Book Excerpt
The strategy was twofold, offering both an improved choice and experience and, crucially, cheaper prices. Recognising that the fundamental problem with a traditional book store was the size-imposed limit on how broad a selection of books it could stock, his strategy involved creating a store without walls on the web, boasting a universal and almost unlimited choice. This was combined with an interactive online environment, providing a speed and sophistication of service that superseded anything a traditional book store could offer.
His specific tactics included building an unrivalled payment platform, offering purchasing recommendations based on consumer-buying habits (and the buying habits of consumers with similar tastes) and, ultimately, focusing on the customer experience above all else.
So what’s your vision? What’s your strategy? And what are your tactics? Thankfully, there are many tools and guides to help you devise an achievable and workable strategy and many tactics that will bring your strategy to life. But the first thing you’ll need is vision.
Vision
Developing a strategy and then working out how to reach your goals isn’t easy. However, it’s far more achievable if you have a clear vision of the future. The tactics you use along the way may involve experimentation and change, but vision is a constant. So it’s important to begin with the end in mind. Henry Ford turned his dream of the future, producing a “car for the masses”, into fact. Bill Gates visualised “a computer on every desk and in every home”. Boeing’s Bill Allen dreamt of a jet-powered passenger aircraft. The business world is littered with entrepreneurs who based their strategies around their own long-term visions. Great
leaders visualise and strategise. They consider the ideal and the real side-by-side, simultaneously mapping out idealistic and realistic eventualities in order to build successful, sustainable enterprises.
Strategy
If your vision is clear, it’s time to consider the strategies you will develop to achieve your goals. You’ll need to get all of the pieces on the table to complete the jigsaw, so here are some of the places to start:
• research and gather knowledge about your market • open dialogue to gain insight and understanding • assess and analyse your current business position
Most successful entrepreneurs build businesses based on their passion or experience. They already know a huge amount about their market or have had direct experience of working in it over many years, noting the inefficiencies and opportunities. They create businesses in areas they understand. And that remains their focus. How many times have you heard of entrepreneurs ‘going round again’ whilst remaining in the same industry? Robert Wright, an entrepreneur and alumnus of Cranfield Business School, started his career as a pilot with British Airways. He then founded and sold two airline businesses – Connectair to International Leisure Group and CityFlyer to British Airways. Following these successes, he became a director and founding shareholder of Wizz Air, a low-cost Eastern European airline. He has stuck to his métier, pursuing opportunities in an area which he understands and in which he has been working all his life.
So experience helps – but new opportunities emerge and it’s not impossible to break into new markets. To do so, however,
Robert Wright, ex BA pilot, founded and sold two airline businesses – Connectair to Inter- national Leisure Group and CityFlyer to British Airways.
17 entrepreneurcountry
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