Today we answered your question:
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How do you understand the business or business opportunities that can be generated from the surrounding environment?”

Intimately knowing the individual business and the environment within which it operates, both globally and locally, combined are essential to identifying ‘good fit’ opportunities that will strengthen and drive the business forward.

The surrounding environment comprises of PESTLE or STEEPLE, that is the politics, economy, social, technologies, legislation, environment, ethics. Researching this environment regularly highlights potential business opportunities.
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Knowing the specific business comes from having clearly defined business capabilities as strengths and weaknesses, which highlight which opportunities would strengthen the business and overcome weaknesses.

Today we answered your question:

A business usually has more than one strategy but for the purposes of this article the focus is on a strategic (business future) perspective.

Regardless of whether your goal is to grow your business into something or is simply a means to earn a monthly income for yourself, without knowing which you are aiming to achieve getting there will be a hit and miss affair, decision-making weak and difficult, resources may not be available when you need them, and it could take longer than necessary to get there with a trial and error approach rather than strategic. The trial and error approach historically provide other businesses with the opportunity to get to your customers before you do.

I will use the popular analogy of going on a journey to explain further.

Let’s say you decide to go on a journey. Would you immediately jump into a car and start driving? Or would you first decide on where you were going, the best route to take, the type of transport required to get there, how long it will take, do you need overnight stays, rest stops, will fuel be needed along the way? And so on.

Most of us would do the latter, that is, before setting off, decide on a destination (the goal/purpose/problem to solve), determine our preferences such travelling at low congestion times to reduce carbon emissions (guiding principles). We would precisely plan the roads to take, the required rest and fuel stops, book hotels to stay at along the way, all from the start of the journey to the destination and back (actions).

Of course, there are many analogies like the journey analogy. For example, I could have used another well-known analogy of  a general planning and managing an army to win a war without fighting as compiled in “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu.

Whichever analogy is used any good strategy has these 3 key elements: a clearly identified goal/purpose/problem to solve or ,destination, guiding principles, and precise planned actions required to produce the desired ‘destination’. These three elements transformation the current situation to where it should be, what inputs are required, when, to obtain desired outputs.

But why is it so important in business? Here are five simple reasons.

Clients with established, successful businesses always ask me whether I am reading anything current and of value to their business.  

Fortunately, a key aspect of my business day is to do the things business owners, entrepreneurs, managers and leaders do not have the time to do themselves.  One of those activities is reading on behalf of clients because they want to know what has been done successfully already rather than waste time, sometimes years, figuring it out themselves.  My clients also want to know how stay ahead of the competition rather than follow or trail behind.

I usually read peer reviewed research journal papers, books, and articles relevant to their business, business management, technology and innovation. Afterwards a summary of the key take-aways is provided together with the methods applied, new models and how it can be applied effectively and without disruption to my clients’ business if relevant.

So, here is my current reading list for the next few weeks in no specific order:

Research & Journal Papers
The role of innovation in building competitive advantages: An empirical investigation.
P. Chatzoglou, D. Chatzoudes, 2018.

Business model innovation mapping: A structured approach to a new business model.
A. Schaller, R. Vatananan-Thesenvitz, 2018.

Modelling value propositions in E-business.
A. Osterwalder, Y. Pigneur, 2003.

Sustainable competitive advantage or temporary competitive advantage: Improving understanding of an important strategy construct.
T. O’Shannassy, 2006.

Books - Leadership, strategy, personal development
The monk who sold his Ferrari.
R. Sharma, 2015. 

Business is personal
P. Power OBE, 2019.

Good strategy Bad strategy: the difference and why it matters.
R. Rumelt, 2017.
(Reading for the second time)

Strategy Safari
H. Mintzberg, B. Ashlstrand, J. Lampel, 1998.
(Reading for the second time)
 
Happy reading!

To answer your question, sustaining a competitive advantage is key to the success and longevity of any business of any size.

Research and real world examples show businesses that do not continuously “sustain a competitive advantage” do not survive in the long term (assuming they had an advantage to begin with).  An example is Blockbusters and Netflix. Netflix adapted their competitive advantage to streaming (an emerging technology at the time) while Blockbuster did not adapt so no longer exists.

