time with post-graduate business students from the local university. The topic for discussion was creating a business plan. The conversation gave me an opportunity to reflect on the matter and put some of my thoughts in writing. Following are the four ‘C’s to consider when developing your business strategy.

CORE COMPETENCE First, clarify the core competence of the organisation. In simple terms, this means establishing your key strength. What does your organisation do well? It may be customer service, product development, low-cost manufacturing, communication, innovation etc. But identifying what you are good and excelling at it is critical for success.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE The next step is to ensure that your core competence is a competitive advantage. In other words, is what you do well, better than your competitors? If, for example, the primary strength of your organisation is logistics, yet you are not significantly better than most ot…