new business development strategy

• A Game-Changing Business Development Strategy to Achieve Consistent Growth

Your business development strategy can be key to the success or failure of your firm. In this post, we’ll explore how to create a strategy and associated plan that can propel an individual, a practice or an entire firm to new levels of growth and profitability.

Business Development Defined

Business development (BD) is the process used to identify, nurture and acquire new clients and business opportunities to drive growth and profitability. A business development strategy is a document that describes the strategy you will use to accomplish that goal.

The scope of business development can vary a lot from organization to organization. Consider the model professional services organizations use to get new business shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The three stages of the business development funnel

The first two stages of the model, Attract Prospects and Build Engagement, are traditional marketing functions. The final stage, Turn Opportunities into Clients, is a traditional sales function. In its traditional role, business development would be looking for new channels of distribution or marketing partners.

But roles are changing and naming conventions evolve. In today’s world many firms refer to the entire marketing and sales process as business development. We know, it can be confusing. So let’s sort it out a bit.

Business Development vs. Marketing

Marketing is the process of determining which products and services you will offer to which target audiences, at what price. It also addresses how you will position and promote your firm and its offerings in the competitive marketplace. The result of all this activity should be an increasing awareness of your firm among your target audience — and a stronger flow of qualified leads and opportunities.

Download the Business Development Guide

Historically, business development has been a subset of the marketing function that was focused on acquiring new marketing or distribution relationships and channels. While this role still exists in many companies, the business development title has become interchangeable with many marketing and sales functions.  

Business Development vs. Sales

Sales is the task of converting leads or opportunities into new clients. Business development is a broader term that encompasses many activities beyond the sales function. And while there is some overlap, most traditional BD roles are only lightly involved in closing new clients.  

Business development is often confused with sales. This is not too surprising because many people who are clearly in sales have taken to using the title of Business Developer . Presumably this is done because the organization believes that the BD designation avoids the stigma sometimes associated with sales.

Nowhere is this practice more prevalent than in professional services. Accountants, lawyers and strategy consultants do not want to be seen as “pushy sales people.” This titular bias is firmly rooted despite the fact that developing new business is an important role of most senior members of professional services firms. Also, the many aspects of the traditional business development role (finding new distribution channels, for instance) don’t translate easily to the professional services environment.

Since so many clients want to meet and get to know the professionals they will be working with, the Seller-Doer role is well established in many firms. The preference for Seller-Doers also tends to discourage firms from fielding a full-time sales force.

As an alternative approach to leveraging fee-earners’ time, some firms have one or more Business Developers on staff. In the professional services context, these folks are often involved in lead generation and qualification, as well as supporting the Seller-doers in their efforts to close new clients. In other organizational contexts, this role might be thought of as a sales support role.

The result of this confusing picture is that many professional services firms call sales “business development” and make it part of every senior professional’s role. They may also include some marketing functions, such as lead generation and lead nurturing, into the professional’s BD responsibilities.

It is on this expanded role — in which business development encompasses the full range of lead-generation, nurturing and sales tasks — that we will concentrate on in this post.

See also: Heller Consulting Case Story

Business Development Examples

To clarify what the professional services business development role entails, let’s consider this business development example:

Bethany is the Director of Business Development at a fictional mid-sized architecture firm. She is not an architect herself. Nor is she involved in any aspect of delivering client projects. Instead, her role is exclusively focused on signing new business for her firm—whether new or existing clients. 

For new clients, Bethany spends much of her time responding to RFPs, communicating directly with inbound leads generated by the marketing/sales enablement team, and nurturing potential clients that she met at a recent industry conference. Bethany also collaborates with the marketing team in the development of any materials she needs to sell to new accounts.

When it comes to existing accounts, Bethany also plays a major role. She meets monthly with delivery teams to understand whether current client projects are on scope or if change orders are needed. She also maintains a relationship with clients’ key stakeholders. If an opportunity for more work opens, she knows that her relationship with the client is an important component of the potential deal.

In this example, Bethany is the primary driver of business development but that does not mean she is doing this alone. Her colleague, Greg, is a lead architect at the firm. While Greg’s primary focus is delivering for his clients, business development—and even marketing—is also an important part of his professional life. Greg often attends industry conferences with Bethany, where he is a speaker and subject matter expert and she is the primary networker. The business development dynamic should not end with Bethany, and it should permeate the whole organization.

In this business development example, you can see that the range of roles and responsibilities is wide. This is why it is essential that business development be delivered strategically. Let’s talk about what that means.

Strategic Business Development

Not every business development activity has the same impact. In fact, many are opportunistic and tactical in nature. This is especially true for many Seller-Doers. 

Caught between the pressures of client work and an urgent need to bring in new business, they cast about for something quick and easy—maybe a small piece of business at a low price point—that will produce short term results. Of course, this is no real strategy at all.

Strategic business development is the alignment of business development processes and procedures with your firm’s strategic business goals. The role of strategic business development is to acquire ideal clients—the kind that are highly profitable and aren’t overly demanding—for your highest priority services using brand promises that you can deliver upon.

