What To Do When Your Business Is Struggling

Very few companies are in the enormously profitable zone where they can do no wrong and their competitors self-destruct. Or if they somehow stumble into that arena, they immediately grow into competition with more capable, larger businesses or their niche is so tiny that its not worth anyone else's effort to crack the market.

Yet almost all businesses go through periods of recurring instability, either brought on by forces beyond their control, or due to strategic or tactical missteps.

One strategy that many struggling industries have used is consolidation. By combining with other businesses that engage in essentially the same business, substantial margins can be maintained that otherwise would have evaporated in price wars.

Another tactic that businesses can use to jump start their profits is to bypass other companies that aren't in direct competition with the their core business. Manufacturers can take care of their own distribution and bypass wholesalers if the distribution network associated with their business is squeezing out too much of the profits associated with their product.

Almost any product or service today can be enhanced through digital delivery. The costs associated with a minimal website are negligible and just the potential advertising that results from so-called "stumble-upon" viewers is easily worth the price of the whole endeavor.

Speeding up the delivery of goods and services can give any business a substantial competitive advantage, and other efficiencies are likely to snowball out of efforts to accomplish the job "just-in-time" for the consumer to buy it.

Savvy consumers, both as individuals and institutions, have long recognized the value of mass-produced products that are largely the same as everyone else's right off the shelf. Yet once their immediate needs are met, these consumers are looking for customizable, individualized goods and services that precisely meet their needs. Because people are willing to pay substantially more for individualized products, customization provides businesses with an easy way to move up the value-added food chain.

On the other hand, businesses that already offer personalized goods and services can gain enormously by adapting their output for the mass market. Ben & Jerry's was once a good place to buy ice cream, but it became a whole lot better once its operations were expanded to allow everyone in society to enjoy its products.