BUSINESS PROBLEM

At the Boardroom of Miller’s Furnitures, the Chairman asked a question, ‘what exactly is the problem that needs a solution?” and all present remained quiet. For about 5 minutes and the clock was ticking. The company was loosing customer patronage to their competitors, sales have dropped drastically over the last four months and if left unchecked could lead to cash issues for the company. This is the situation most business owners face and because it is not well spelt out, suboptimal decisions are being made.

What is a Business Problem? A Business Problem can be referred to as any obstacle, situation that leads to a disparity between the desired outcome and the accomplished results. Whilst some Business Problems present themselves (e.g. machine failure, manhours etc) some require aa complex analysis of the company. The biggest task with problem identification in businesses is that the owners and businesspersons are not aware of the ongoing issues or unwilling to consent that their business is suffering from a problem.

Most times, the problems are implanted in the design of the business model, which shields them so that management either does not understand the severity of the problem or does not render the situation a problem. This can be likened to a patient suffering from an issue that he/she fails to identify or ignores until it leads to his/ her health crisis.

Business problems change with time; as the business grows, the nature of the issues also changes. At the earlier stages of business, anything that halts the growth is a problem; in the growth phase, financial parameters determine the problem’s gravity. In the sustainability phase, deviation from standards is the problem. This article will help in defining business problems at various stages in the business life cycle that can cause variations in the output of an organization.

Here are some examples of the common business problems that small businesses face. The first example is customer base problem, most companies find it difficult to build a customer base. Big corporations find it difficult to establish a customer base, let alone smaller ones who are just coming up. They are yet to be popular, they do not have adequate cash like their bigger counter parts to do a full time advertising. To get a solution for this, a company would have to study the market critically, before taking this step. You can distribute some questionnaire to be able to target the correct client base.

Another example borders on uncertainty about what the future hold for and entity. Unforeseen circumstances are always an issue for a company because just as the name implies, they situations beyond anyone’s control. They are circumstances that were not planned for, not knowing what the future holds for most companies is usually problematic. Because if you knew, you would have made plans to increase sales, retained more staffs, keep more inventory, increase the prices etc

One of the attributes of being a successful business leader are identifying existing problems, envisaging those that may arise in the future and building the solid base required to not just meet and overcome such challenges but also to scale a business successfully. Understanding the business problems of your company helps to train your company’s professionals to navigate their demanding mandates. Once you can identify the business problems of your company, you will be able to expand your business footprint, manage crises well and lastly ensure customer delight .

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