Strategic Planning

Choosing Among Business Strategy Alternatives

You've narrowed down the superset of business strategies to a few options that you think will work for your company. Now here's how to go about choosing the business strategy that's best for your business.

If you're like most business owners, you're looking for a "magic bullet" - a business strategy that will vault your company to its next stage of growth.

There are plenty of anecdotes about highly successful companies that stumbled into a successful business strategy and it's your mission to find the one strategy that will deliver similar results for your company.

The good news is that you're in the right ballpark. Successful companies are built on carefully crafted business strategy. The more effort you invest in identifying a viable strategy for your business, the more likely it is that your efforts will be rewarded in bottom line profits.

Yet many business owners stumble when it comes to culling a single business strategy from a short list of attractive strategic options. In reality, there are probably multiple strategies capable of delivering similar outcomes for your business. Since indecision isn't an option, you'll need to step up to the plate and choose the best business strategy alternative for your company. Here's how to do it . . .

• Competitive awareness. The first step in selecting a business strategy is to evaluate the strategies currently employed by rivals in the marketplace. There may be a valid reason why the rest of the industry has adopted a specific business strategy. Then again, it might also be an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage by taking a slightly different approach.
• Ease of execution. Do your current resources and labor assets lend themselves to a smooth implementation process? Business strategies sometimes look good on paper but quickly lose their luster because the business owner underestimated the execution requirements.
• Long-term outlook. A business strategy that delivers short-term results may not be the best option. Rather than focusing exclusively on short-term outcomes, you may want to choose a strategy that positions your business for sustained, long-term growth.
• Employee buy-in. Employee buy-in is an important consideration in business strategy selection. In order for your strategy to succeed, it will need to implemented and executed by your workforce. When the workforce feels personally invested in the strategy selection process, they become incentivized to see it through to completion.
• Strategy blending. It's perfectly acceptable to combine the strengths of several viable business strategies into a single, blended business strategy. Although conflicts sometimes preclude blending, many business owners ultimately create a hybrid strategy comprised of elements culled from the most promising business strategy alternatives.

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