In today’s highly competitive business environment, if there is something that can guarantee business success then it is an exceptional business strategy. Strategic Management is a concept that has been borrowed from the military setting and applied to public administration and the business framework. In order to compete effectively and successfully, firms today need to engage in topnotch strategic management.
What is Strategic Management?
Strategic Management is the formulation, implementation and evaluation of cross-functional decisions that can help your business in achieving its long-term objectives. One of the key aspects of strategic management is to scan the external environment in an ongoing basis so that the business can be proactive instead of being reactive to any changes or threats from the external environment. Another important aspect of strategic management is to involve your employees in the whole process so that they are motivated, and can feel the passionate pursuit of the business.
The CS Level SWOT Analysis
Strategic management is an umbrella under which come several steps, strategies and tactics that help the business to stay competitive and successful. One such aspect of strategic management is the CS (Corporate Strategy) Level SWOT Analysis. A CS Level SWOT analysis is one of the best tools, which help the business to conduct a thorough cross-functional analysis and then use it to their advantage.
Doing a SWOT Analysis means to simply analyze the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and then build a business strategy keeping all of them in mind. Every business has some strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and only those firms who are actively engaged in managing them to their advantage will stay competitive in the long run.
First of all, a business needs to analyze what strengths it has; for example, one strength can be a large market share, another strength could be low prices or product differentiation as compared to the competitors. Now once a business is consciously aware of its strengths it should use them to overcome its weaknesses and threats, and look for growth opportunities.
So for example, if a business has a large market share and they see an opportunity approaching in the near future such as Christmas, they should use their strength to target the opportunity by either lowering prices or offering special packages to their loyal customers.
Similarly, if a business has a weakness, they should actively try to turn it into their strength before it becomes a threat for the business. They should be constantly scanning the external environment if they are to stay ahead in the race.
CS Level SWOT Can Be Your Key to Competitive Advantage
A CS Level SWOT analysis is applicable for small as well as large businesses. It is one of the most effective tools that can help businesses gain a competitive advantage in this dynamic business environment.
