Critical Success Factors

Question 1

What is the key to succeeding in business?

Answer 1

Understanding the business environment

Question 2

Why is business changing so much?

Answer 2

1. The speed at which technology advances is increasing rapidly
2. Distance is decreasing - you can talk to people around the world instantly

Question 3

The bottom line has become a triple bottom line. What are the three things that businesses are concerned about today?

Answer 3

Profit, people, planet

Question 4

What is the next key to business success?

Answer 4

Harvesting the data on the internet and using it in business in a variety of ways

Question 5

What are the six critical success factors?

Answer 5

1. Achieving financial performance
2. Meeting customer needs
3. Gaining employee commitment
4. Encouraging innovation and creativity
5. Building quality products and services
6. Building a distinct competitive advantage

Question 6

What do you need to understand in order to hit the critical success factor target?

Answer 6

1. Your strategy

2. Your vision/mission

Question 7

Why is it important to adjust to the environment?

Answer 7

You can’t change the environment, but the environment affects your business and how you business succeeds

Question 8

Why are critical success factors important?

Answer 8

1. It guides your strategy and daily details
2. It ensures holistic thinking: reminds you that every part of your company is important and how they are connected
3. It ensures long-term success: a lot of profit in a short time does not necessarily lead to long term success. When you focus on the whole company and how each part is connected, you think about how your decisions affect each aspect of the business

Question 9

What critical success factors is at the centre of the target?

Answer 9

Achieving financial performance

Question 10

Explain achieving financial performance

Answer 10

1. Generating profit

2. Growth of investment and of profit over time

Question 11

Explain the importance of achieving financial performance

Answer 11

1. Returns on investments

2. Financial performance is what allows your company to survive and grow

Question 12

Describe meeting customer needs

Answer 12

1. Understanding what your customers want/need
2. Anticipating what your customers will want/need
3. Giving your customers what they want

Question 13

Explain the importance of meeting customer needs

Answer 13

Customer loyalty: if you give your customers what they want, they will come back and keep buying

Question 14

Describe gaining employee commitment

Answer 14

When your employees believe in your company and its goals

Question 15

Explain the importance of gaining employee commitment

Answer 15

1. Your employees are loyal: you have low employment turnover
2. Passionate employees are productive
3. Passionate employees care for your customers the way you do, they go out of their way to help customers

Question 16

Describe encouraging innovation and creativity

Answer 16

When a company keeps moving forward, expanding, and coming up with new ideas

Question 17

What does encouraging innovation and creativity look like in employees?

Answer 17

1. When you reward and encourage ideas, employees feel like they have a safe place for new ideas to develop
2. If you allow ideas to become reality people feel validated. Employees feel like their work matters, they will work harder, and they will enjoy working for you

Question 18

What can happen if you don’t encourage innovation and creativity?

Answer 18

You company can become stale and obsolete

Question 19

Does innovation mean only inventing new products?

Answer 19

No, it could also include manufacturing products, distributing products, or hiring new employees

Question 20

Explain the importance of building quality products and services

Answer 20

1. Value, consistency, and reliability
2. Your products and services represent you and your company, and its reputation. Better quality products can make a difference in competition with other companies
3. Customers expect the product to match the value they paid for (not necessarily top quality)

Question 21

Describe building a distinct competitive advantage

Answer 21

Standing apart from your competitors in a way that creates value

Question 22

Explain the importance of building a distinct competitive advantage

Answer 22

If your product is unique, customers know that they can only come to you for that product (customer loyalty). If customers don’t see a difference between products other than price, they will buy the cheaper one. They need to see a difference in quality or features

Question 23

What are some examples of things that could be considered building a distinct competitive advantage?

Answer 23

1. Location (you may be better at meeting customer needs)
2. The way you treat your employees (motivations, hiring processes, standing apart as a employer)
3. The business environment (if customers have a good experience, they will come back to you)
4. The source of your products (organic, fair trade)

Question 24

How does achieving financial needs connect to meeting customer needs, and vise versa?

Answer 24

1. When you achieve financial performance, you are able to produce more goods/services to better meet your customer needs
2. When you meet customer needs, they will come back to your business again and again, and you will make more money

Question 25

How does achieving financial performance connect to gaining employee commitment, and vice versa?

