Business Strategy Development: A Panoramic View By Idumange John

The fundamental and primary objective of every business is to maximizing profit the entrepreneur combines the factors of production for production for productive utilization. However for the entrepreneur to maximize profits, the formulation of a business strategy is very critical this is the underpinning philosophy why business organizations have potential to maximize profit ad pursue its mission with a robust business strategy. Therefore for any business enterprises to develop, it must adopt strategies and activities that meet the needs of the enterprises and its stakeholder while at the same time Protecting sustaining and enhancing the human and natural resource for profit maximization.

Business strategy can be mission or formal plan According to Andrew (1971) a business strategy is the pattern of major objective, purpose or goals essential policies or plans for achieving those goals. A business strategy involves the consideration of the business environment, with dues regard for the strategies and weakness, opportunities and threats as well as taking decisions that can influence the values preference and culture of the business organization.

The force of business strategy is a medley of national and non-rational decision choices. Business strategy formulation is an no-going process did it changes with the prevailing condition in the market business strategy involves strategic planning which involves, the formulation of goals definition of performance parameter and the development of action plan to meets the goals of the business.

Business strategy is a means of negotiating the competitive and regulatory environmental forces faced by an organization with a view to achieving optimal performance measured in the form ,of profits Michaels porters (1999) argues that developing a business strategy places the organization in a “Unique position’ to achieves corporate success even in a competitive attract customers and creates a lasting competitive advantage for the organization.

The formulation of viable and sustainable business strategy has been become more imperative against the background of globalization and its attendant competition, trade liberalization and the deregulation of businesses. Therefore in a highly competitive business environment, a sound business strategy helps the entrepreneur. Poter Michaels E and Mark R Kramer (1999) Philanthropy’s New Agenda Creating Value “Harvard Business Review November December PP 121- 130.

Reorder his priorities in terms to combining the factors of production, and engage in effective planning to ensure robust business success. These can be achieved through strategies planning taking die cognizes of the organization mission objective implementation strategies and controls. At a more corporate level, the formulation of sound business strategy involved taking crucial decision about how to allocate available resources among the business unit, taking advantage of the strengths and synergies existing in the business.

The principal reason development seems to have eluded Nigeria is that African communities are still wrestling with the demands of globalization and other multifarious socio-economic challenges hence there are less visible signs of innovation, change and entrepreneurship. Analysis of the aforementioned typologies of capitalism shows that entrepreneurial capitalism measures its success in wealth generation and innovation, cultural capitalism tends to preserve seemingly old economic activities for the sake of cultural continuity and identity, while entrepreneurial capitalism, which promotes free enterprise, blossoms in Europe. Community capitalism is designed to serve the entire cultural entity. On the other hand, cultural capitalism does not merely promote culture but helps in building on cultural myths that would serve as social bonds of society. It is a brand of capitalism designed to innovate quickly in the service of its core motivations. It thrives in nations like Singapore, Malaysia and other Asian countries. In Singapore for example, there is now a determination and co-ordination efforts to transform into a “knowledge Island”, a key node in a fast globalizing economy.

Another obstacle is the brand of capitalism we practice. Capitalism is characterized by two forms of capital accumulation namely; primitive accumulation and accumulation from profit already generated by capitalist enterprises. Primitive accumulation refers to the accumulation from the surpluses generated in recapitalized sectors of the economy. It is through primitive accumulation that money gets into the hands of new capitalists. Usually, the sources of primitive accumulation are numerous; gains from domestic and foreign commerce; government contracts, sales of government Corporations under the rubrics of privatization, government loans and subsidies, and outright peculation such as the dishonest appropriation of government wealth, perquisite and forcible taxation. Other sources include land grabbing and compradoring.

Capitalism is characterized by the assumption that the profits being accumulated by the bourgeois are simply surplus. The term surplus refers to the excess of product over reproduction needs. The two categories of reproduction needs are what may be required to replace equipment and replenish inputs, and what is needed to maintain production levels including the wages of workers. The capitalist accumulates these surpluses through the joint stock companies, in which the capitalist dictates who owns shares and how much the subscription would be . In Nigeria, primitive accumulation seems to be the exclusive preserve of the political and entrepreneurial bourgeois.

Strategizing also contribute to sound business development in that it establishes clear, concrete and measurable goals that the entrepreneur seeks to achieve the targets of a business has set to meet. The formulations of good business strategy ensure that objective is measurable and achieveable within a specific time- frame.

