The Prince George Citizen - Thursday, October 21,1993 - 5A
STAYING ON TOP IN BUSINESS
Be ready when opportunity knocks
Economic recovery invariably sets the stage for a round of business expansion and diversification.
But economic renewal, and the attendant increase in competition, is no guarantee that your particular enterprise is going to flourish. You’ve got to be listening when opportunity knocks, capable of sniffing out openings that are right for your firm, and willing and able to exploit them.
A good way to ensure you’re capable of identifying opportunities which come your way is to know what’s going on in your line of business.
Make an effort to get involved in industry associations. Be an avaricious reader of trade magazines and other relevant business publications. Keep an especially close eye on what your direct competitors are up to.
And don’t overlook the wealth of business intelligence and feedback that can be gleaned simply by making an effort to talk to — and really communicate with — customers and suppliers.
Furthermore, don’t be shy about seeking the views of qualified outsiders, including professional consultants. Some owner-managers are so close to their businesses that they’re unable to see the “big picture.”
A fresh perspective can be extremely helpful.
More often than not, successful small businesses conclude that the simplest route to increased sales and profits is simply to capitalize on their strengths to carve out a largo* share of existing markets for their product or service. But don’t be too quick to rule out the possibility of tackling new markets elsewhere in Canada or abroad.
Increasing numbers of small- and medium-sized
Canadian companies are discovering that exporting is not the exclusive preserve of big, national and multinational.
If your business has cornered a niche market in Canada, you probably stand a good chance of successfully cracking similar markets in other countries. The same niche-marketing skills, flexibility and adaptability that spelled success here at home can work to your advantage abroad. This is especially true for high-tech firms and manufacturers of specialized, high value-added products.
If you are thinking export, you shouldn’t necessarily limit your horizons to what might appear to be the most obvious target, the extremely competitive United States.
Other export markets to consider include the fast-growing economic “tigers” of the Pacific Rim — especially if your business is strategically situated in Western Canada.
Consider too the newly independent nations of the former Soviet Union and other countries of central and eastern Europe such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, whose emerging economies show promise.
There’s also Latin America, particularly Mexico, which is eager to strengthen trading ties with its North American neighbours in anticipation of the economic transformation it expects will follow successful conclusion of the NAFTA negotiations.
Pay attention to demographic and social trends If you’re just starting out in business, or thinking of diversifying, you might want to consider cashing in on “hot” social or demographic trends which hold
the promise of sustained demand for at least the foreseeable future.
Such opportunities currently range from environmentally friendly “green” products and recycling services through adventure vacations and other leisure pursuits, to products and services tailored to the tastes of the growing numbers of affluent seniors.
Whether you’re an eager business neophyte or a veteran entrepreneur bent on expansion, remember. Spotting a potential business opportunity is one thing.
Successfully implementing a plan to take advantage of that opportunity is quite another. It’s what separates the “doers” from the dreamers.
Sound strategic planning and management is the surest way to improve the odds for success. In a small enterprise, such planning need not be overly elaborate as long as it covers the key aspects of the proposed business initiative. Essentially, this entails setting out on paper what you want your company to be and how best to get there.
The plan should include a frank assessment of the major strengths and weaknesses of your company, as well as those of your major competitors. And it should adequately address the all-important question of how you’ll finance your plans, and how proposed new activities will affect cash flow and profits.
It is essential that your strategic plan be practical and achievable, that accountability fm* the various steps be clearly set out and that the plan have the backing of all key players involved.
- Information provided by the Federal Business Development Bank
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