One way to ensure that strategic investments are made in support of organizational perpetuity is to define objectives, develop a marketing strategy around those objectives and assess how different offerings win business.
The next aspect is to establish a means of meeting the demand of the market and then engaging in fulfilment.
This approach recognizes that any business has its roots in a sound corporate strategy – these are effectively the classical steps in corporate planning.
Half of these steps are well understood but the latter half is not widely held in regard or practice. Depending on the nature of the business they may not all be required to formulate a strategy.
For the effective pursuit of a given market, one has to begin with the understanding of the customer and the customer journey as a buyer. Any business must then meet the customer on their journey and address the hurdles as they are presented.
Some aspects of what a business does, are targeted at getting market awareness, and others at closing deals. It should be clear where each activity falls in relation to the buyer and customer journey.
At the core of the objectives there are typically Ideas and behaviours that support and promote the business in:
- Growth
- Survival
- Investor ROI
- Corporate Governance and Compliance
Irrespective of the services and product sold or manufactured, these fundamental objectives have to be at the forefront of any long or medium-term decision that the business management take.
As business managers, it is important that in the role of a captain of industry and business leadership that it each behaviour be understood on how different each is and how they feed into the long term viability of the business.