Answer 25

1. People want to work for a company that is successful. When you achieve financial performance, your employees will want to work for you and help you succeed
2. When your employees are passionate about your company, they will work harder and go out of their way to help your company succeed

Question 26

How does achieving financial performance connect to encouraging innovation and creativity, and vice versa?

Answer 26

1. When you achieve financial performance you are able to put more resources towards creating new products or new production strategies
2. When you encourage innovation and creativity within your company your company will advance much faster in terms of technology and/or strategy and therefore increase your financial performance

Question 27

How does achieving financial performance connect to building quality products and services, and vice versa?

Answer 27

1. When you achieve financial performance you can put more resources into producing a better quality product (for your target customer), or more of those products/higher variety of products
2. When you build quality products and services that fit your target market, people buy the quality of product that they are expecting for your price, and they will come back and buy from you more often

Question 28

How does achieving financial performance connect to building a distinct competitive advantage, and vice versa?

Answer 28

1. When you achieve financial performance you are able to put more resources towards building products/services, and you can take steps to improve your business and make it stand apart from your competition
2. When you stand apart from your competition in a unique way, customers will come back to your business to buy your product because there is something that sets you apart (customer experience, different product, etc.), and you will make money

Question 29

How does meeting customer needs connect to gaining employee commitment, and vice versa?

Answer 29

1. When you meet your customer needs, your customers will keep coming back and your employees will feel like your company is successful and they will want to work for you
2. When you gain employee commitment, your employees will be loyal and passionate. Passionate employees will go above and beyond to help your company succeed, and so they will go out of their way to meet customer needs and create an enjoyable experience for them

Question 30

How does meeting customer needs connect to encouraging innovation and creativity, and vice versa?

Answer 30

1. When you succeed at meeting customer needs, you want to continue meeting those needs as technology changes and adapts, which requires you to be continually inventing and creating the products that your customers want or will want
2. When you encourage innovation and creativity, your employees will feel encouraged to come up with new products or ideas that could meet new customers needs or improve how you meet customer needs

Question 31

How does meeting customer needs connect to building quality products or services, and vice versa?

Answer 31

1. Customers want your product to match the value they paid for it. When you meet your customer needs you are recognizing the value of product that they are looking for and building products and services at that value that will match that value
2. When you build the products and services at the quality that your customers want, they will keep coming back because you are meeting their needs and wants

Question 32

How does meeting customer needs connect to building a distinct competitive advantage, and vice versa?

Answer 32

1. When you meet your customers needs, customers will have a good experience at your store/business. They will come back to you again instead of to your competitors because you can meet their needs in a unique way
2. If your product/service is unique, customers know that they can only come to you for that product, and so they will keep coming back again and again

Question 33

How does gaining employee commitment connect to encouraging innovation and creativity and vice versa?

Answer 33

1. When you gain employee commitment, your employees go out of their way to help your company succeed. When your employees come up with a new idea or product that they think can help your company to improve, they share it with the company to help it move forward
2. When you encourage innovation and creativity in the workplace, your employees feel like their opinions are valued and, when you implement those ideas, they also feel validated. Your employees will enjoy working for you and will be passionate and loyal because they feel validated

Question 34

How does gaining employee commitment connect to building quality products and services, and vice versa?

Answer 34

1. When you have passionate, loyal employees they will help your company to meet customer needs by telling you what customers are looking for, and that will help you to produce the quality of products that your customers want
2. When you build the quality of products that your customers are looking for, your customers will be happy with your product, and your employees will enjoy working for a successful company

Question 35

How does gaining employee commitment connect to building a distinct competitive advantage, and vice versa?

Answer 35

1. When your employees are passionate and loyal, they will go out of their way to help customers have an enjoyable experience and customers will keep coming back to your business because of that experience. The customer service of your employees will help to set your business apart from the competition
2. When you create a competitive advantage that sets you apart in a valuable way from your competition, your employees will be proud to represent your company and it will create loyal, passionate employees

Question 36

How does building quality products and services connect to building a distinct competitive advantage, and vice versa?

Answer 36

1. When you build quality products and services that your customers are looking for, that stands apart in the minds of your customers and they will keep coming back to you instead of to your competition
2. When you create a product that stands apart in a valuable way from your competition in terms of the quality that customers are looking for, customers will keep coming back to you because they are willing to pay for the value that you are selling