The Competitive Agenda
Compete or Perish
Article by: Jack Zimmanck
Stratus Partners, LLC
Stratus Ideas, July 2003
Over the past decade a new level of intense competition has evolved that is changing the way businesses operate. Three major shifts have converged to create this competitive environment. No market is unaffected. No business is immune. There is no going back.
- Pace of Change – The accelerating pace of change in technology, communications and global econo-politics is reshaping the business landscape daily, and there is no end in sight…
- Intensity of Competition – The evolving democracies of developing countries have now become fiercely competitive market economies, ready to attack markets that were once technologically or geographically secure…
- Fast, Inexpensive Transportation – Even with rising fuel costs, a competitor can deliver almost any manufactured product to your customer anywhere in the world by next week…
How these shifts affect your business
This new environment is one of rapid change, where markets and opportunities rarely remain still for long and last year's advantage may be next year’s liability. These shifts are so powerful that companies that have enjoyed market leadership for decades often find themselves scrambling just to stay in the game.
Benefiting from the shifts
By contrast, companies benefiting from these shifts have evolved a new competitive model with a more flexible view of how to shape the future. Responsive strategic “thinking” now augments more structured planning helping these companies sort through the vastly increased number of “moving parts”. This flexibility allows them to change paths along the way while still keeping their objectives clearly in sight.
Competitive Agenda
We call this strategy of adaptability; Competitive Agenda.
Your Competitive Agenda
Companies like GE, Nokia and HP are leading their industries into the twenty first century with Competitive Agendas that a help them to adapt and leverage the inevitable shifts in markets and business climate to achieve their objectives. Borrowing ideas from their success can help any company develop their own Competitive Agenda.
Traits of Top Competitors
Twenty traits shared by many of these industry leaders contributing to their competitive strength
- Powerful desire to achieve / grow / succeed – The cornerstone of each company’s Competitive Agenda is a relentless desire for greater accomplishment, growth and success.
- Create customer value – Concentrate on solving customer problems and creating customer value. Continually enhance products and services to better serve current and evolving customer needs.
- Know where you are going - Establish a clear vision of what the enterprise wants to achieve and what it is to become in the future.
- Believe in the future – Economic uncertainty is now a fixture of the marketplace. Know with absolute certainty that the desired future is built on today’s business decisions and actions.
- Understand the landscape – Cultivate an objective perspective of market conditions. Get a feel for the direction of the forces affecting your marketplace. Avoid the one-industry myopic viewpoint.
- Seek opportunities – Look for benefit among the changes. Consider how to harness changes to gain advantage.
- Core Values – Clearly communicate what the company stands for to: employees, customers, investors, media and community.
- Make selling easy – Update aging sales practices, sales tools, marketing strategies, distribution networks and support technologies.
- Know where you are at all times – Develop and apply a set of key indicators of your business condition. Review them daily.
- Adaptable plan – Develop a Competitive Agenda that provides clear strategic direction but is flexible enough to quickly adapt to unforeseen threats and fresh opportunities.
- Invest in the Future - Establish a level of growth investment the enterprise is willing to commit to and invest it carefully.
- Keep it simple – Think big but break large initiatives into easy to implement steps that deliver near-term results. Treat each piece as a stand-alone building block of the larger plan.
- Innovate – Try lots of new ideas. Keep what gets results. Modify or discontinue what doesn’t. Borrow and adapt what has worked outside your industry.
- Team culture – Inspire, train, develop and reward employees individually and as a group. Cultivate a team spirit and the will to win
- Stay in the game – Waiting for a steady economy is not an option. Move while competitor’s customers, distribution channels and top employees are most vulnerable.
- Focus on the top line - Increase time and resources allocated to sales, marketing and customer issues. Focus on constantly improving process, not just fighting fires.
- Watch the bottom line – Be frugal but spend as necessary to achieve performance goals and move key projects along consistently.
- Tie expenditures to results – Benchmark key business elements. Establish clear performance objectives. Adjust resource allocations based on performance.
- Flawless execution – Where most companies stumble. Cultivate a willingness for fix “what ain’t broke”. Push the last 10 percent to optimize every project.
- Embrace Change - Remember, achieving a different result invariably requires taking an unfamiliar approach.
Getting Started
Developing a Competitive Agenda begins with an objective understanding of an enterprises’ current competitive position and the resources it brings to the competition. Input from both inside and outside helps the enterprise understand it’s; strengths, it’s weaknesses and the forces that affect it’s marketplace. Given the increasingly competitive world in which companies now do business, there are few alternatives but to get started today.
Your Competitive Position ►
