Skip to main content

How to have a competitive edge in business


Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You could gain a competitive edge in business by always reacting to changes quickly, by being innovative. For your business to be able to react to changes quickly, you have to be able to anticipate the change and secondly you have to be very fast at responding to changes. Forecast of how changes might occur in the market in which your business operates in could be gotten by studying past information, however market forecasts are less effective. Information from customers and suppliers are most effective. The way your business responds to changes (such as changes in taste of your customers, changes in the financial capability of your customers and others) has a great impact on your market share. If it takes your company 4 weeks to respond to a change in the market and it takes the next company 3 months or more you could gain a competitive edge cause customers might come to you first and their loyalty could be secured that way.

Another way your business can stay competitive is by being and remaining innovative. I can remember my lecturer told us about a company that introduced a wonderful technological product and made huge sales. However, competitors entered the market, observed the weaknesses of the company's product and came up with a technological product that was similar but better than theirs. The new company took over the major market share from the existing company. This happened because the existing company did not remain innovative. In other words, you have to keep improving your products to create and maintain a competitive edge. To stay innovative you will have to recruit staff members that are skilled so they can always come up with nice ideas. You will also have to develop the skills of your staff. Skills can be learnt and developed. 

Everything happens  according to will of Allah. Everything should be done for the sake of Allah. Part of doing something for the sake of Allah also means hoping for a reward from Him. Make sure your business is halal.

Halal means anything lawful Islamically.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How can your strategy be successful

Hello readers, today I will be telling you about ways to make your strategy a successful one. The scope is your strategy must be fit, in other words your strategy must be consistent with the environment your business operates in. When I say environment, I am talking about both external and internal environments. Thus, you must understand the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological and legal environments your business operates in. The environmental protection that affects your organisation must also influence you when formulating your strategy. Therefore, PESTEL analysis can be used to understand the external environment of your business. The internal environment also needs to be understood, as your strategy must also be in alignment with the internal environment. Understanding your internal environment will help you know the resources your business has, the capabilities of your business as well as the structure and system. The SWOT analysis can be used to help y...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Make Money from Gold

We used to operate in a gold standard system in the past, it is common knowledge that we presently operate in a dollar based system.  A system where each country measures the value of its currency against the dollar for the dollar based system and the gold for the gold standard system. The gold used to be a yardstick for measuring the value of a currency, although it is no longer used to measure the value of currencies these days, it has maintained it's prestigious value. Gold a very valuable metal, its prices depreciates at times and appreciates other times, but looking at its trend over 100 years, the prices have always appreciated over 10 years or above. From 2006 to 2015, the gold price per ounce appreciated by 200%, while from 2002 to 2015 it appreciated by 300%. So Long term investors go ahead and purchase gold. You must always pay zakat on the value of your gold when it reaches the nisab which is 87.48 grammes. However, you can give charity (sadaqa) from it. Alla...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Istikharah Prayer

Hello readers , today I will be telling you about the Istikharah prayer. It is a prayer of guidance. When you want to make a major decision in your life, it is best you seek Allah's guidance. You should always pray to Allah to guide you through the right path in your daily activities. Istikharah prayer is recommended for a major decision such as getting married, starting a business and others. How do you perform the Istikhara prayer? Make two rakats (Nafila). During your first rakat, after reciting Surat Fatiha recite Surat Ikhlas, during your second rakat  after reciting Surat Fatiha recite Surat Kaafirun. After saying Asalam Alaykum Waramatullahi to the right and then the left recite this: "Allahumma inni astakhiruka bi-ilmika wa astaqdiruka biqudra-tika, wa as'aluka min fadlikal Azeemi fainnaka taqdiru wa la aqdiru, wa ta'lamu wa la a'alamu, wa Anta Allamul-Ghuyubi, Allahum-ma in kunta ta'lamu anna  [then mention the thing to be decided] khairun ...
Post a Comment
Read more