Dark Clouds On The Horizon

Categorized | National News

Posted on 12 July 2018. by Jones Bahamas

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.

Dark Clouds On The Horizon

By P.J. Malone

Implementing all the business strategies in the world cannot help a business if external threats to the business have not been specifically identified with a plan to address them.

The flip side of having opportunities to grow a business is having threats that can derail your business. Just as it is important to recognize those golden nuggets of opportunities, you have to be attuned to what is going on around you to spot any threats, any dark clouds on the horizon.

One way to do that is through the SWOT analysis we have been discussing over the last several articles. We’ve provided important questions that should be asked when conducting an analysis of your business to look at the internal strengths and weaknesses as well as the external opportunities and threats that exist.

Following this final arm of the SWOT analysis, we will be presenting strategies flowing out of your analysis.

For business threats, these questions—by category—from writer Lisa Furgison (bplans.com) can help you identify those things that put your business at risk:

Economic trends

• Is the economy in your area in a recession?

• Will the economy negatively impact your customers’ ability to make purchases?

• Are economic shifts happening that impact your target audience?

Market trends

• How is your market changing?

• What new trends could hurt your company?

• Is there more competition in your market that’s pushing you out?

Political support

• Do you anticipate a shift in political support this year?

• Is there reason to be concerned over political shifts?

• What does your business stand to lose because of political changes?

Government regulations

• Are any regulations shifting that could cost more money or hurt production?

• What kind of damage could new regulations have?

Changing relationships

• Are any outside business relationships changing?

• Is there any turmoil with partners or vendors?

Target audience shift

• How is your demographic shifting?

• What threats accompany these changing demographics?

• Is your audience changing in a way that you can’t accommodate?

(Published by Palo Alto – SWOT Analysis challenge at bplans.com)

If you can recall from our earlier articles, it was under the category of Market Trends that fashion mogul Peter Nygard spotted a threat on the horizon that prompted a drastic change in his business.

It was Nygard’s ability to first spot the threat back in the early ‘90s and strategize to address it that resulted in him growing his business exponentially.

The bottom line is that all of these various components of business analysis can play a vital role in being able to maximize the success of a business. With such a thorough review of your business through the SWOT analysis, devising strategies should be that much easier. That’s next.