This is even more relevant today in the global digital world we live in because there are new technologies released every 12 to 18 months providing you (and your unknown competitors) with new ways to excite and entice customers over and over again. If your competitors have more exiting products/services/pricing your customers will move over to them leaving your business with lower revenue.

Be aware there are different types of competitive advantage. Technology in the example above is the dynamic kind, one of several key areas for any business of any size to find a continuous competitive advantage.

As Ginni Rometty, Executive Chairman of IBM says "You've got to keep reinventing. You'll have new competitors. You'll have new customers all around you."
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If you like, you can learn more about business and technology management here.

Today I answered your question “Where can I ask people to rate my brand/domain name?”
 
Today, most businesses conduct continuous surveys to stay in touch with clients changing needs. I would recommend you do the same.

A survey can be one simple, targeted question for respondents to fill in rather than many, irrelevant questions. Keep it short and easy for people to complete and tell them why you are asking the question(s).
If you are looking for feedback on your brand from any source and you don’t know anyone, try joining business groups, for example, those on Facebook and ask the group members for their opinion. Remember it is just an opinion.

If you are looking for feedback from existing and potential clients, try compiling a simple survey for them to complete.

The survey should have a specific objective. For example, rather than saying ‘rate my brand/domain name’, your survey should ask questions that provide an answer to whether your brand is clear, or strong for the sector. Be specific about what you are trying to find out. By doing so it will guide you to ask the right questions. For example, ask whether the colours or name are offensive.

Use a combination of positive and negative questions for balance. Ask for additional comments too. Try asking closed questions requiring a yes, no, answers and make sure your questions are not worded in a leading way that forces the participant to give you the answer you want to hear.

You could, for example, ask respondents to rate the effectiveness of the brand on a scale of 1 to 5 or rate the impact of the brand from a negative impact at -5 to a powerful positive impact at +5. Do not ask the respondent for personal details as you don’t need them to determine your brand rating.

I use SurveyMonkey because it forces you to keep to a few questions keeping things relevant, and it collates the responses for you in graphic form making it easier for you to see the results which inform your decisions going forward.
 
#toodglobal #smarterbusiness #competitiveadvantage #CTO #surveys #feedback

Today, I answered your question:
 
“What are the common business strategy mistakes?”
 
Four common mistakes I have come across in businesses formulating strategies are:

• thinking a strategy is a To Do list, or a list of goals or objectives. Rather than a carefully planned, scheduled, accountable action plan with progress measures in place that takes into account many aspects of the business such as resources, processes, and capabilities.
• not correctly diagnosing the problem/situation so the strategy is ineffective.
• taking into account relevant guiding policies before formulating strategies so, again, the strategy is ineffective.
• not taking into account human behaviour, that is, the impact on the people who may be affected by the strategy, which may lead to difficulties executing the strategy.

Richard Rumelt’s book “Good strategy, bad strategy” is an old but good read and discusses in length about what is a good strategy and what is a bad one, and why template-based strategies are so bad. 

The following is from a contemporary technology and business innovation/change management perspective.

Elliott Jacques’ (1951) defines culture as the “customary and traditional way of thinking and of doing things, which is shared to a greater or lesser extent by all [...] which new members must learn, and [...] accept, in order to be accepted into service in the firm”.

In simple terms this definition suggests that the culture is planned and established when the company is set up, such as the logos, titles, as well as the business and power structure. For example, does the company use processes to control staff or rules? Is the company hierarchical (top-to-bottom) where the top man sets the core belief system, or is it horizontal where all staff play a vital part?  Culture is often expressed as “the way we do things here” so includes accepted rituals, norms, values, acronyms whether set by management, influenced by staff, or both, over time.  

Today, companies are redefining their culture, strategically expressing and using their culture as a dynamic (changeable) competitive advantage, a tool that sets the company apart from competitors, and entices loyal customers and quality staff with the ‘matching’ mindset. That’s why, today, we see an abundance of statements such as “People over process” (Netflix, 2020), or, “Move fast. Be bold. Be yourself (Facebook, 2020). So, a  modern company’s strategy is one that embraces and plans for ongoing culture statement changes with the times, to always remain fresh, relevant and enticing.

