Focus Area / Conditions
Your business environment
The conditions are the environment within which your company can grow. They are things you can’t change, but you can sometimes exploit. The main reason to pay attention is because these things change. You’ll obviously pay attention more closely when they’re in flux. But otherwise, it’s a good idea to schedule a yearly or semi-annual review. These topics are very specific to your individual situation so I can say all that’s needed right here.
- Market Conditions. You’ll be paying attention to this in your marketing work so not much else needs to be said.
- Competition. Don’t get distracted by what the competition is doing. If they have some good ideas, go ahead and steal incorporate them but generally you do better by focusing on customers than on competitors.
- Community Pay attention to the social norms in your community.
- Economic Trends – both macro and local.
- Laws and Regulations These can be a road block but also a moat
- Technology Tech is important in two ways. It can enhance your workflows and be part of your organizational design. And it can revolutionize your offering. Think of Uber – it’s basically a taxi service that couldn’t happen until tech evolved and old school taxis missed out.
Articles about Conditions
4
August 29, 2011
We Survived Hurricane Irene – and why that matters to Your Business
Living in Connecticut with some big trees in the yard, we stocked up on water, food we could eat without cooking, propane and then slept in the finished basement. We spent the entire time with running water (hot AND cold).…
May 23, 2011
Is business Bad for Politics or the Otherway Round?
I posted four years ago that typical pro-business political positions are often actually bad for business because they are short sighted. In my experience working with business owners, lack of strategic planning is something they are almost always "too busy"…
October 13, 2010
In the 1800’s America Became an Economic Force
Bill Bryson says it was done in large part by utilizing innovations and technologies that were invented in Europe. These were then scaled and perfected in America and the products sold back to the Europeans. Does that remind anyone else…
April 17, 2006
Why Business News is Irrelevant
What's considered "newsworthy" by the business press is either about trends that have a very broad appeal, or what Hugh McLeod calls business porn. The reason any kind of porn has any appeal at all is that it's a fantasy.…