Deciding which targets to pursue and strategies to employ can be a high stakes decision. A good strategy, well implemented, can drive high levels of growth and profitability. A poorly conceived strategy can stymie growth and frustrate valuable talent.

Yet many firms falter at this critical step. They rely on habit, anecdotes and fads — or worse still, that innovation killer, “this is how we have always done it.” In a later section, we’ll explain how to develop your strategic business development plan. But first let’s explore some of the strategies that might go into that plan.

Top Business Development Strategies

Let’s look at some of the most common business development strategies and how they stack up agains what today’s buyers are looking for .

Networking is probably the most universally used business development technique. It’s built on the ideas that professional services buying decisions are rooted in relationships, and the best way to develop new relationships is through face-to-face networking.

It certainly is true that many relationships are established in that way. And if you are networking with members of your target audience, you can develop new business. But there are limitations. Today’s buyers, however, are very time pressured, and networking is time consuming. It can be very expensive, if you consider travel and time away from the office.

Newer digital networking techniques can help on the cost and time front. But even social media requires an investment of time and attention.

A close relative of networking, referrals are often seen as the mechanism that turns networking and client satisfaction into new business. You establish a relationship, and that person refers new business to you. Satisfied clients do the same.

Without question, referrals are common, and many firms get most or all of their business from them. But referrals are passive. They rely on your clients and contacts to identify good prospects for your services and make a referral at the right time.

The problem is, referral sources often don’t know the full scope of your services or the range of ways you can help a client. So many referrals are poorly matched to your capabilities. Other well-matched referrals go unmade because your referral source fails to recognize a great prospect when they see one. Finally, many prospects that might be good clients rule out your firm before even talking with you. One  study puts that number at over 50%.

Importantly, there are new digital strategies that can accelerate referrals. Making your specific expertise more visible is the key. This allows people to make better referrals and increases your referral base beyond clients and a few business contacts.

Learn More: Referral Marketing Course

Sponsorships and Advertising

Can you develop new business directly by sponsoring events and advertising? It would solve a lot of problems if it works. No more trying to get time from fully utilized billable professionals.

Unfortunately, the results on this front are not very encouraging. Studies have shown that traditional advertising is actually associated with slower growth. Only when advertising is combined with other techniques, such as speaking at an event, do these techniques bear fruit.

The most promising advertising strategy seems to be well-targeted digital advertising. This allows firms to get their messages and offers in front of the right people at a lower cost.

Outbound Telephone and Mail

Professional services firms have been using phone calls and mail to directly target potential clients for decades. Target the right firms and roles with a relevant message and you would expect to find new opportunities that can be developed into clients.

There are a couple of key challenges with these strategies. First they are relatively expensive, so they need to be just right to be effective. Second, if you don’t catch the prospect at the right time, your offer may have no appeal relevance — and consequently, no impact on business development.

The key is to have a very appealing offer delivered to a very qualified and responsive list. It’s not easy to get this combination right.

Thought Leadership and Content Marketing

Here, the strategy is to make your expertise visible to potential buyers and referral sources. This is accomplished through writing, speaking or publishing content that demonstrates your expertise and how it can be applied to solve client problems.

Books, articles and speaking engagements have long been staples of professional services business development strategy. Many high visibility experts have built their practices and firms upon this strategy. It often takes a good part of a career to execute this approach.

But changing times and technology have reshaped this strategy. With the onset of digital communication it is now easier and much faster to establish your expertise with a target market. Search engines have leveled the playing field so that relatively unknown individuals and firms can become known even outside their physical region. Webinars have democratized public speaking, and blogs and websites give every firm a 24/7 presence. Add in video and social media and the budding expert can access a vastly expanded marketplace.

But these developments also open firms to much greater competition as well. You may find yourself competing with specialists whom you were never aware of. The impact is to raise the stakes on your business development strategy.

Combined Strategies

It is common to combine different business development strategies. For example, networking and referrals are frequently used together. And on one level, a combined strategy makes perfect sense. The strength of one strategy can shore up the weakness of another.

But there is a hidden danger. For a strategy to perform at its peak, it must be fully implemented. There is a danger that by attempting to execute too many different strategies you will never completely implement any of them.

Good intentions, no matter how ambitious, are of little real business development value. Under-investment, lack of follow through and inconsistent effort are the bane of effective business development.

It is far more effective to fully implement a simple strategy than to dabble in a complex one. Fewer elements, competently implemented, produce better results.

Next, we turn our attention to the tactics used to implement a high-level strategy. But first there is a bit of confusion to clear up.

Business Development Strategy Vs. Tactics

The line between strategy and tactics is not always clear. For example, you can think of networking as an overall business development strategy or as a tactic to enhance the impact of a thought leadership strategy. Confusing to be sure.

From our perspective, the distinction is around focus and intent. If networking is your business development strategy all your focus should be on making the networking more effective and efficient. You will select tactics that are aimed at making networking more powerful or easier. You may try out another marketing technique and drop it if it does not help you implement your networking strategy.