Companies are also changing their cultures completely to ensure longevity. IBM are an example of successful cultural change from black suited, rules orientated, to the dynamic company it is today. The IBM story makes good reading.

If you are currently looking at adopting a popular business model, whether it be for a new business idea or innovating or updating an existing business, a strong strategy would be to familiarise yourself with today's popular business models. Then adopt one (if possible) that will be widely adopted over the next 5 years. That way you can get ahead of your competition. Here is some useful information and a resource to get you started:
Business models:
A strong, precise business model(s) can be a powerful tool for innovation, competitive advantage, decision-making, and culture development.  Business models (BM) can either be explicit, written/drawn out, or implicit, unspoken/ undocumented, yet no less powerful.  A business model can be a graphic, template, or text heavy document in the form of a business plan.  Often businesses have more than one business model (BM). For example, a business may have one BM for each of the following:
Innovation
Change
Technologies
Building and developing strategic partnerships
Acquisitions
There are over 50 types of BM’s that most businesses fall into (Gassmann et al, 2014). Some of the most common today are:
Freemium (18) - use some of the service for free, upgrade for additional functionality;
Subscription (48) - pay a monthly fee starting at an affordable price point with the option to increase or decrease over time;
E-commerce (13)- sell products/services online;
Performance based (38) - the client pays on results.
Resource:
St Gallens Business Model Navigator (Gassmann et al, 2014)

To succeed in any business environment a business requires both core and dynamic capabilities.  Our focus here are dynamic capabilities, the ability to learn, apply the learning skilfully to adapt quickly. 

Dynamic capabilities are necessary because the business environment is never static, it changes constantly, so a business needs to adapt with it. I like to use the athletics race analogy.  Imagine a 100 metre race. A runner bursts off the start line as the gun goes off, immediately striking and maintaining a steady, strong pace, never changing, even when competitors pass by on the track. Who will get to the finish line first?   Like the runner, without adaption the business becomes stagnant, and competitors who are adapting, pass by reaching the customer first.

From a technology and innovation perspective, the need for adaptability stems from technology advancements. In today’s environment advancements occur every 18 months. Advancements mean a new set of competitors offering new, more convenient, more enticing and exciting ways to interest a finite number of customers. New technologies have removed geographical borders, so competitors are global, and therefore, are unknown, compared to previous years where competitors where more local, easier to recognise and keep an eye on.   As Jack Welch, retired CEO for General Electric, said “ An organisation’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage".

So getting ahead, and staying ahead, of the competition requires, robust competitor and business environment research that informs a good strategy, and which dynamic capabilities to develop.  Here are 3 common dynamic capabilities using Zoom under COVID as an example where a thorough simple STEEPLE/PESTLE analysis can help identify changes and new opportunities.
 
1.Business contextual factors
Zoom has flourished due to the global need for video conferencing for communication. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jun/03/zoom-booms-as-teleconferencing-company-profits-from-coronavirus-crisis

2.Megatrends
Zoom application and infrastructure was in place when the world needed it, was easy to set up and use, and low cost. Entrepreneurs recognising the trend early have developed alternative applications that offer all the things Zoom doesn’t offer. Megatrends can also help identify ‘sub’ trends sprouting from the megatrend. For example, online video teaching, though around for quite a few years already, has exploded recently. 

3.Technologies
In both the examples above businesses have used technologies to grasp opportunities in delivering a service to satisfy the demand of the consumer.  
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Develop the capability to stay up to date, and recognise changes, in these 3 dynamic areas, then apply your findings to your advantage, to get ahead, and stay ahead, of your competitors.

Earlier today we received notification informing us we were the most viewed Quora writer in the topic of Innovation Management.

Mulgan (2007) [1] describes innovation as “new ideas that work”. Social innovation can refer to innovation in interactions and relationships. It can also refer to innovation aiming to overcome a social need rather than a market need. Here we focus on the latter.

Social innovation ecosystem can occur across a national, regional, global scale, across sectors, organisations, and entrepreneurs. As technologies advance, new opportunities for any individual, organisation, or company to innovate, to find new ways to do old things, arise, often providing solutions to social problems. And, of course, lets not forget that without society social innovation would not be required.

