The company is like a person. Can you imagine a person acting in life without having any goal, dream, objective and with a confusion of values? How many moments of uncertainty and weakness do you live? How many times do you put yourself at risk? Now, imagine a company whose only objective is to sell and make a profit for its owner.
Also, how many moments of uncertainty and weakness do you experience? How many times do you put yourself at risk?
Unfortunately, there are many companies like this that live adrift in the market. Many of them do not manage to stay, they are "sparkles" of one or three years, sometimes less. Some of them were born at the whim of their owners, without having previously analyzed the opportunity. And, unfortunately, most of these companies are SMEs.
Any business, no matter how small, has a "reason for being" which we will call Mission. And this allows us to start yearning for a “dream” that we will refer to as Vision. The main purpose of these statements is to define the direction of the company and help to “put on the same page” all those involved (owners, employees and customers).
Generally, when establishing a Vision, a 10-year horizon should be reflected, and for the Mission, a 5-year horizon.
The latter should be a short, simple, easy to remember sentence for all people to know. In such a way that the Mission also fulfills the function of being an intermediate objective to the Vision. When establishing these statements, the competition, which is offering it, how it is acting, etc. should be considered.
But to achieve the Mission it is necessary to have well-defined Work Values that facilitate it. It is convenient to define them and above all to put them into practice. Violating any of them by obtaining a temporary increase in sales or reduction of expenses has its risks, since the “coherence” between what is said and done is in the long run the best company.
Since the above is defined, the next challenge comes: how to achieve it. All company processes and operating policies must be in strict accordance with what was previously defined. It must be ensured that they have the right people for the functions and objectives of the company, and that they are compensated according to what is expected of them.
The infrastructure is also very important, it must be adequate for the fulfillment of the Reason for Being.
Additionally, on an annual basis, achievable and measurable objectives must be established, which are consistent with what is intended to be achieved in 5 years. Not only must there be objectives of a financial nature, since to achieve it you need processes, a market of clients and personnel that carry out the functions.
It is of great importance that all those involved: owners, employees, customers and suppliers participate in establishing these guidelines. Your opinion through surveys is sufficient.
A strategy cannot last all the time, it depends on the changing market in the company. Therefore, it is important that continuous feedback is given if it is perceived to no longer work.
The ideal time to define the strategy is at the beginning of operations, but it is recommended that even while it is underway, each business dedicates time to analyzing and considering what it wants to achieve. Part of this need is being covered by the certifications of national and international organizations.
Definitely, the company will be highly benefited by having a strategy. SMEs could feel calmer knowing that they have strategic planning, where they have even considered optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. They could even use tools to measure their strategy, for example, the Business Performance Indicator System (Balanced Scorecard), also available to SMEs.
