Are You Handling Things The Right Way?

The outlook of Businesses in most developing markets including India is bullish. This is irrespective of size and activity considerations. These markets today are characterized by the presence of those who have money….and want to spend be it on personal acquisitions or establishing ventures or expanding existing ones. The ascent is thus towards spending and doing well.

One essential feature of any favorable economic situation is the presence of multiple players vying to make the most of it. The same is the situation with businesses. Where there is an opportunity, there is competition. And when there is competition, there definitely is a need to change tactics, be relevant and prosper. Competition though working in favour of clients is an existential threat to most businesses as it directly affects their profit margins and ensuing growth, and survival.

Management Gurus, more so from developed economies have for some time now advocated the need for a focused & structured approach to take matters head-on and make the most in a competitive situation. What it essentially means is that the entire business entity and all its activities be looked at critically in the manner of a project and strategies formulated to beat the existing challenges at its own game and come out a winner.

This approach, though not exactly a revelation of sorts is still something most businesses do not implement forthwith unless forced by circumstances to do so. What it essentially does for most businesses is

- Identify activities both profitable and otherwise which can help either increase profits or reduce costs.

- Define the scope of activity/ departments where intervention may be required and identify people who shall drive the efforts.

- Set clearly definable goals for individuals and departments ie KRA which could include increased profits and/ or customer satisfaction, decreased costs, entry into a new country/ region, making a process better and easier etc. The identified objectives should, to the extent possible, be identifiable in numbers to know if the KRAs are being met.

- Identify variations clearly so as to take actions in time

- Lets the top management concentrate its efforts in bringing and retaining clientele while identifying those down the line who can be given the responsibility to cater to the latter’s needs.

Advantage galore though it has, there are certain pre-requisites to an effective project-driven approach to problem solving and customer retention. The primary one reason is the management’s breadth of vision to accommodate other’s views. Next come Systems and supporting tools in the organization which helps operate it efficiently. An inefficiently equipped organization cannot dream of a projects approach as there exists no base to start on.

To sum up, irrespective of approaches, it is essential to equip any organization with the right kind of systems and tools. Basis the same, using the projects approach, it can be guided to enhanced profitability and resultant growth.