Famous Business Strategies

Either simply a looker-on or a player in the world of business, you see millions piling into the accounts of world's most famous businessmen and naturally the question pops "How?", wondering what is the alchemy they've discovered? Yet, there is no magic here - it's mostly pure strategy. And what it takes to spot it and make it real.

Strategy

Identifying the best strategy for your business is the key to all success. It should give you the lift that makes a difference. The art for your strategy success is planning.

* settling a vision for your business
* defining a mission
* setting out objectives
* establishing values, goals and programs.

Vision

It is all there, it is all important, but first there is the vision. So, is vision a spark, is it a moment? How much is inspiration and how much hard work? Is it 99% perspiration and only 1% inspiration? Can we all be geniuses?

According to Edison's theory I would say yes, if we are committed to hard working, as it is primarily the hard work that makes a genius. Inspiration comes on the way, when involved in as much action as you can handle. Contrary to the conceptual meaning, inspiration seems to be driven by propitious conditions - in this case, by work.

Hard work

So, what really happens behind the fairy-tale success stories is usually not what some would expect - a brilliant, extraordinary, never heard of discovery that changed the world, but, disappointingly enough, plain hard work. What these people have is what I would call "industry intelligence". How is it acquired? Working of course. That is, sharply aware of their industry environment, learning all the rules and deeply involved in their own businesses, success people have at some point of activity a vision for their business that proves to be a winner - the revelation naturally produced as a result of their work commitment.

Let's take the example of three American legends: Sam Walton, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. What do they have in common? The winning vision, the winning strategy.

Sam Walton

In the case of Sam Walton, no new, innovative business models were launched. He followed the existing low-price retailing pattern but the competitive successful strategic approach was that instead of focusing on large cities he took his business to small towns becoming the low-price leader in rural towns.

Warren Buffet

Warren Buffett's success resides in his different approach to value investing. While usually investors look for stocks they believe undervalued by the market, Buffett does not take into consideration the stock market aspects, such as for instance the supply and demand ratio. He analyzes the stocks on the basis of their potential as companies. He is interested in long-term results, such as ownership in companies with capacity of generating money, namely, companies with a strong name, great historical results, strong management and industry expertise.

Bill Gates

Neither is the case of Bill Gates to have made extraordinary innovations. Rather than innovation, he had the ability to put together other people's ideas, thus producing big hits and making a profit. He did that first when adjusting BASIC programming language for the Altair 8800 (first PC) - neither of which was his original creation. Then, the same happened with DOS, which Microsoft bought (the original version was QDOS) and adjusted.

Business strategies implementation

Then, action comes. As the saying goes, planning without action is futile, action without planning is fatal. It takes guts to act boldly and take whatever risks are necessary to put your vision into practice. It takes a great deal of tenacity to surpass obstacles and get over unfortunate happenings on the way. So, how did they implement their planned strategies? What was the outcome, what principles resulted for them to base their businesses on?

Warren Buffet

For the implementation of his strategy, Buffett has drawn his company choice principles, involving a great deal of analysis of business, management, financial aspects and a great deal of patience, waiting for the right price once the possible investment has been identified.

On businesses

* simple and understandable
* consistent operating history
* favorable long-term prospects

On management

* rationality in treatment of retained earnings and investment of company profits
* disclosure of all aspects of company performances
* capacity of thinking independently of other managers' way of thinking.

On financials

* look for return on equity, not earnings per share
* analysis of free cash flow growth
* unique niche companies with high profit margins
* look for companies with at least one dollar of market value for every dollar retained

On stock valuation

* reasonable price for the company
* stock valuation analysis followed by analysis of a possible significant discount, case in which it will be purchased.

Success depends on the investor's dedication to learn and follow the principles.

Sam Walton

He gives his ten rules for success in the book "Made in America, My Story":

1. commitment to business
2. profit sharing with partners
3. partners' motivation, competition encouragement
4. total communication with partners, trigerring their commitment
5. giving appreciation to what your partners do for the business
6. keeping spirits up in celebrating success but also in treating failures with a touch of humor
7. listening to everyone in the company, encouraging their talking
8. a sustained exceptional relationship with the customer - exceeding his expectations, showing appreciation, apologizing for mistakes
9. finding a competitive advantage in controlling expenses
10. originality, doing things differently there is a good chance to find unexplored niches.

