MILLION DOLLAR CONSIDERATIONS - PART 1 by Joan Marques
One of the main goals I try to achieve in the management course I am
teaching at a Los Angeles University is to encourage maximal participation
from all students by soliciting million-dollar ideas after each class
session. The million dollar ideas consist of a package of minimally three
issues mentioned in that particular meeting that hit home for some students.
There may be more than three ideas, but not less. This activity is meant to
motivate others to think on these issues as well, and maybe use them as
stress points in class-evaluation journals that are due at certain points
during the semester.
Today's million-dollar ideas were:
1. Know your specific and your general environment.
2. Be sure to define your competitive advantage.
3. Customers and reputations are hard to get and easy to lose.
Before elaborating on each of these ideas, I want to clarify here what I
also repeatedly stress to my students: every action or consideration that
pertains to the business environment, can also be applied to your own
person, because you are a business of your own, and you have to be able to
sell yourself, know how and where you stand out, and what your focus is.
With this in mind, reflection on the above points becomes easier to digest
and simpler to relate to by all readers: business executives, office- and
factory workers, entrepreneurs, homemakers, intellectuals, administrators,
athletes, and others. Let's now immerse a bit into the abovementioned ideas:
1. Know your specific and your general environment.
According to the management book we are using in our course (Schermerhorne,
2002), every business operates in these two types of environments: the
specific environment is the one that consists of your day-to-day contacts:
customers, co-workers, suppliers, competitors, and regulators; while your
general environment entails the conditions that involve natural,
technological, legal/political, socio-cultural, and economical issues. Your
general environment is actually a given, and cannot be easily influenced:
you will have to cope with it and make the best of the circumstances given
the environment you are operating in. The specific environment, on the other
hand, is the one you want to pay special attention to, because this is the
environment that will determine your level of success:
· If your customers are satisfied, they will stick by you and tell others
about you. If they're not, they will turn away and look for an alternative.
· If your co-workers are happy and satisfied, they will provide more input
than expected. If they're not, they will either boycott or exit.
· If your suppliers are satisfied in their relationship with you, they will
prioritize your needs and remain by your side in tough times. If they're
not, they'll drop you like a hot potato as soon as Mr. Hard Times comes
peeking around your corner.
· If your competitors recognize you as a fair player, they will not mind
becoming more of a colleague to you than an enemy. And this is possible
without crossing the borders of business ethics. However, if they find that
you are a merciless opponent, they will leave no stone unturned in finding
ways to crush you.
· If the regulators in your environment know you are playing by the rules
without trying to constantly outsmart the system, they will have a much more
willing attitude to you in difficult times than if you are infamous for your
continuous creation of mazes to fool everything and everybody.
2. Be sure to define your competitive advantage.
Whether you run an official business organization or just "You,
Incorporated" you have to formulate what it is that makes you stand out
from others in the field. What is your specialization? Where do you consider
yourself better? Why? How? For businesses the focus is predominantly
centered on price, quality, or service as a distinction from competitors.
For individuals the variety of possible competitive advantages is greater:
your cultural background, your schooling, the talents you were born with,
your analyzing-, communicative-, persuasive-, and representational skills,
the network you set up, your insights, your understanding, your
adaptability-skills: these are just some of the countless advantages you can
sum up when the time comes that you have to explain why you are the best
candidate for a given opportunity.
3. Customers and reputations are hard to get and easy to lose. Business
organizations have experienced that time and again, and they still seem to
fall into this trap regularly. Obtaining your place in whatever market it is
that you operate in is hard enough. Earning yourself a good reputation takes
a tremendous amount of effort and time-investment. Gaining a steady core of
customers is an asset that no one should underestimate. So arrogance is a
definite no-no. And denying when you made a mistake is the fastest way to
lose customers and a good reputation. Admitting that something has gone
wrong and expressing your willingness to correct the error as soon as
possible usually earns great value from all stakeholders and, along with
that, an attitude of understanding and durability.
Today's million dollar ideas sounded valuable enough to me to share them
with you. If you agree with their usefulness, keep them in mind in your
actions. They can only benefit you - on short term and in the long run!
Joan Marques, Burbank, September 4, 2003
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About the Author:
Joan Marques, holds an MBA, is a doctoral candidate in Organizational
Leadership, and a university instructor in Business and Management in
Burbank, California. You may visit her web site at www.joanmarques.com
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