Business Development

Author : Assaf Katzir
The essential stage of any businessBusiness development is an essential stage of any business. Either it is in the beginning of the road or it is in the middle of the road. For a young business it is essential in order to develop required markets, products and services. For a mature business, while it has a solid ground of customers and activities, naturally, it would like to relax and enjoy the fruits of success; thus, this is a critical stage that requires a future plan that will enable the business to survive and grow.Basing on existing products/services eventually will bring to profit's margin decrease, market portion decrease and customers desert in favor of an advanced technology or newer products/services. In order to cope with the above mentioned a business must be prepared with the next "thing" (product/service...) that will ultimately lead the business to a future growth.

Business development continuityBusiness development continuity is important for the following reasons:
Market survival - The existing product will reach the end of its life cycle and will disappear.Revenue growth/new money - Insert money to the business from new activities with higher profit margins.Maximize exploitation of infrastructure/assets/current capabilities - Existing resources which are not fully exploited by the business, for instance: existing sales force that can expand the variety of the products that it sells, a factory that does not work in full capacity and existing customers' repository that can be addressed with additional products/services.
Business development does not have to be a new product/service or a new market. It can be anything that will expand the ranges of the business activities in one or more of the followings:

Business Development PossibilitiesExpand the amount of customers - Reach new customers while using additional marketing channels, additional geographic areas, addressing to potential customers that have not exposed to the business products/services etc'.Expanding products variety - Creating a "family" of products based on existing product, creating similar products (small differences from original) such as: new flavors in food products, additional scents in cosmetic products etc'.Expanding products' types - Create additional products' categories that do not have a direct relation to the major product of the business. In this case there is an advantage to products/services that can use the business capabilities such as: technology, distribution channels and customers. Good examples are a restaurant that adds catering services and a vineyard that provides wine workshops.Adding value to the product - When the main product of the business has competitive and saturated environment, the competitors offers identical products. When the only way to compete is with the product's price, a good solution will be developing additional value to the product, something that will provide a clear competitive advantage over the competitors and will enable to charge appropriate premium for the value added product. For instance: A famous chewing gum company (Orbit) advertised that while chewing their chewing gum the PH level is more balanced. With this campaign their product had an extra value over the competitors.Enter to new fields - using business resources and assets in order to expand business activities with additional fields that are different than the current ones. It is possible to use existing resources like technology, human resources, equipment and etc' in order to establish a new activity or purchase activity/company that is already working in this required field.Business Development ImplementationBusiness development as an integral part of the business activity.Allocate time and resources for business development.Define objectives and goals - schedule, budget and annual growth in revenue/profit.Sourcing.SWOT analysis of the business - Identify strengths and weaknesses of the business (customers, suppliers, competitors etc') and identify the threats and opportunities that the business has or might have in the future. Most of the business development ideas are not coming as an epiphany, but as a product of hard work of capabilities analysis and market analysis and then finding relevant niches.'Out of box" thinking - There is a major importance for creativity and different thinking in order to identify the opportunities before the competitors.Networking - Meetings with entrepreneurs, customers, suppliers, attending in relevant exhibitions and conventions etc', in order to acquire ideas, cooperation and acquisitions. More info about networking is available at http://www.business-starter.com/Networking.htm .Chosen ideas' examination - Business plan preparation Critical stage in order to implement the chosen idea.Complete definition of the idea, how does it work (in some cases a model or prototype is required) and who will use it.Targeted market analysis - similar solutions, competitors and potential market.Risks analysis - Competition, entering bar for competitors, existing alternative products etc'.Budget - Required initial investment, development, production, marketing and sales costs (including penetration stage).Highly important that additional people will review the business plan and will provide their objective feedback. There is a natural tendency for an entrepreneur to disregard some of the weaknesses and risks. Additional review can provide these risks and weaknesses the right weight.Alternatives analysis and taking a decision.

A preparation of implementation plan should start after the decision was taken. The plan should include monitor and control through the implementation process.Business development of a company is the basis of inserting new income to the business, of exploiting opportunities on time, of growth and it is necessary condition for business survival in the long term.Assaf Katzir is the owner and CEO of Katzir Soze Investments Ltd
Additional useful information for management, start-ups and small businesses is available at http://www.business-starter.com.
Category : Business:Management