The secret of winning in the business world is to stay ahead of your competitors. In my personal study of successful giant corporations, small and medium enterprises, I discovered that their successes are similar: They stay ten steps ahead of everyone in their niche.
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Business can be very interesting if businesspeople and business owners can have a smooth ride on the account of their futuristic initiative. In the marketplace, the best businesses thrive on a ten-year business plan. In this article, I’m going to take you through four secret considerations of staying ahead in the next years.
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Know The Flexibility And Trend Of Your Industry
Some of the pressing questions business leaders must ask themselves are: Will my business still be profitable in the next ten years? What are the future trends of my business? Will technology affect my business positively or negatively? Will there be a substitute for products in the next years? One of the reasons why many businesses struggle is as a result of culture and technology shock. Ten years ago banks in Nigeria never knew that FinTechs were going to take over the banking sector by storm. One of the ways to stay ahead is to envision the prospects and challenges of your business in the next years. Study the trends of technology and know-how to coopt them into your business. Furthermore, understand if your industry changes per month or yearly. Know if the changes are rapid or slow.
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Study The Changes Of The Global Economy
To stay ahead in your industry, it’s important to know where the economy of the world is headed. There are several consultancies like Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, Bloomberg, and several business webzines like the Insider and the Economist who are projectors of the world economy. Since the United States are a world-leading economy, it’s important you study the trends of its economy. The ratings of the global stock exchange should be in your books. The trends and growth scale of blue-chip companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple, Alibaba, Tencent, Microsoft, Saudi Aramco can be key performing indicators to understand the growth or decline of the world economy. Furthermore, if America should experience a recession, you should know that the world will be hit by it. So focusing on the present and future graphs of the global economy can put you ahead.
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Know Your Fate In The Business
Do you plan on retiring, expanding the business, take a business course or pursue a fellowship or get an MBA within the next years? One of the major reasons for setbacks in business is that business owners are driven by impulses rather than plans. Whether you get to retire or choose to pursue other endeavours, having a system of business leaders in your business can make your business stay ahead and maintain its leadership in the industry. If you die or are terminally ill within the next years, will your business decline? This is a question for you to answer.
4 Know The Fate Of Key Employees In Your Business
Within the next years, as a business leader, you must have foresight. You should have an idea of the possible retirement of key employees and their replacement within the period of ten years. Furthermore, you should know which key employees might get married and go on honeymoon, paternity or maternity leave and have a way to put in place people that can adequately fill their positions while they’re away. To know this, you can broach the matter to key employees and know their ten years plan.
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