Being competitive in business life is vital to the success of any business. With the advent of globalization and communication revolution, the game has become more competitive and fast. The pace of the procedures is such that one cannot afford to make a mistake, in the strategy or implementation at any point of time. This in fact underlines the relevancy question – how to be competitive in business life – for the success of the venture you are into.
The answer to the query, how to be competitive in business life, depends on a lot of factors, which used to and will change according to the business trends of the day. For example, in the last decade, efficiency, large-scale mass production, and market growth were the focus of attention as far as gaining a competitive edge in the race was concerned. But the evolving paradigm – which refers to a definite way of analyzing about, doing and seeing things within one’s business environment- against the backdrop of the new millennium had added new variables to the already proven equation. The current paradigm constraints also include the terms Value, Core Competence, Time, and building Networking.
Value has a direct bearing on why a particular product is frequently bought and used by the customers. It is the factor that gauges the products and services competency in the real world market. And to enhance the value, continuous renewal of business operations and organizational processes, and continuous improvement of products and services, need to be undertaken while constantly keeping up the rate of productivity of the company.
Core Competence is a direct reference to the competence ability of a company to match others in the race, across functions and divisions in vastly varying competitive arenas.
Time factor has become a scale to measure company’s response to any need, organizational or relating to customer demands. By decreasing cycle time and through continuous innovation, new products are being churned out in less and less time. But an over attitude towards shortened cycle time can adversely affect the quality of the product.
Building networks is a product of the new world business necessity. To enhance the business competence, even competitors join hands to serve the customer. The cellular communication is a common example. Here service providers offer coverage for other players in areas where they may not have the infrastructure in place. It is a scene where the customer and his needs assume prominence over petty business competition, thus magnifying the current level of competence of an organization in adding value.
Over the years and given the present trend, the competitive paradigm has shifted from a more primarily result oriented, financial perspective of the portfolio models into value-maximizing, process oriented model for contemporary and upcoming firms. The evolving strategy tends to focus on how to effectively affect the environment in which the company functions than how to react to changing trends. It is the end result of the competition of competence that was evolved in the last decade. And that is the underlying rule that governs the future of every business, at least for the time being.
It is common observation that businesses, with few exemptions tend to obey Gauses’s Competitive Exclusion Principle. It states no two businesses can coexist together by producing and selling and thereby making a living out of the same product. It implies that success of any firm has a definite bearing on the strategies and how well they stay ahead of competition.
To conclude, for a firm to make profits over a period of time, it is all about understanding and acting effectively within paradigms. If it happens, corporate strategy will not only tail the rules but also will act in advance or even redesign them.