adminGodfrey Wasara
Each morning a bush buck wakes up to the frightening reality of having to outrun the fastest cheetah for it to live a day longer. At the other end of the forest the cheetah wakes up fully aware of the challenge of having to outpace the slowest bush buck for it to survive.
The same can be said about business and that is the reason why, I am referring to business as some form of a jungle. To survive you need to outsmart your opponents or competitors in all fronts. In this article, I shall be giving you a few hints of survival in the long run.
When you get into business one of your aims is to ensure that your business grows and survives in perpetuity for your great-great grand children and their great-great grand children to also survive upon. There is nothing as disheartening as closing shop compulsorily after putting so much effort.
You are always facing challenges in running your business and the onus is upon you to ensure you properly address these challenges to ensure business survival.
Let me give you an everyday example. Colgate, Aqua Fresh, Close up and MacLean’s are products that save the same purpose of keeping our teeth healthy and clean. These products are made by different companies competing for the same market.
Each of the four companies wakes up each day to the fact that once something goes wrong, no matter how small, in the complex value addition chain, then, chances are it will lose part or its entire market share.
As an entrepreneur you are also working up every day to the same reality. No matter what business venture you decide to go into you will face competition.
There are other people out there who are in the same line of business as you, who have been there before you and who want to make sure they continue dominating the market.
And mind you, it is not only the competitors; there are also other stakeholders whose rights you have to respect failure which you may be forced out of business. (Refer to my previous article on the four Ss.
I will now go on to give you a few tips that will ensure you effectively manage competition and the surrounding business environment.
The Product
Whatever product you are going to avail to the market, you must ensure that it does not only satisfy a need or a want but creates a lasting impression in the mind of a customer.
The lasting impression can only be created by providing a customer with a product that goes beyond meeting his expectations. Brands like Coca Cola, Colgate and Hoover have since assumed generic meanings for drinks, toothpaste and carpet cleaning machine respectively.
For your product to achieve such status you need to ensure that it is a cut above the rest and creates a lasting impression in the mind of the consumer. It has to continuously do so. Investing in research and development will go a long way in continuously improving your product.
Staff
The most important resource in your business is your employees or the human capital. The human capital is not only important but also unique in that it thinks, talks, walks and drives the business forwards. It is important to ensure employees are singing from your hymn book.
Employees should always be aware of what you want to achieve. Do not tell them how you want it achieved unless the employee asks for such assistants. As an entrepreneur, it is important that you enhance your leadership skills through continuous training to ensure you have a team of loyal, motivated, dedicated and satisfied employees.
Honesty, integrity and credibility
In business there are no short cuts. You just ought to go by the book, every dealing has to be above board.
Remember there are many people watching you: The government as the sole provider of security and a conducive operating environment would want their taxes in return; the providers of loans would like to see these being repaid; suppliers of goods will be pleased to see you settling by stipulated dates, employees want their wages as they fall due, customers want to see your product contributing to their well being and their endeavours to enrich themselves; the community in which you operate wants to see you ploughing something back.
The list goes on and on and as I said earlier on, all eyes are watching you. The many eyes gazing at you are managed by being honest, maintaining integrity and at all times having due credibility.
You will be described as honest only if you always tell the truth; you do not deceive other people or break the law. You have integrity if you are firm in your moral principles. You are credible only if you can be trusted or believed.
The only reason why the biblical Joseph opened up and forgave his brothers was only because Judah gave a credible account of what had happened, what was happening and what would happen. (Genesis 44)
Adaptability to change
Change, like time, is a constant and independent variable. If you cannot adopt to change then you are gone. The reason why a dinosaur survived a millennium was because of its adaptability to change. Business dynamics are ever changing. Twenty years ago no one knew bottled water could one day become lucrative business. You should always be on the lookout for changes in people’s tastes. A television set is no longer a luxury but a need. It is no longer just a television but a flat screen television. Consumer tastes keep changing.
Be on the lookout for opportunities and threats
Technology has brought with it both opportunities and threats. Tel-One telephone booths are now things of the past. Imagine the millions invested in the infrastructure only to be rendered obsolete by the coming in of cell phones.
The Bible as large as it is can now be downloaded on a cell phone. How does this impact on companies that survive on printing and selling hard copies of different versions of the Bible? This is food for thought.
These are but some of the few tips that will help you survive as you follow your passion in the untamed jungle of business.
Continue following your passion with determination.
Godfrey Wasara is a registered public accountant. He has passion for equipping people with financial literacy so that they can improve their living standards through enhanced appreciation of the best ways of conducting business and financial activities. You may contact him on [email protected]
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter