Policies Guiding Product / Service Selection

Policies guiding selection of products and/or services (a summary of the policies used in guiding the selection of products and/or services and the countries with which the company will trade) (2-4 pages)

To really get the benefit of this section, you will want to identify for yourself, what are the criteria that you have established (or that you will establish) to decide whether to offer a particular product or not.  This criteria will serve you well, as your business evolves. 

In addition, in this section you will want to identify what your criteria is (or will be) to determine which country or countries you will be interacting with.  With the technology we have today, the world is a very small place.  People are routinely dealing with outsourced suppliers all over the world.  By referring to what countries, you will need to think this aspect through as well.  The research is easy enough.  There is very little you cannot explore with a simple google search.

However, by creating policies about this, you will not be just jumping into arrangements with anyone, anywhere.  Most of us have intuitive standards for whom we deal with, and what we expect.  By setting yourself up with policies regarding this, you will be taking those intuitive standards and making them conscious.  This gives you consistent access to them, which will make your future decision-making that much easier.

Vision Statement

Vision Statement (a summary of the strategic vision of the company, e.g., uniqueness, long-term ambition, competitive advantage, strategic concept, etc.) (2-4 pages)

What do you want your company to be about?  Is it simply a tool to help you earn more money, or is it something more?  At Kaizen Consulting, we help business owners to grow their businesses so that those companies actually serve the goals and commitments of their owners.  Money is only part of the game. 

Financial profit to a business is like eating is to life.  There is definitely more to life than eating, yet we each need to handle this aspect of life every day.  If we go a week without food and water, we may not enjoy any more future weeks.  Similarly, if you go too long in a business without a profit, you won’t have a business for very long.  However, just like life is about more than eating, a business is about much more than just financial profit.  It can be a very powerful tool for your self-expression and contributions in life.

How do you want your business to contribute?  What kind of difference do you want it to make in the lives of others?  Those others could be the customers, the employees, or even the communities where your business provides its products.

Then you need to translate this into how the business will operate, to provide for that contribution.  What is your strategic vision for this company, as it grows?  How is it unique from others?  What is your long-term ambition?  Do you have a particular competitive advantage or a unique strategic concept?  How are you setting up this business, as it grows, to generate the results that you desire?

A business lives into the future you create for it.  This is the place to create that future.  Everything else flows from this.
 

…End of Part 3