The success or failure of a business will depend on how efficient the business system is. Efficiency in this regard means achieving set objectives with minimal resources. How the business system is defined to help the business deliver its products/services with minimum resources is what makes a system relevant. The goal of any business is to maximize profits, therefore a business system should be tailored in such a way that it delivers maximum profits with minimum resources.
Most big companies and multinational corporations in particular have well defined systems. That is why it is not common for them to go out of business. They have well defined organisation charts, defining clearly the lines of authority and how information needs to move within the organisation. It is a challenge however for SME’s which in most cases find it hard to make a well-defined system. In my opinion this is among the contributing factors to why 90% of small business fail within the first five years of their operation.
How do we ensure success even before we start
operating?
I think the first and most important thing
every aspiring business owner should do before starting out is to have a
well-defined vision and mission statement. The vision is the dream of the
business owner, and the mission is the why he is doing business in the first
place. This will give the owner a clear sense of purpose for the business. The
vision and mission should represent the culture of the organisation/individual,
the thing that makes the organisation/individual different from all other
players in the market. This should clearly indicate the thing that the person
wants to champion. It can be talking about that person changing the way
marketing is done, the way communities deal with crime. It can represent
anything that the person wants to impact.
After writing and clearly defining the vision
and the mission statement, the next thing is to decide how you will achieve
them. You can break the vision and mission statement into small achievable
objectives that the business will be addressing. Writing answers to the
objectives helps the business owner develop a step by step plan of address the
vision and the mission statement. This all process will result into a business
plan which will clearly define the purpose and how it can be realised.
In this plan, the business owner will have to
answer a number of questions about themselves, the organisation and the market
they are trying to enter. This plan will act as a living document to guide the
owner on the right path. The plan will be a basis for instituting a business
system that will work to answer the problems that the business will face. These
will range from the reporting procedures, staffing, budgeting and so on.
An efficient system depends on a well-documented business plan and a good business plan is made when the purpose is clearly defined. This means that an efficient system depends on a purpose, because the procedures and processes have to be directed towards a worthy course.
An efficient system depends on a well-documented business plan and a good business plan is made when the purpose is clearly defined. This means that an efficient system depends on a purpose, because the procedures and processes have to be directed towards a worthy course.
In conclusion, business success depends on many
things and one important of them is a system you have instituted. The way
information flows, the way you organize your resources and the way the organisation
deals with others should be well defined and documented in a business plan. The
plan should clearly answer why the business exists, what it does, and how they
do what they do. Without the plan the system falls and without the system the
business fails. To avoid failure, care needs to be taken by carefully
developing a business plan. You can do it by yourself or you can engage a
business planning consultant to do the job for you.
I wish everyone out there who is trying to venture into a business all the best of luck and May God richly bless you.