Effective strategizing also enables the entrepreneur the owner of the business and co-coordinator to engage in situation Analysis targeted at exploiting existing opportunities, scan the external business environment and evolve strategies to solve existing problem. For business development to happen, the entrepreneur needs to examine the micro- environment that affects only that particular firm. The entrepreneur does what may be referred to as PEST analysis that is finding out the political economic, social and Technological factors that all likely to affect the business.

With respect to the micro-environment, the entrepreneur needs to contend with what is referred to as the five forces namely: Customer, Supplies, substitute product and competitors. With effective strategizing, the entrepreneur should be able to analyze.

The interval factor that can contribute to business development. Some of there factors include:

Company Culture
Corporate Image
Organizational Structure
Personnel requirements
Access to natural resource
Operational capacity and Efficiency
Market share and Brand awareness
Available fiscal resource
Niche’ areas’, patents and Trade Secrets

The analysis of the strength Weakness opportunities and threats is what as often referred to as SWOT Analysis. It is also the ability of the entrepreneur strategize that would enable him to engage in what is referred to as scenario planning, We ,live in a world of uncertainly and entrepreneur can hardly accurately forecast what would happen on the long run Strategizing enables the entrepreneur to carryout scenarios planning to deal with Multiple, Unforeseen contingencies associated with business development.

An entrepreneur who strategies will be able to provided organization leadership to navigate the business to realize predetermined organizational goals. Good entrepreneurial leadership enhance performance management in line with the strategic vision of the firm. Strategizing on the part of the entrepreneur contributes to sound business practices which are often built around the philosophy of the organization. Best business practices in turn command solid customer base and loyalty. A business organization commands strong customer loyalty expansion profitability are the natural corollary.

It has been emphasized that strategizing involved decision, visioning and planning. There are four logic steps in strategizing by business entrepreneur. Each of the three logic steps is discussed here.

The first step is strategic visioning. At the stage the entrepreneur describe how the organization will perform and how it will be viewed by stakeholder strategic vision is a concise statement describing the desired future state of the organization.

The second step emphasizes the aggregation of core competence based on specialization core competencies refers to the critical few area of specialism which constitute the fulcrum of the organization manpower, basically, the core compet6ence of any business are logistics power projection; technology generation and application and acquisition excellence. An entrepreneur who has the ability of identifying the core competence of his personnel will accomplish monumental result that can lead to the growth of the business.

The third logical step is the identification of the capabilities of sub-ordinate. A well motivate crops of sub-ordinate can be an asset to a business organization. The fourth and final step as for the entrepreneur to design the business plan and within a strategic framework, identify key business drivers based on customers requirement specific objective and key indicators. For an entrepreneur a strategic business plan as an instrument for mobilized the energies and abilities of an organization toward the achievement of organizational goals.

In Nigeria, most businesses collapse because of lack of clearly defined business strategy. Three factors militate against the formulation of business strategy. First is the poverty of much-needed infrastructure such as power supply, which is quintessential to the growth of businesses. Second, the legal and political regime in existence does not promote entrepreneurial spirit. Legally, the municipal laws do not compel the growth of indigenous industries neither do they encourage foreign direct investment. Politically, Nigeria is considered one of the most unstable countries in Africa. The implication is that even the transnational oil corporations find it difficult to plough back their profits because of investment insecurity. The third challenges is lack of technological know-how. The Nigerian business environment does not support the development of indigenous technology. Over the years, efforts made at technological transfer have not succeeded. In spite of the indigenization cum import substitution and export promotion decrees, Nigeria has not come anywhere near industrial take-off. The situation is not likely to change in the nearest future. An import-dependent nation cannot develop, especially when efforts have not been made for Nigeria to escape the dependency-trap.

Strategizing is one of the key function of an entrepreneur Effective and sustainable strategic decisions contribute to sound business development. Thus paper has called attention to SWOT analysis and the imperatives of scanning the macro and micro business environment. The strategizing not only lead to the growth of business but enhancing the survivals ad profitability. However, in Strategizing, the entrepreneur needs to keep a focus on the mission and vision of the organization and the overall critical success factors of the Business. In the final analysis the ability of the entrepreneur to explore core strategic competences evolving verifiable, measurable performance measures with regard to the macro and micro implantation schedule. Most of the banks in Nigeria are now undergoing corporate restructuring because of the inability of the MD/CEOs to strategize. The implication of lack of strategizing is low productivity, erosion of stakeholders’ confidence and low profitability. When an entrepreneur strategizes appropriately in line with the short, medium and long term goals of an organization, then monitoring and control mechanisms would guarantee organizational productivity, staff motivation, systemic stability and profitability.