Best Business Expert

Small businesses have an inherent and often unrealized skill: agility. They can bend and move quickly, according to market demands. However, entrepreneurs don’t realize it because they’re often wrapped up in their product or service or brand development. But when you work with larger companies, that’s when you begin to realize just how agile smaller businesses are.

Small business solves problems.
Take the situation of Scale Computing, as reported in the New York Times Small Business section. Scale Computing was busy searching for a solution to a problem and they inadvertently stumbled across the solution to another problem!

You can read the article for yourself, but I’ll summarize it here: Scale Computer worked to create software that could predict stock market trends allowing them to make money from investing. They created a model and tested it and it seemed to work, and they struggled to turn this into a marketable solution.

However, what they kept hearing was: Their solution to market trends was interesting… but MORE interesting was their solution to storage space. Without realizing it, they had developed a low cost but powerful model to store data. Once they realize it, they changed their tune and began to see success right away.

Agility as a factor to make small businesses competitive.
Agility is a huge benefit to small business owners. The ability to switch gears without missing a beat can make any business far more competitive. If the market demands something different, the smart business owner hears the message and responds.

Compare it with a large and bureaucratic organization that can’t see beyond its own bloated administration. A couple of decades ago, the bloated American automotive industry was caught off guard by lower-priced and more fuel efficient imports. The caught up, but it took a while. Or another example: Big, bloated airlines can’t get past their policies and habits while Southwest Airlines continues to win the praise of travelers. Megalithic phone companies and banks can’t quite "get it" when their customers demand lower fees, fair prices, and transparent policies and they are caught off guard when young, agile upstarts shake things up.

The problem arises for a few reasons (if you’re a big company, listen up)… Like a big ship, it takes a long time to turn around when you’ve built up some momentum. So ideas – both good and bad – turn into trains that cannot be easily stopped. Also, executive level hobby horses are pushed through by senior level management who emulate their bosses and those ideas are pushed through my middle management who emulate their bosses and those ideas are pushed through by lower level management who emulate their bosses and those ideas are pushed through by paid-by-the-hour line employees who just do as they’re told. Also, big, bureaucratic organizations become gathering places for employees who just want a job to get them through to retirement. Also (yes, there are more reasons), big, bureaucratic organizations create innumerable hoops for people to jump through if they try to create change.

As a small business owner, you’re probably already more agile than your larger competitors. So use it to your advantage!
 

Brought to by you by: Contemporary VA - Run your business instead of running in circles.

@ContemporaryVA on Twitter.  Follow the team to stay updated on business resources we deliver that cover strategies and tips, social media and more!

Related Articles:

• Worth the Effort?
• What businesses should blog?
• The Carrot and The Stick
• Success is focusing on What IS Working
• It’s Not You, It’s Me