Strategic advice and market entry strategy
Success via the right strategy
Our understanding of strategy and its derivations
As a business advisor in strategy, marketing and sales,we create and implement strategies that are client specific and provide methods for the sustainable maximization of business growth and optimisation of organisations.
Our advice is clear, creative, practical and based on an in-depth understanding of the functionalities of your business and markets. The focus is always on your need and your requirements.
We see strategy as a carefully selected tool for the creation of initiatives, enhancing business value and emphasising sustainable competitive advantages.
Examining and creating current strategic positions together
Those who want to be successful in the long-term, need a strategy that is as successful as possible, one that is regularly adapted to suit changing conditions in the business environment. It is not just the client wishes and the behaviour of competitors that changes, those of other system partners do too. For instance it can be politics, legislation or new technologies that have an influence on business success.
Business strategies are difficult to develop, but easy to present. The path to a successful strategy is the goal and the actual complexity. In theory, strategy follows the business goal and the methods follow the strategy. Yet this logic involves the risk that businesses are so involved with the themes of the package of measures and the intrinsic ever-present day-to-day matters, that in many cases a strategy definition or adaptation does not occur. Processes are frequently habitual and preparedness to change these diminishes with every day they are habitual practice. We take a look at your organisation from the outside.
The process of strategy development?
When a business is conscious of its strengths and weaknesses, it is then a matter of defining in which markets and in which way it wants to - and ought to - intelligently position itself. Anyone who anticipates today, which problems or needs people will have tomorrow, or needs they would like to be met, and develops from this a sustainably profitable added value configuration, equipped with a solid competitive advantage base, has the foundation for a successful business model. Strategy is actually about the constant creation of real values and comparative competitive advantages. Continuous means that one strategy is not just developed forever, rather, due to permanent changing conditions, is regularly adapted in as proactive a manner as possible, or is even re-developed. Otherwise, one very quickly reaches the expiry date of one's own business model, or one simply has to rest on luck.
There are a few core questions that need to be tackled by a sustainable business strategy, namely
- those regarding the strategic positioning of the business in its market and competitive environment,
- those regarding focussing on spheres of activity and
- those regarding implementation that is likely to succeed.
Strategy incorporates the permanent creation of competitive advantages - so-called USPs
Competitive advantages are the compelling pre-requisite for lasting success! However, since, as ever, business parameters are permanently being re-defined, appropriate optimizations and often the redevelopment of a business strategy, or at least of specific business areas, are necessary.
The question as to how we will grow in the future can be answered in many different ways, subject to the respective situation of your business. Strategic options are for instance, organic growth or the acquisition of suitable companies. Whatever the most likely options for success for your business are, we will determine and assess them together.
SMC CONSULTING delivers this inspiration and thereby secures the sustainable successful positioning of your business areas and the generation of clear competitive advantages. Ultimately, it is the competitive advantages in your markets or segments that are the basic pre-requisite for the future of your business and long-term success in the market.
Different strategic tasks
At different business levels, different strategic tasks emerge, which are to be processed via the relevant conceptual approaches.
We are able to divide these strategy levels as follows:
- Determining the basic values of the business and formulating a “business vision”
- Determining, updating and quantifing overall and comprehensive business goals
- Determining the status quo, identifying potential, defining options and validation of scenarios
- Selection and evaluation of business areas to be incorporated
- Goal setting and objective of individual business units in the corporate network
- Examination and approval of secondary individual business strategies
- General allocation of methods for individual business units
Key work areas for the development of business strategies include the analysis of trends and discontinuities, development of sectoral scenarios, assessment of internal core competencies, portfolio analysis and management.
- Positioning of the business unit in relation to the competition
- Sales, marketing, portfolio, CRM, purchasing strategies, etc.
- Selection of focussed market segments to work on
- Definition and assessment of strategic options
- Decision for or against pursuing a business strategy and a business model deemed promising
- Definition of the requisite internal added value element to implement
- Review of the feasibility of strategy consultation, strategy, business consultation strategy, business consultant strategy
- Quantifying the outcomes sought over time (Business Plan)
- Drafting plans of action for implementation
Key areas of work for the development of business strategies are the analysis of sector and technology trends, evaluation of sector specific market forces (demand structure, supplier structure, competitors, substitution risks) and the assessment of product life cycles.
- Conformity of internal processes with business strategy requirements (e.g. costs, efficiency, speed)
- Degree of productivity and cost efficiency (e.g. research and development, customer relations)
- Optimising real net output ratio (e.g. outsourcing)
- Generating additional customer benefits through the application of superior systems (e.g. connectivity between clients and suppliers)
Key work areas of functional strategy development might include process re-engineering, cross-industry comparisons (benchmarking), outsourcing, insourcing, use of learning curves, etc.
