{"id":1291,"date":"2020-11-30T16:05:04","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T16:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodada.com\/blog\/?p=1291"},"modified":"2021-03-05T17:43:55","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T17:43:55","slug":"changing-commercial-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodada.com\/blog\/changing-commercial-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing Commercial Strategy \u2013 Advice and Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Changing Commercial Strategy \u2013 Advice and Tips<\/span><\/h2>\n

Changing Commercial Strategy – It should be standard practice for company leaders to review the commercial strategy which their company is adopting. The first decision which they must decide on is whether to persevere with the current plan or change it.<\/p>\n

Companies must always focus on ensuring that their products and processes are aligned to create value and drive growth.<\/p>\n

To decide on whether changing commercial strategy is required, these leaders need to ask one fundamental question; \u201cAre we making sufficient progress to believe that our original strategy is correct, or do we need to make a major change?\u201d<\/p>\n

This article will give oversight on why companies struggle to change their commercial strategy and what they need to do to overcome this challenge. It will also outline different types of changes to a commercial strategy which a company can adopt.<\/p>\n

Three Reasons why Companies are slow to make changes<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Most companies struggle to conduct a review of their commercial strategy properly. The main reasons why this happens is due to:<\/p>\n

\u00a01. Vanity Metrics<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Many companies are using incorrect or short vision metrics to measure the progress of their business. Certain biases may reflect how these metrics have been designed or how they are interpreted. The goal may be to highlight what the leaders expect to see and not what is happening to the company or the industry in which it operates. An example of this is the banking industry pre the 2008 financial crises. In this instance, the metrics focused on short term profit information. However, there was no meaningful metrics on the systematic risk provided to investors or regulators.<\/p>\n

\u00a02. It is too late to make changes<\/span> – <\/strong>it can be difficult for the company to make any drastic change to a strategy as it may have already invested a considerable amount of resources into the incorrect strategy. Some companies may struggle to access funds to enable a change to a new approach.<\/p>\n

3. Fear<\/span> – <\/strong>Many leaders are afraid that their vision might be deemed wrong before giving it a \u201creal\u201d chance to prove itself. They also might fear when changing commercial strategy may lead to reputational and political fallout.<\/p>\n

A suggested approach to successfully create a process for reviewing the commercial strategy<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

1. A company culture of Continuous Improvement needs to be instigated.<\/p>\n

2. It should become standard practice to review the performance of a company’s strategy and decide regularly. These \u201cStrategy Change or Persevere\u201d meetings should be held every 8\/12 weeks.<\/p>\n

3. All metrics used to review a strategy should be continuously challenged by all participants.<\/p>\n

4. All departments and business leadership teams should be actively participating in these meetings. It would also be advantageous to bring in outside consultants or third parties advisors to assist the companies leaders in overcoming any biases.<\/p>\n

Changes to a Commercial Strategy – So What?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

There are ten potential changes that a company can implement when changing its commercial strategy.<\/p>\n

It is always worth noting that any change to a commercial strategy may not necessarily mean dispensing with the current commercial approach and starting over. Instead, it could be about evolving the current version into one that can move the company into a more positive direction.<\/p>\n

If changes are to be made, these changes should focus on one of the following areas of the company:<\/p>\n