On the other hand, if networking is simply one of many tactics, your decision to use it will depend on whether it supports your larger strategy. Tactics and techniques can be tested and easily changed. Strategy, on the other hand, is a considered choice and does not change from day to day or week to week.

10 Most Effective Business Development Tactics

Which business development tactics are most effective? To find out, we recently conducted a study that looked at 824 professional services firms. The research identified those firms that were growing at greater than a 20% compound annual growth rate over a three-year period.

These High Growth firms were compared to firms in the same industry that did not grow over the same time period. We then examined which business development tactics were employed by each group and which provided the most impact.

The result is a list of the ten most impactful tactics employed by the High Growth firms:

• Outbound sales calls from internal teams
• Providing assessments and/or consultations
• Business development materials
• Speaking at targeted conferences or events
• Networking at targeted conferences or events
• Conducting and publishing original research
• Live product/service demonstrations
• Presenting in educational webinars
• Marketing partnerships with other organizations
• Case studies

There are a couple of key observations about these growth tactics. First, these techniques can be employed in service of different business development strategies. For example number four on the list, speaking at targeted conferences or events, can easily support a networking or a thought leadership strategy.

The other observation is that the top tactics include a mix of both digital and traditional techniques. As we will see when we develop your plan, having a healthy mix of digital and traditional techniques tends to increase the impact of your strategy.

Business Development Skills

Now that we have identified the key business development strategies and tactics, it is time to consider the business development skills your team will need. Business development skills require a broad range of technical skills but there are some that make a difference.

When the Hinge Research Institute studied marketing and business development skills in our annual High Growth Study , we found that the firms that grow faster have a skills advantage within their marketing and business development teams.

In Figure 2 below, we see which business development skills are the most important for the high growth firms:

Figure 2. Skill ratings by marketing function (High Growth vs. No Growth firms)

Let’s dive into the top three skills from this list. 

The number one business development skill high growth firms enjoy are strong project management skills. And for experienced business development specialists, this makes good sense. Staying organized, accurately tracking business development activity, and managing accounts are essential for building and maintaining strong business relationships. Sound project management practices also allow the business development team to product stronger proposals more quickly without sacrificing quality.

The next most important skill is simplifying complex concepts. In business development conversations, it is vital that team members are able to communicate your firm’s service offerings and capabilities in a ways that prospects can understand. Speaking in industry jargon or presenting overly complicated charts creates unnecessary confusion and friction. Therefore, it is no surprise to see that the fastest growing professional services firms have an advantage in communicating complex information in a way that buyers understand.

The third most important business development skill is data analytics. Firms that make a habit of regularly monitoring key metrics have a real advantage. They can see what marketing techniques are working and which are having problems. The allows them to make course corrections in near real time. Firms that rarely or never look at data are running blind, relying instead on potentially misleading anecdotal evidence.

Review the other business development and marketing skills in the figure above and determine which skills your team should aim to develop.  Developing these skills should be a key priority of your business development team.

How to Create Your Strategic Business Development Plan

A Business Development Plan is a document that outlines how you implement your business development strategy. It can be a plan for an individual, a practice or the firm as a whole. Its scope covers both the marketing and sales functions, as they are so intertwined in most professional services firms.

Here are the key steps to develop and document your plan.

Define your target audience

Who are you trying to attract as new clients? Focus on your “best-fit” clients, not all possible prospects. It is most effective to focus on a narrow target audience. But don’t go so narrow that you can’t achieve your business goals.

Research their issues, buying behavior and your competitors

The more you know about your target audience the better equipped you will be to attract their attention and communicate how you can help them. What are their key business issues? Is your expertise relevant to those issues? Where do they look for advice and inspiration? What is the competitive environment like? How do you stack up?

Identify your competitive advantage

What makes you different? Why is that better for your target client? Are you the most cost-effective alternative? Or the industry’s leading expert? However you position your firm, your claims need to be true, provable and relevant to your target audience. It is very useful to document this positioning as you will use it over and over again as you develop your messages and marketing tools.

Choose your overall business development strategy

Pick the broad strategy or strategies you will use to reach, engage and convert your prospects. You can start with the list of top strategies provided above. Which strategy fits with the needs and preferences of your target audiences? Which ones best convey your competitive advantage? For example, if you are competing because you have superior industry expertise, a thought leadership/content marketing strategy will likely serve you well.

Choose your business development tactics

A great place to start is the list of the most effective tactics we provided above. Make sure that each technique you select fits your target audience and strategy. Remember, it’s not about your personal preferences or familiarity with a tactic. It’s about what creates a connection with your audience.

Also, you will need to balance your choices in two important ways: First, you will need tactics that address each stage of the business development pipeline shown in Figure 1. Some techniques work great for gaining visibility but do not address longer-term need to nurture prospects over time. You need to cover the full funnel.

Second, you need a good balance between digital and traditional techniques (Figure 2). Your research should inform this choice. Be careful about assumptions. Just because you don’t use social media doesn’t mean that a portion of your prospects don’t use it to check you out.

