Last week I shared some insights on the Business Acumen Skills that Execute Business Development. The impetus for the blog was several requests from clients to share insights on what is business development in 2024 and beyond and what the “average employee” needs to know about it to both drive it and support it. As we have seen, many public and private organizations have determined that one of the most important ways to grow and scale is through “Business Development” which means mergers, acquisitions, licensing, investments, options-to-buy, and several other investment vehicles.

We have seen an exponential growth in Business Development in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, technology, and even professional services.

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Many public and private organizations have determined that one of the most important ways to grow and scale is through “Business Development” which means mergers, acquisitions, licensing, investments, options-to-buy, and several other investment vehicles.

We have seen an exponential growth in Business Development in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, technology, and even professional services,

In the past, these same companies had a culture and philosophy of “If it’s not invented here, we don’t want it,” but those days are long gone because of the inherent risks associated with a strategy that thinks an organization can do everything perfectly. Business Development is all about mitigating risk and at the same time increasing the quality of products, services, and overall efficiencies.

From a business acumen skills perspective, it takes a new and different mindset to build the organizational capabilities to successfully create and execute a strategy and culture of Business Development.

I am pleased to share 7 different business skills needed to achieve Business Development success. We will follow up this blog with another one focused on the business leadership skills needed to execute a Business Development strategy.

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Earlier this week, I shared a blog post called, “The Impact of Price Discounting on Gross Margin from a Business Acumen Perspective.” In it, we shared insights and ideas about how cutting prices can impact the business from the business acumen perspective, most notably gross margin and profit metrics.

As a compliment to that blog, I want to share today's insights and ideas on how cutting prices can impact the business from a business leadership perspective. Here, business leadership is defined as the process of executing strategy through people.

From a business leadership perspective, the impact of price discounting extends beyond the previously mentioned immediate financial metrics like gross margin to encompass broader strategic issues such as organizational culture and long-term customer relationships.

Here are some key aspects of the impact of price discounting from a business leadership perspective:

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And in the blink of an eye, we are more than halfway through February. In another two weeks, two-thirds of Q1 2024 will be in the books, meaning there will be a lot of Sales Leaders and Senior Executives starting to get nervous about Q1 earnings reports. Q1 earnings reports set the tone for the year and a poor Q1 could dig a hole that is impossible to get out of.

As we teach in our simulation -centric business acumen programs, conducting an environmental analysis and forecasting is the foundation of business success. One of the “levers” that companies are pulling right now as part of their “what-if analysis” and planning for Q1 and beyond is price discounting .

The primary motivation for taking price discounts is to drive revenue to meet top-line (P&L) commitments. However, there are short- and long-term ramifications to the rest of the business and key metrics of performance from pulling that one lever.

For purposes of sharing, I have pulled some content from our core business acumen solution to share ideas and insights on why discounting can be good, bad, or non-consequential based on your current business condition.

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As we settle into the new year, some employees are also settling into new manager roles. Let’s keep the momentum of enhancing our skills and continue making this year the best year yet. At Advantexe, we recently spent the better part of a year researching and developing the re-launch of our core, Foundational Business Leadership training program that provides the critical skills needed for new managers to be successful.

As we re-launch our flagship leadership simulation and learning journey, we wanted to share our top 5 key insights on what it really takes to transition to a new manager role.

1) Communications

When you move from an individual contributor to a manager role the skill of being able to communicate is probably the most important skill to develop. Clear, open, and effective communication is the only path to success. Whether it's setting SMART goals, conveying expectations, giving feedback, or just establishing a cadence for sharing information, strong communication is the foundation of effective leadership. Especially for new managers.

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