How Can Seasonal Enterprises Define Business Strategy?

 

The nature of the business world is often transient. After all, the line between success and failure can be thin, and the rules surrounding it are changeable. Consequently, the modern enterprise must adapt to survive.

Whether it’s in the IT department or the C-suite, having a strategy in place to make the company as appealing as possible can be a balancing act. For example, those that choose to gear products and offerings towards seasons can see their fortunes go through a series of peaks and troughs.

However, can they adapt their strategic planning processes accordingly?

HR, office space and costs

Ultimately, the main issues afflicting businesses who choose to develop seasonal plans revolve around outgoing costs. In research collated by the University of Twente, this is narrowed down to two factors.

Firstly, there’s human resources issues. As in, companies will have too many staff during slower periods of interest, or too few when their seasonal strategy hits full flow. Secondly, and similarly, warehousing and office space are not needed during the quieter periods, but can soon be found lacking once interest in the company rises.

An eye on the future

Consequently, any seasonal business must carry out its strategic planning with a protracted timeline in mind. While it is all well and good to expect success in the relative short-term across a couple of months, the potential for less business once seasons pass must be accounted for.

In doing this, better strategic management is made possible, and the applicable direction for the business will be easier to envisage, whether seasons come and go or not.

“Entrepreneurs should consider what data points will be most helpful down the road, when their business is bigger and more complex and decisions need to be made more quickly,” explained Delap LLP partner Jared Siegal, in an interview with Inc.

Seasonal businesses can often be highly successful, but as their optimum windows for trading are typically narrow, progressive and proactive planning can be a key weapon in their arsenal.