The World Is Not A Stagnant Entity

One frequently asked question in business today that is least answered is, as stated by David Chaudron, PhD (2003), “What can we do to make our business flourish, survive and grow?” With the rapid changes in technology and the rise in the globalization of markets, we must have a game plan in place for adjusting to these changes. It has become increasingly difficult to predict what is going to happen, and there are thousands of obstacles and opportunities along the way. To add to the confusion, there are thousands of products, solutions and methods for dealing with these changes. With many brands, sizes and varieties it is very difficult to choose what is best for your organization. Add to that,

There is much to consider when expanding a business. How will you make, market, and distribute your product. Are you willing to take full liability for your product and understanding the legalities of what happens if your product is defective? Once that has been established, it’s important to make sure that your business dealings are in order. The strength of the contract and what all it entails. Knowing that the legal document is important more so when things tend to go downhill. Above all is deciding which type of business entity the company will select especially if the company starts out small and looks to

For example In 2004 Branson was set to enter the music industry once again by diversifying into the online music industry through an online music store service just like Apple. He also released his own mp3 called the ‘Pulse’ that was to rival Apple’s Ipod. Unfortunately he closed both products later that year due to the fact that Apple kept releasing new products that made the ‘Pulse’ outdated with Apple’s high brand awareness, Virgin found it difficult to rival a large market leader therefore caused them to retrench and withdraw their product. This shows that although diversifications seem the best strategy for profitable growth, it does pose many risks especially when entering new unfamiliar markets.

Due to the growing competition and diminishing market share, companies are opting for different strategies to achieve their survival objectives as well as growth. Companies are thus executing grand strategies to provide their businesses with a clear direction for its strategic actions. These strategies, therefore, aim at both short term and long term sustainability and growth, and they include innovation, market development, product development, and concentration.

Each organization has or should have a distinct business strategy to ensure they reach their desired goals and objectives. Uniquely, the business strategy, or competitive strategy, should include their target consumers, the product or service desired by their consumers, and their roadmap to remain competitive in the market (Parnell, 2014). However, strategies may be difficult to determine when the organization is engrossed in one industry, but decides to dip their toe in another industry (Bethel, 2016).

Firms pursuing a specialization strategy often try to develop a competitive advantage based on customer intimacy and try to deliver unique and customizable products or services to meet their customer’s needs and increase their

The corporate strategy of the business diversification is to create a synergy to achieve more performance under a single umbrella rather than diverse business units (SNU, 2016). A business diversification is to build the company shareholder value when the independent business units can perform under a single corporation as an umbrella organization instead of independent parents or a corporation. A diversified organization has many business units and each business units have its own business level strategy irrespective of whether they are related or not. A successful business diversification not only spreads the business risk across the diverse units but also adds a long term economic value to the company. The strategy for starting a new business is based on industry attractiveness test, the cost of entry and the better off test (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, and Strickland, 2016).

“The Theory of evolution says continuous change is inevitable and if one does not evolve, they will perish” (Darwin's theory of evolution, 2006). This is true for businesses and companies. If companies do not evolve then their survival is in jeopardy. A key to survival is a core competency that the company has built over time. These competencies are what a company is built upon. Companies that are successful and continue to survive have shown that they focus on building core competency and in turn their ability to innovate increases. Based on their core competencies these companies have built products (line extension) or services (redirection) that can be applied to variety of applications. Successful companies are eager to build competencies that will help them become world leaders. They do not solely focus on products alone; they focus on System Thinking, how one piece affects the entire system (Dundon, 2002). This type of thinking shows a focus on core. A piece of the system is most likely

Innovation is not a single activity; it is a process. For businesses, innovation means fresh ideas, developing new products or services and its effective processes. Innovation can be key to any business or company in the future. Bringing innovation into your business can help you save time and money and gives you the competitive advantage needed to grow your business.

Diversification: Developing new products in new markets can be a riskier strategy given the unproven market place. However, if innovation is a business value it may be worth the risk as long as you understand what’s at stake.

The marketplace has been dynamic and competition between companies in the same industry has been increasingly intense (Ranchhod, 2004). Having dynamic capabilities contributes to a company’s “long-term survival or competitive advantage” (Johnson et al., 2008: 84). This is especially essential

Product diversification is a feasible way to obtain growth through new products. The company can use existing product knowledge to develop the brand into new lines to increase exposure and use similar technology to increase synergies. Leveraging off an existing well-known brand to a market that is familiar with the brand will also increase the possibility of success while maintaining lower marketing costs in

Tidd and Bessant (2009) argued that “Unless an organization is able to move into further innovation, it risks being left behind as others take the lead in changing their offerings, their operational processes or the underlying models that drive their business”.

The concept of “economies of scope” and eight potential economies of scope a diversified firm might try to

Innovation offers the companies a competitive advantage. Presently and within the future, more than any time in history, the key to competitive advantage is innovation. However innovation will facilitate businesses meet all of their strategic challenges, not simply competition; to illustrate, in confronting accelerating rates of change, globalization, apace advancing technology, a additional numerous workforce, associated a modification from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy. Meeting all of those challenges helps the firm attain competitiveness, and meeting these challenges suitably depends on innovation. Innovation allows a firm to workout its challenges in distinctive ways in which build competitive advantage either through relative differentiation, a relative low-priced position, or few acceptable level of each. Innovation cannot assure success, however success cannot be achieved within the end of the day without it.