The Clifton Review
The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.
While the 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story, his incredible business success over these past fifty years and an inside look at how he did it, The Clifton Review will also continue to address current affairs as they relate to the good of The Bahamas.
Why Following Business Principles Matters
By P.J. Malone
Does it really make a difference if you follow certain business principles for making your business successful? Can’t you just do what you think makes sense?
Yes and no. You can always do what you want in business and what makes sense to you for your business, but why not consider following proven business principles that have helped others become extremely profitable?
Before we look at the business principles that contributed to the success of fashion mogul Peter Nygard, we need to understand why it matters.
If you are embarking on a trip, you have to plan ahead. Not only do you usually plan how to get there but you try and figure out the best way to get there. Practicing specific business principles or implementing business strategies is like deciding the best way to get to your destination.
George N. Root III, writer for chron.com (the popular Houston Chronicle online news website) small business arm, explains what that means.
His article “The Importance of Business Strategies” states: “A business strategy is a definition of the tactics and methods you will use to manage your business, according to the online business resource More Business. It is important to have efficient and effective business strategies in place.”
According to Root, there are several key areas in which having sound business strategy makes sense. They are good examples of how business strategies can make a difference in your business:
- Customer Retention
One of the quickest ways to lose customers is to not have an effective business strategy in place for customer service, according to More Business. Develop a program for following up on customers, and for staying in touch with repeat customers to make sure your products are working properly.
- Resources
According to the online educational resource Quick MBA, a good business strategy can assure that company resources are used efficiently. Examples of company resources include personnel, reputation in the marketplace, customer base, company patents, manufacturing processes and logistics resources such as warehouses and shipping partners.
Create business strategies that utilize all of your company resources to help give your company a competitive advantage over the competition, develop new products that maintain or increase your market share in the industry and give you proprietary control over advancing technology in your industry. An inefficient use of company resources can cost the company money, lose customers and reduce market share.
- Company Expansion
Entrepreneurial resource Gaebler suggests that part of a good business strategy is the ability to explore business opportunities outside of your standard business practice to help inspire company expansion…. Expansion is one of the important ways that a company maintains its competitive edge.
These examples show how strategies can impact a business and the areas of the business they can enhance.
In our spotlight on the business success of Peter Nygard, we will review specific business principles that he followed and see how we can adapt those for other businesses.