When, how often, which conferences, what topics? Now is the time to settle on the details that turn a broad strategy into a specific plan. Many plans include a content or marketing calendar that lays out the specifics, week by week. If that is too much detail for you, at least document what you will be doing and how often. You will need these details to monitor the implementation of your plan.

Specify how you will monitor implementation and impact

Often overlooked, these important considerations often spell the difference between success and failure. Unimplemented strategies don’t work. Keep track of what you do, and when. This will both motivate action and provide a great starting place as you troubleshoot your strategy. Also monitor and record the impacts you see. The most obvious effect will be how much new business you closed. But you should also monitor new leads or new contacts, at the bare minimum. Finally, don’t neglect important process outcomes such as referrals, new names added to your list and downloads of content that expose prospects and referral sources to your expertise.

If you follow these steps you will end up with a documented business development strategy and a concrete plan to implement and optimize it.

Free Resource

The Business Development Guide

How Hinge Can Help

Hinge, a global leader in professional services branding and marketing, helps firms grow faster and become more profitable. Our research-based strategies are designed to be  implemented.  In fact, our groundbreaking  Visible Firm ®  program  combines strategy, implementation, training and more.

Additional Resources

• Keep pace with the marketplace, generate leads and build your reputation all at once:  Marketing Planning Guide.
• Find out how to turn your firm into a high-visibility, high-growth business. Download our free executive guide,  The Visible Firm® , in which we layout a detailed roadmap of this research-based program.
• For more insights, check out our blog post, How to Develop a Winning Go-to-Market Strategy for Your Firm  

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How to Develop a Business Strategy: 6 Steps

• 25 Oct 2022

Business strategy can seem daunting, and for good reason: It can make or break an organization. Yet, developing a strong strategy doesn’t need to be overwhelming.

In the online course Business Strategy , Harvard Business School Professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee posits that strategy is simple. His secret? Focus on your organization’s value creation.

“Strategy often sounds like a lofty concept that only the most senior executives can develop,” Oberholzer-Gee says. “But actually, anyone can think and act strategically. It doesn’t need to be difficult; all you need is a proven framework.”

Here’s a breakdown of why business strategy is important, the basics of value-based strategy, and six steps for developing your own.

Why Do You Need a Business Strategy?

Business strategy is the development, alignment, and integration of an organization’s strategic initiatives to give it a competitive edge in the market. Devising a business strategy can ensure you have a clear plan for reaching organizational goals and continue to survive and thrive.

According to a study by Bridges Business Consultancy , 48 percent of organizations fail to meet half of their strategic targets and 85 percent fail to meet two-thirds, highlighting why dedication to the business strategy process is crucial.

One type of business strategy is called value-based strategy, which simplifies the process by leveraging the value stick framework to focus on the advantage your business creates.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Value-Based Strategy?

Value-based strategy , also called value-based pricing, is a pricing method in which an organization relies on the perceived value of its goods and services to determine its pricing structure and resource allocation.

The value stick framework can be used to visualize how various factors impact each other and determine which initiatives to pursue to increase value for all parties.

The value stick has four factors:

• Willingness to pay (WTP) : The highest price a customer is willing to pay for your product or service
• Price : The amount customers have to pay for goods or services
• Cost : The amount a company spends on producing goods or services
• Willingness to sell (WTS) : The lowest amount suppliers are willing to accept for the materials required to produce goods or services

To determine how to best create value, you can toggle each factor on the value stick to see how the others are affected. For instance, lowering price increases customer delight.

"As strategists, we really ask three questions,” Oberholzer-Gee says in Business Strategy. “How can my business best create value for customers? How can my business create value for employees? And how can my business create value by collaborating with suppliers? Think of a company's strategy as an answer to these three questions."

Related: 4 Business Strategy Skills Every Business Leader Needs

6 Steps to Develop a Value-Based Business Strategy

1. define your purpose.

When approaching business strategy, defining your organization’s purpose can be a useful starting point.

This is vital in creating customer and employee value, especially if your organization’s purpose is linked to a cause such as environmental protection or alleviating specific social issues.

A recent survey conducted by clean energy company Swytch found that nearly 75 percent of millennials would take a decrease in salary if it meant working for an environmentally responsible company. Nearly 40 percent selected one job over another because of an organization’s sustainability practices.

Additionally, research in the Harvard Business Review shows that consumers’ motivation to buy from sustainable brands is on the rise. Sales of products marked as sustainable grew more than five times faster than those that weren’t.

By starting with purpose, your organization can create more value down the line.

2. Assess Market Opportunity

Next, understand your market’s competitive landscape. Which companies own shares of the market? What differentiates your competitors’ products from yours? Are there any unmet needs your organization could take advantage of?

Conducting this research before planning a strategy is critical in identifying how your organization provides unique customer value and opportunities to create even more.

3. Create Value for Customers

With an understanding of the market and your company’s purpose, you can determine how your organization provides unique or greater value and strategize ways to improve.

