We were at an intervention to
look at the vision, mission, strategic goals and corporate
values for an organisation that has five unconnected
businesses. One of the questions that we asked each business
owner was, “What business are you in?” This question helps
the group look at the main purpose of the business. For
example, someone trading with governments of developing
countries came up with this purpose statement: “Bridging the
gap between demand and supply in the developing world”.
In the mid-’80s, Parker Pens believed they were in the gift
business, not the writing industry (after all, haven’t most
of us got a Parker Pen as a gift?). Is McDonalds in the real
estate business? Think about it. Are television companies in
the business of delivering programmes to audiences or in the
business of delivering audiences to their advertisers? Does
Rolex sell watches or luxury? What business is your travel
agent, who books your flight tickets, in? If he is only in
the ticket-booking business, online booking will soon put
him out of business.
It’s easy to describe what business you think you’re in. “I
export tyres,” for instance. But what value addition do you
provide? It would be good to define the business that your
customers see you in. It’s not about what your product does,
or what cool features it has. It’s about understanding which
piece of your customers’ attention you are fighting for, and
knowing the others vying for that same slice of attention.
By clearly defining and articulating the reason for your
organisation’s existence, you can get to the very root of
marketing success. Marketing tools suddenly become more
accessible and can be better used.
How do you find the vision, essence, or meaning of your
organisation? Here are some helpful tips.
* Identify unique skills or talents within the organisation.
It might be the special ability to communicate with a
specific market segment, or it may be the powerful
relationships with certain kind of customers.
* Recognise what management enjoys doing most (usually
correlated to what they do best). Do creating entrepreneurs
and partners excite you? Do you prefer being in a business
that gets you more topline or more bottomline growth?
* Develop a clear, concise definition of what the customer
is really buying and translate that into what you can offer.
Virgin in the UK is a respected brand involved in air
travel, trains, finance, soft drinks, music, mobile phones,
holidays, wines, publishing, space tourism and cosmetics.
They say that in their customers’ eyes, Virgin stands for
value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of
competitive challenge.
So, it may be a good idea to ask: what business are we in,
and what’s the purpose of our existence? Take the senior
team out for a couple of days and let them explore and
revisit your vision statement. But it is more important to
communicate the purpose or vision constantly than just
create it. How often as a leader do you communicate that
vision to your people?
Written by Santhosh Babu
Published in The Financial Express: Saturday, February 17,
2007