In recent times it has become very expensive for organisations to have their own in house R & D department. Technology has provided a platform for global collaboration. Together, innovation can happen faster and produce more effective innovations than any one company can produce. In addition, the availability of funding for innovation and product development is often directed at solving pressing social needs.

Here is one practical example of how innovation addresses social needs from The Alzheimer's Society[2]:

Problem:
Lewis’s grandmother Pat has reduced cognitive function as a result of Dementia. Pat forgets to drink, or does not enjoy, water throughout the day, as a result of the reduced cognitive function. The result is dehydration for which Pat needs to be hospitalised. How can dehydration be prevented, or at least reduced so that Pat can continue to live a full, independent life?

Possible social solution:
Because Pat enjoys sweets, Lewis has developed large sweets called JellyDrops that are 90% water. Pat can eat as many as she wants, whenever she wants. Pat can place jars of Jellydrops throughout the home in every room. The bright colours attract attention, look tasty, so encourage regular consumption. The more consumed the less chance of dehydration.
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This solution can be easily distributed across society at low cost supporting everyone with a similar problem.
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Footnotes
[1] http://eureka.sbs.ox.ac.uk/761/1/Social_Innovation.pdf
[2] Jelly Drops sweets to tackle dehydration in dementia

​Most innovations are build on what already exists. Very few are inventions. The definition of innovation according to BIS (2012), is “innovation is the process by which new ideas are successfully exploited to create economic, social, and environmental value.”

In today’s business environment all businesses are developing the internal capabilities to innovate their products/services/processes dynamically and continuously. The capability is a necessity born out of the exponential growth of technological developments. New technologies are developed every 18 months (Moore’s Law). So most business are innovative. Those that have not adapted by developing this capability have closed, are closing, or have bought smaller, more innovative companies.

Here are a few household names who innovate services/products/processes since around 1995:
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Apple (IPod),
Air BnB (holiday accommodation),
IBM (their business model)
Procter and Gamble (their innovation business model)
Amazon (online books, Cloud services)
Uber (Taxis)
Elon Musk (space travel, electric cars)
Facebook, You Tube, Instagram, Snapchat, Whatsapp (social media apps)
Boston Dynamics - Google (robotics)
Google - (machine learning)
Ebay (online auction).
These are examples of how companies formed through skillful application of technologies to create new products/services/processes/business structures valuable to new and existing markets.

The short answer is that until the start of widespread technology adoption around 2008, small businesses had the upper hand in many ways. Examples are:

• Decisions could be made instantly
• They were in touch with their customers’ needs and understood their expectations
• They offered a personal service
• Their business was far more transparent than larger companies
• Staff felt their contribution was making a difference.
• Integrate new technologies quickly.

Since then big companies have been forced to consider these aspects of business management largely as a result of technological advancements. The advancements have removed geographical boundaries so there are far more competitors than previously. And, as technology changes every 18 months (Moore’s Law) new types of competition spring up every 18 months so competitors are unknown. At the same time, consumers are far wiser shoppers, their shopping habits have changed because of technologies, therefore their expectations are different. A familiar example, technology allows consumers to have something instantly by touching a button.
To survive businesses have employed skilled CTO’s over 10 years to adapt their business. Here are a few:

• Large head offices are being replaced by smaller, distributed offices that are managed entrepreneurially. That is, an office that can make fast decisions, are more in touch with customers on a local level.
• Large businesses are developing cultures of transparency and customer-centric value hence the explosion of surveys and feedback forms that keeps the company in touch with every customer, so personalise the service for each customer. It is this culture that staff buy into now, so feel their work makes a difference.

So, for the moment, what small businesses have is the ability to integrate new technologies quickly. Unfortunately, many small businesses, from the sole trader upwards, do not know how to use technologies in this way, or that it is a key advantage for them at the moment. In other words, small business could have the potential to offer all of the above faster than major corporations.

The question implies you are a business owner trying to adapt your business to Google Sites.

Try approaching this question the other way around.

In other words, start by working out the optimum workflow and processes from your customers perspective. Then adapt Google sites (or any other software) to your business. If Google sites can’t be adapted, choose another app that can.

Doing it this way around provides all the answers you need.