On the value stick, the value captured by customers is called “customer delight.” It can be increased by raising their willingness to pay and decreasing the product’s price. If lowering the price isn’t an option, brainstorm how you could make the product more valuable to customers, thus increasing their willingness to pay.

Some ways to create customer value include:

• Lowering the product’s price
• Increasing the product’s physical quality and longevity
• Providing quick, high-quality customer service and a smooth shopping experience
• Leveraging network effects , if applicable, to create a community of users
• Incorporating an environmental or social cause into processes, packaging, and branding

4. Create Value for Suppliers

In addition to creating value for customers, you also need to provide value for suppliers. Suppliers can include any company that provides raw materials, labor, and transportation to help your organization produce goods or deliver services.

Supplier surplus, also called supplier delight, is created when the cost of materials increases or their willingness to sell decreases. The relationship between a firm and its suppliers can be contentious, given that both want to increase their margins. Yet, there are ways to create value for both parties.

Some ways to create value for suppliers include:

• Agreeing to pay more for higher quality materials : While this increases the supplier surplus, it may also increase customer delight by raising willingness to pay, or increase the firm’s margin by allowing you to raise prices.
• Working with the supplier to increase efficiency : This strategy can increase supplier surplus by lowering the overall cost of the supplier’s labor and their willingness to sell.

5. Create Value for Employees

Creating value for employees is a critical part of an effective business strategy and can be assessed using the value stick. Think of your employees as the “supplier” of labor and the supplier margin as employee satisfaction.

Employee satisfaction can be increased by raising wages or lowering the minimum salary they’re willing to receive by delivering value in other ways. Satisfied employees may provide a better customer experience, resulting in increased customer delight.

The value you provide employees ensures they’re motivated to do their best work, develop their skills, and stay with your company long-term.

Some examples of ways to create value for your employees include:

• Offering competitive salaries and bonuses
• Offering benefits like ample paid vacation and sick days, generous parental leave, and wellness budgets
• Providing flexibility of work location, whether your team is fully remote or hybrid
• Aiding in professional development
• Creating a workplace rich with a diversity of experiences, identities, and ideas
• Fostering a supportive organizational culture

One example from Business Strategy is that of a call center for a diagnostics company. The employees were being paid minimum wage and expressed that the analytical nature of their phone calls with customers warranted higher pay. They also expressed pain points about cumbersome tasks and work conditions.

When a pay increase was implemented for all employees, along with operational changes to make processes smoother, employee productivity increased to the point that it balanced out the higher cost of salaries.

Because the employees’ satisfaction increased, they also began providing better experiences on the phone with customers. This increased the customers’ willingness to pay, directly impacting customer delight.

6. Map Strategy to Actionable Tasks and KPIs

Amidst creating value for each of the three groups, don’t forget the fourth party that needs value: your company. By creating value for employees, suppliers, and customers, you’re creating value for your firm, too.

To ensure you’re tracking to goals, determine your key performance indicators, what metrics constitute success, and how you’ll report results over time. Then, break each of the above value-creation goals into action items. For instance, what steps can you take to increase your employees’ compensation? Who will be responsible for each task?

Having actionable assignments and clear metrics for success will allow for a smooth transition from strategy formulation to execution.

Building Your Strategic Skill Set

By leveraging the value stick, you can create a business strategy that provides value to employees, customers, suppliers, and your firm.

To develop your strategies further and dig deeper into how to navigate value creation, consider taking an online course like Business Strategy . Professor Oberholzer-Gee walks through real-world examples of business challenges, prompts you to consider how you’d create value, and then reveals what those business leaders did and how you can apply the lessons to your organization.

Want to learn more about how to craft a successful strategy for your organization? Explore Business Strategy , one of our online strategy courses , to learn how to create organizational value. Not sure which course is the right fit? Download our free flowchart .

About the Author

10 Key Business Development Strategies (with Examples)

In today’s world, if you want your business to grow and succeed, you need a good plan for making it happen.

There are many different ways to help your business grow, and in this article, we’ll discuss some of the best business development strategies and techniques available.

There’s a lot you can do, from finding more customers for what you already sell to coming up with new products to sell or even teaming up with other businesses.

We’ll also examine how using the Internet and technology can benefit your business and why it’s important to consider how your business affects the world and people’s lives.

What is a Business Development Strategy?

A business development strategy is a plan that a company follows to grow and get better.

Imagine it like a map that helps a business decide where to go next to make more money, find more customers, or introduce new products.

It involves figuring out what the business is good at, what customers want, and how to reach more people or sell more things.

The goal of a business development strategy is not just to grow sales, but also to build a sustainable business model that can adapt to changing market conditions and capitalize on new opportunities.

A well-crafted business development strategy ensures that a company remains competitive and continues to thrive in its industry.

Business Development Strategies

Download the above infographic in PDF

1. Market Penetration Strategy

When we talk about business development strategies, a market penetration strategy is like the bread and butter for companies aiming to grow. It’s all about making your existing products or services a bigger hit in the markets you’re already playing in. Imagine trying to sell more ice cream in a town that loves your flavors — that’s market penetration.

