Flexibility and The Speed of Small Business

The Speed of Small Business

Leveraging your Small Business's Speed and Flexibility

One of the first things you learn about in business school is how businesses are organized and the advantages and disadvantages of each type of set up.  Large corporations have numerous advantages over their small business counterparts including scope and availability of capital.  However, a strong competitive advantage for small business is speed and flexibility.  In today's competitive and changing marketplace allowing your business the space to change and improve your system is critical to the continued success of your small business.

IBM's study on Business Model Flexibility

IBM released a study on the top 100 automobile manufacturing and supply companies and found that the most profitable companies at their core had business model flexibility.  The study named four key aspects to business model flexibility:

• Responsiveness: anticipating and responding to customer needs as well as market and industry changes;
• Differentiation: translating customer needs into innovative products and services that the customer will desire and competitors imitate;
• Efficiency: common, lean processes and operations for producing products and services at a cost that generates profits and supports growth; and
• Impact: determining the magnitude of desired change in products, services and operations.

See the full article here:  http://www.thebusinessedition.com/business-model-flexibility-as-the-key-to-success-in-automotive-industry-481/

What a great time to be studying the auto industry, back in 2006 the gas crisis had not even hit the US economy yet and we can look back now in hindsight and see what some of the best companies did to gain market share and profitability. 

Have Change Become a Core Value for Your Small Business

As you look to the future of your business, one thing you can be certain of is change.  Some of the best businesses and those I hope to emulate with my company do not view change as some hurdle to overcome, but rather as an opportunity for their business to grow and gain advantage.  I encourage you to bring change into your company culture and to allow your business model the space and flexibility to adapt to the fast dynamic state of today's marketplace.

The Speed of Small Business

One of the biggest advantages small business has is the speed that we can implement ideas and new systems into our business.  I encourage all of you reading this blog to take this to heart and push yourself to continuously bring new innovations and profit centers to your business model and watch as you blow past your competition.