---

These are the fundamental steps that lead a business to a path of progress and competitiveness enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of the business. There are 7 steps that are discussed below:

1. Finding the Gaps
It includes the skills and knowledge your company possesses and is a major determinant of your success. In this step you need to identify your strengths, areas needing further study and areas of concern that could seriously affect your ability to stay competitive. Once you are through with this step, you would have access to practicable online information and other references that will help you bridge any knowledge and skill gaps. Filling these gaps will help in making your organization better prepared and to ascertain benefit from valuable information relating to the various management functions.

2. Pre-Planning
Pre-Planning is the process by which the management of an organization foresee its future and develop the necessary measures and operations to achieve the goals of future. It includes development of the purpose, mission, vision, and value statements of the managing teams; communication of these documents and suggestions for improvement, culture survey to create a base against which change can be compared and last but not the least celebrating achievements and learning from mistakes. After Pre-Planning the team needs to formulate strategies and, clearly identify an action plan on which implementation is to be performed. As part of this phase, you will also need to repeat your mission and restate your company's vision. Although there are many kinds of strategies but in this situation basic strategy should not change much in the short term, whereas sub-strategies can change rapidly in reaction to competitive situations.

3. Financing
Financing plan is developed to increase the business competitiveness through an improved knowledge of the techniques and methods of funding available. Equity and debt are two types of financing available to business. Equity is the money that you put into your business and Debt is what you borrow from others to invest in your business.

4. Involvement of Technology
The businesses are becoming more dependent on technology. By optimizing the use of technology, the business may maintain progress, improve its customer services, and gain a competitive edge over those businesses that are not utilizing their technology. In the modern world the change of information technology has become a vital part in competition with the real world. Now the Question is that why do we use technology in business? The answer is simple that it enhances customer service, can decrease cost, can improve communication, can facilitate research, can increase productivity, efficiency as well as effectiveness in the business.

5. Improvement in Human Resource
Using this resource to its best advantage is a means to maximize the effectiveness of the other entire systems and procedures already in place. The business or an organization having skilled and competitive employees is considered as the most competitive business. Proper human resource management is needed to increase effectiveness in work and to smoothly achieve the goals and accomplish tasks.

6. Marketing strategy
Marketing and related activities in a business, small or large, ensure that your business gets information from its customers, develops and markets the services to satisfy their needs and gets feedback on their satisfaction levels. Marketing acts as an interface between the enterprise and its markets. Marketing can be defined as the function that encompasses most activities between the producer of a good or the supplier of a service and the consumers. It is also a set of business development activities which starts with the consumer from whose needs, the business gets its service ideas and to whom it will sell its services.

7. Process of Quality Assurance
The Process of Quality Assurance in a business refers to planned, and step-by-step activities that determines that testing is being carried out correctly, results are accurate, and mistakes are found and corrected to avoid undesirable outcomes. Quality assurance is a constant set of activities that help the business to ensure that the test results provided are as accurate and reliable as possible. Maintaining quality assurance leads to customer retention, and an image as a competitive business in the minds of clients.

Conclusion:
Competition in businesses is now found everywhere and in such a competitive world it is difficult for any new business or start-ups to survive and thrive. Implementation of the above steps can definitely help towards effectively competing in any market.

Related Articles on Management

1. Project Management by Sam Daniel
   An alternate point of view is that project management is the discipline of defining and achieving ta...
2. Preparing the plan by Saqib Ansari
   A business plan is a complete description of a business and its plans for the next one to three year...
3. You Need to Earn a Living by Lance Williams
   Businesses, large or small, exist to generate a profit for their owners. Business owners— whether s...
4. Selling Your Own Work by Lance Williams
   Many manufacturing operations require too much capital or are too labour intensive to be viable opt...
5. Exchanges Markets by Saqib Ansari
   Secondary markets can be organized in two ways. One is to organize exchanges, where buyers and selle...
6. Fundamentals of Preparing an Effective Business Plan? by William King
   This article focuses on how businesses should contend with competitors in the market and manage thei...
7. Precautions for protecting local industry from the international industry by William King
   This article speaks to the issues surrounding international business coming into direct competition ...
8. Outsourcing in the present day and its advantages by William King
   This article focuses on the importance of outsourcing and how to effectively use it to make your bus...
9. Importance of communication in organization by William King
   This article deals with the effective means of communication enhancing the organizational environmen...
10. What are business ethics and what is their importance? by William King
    This article describes the importance of business ethics and how negligence towards them can have a ...
11. The Risks Management in Offshore Outsourcing by Hanu Software
    The most important thing is to find out if your offshore outsourcing provider is aware of these risk...
12. What role does human resource management play in a business? by William King
    This article explains the role of the human resources function in the management of a business....
13. Surviving in intense competition, especially against big players by William King
    In today’s competitive world, innovation plays a key role. However, to be innovative, a business mus...
14. Accelerate your business performance in four easy steps! by William King
    This article focuses on the various steps by which you can improve the performance of your business....
15. Surviving in a changing market by William King
    Changing market trends means constant review of marketing strategies to appeal to old and new custom...
16. Tips for developing great teams in an organization by William King
    This article outlines how to create efficient teams within an organization and achieve the greatest ...
17. Limiting loss liability: Implementing a slip and fall prevention program by O'Dell Restaurant Consulting
    This article for restaurant and retail business owners, outlines the benefits and steps to implement...
18. Helpful Tips to Motivate your Employees by William King
    This article provides tips which will help the owner of a business to motivate his employees effecti...
19. Surviving in a changing market by William King
    Changing market trends means constant review of marketing strategies to appeal to old and new custom...
20. Tips for developing great teams in an organization by William King
    This article outlines how to create efficient teams within an organization and achieve the greatest ...

Related topics in Business and Finance

Submit Articles © 2008 KeepArticles.com, All Rights Reserved.