Why it’s important: It’s less about reinventing the wheel and more about pushing the pedal on what already works. You can cut prices to outdo the competition, ramp up your marketing to make sure everyone knows your name, or offer deals that customers can’t resist.

Examples: Let’s say you run a coffee shop in a bustling neighborhood. To increase your market share, you might introduce a loyalty card that gives customers a free drink after they buy ten. This not only encourages repeat business but can also bring in more foot traffic as word spreads.

Why it’s a smart move: By focusing on market penetration , you’re building on your existing successes. It’s a tried and true method among business development techniques that can lead to increased sales without the costs and risks associated with targeting entirely new markets or developing new products from scratch.

In essence, beefing up your presence in current markets with strategies that have proven their worth can be a game-changer for your business. It’s about maximizing what you already do best and making sure as many people as possible know about it.

2. Market Development Strategy

Diving deeper into our exploration of business development strategies, let’s chat about the market development strategy. It’s like being an explorer, charting unknown territories, except instead of new lands, you’re venturing into new markets or customer segments with your tried-and-true products or services.

Why it’s exciting: Market development is thrilling because it opens up a world of possibilities. You could take your existing product and introduce it to a different city, country, or even a completely new demographic. It’s about finding new playgrounds where your product can shine.

Examples: Imagine you’ve been selling an innovative bike lock in urban areas where biking is a popular mode of transportation. A market development strategy might involve launching this product in suburban areas where there’s a growing interest in biking, thanks to new bike-friendly infrastructure.

How it works: This approach requires research and understanding of the new market. You’ll need to know what these new customers want, how they shop, and what kind of messaging speaks to them. It’s a classic technique in business development strategies that can pay off by expanding your customer base and opening new revenue streams.

Why it’s a brilliant tactic: By leveraging market development, you’re not just sticking to the safe confines of your existing market. Instead, you’re taking a calculated risk to grow your business. It’s a powerful way to utilize your existing successes and replicate them in a new context, making it a cornerstone among business development techniques.

In conclusion, market development is about seizing new opportunities and taking your successful product or service to new frontiers. It’s an adventurous and strategic move that requires understanding and adapting to new markets, but with the right approach, it can significantly amplify your business’s growth.

3. Product Development Strategy

The product development strategy stands out as a beacon for innovation. This strategy is about bringing new products or services to the table in your existing market. It’s akin to a chef creating a new, exquisite dish to wow patrons who already love the menu.

Why it sparkles with potential:  Product development is exhilarating because it taps into your creative resources to meet evolving customer needs or fill gaps in the market. It’s your chance to say, “Look what we can do!” and strengthen your position in the market with fresh offerings.

Examples:  Consider a tech company known for its consumer electronics. They might leverage a product development strategy by introducing smart home devices to their lineup, catering to their tech-savvy customer base’s desire for a more connected living experience.

The practical part:  Successful product development hinges on understanding your customers’ needs and staying ahead of industry trends. It requires a blend of market research, product innovation, and sometimes, a dash of daring. Among business development techniques, this one is particularly challenging because it involves creating something new, yet it’s also immensely rewarding.

Why it wins:  Embarking on product development can reinvigorate your brand and encourage customer loyalty. By continuously evolving your product offerings, you’re showing customers that you’re committed to innovation and addressing their changing needs. It’s a way to keep your audience engaged and interested in what you’ll do next.

In essence, a product development strategy is about breathing new life into your business with innovative offerings that captivate your existing market. It’s a vibrant testament to your commitment to growth and adaptation, positioning you as a forward-thinking leader in your industry.

4. Diversification Strategy

Diversification strategy is all about spreading your wings and flying into new territories with new products or services. It’s like opening a new chapter in your business’s story, venturing into uncharted waters to uncover new opportunities and revenue streams.

What makes it intriguing: Diversification is exciting because it pushes your business beyond its comfort zone. You’re not just expanding; you’re transforming. This could mean developing new products that complement your existing offerings or stepping into a completely different market with something innovative.

Examples: Consider a company that manufactures high-end cameras. They decide to diversify by entering the smartphone market with a device that boasts superior photography features. This move not only taps into the lucrative smartphone market but also leverages the company’s expertise in imaging technology.

How to implement it: Successful diversification requires thorough market research , innovation, and sometimes, a bit of courage. It’s important to assess how your new product or service fits with your brand and whether it addresses a genuine need in the market.

Why it’s a game-changer: Diversification is among the more ambitious business development techniques because it can significantly reduce risk by not putting all your eggs in one basket. Plus, it can rejuvenate your brand, making it relevant to a broader audience.

In summary , a diversification strategy is about boldly expanding your business into new areas with new offerings. It’s a move that requires careful strategic planning and a deep understanding of both your capabilities and the needs of the market. When done right, diversification can be a transformative growth strategy, setting your business on a path to new heights and successes.

5. Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

This strategy is about joining forces with other businesses to achieve common goals, leveraging each other’s strengths to unlock new opportunities.

