"Strategy is the art of overcoming the adversary knowing that he is trying to do the same with you" Avinash K. Dixit & Barry J. Nalebuff (Thinking Strategically - 1993)
Many of the small businesses and SMEs are instinctively managed by their owners, either because they have experience working in the sector as employees or because they jumped into the water and have had good results but beware, you should never neglect the strategy
If there were a manual for entrepreneurs, one of its chapters would begin with the following sentence: "Never in a business, regardless of its size, should important decisions be made without having previously established a strategy." This advice, although it seems logical, in the practice of the entrepreneur is little applied since the day-to-day of a company that is starting is very complicated, there is no cash to cover such expense, an employee is needed to carry out such work, In short, there are quite a few small problems that surround entrepreneurs and make them forget where the company is heading and what the objectives are to be achieved.
When this happens, decisions are being made blindly, without taking into account if they will lead the company on the right track or if on the contrary they will lead it on the wrong route and in the current economic scenario it is difficult to achieve success when you do not have a clear course.
The strategy basically consists of creating the future based on the ideas, knowledge and concepts of the people involved in the company and must be designed with the customer, their needs and expectations as the center. The strategy determines to a large extent the competencies of the firm and the way in which it will face the market, it is a compass that guides decision-making and facilitates the achievement of better performance.
Beyond the concept of strategic planning, in which the mission, vision, policies and business objectives are postulated, as a framework within which the actions are carried out to achieve these objectives, there is an important concept that should be highlighted and it is that of strategic purpose, popularized by its promoters Hamel and Prahalad, which indicates a perspective of the long-term competitive position that a company hopes to achieve in 5 to 10 years. This purpose goes beyond the vision and radiates the orientation and destiny of the business, as well as incorporating an emotional aspect with which the members of the company will identify.
The entrepreneur must be clear about the strategic purpose of his company or his idea, if it is still at that stage, and must be able to transmit it to the people who accompany him in the initiative, in such a way that they adopt it as their own and work to achieve it. It is not necessary to develop an entire strategic entry plan, but it is convenient to fully identify the purpose of the venture, since it is not enough to know that the idea is great if you do not know with certainty where you want to go with it.
The beginning of any strategy is to know yourself, know what you are very good at, what you fail at, what your weakness is, what your strengths, what differentiates you from others, the next step is to study the market and identify the competition, from then on it will have to be studied in depth until it can be said that you know it and that you have the ability to get ahead of it.
The strategy is the basis of the competition, if you do not have one, you will easily be crushed by the competitor and only through it is it possible to defeat him. Sun Tzu, the father of strategy, in the classic 'The Art of War', written around 500 BC, says: 'A sovereign should not start a war out of anger, nor should a general go into combat because of an anger. fit of rage. For while anger can turn into joy and anger into pleasure, a nation that has been destroyed cannot be restored, nor can the dead come back to life.
Magnificent description of what an entrepreneur should NOT do, make decisions in the shadows, not being clear about the north can lead to a good idea to simply stay in that, so you do not have to forget the strategy if you want to lead to a good destination an idea or company.