Bill Gates

Microsoft's corporate mission "A computer on every desk and in every home" shortly became a reality. Offering an easily accessible operating system for computers, perceiving the importance of customizing their product to the ordinary client and not only to computer engineers and thus addressing masses, Bill Gates succeeded in putting together and promoting towards a tremendous popularity (and profit accordingly) the world's dominant operating system.

What these people have in common is nevertheless an extraordinary ingenuity: they innovated their industry domain, building their own strategy tailored for their own business particularities and went further to its implementation.

Laura Ciocan writes for http://www.businessplanning.ws where you can find more information about how to make a successful business plan.

Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared.

Contact:lauracio@gmail.com

---

Ten Tips for Cross Cultural Communication

Here are some simple tips to help you improve your... Read More

Positioning Your Company for Debt Financing

Positioning Your Company for Debt Financing:There was a time in... Read More

Private Practice Success: 10 Essentials for Starting a Practice

As a counselor, therapist or healing professional (massage therapist, physiotherapist,... Read More

My 7 Most Important Business Lessons

Millions of people start new small businesses in the United... Read More

10 E-mail Organization Tips

Who doesn't have issues with organizing their inbox!? I receive... Read More

I WANT IT NOW - 10 Tips for Freight & Drayage at Trade Shows

Gas prices continue to go through the roof and increased... Read More

Entrepreneurs - 7 Business Mistakes You Must Avoid

Many mistakes can be made in business and if you... Read More

Top Ten Tips: Where to Get the Best Business Books Now!

There are many places you can get books, and I... Read More

Ten Top Performance Management Tips

Talk to Your People Often By building a great... Read More

Reminders For Running A Better Business

The following tips are from an article we contributed to... Read More

The Warning signs of Online Fraud and How To Avoid It

The number may seem grim for Web-based commerce. In 2004... Read More

Top Ten Tips When Business is Slow

How's your business going to keep growing with the holidays... Read More

After Hurricane Katrina - Seven Things You Can Do

If you are like me, you are living some distance... Read More

7 Reasons You Want Referral Business and How to Get Them

Studies have proven that there is one reason why people... Read More

Increase Business Profits - Ten Ways

How do you increase business profits? Answer the following questions... Read More

Top Ten Tips for Participating in Online Business Expos

Are you ready for a BASH? Have you ever been... Read More

1 Step Program to Achieve All of Your Goals

In Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen's original "Chicken Soup... Read More

#1 Key To Select Right Business Partner

Having business partner or planning to start a business with... Read More

Top 10 Ways to Use Quotations to Be Healthier, Happier and More Productive!

Most people have at least one favorite quotation from a... Read More

The Top 7 Marketing Tips You Dont Want To Overlook

1. Combine Emotion and LogicConsumers buy because the want to... Read More

The Top 10 Reasons Businesses Succeed

Only one of every 5 businesses makes it to its... Read More

Business Goals - The 10 Commandments

The Ten Commandments of Goal Setting While it's good to... Read More

Ten Tips for Effective Meetings

Here are ten things that you can do to hold... Read More

Tips to Starting your Own Busniess

The 9-to-5 grind can make you feel like a just... Read More

Yummy Yummy: Top 7 Business Lessons from the Wiggles

At Macquarie University in the early '90s, three Australian early... Read More

Seven Keys to Get Out of a Rut

Rut -- a routine procedure, situation, or way... Read More

The Top Ten Ways to Attract Buyers, Not Just Visitors to your Web Site

Have you put a lot of effort, time, and money... Read More

Checklist for Hiring a Private Investigator

Looking for an old friend? Want to know if your... Read More

Top 10 Ways to Turn Clients Into Raving Fans

Do you find great joy in being a coach? If... Read More

10 Tips to Successfully Use Business Networking as a Marketing Strategy

Networking is probably the best way to build a profitable... Read More

How to Become an Expert in Your Niche Business

What is a niche business? A niche business is one... Read More

Learn to Improve Sales - 10 Ways to Get More Business Starting Today

You need sales and you wanted them yesterday. Here are... Read More

The Top Ten Reasons to Hire a Coach

1. You have a big goal and you want someone... Read More