Why it’s compelling: Strategic partnerships are like having a buddy system in the business world. They allow you to share resources, knowledge, and markets with another organization, making it easier to tackle ambitious projects or enter new markets. It’s about creating a win-win situation where both parties can grow and succeed.

Examples: Imagine a software company offering custom software development services and specializing in educational technology. By forming an alliance with a content creation firm that produces high-quality educational material, they can offer a more comprehensive learning platform. This partnership not only enhances their product offering but also opens up new customer segments.

How it works: Forming a strategic partnership or alliance involves identifying potential partners who share your vision and complementary strengths. The key is to clearly define the terms of the partnership, including roles, responsibilities, and how success will be measured.

Why it’s effective: This approach is one of the more synergistic business development techniques, as it enables companies to combine their efforts for greater impact. Partnerships can help businesses achieve objectives that would be difficult or impossible to achieve alone, such as expanding into new geographical markets or combining technologies to create innovative solutions.

In essence, strategic partnerships and alliances are about collaboration and mutual growth. By carefully selecting the right partners and aligning your goals, businesses can unlock new potentials and navigate the path to success more efficiently.

6. Mergers and Acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) represent a powerful avenue among business development strategies, where companies either merge with or acquire another company to boost growth, access new markets , or enhance capabilities. Think of it as joining forces with others to conquer territories or pooling resources to build an empire. It’s a fast track to expansion that can otherwise take years to achieve organically.

Why it’s impactful: M&A can dramatically change the scale of your business, providing instant access to new customers, technologies, and resources. It’s a strategy that can lead to significant market power and competitive advantages almost overnight.

Examples: A classic example would be a large tech company acquiring a smaller startup that offers innovative technology or services that complement the larger company’s product offerings. This not only eliminates a potential competitor but also integrates new technologies into the company’s portfolio, driving further innovation and growth.

Executing the strategy: Success in M&A requires diligent due diligence, strategic alignment, and effective integration planning. It’s crucial to ensure that the companies’ cultures, values, and business models align to avoid integration challenges post-acquisition.

Why it’s a savvy move: From a business development perspective, mergers and acquisitions can offer a shortcut to growth that organic methods can’t match. It allows companies to diversify their offerings, enter new markets rapidly, and acquire strategic assets or skills they lack.

In essence, M&A is about making bold moves to accelerate your company’s growth trajectory. While it comes with its set of challenges and risks, including cultural integration and financial investment, the potential rewards in terms of market expansion, enhanced capabilities, and increased competitiveness make it a crucial tactic in the arsenal of business development strategies.

7. Customer Retention Strategies

Venturing further into our journey through business development strategies, let’s zero in on customer retention strategies. Unlike the exploratory nature of entering new markets or launching new products, customer retention is all about deepening relationships with the customers you already have.

Why it matters: Retaining customers is often more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Loyal customers not only continue to buy from you but are also more likely to recommend your products or services to others, acting as brand ambassadors.

Examples: An online streaming service introduces a tiered membership program, offering exclusive content and early access to new releases for premium members. This not only incentivizes longer subscription commitments but also enhances the perceived value of the service.

Key techniques: Effective customer retention strategies can include loyalty programs, exceptional customer service, feedback loops for continual improvement, and personalized marketing efforts. These techniques recognize and reward customer loyalty, creating a more personalized and satisfying experience.

Why it’s a cornerstone strategy: Focusing on customer retention is a crucial component of business development strategies because it builds a stable revenue base and fosters a community of loyal customers. This, in turn, can lead to more predictable sales and a stronger brand.

In essence, customer retention strategies are about showing appreciation for your current customers, ensuring they feel valued and understood. This not only secures their continued business but also transforms them into vocal supporters of your brand, contributing to a virtuous cycle of growth and loyalty.

8. Networking and Relationship Building

Let’s talk about networking and relationship building. Unlike direct sales tactics or digital marketing efforts, networking is about cultivating long-term relationships that can lead to opportunities, referrals, and partnerships down the line.

Why it matters: In the realm of business development, who you know can be just as important as what you know. Building a strong network can open doors to new clients, insights into industry trends, potential partners, and even investors. It’s about creating a web of connections where value is exchanged mutually over time.

Example: Imagine attending industry conferences, not with the primary goal of immediate sales, but with the intention of meeting other professionals in your field, sharing knowledge, and learning about their needs and challenges. Over time, these connections can lead to collaborative projects, referrals, or simply valuable advice.

How to approach it: Effective networking is rooted in genuine interest in others and a willingness to offer help and resources without the immediate expectation of getting something in return. It’s about building trust and rapport by being reliable, knowledgeable, and generous.

Why it’s a strategic move: Networking and relationship building are fundamental business development techniques because they leverage the power of human connections. Relationships built on trust and mutual respect can be the most durable and valuable assets in your business development arsenal.

N etworking and relationship building aim to cultivate meaningful relationships that can evolve into powerful catalysts for business growth.

9. Digital Transformation and Innovation

As we dive deeper into the world of business development strategies, it’s impossible to overlook the immense impact of digital transformation and innovation. This strategy is about leveraging the latest digital technologies to fundamentally change how your business operates and delivers value to customers. Think of it as the process of turning your traditional analog business into a smart, tech-savvy enterprise ready to face the modern digital world head-on.

Why it’s crucial: In today’s fast-paced business environment, technology can be a major differentiator. Digital transformation not only streamlines operations but also enhances customer experiences, opens up new channels for engagement, and fosters innovation. It’s about staying relevant and competitive in a digital-first world.

Examples: Consider a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer that adopts an omnichannel approach, integrating their in-store experience with a seamless online shopping platform. This might include a mobile app that customers can use to scan products in-store, read reviews, check out online, and even receive personalized recommendations based on their shopping history.

How to implement it: Embracing digital transformation requires a clear vision, strong leadership, and a willingness to invest in new technologies. It often involves adopting cloud computing, leveraging big data analytics, automating processes with AI, and enhancing customer interactions through digital channels.

Why it’s a game-changer: Digital transformation and innovation can revolutionize the way you do business, making you more agile, efficient, and customer-centric. It’s a powerful business development technique that not only drives growth but also builds resilience against disruptions in the market.

The journey towards digital transformation and innovation is about reimagining your business for the digital age. It offers a unique opportunity to innovate, differentiate, and deliver exceptional value to your customers.

10. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

CSR is about businesses taking responsibility for their impact on society and the environment. It’s a strategy that aligns a company’s operations with social values and environmental sustainability practices. Think of it as doing well by doing good; when companies invest in CSR, they not only contribute positively to the world but also build trust and loyalty among customers and employees.

Why it’s important: Today’s consumers and workers are increasingly conscious of the ethical practices of the companies they buy from and work for. Implementing CSR initiatives can enhance your brand’s reputation, attract and retain top talent, and open up new business opportunities with like-minded partners and customers.

Examples: Imagine a clothing manufacturer that decides to source materials exclusively from suppliers that adhere to fair labor practices and environmental standards. Additionally, they might launch a recycling program, encouraging customers to return used items for recycling in exchange for a discount on their next purchase.

How to engage in CSR: Effective CSR goes beyond one-time charitable donations; it involves integrating sustainable and ethical practices into everyday business operations. This might include reducing carbon footprints, enhancing employee welfare programs, engaging in community development projects, or supporting social causes through partnerships with non-profits.

Why it’s a strategic move: CSR is among the most impactful business development techniques because it builds a strong emotional connection with stakeholders. Companies that are seen as socially responsible can differentiate themselves in crowded markets, foster loyalty among customers, and create a positive corporate image that attracts investment and partnership opportunities.

Corporate Social Responsibility is not just a moral obligation; it’s a strategic business development approach that can drive long-term success. By prioritizing CSR, companies not only contribute to a better world but also build a strong, sustainable brand that resonates with today’s ethically minded consumers and employees. It’s a testament to the power of combining profit with purpose to achieve growth and impact.

FAQs on Business Development Strategies

1. What is the purpose of a business development strategy? The primary purpose of a business development strategy is to identify and implement opportunities for growth within and outside a company. This can include increasing revenue, expanding into new markets, developing new products or services, enhancing customer relationships, and forming strategic partnerships or alliances.

2. How do I choose the right business development strategy for my company? Choosing the right business development strategy involves understanding your business’s current position, goals, and the specific challenges and opportunities in your industry. Analyze your target market, competition, internal capabilities, and resources. It’s also essential to align the strategy with your company’s overall vision and mission.

3. Can you give examples of effective business development techniques? Effective business development techniques include networking and relationship building, leveraging social media and digital marketing, attending industry events and trade shows, conducting market research to identify new opportunities, and employing customer feedback to improve products and services.

4. How does market penetration differ from market development? Market penetration focuses on increasing the market share of an existing product within its current market, often through competitive pricing, marketing initiatives, and sales promotions. Market development, on the other hand, aims to enter new markets or target new customer segments with existing products, requiring adaptations to marketing strategies and possibly the product itself to meet different customer needs.

5. What role does innovation play in business development strategies? Innovation is crucial for sustaining growth and staying competitive. It involves developing new or improved products, services, processes, or business models that meet emerging customer needs or create new markets. Innovation can differentiate a company from competitors and drive long-term success.

6. How important are strategic partnerships and alliances in business development? Strategic partnerships and alliances are vital for leveraging complementary strengths, resources, and markets to achieve mutual growth objectives that might be difficult to accomplish independently. These collaborations can provide access to new markets, technologies, expertise, and customer bases.

7. What are some common mistakes in implementing business development strategies? Common mistakes include failing to conduct thorough market research, not aligning the strategy with the company’s core competencies and goals, underestimating the resources required, neglecting existing customers in pursuit of new ones, and not adapting to market feedback or changing conditions.

8. How can a company measure the success of its business development strategies? Success can be measured through various metrics, including revenue growth, market share expansion, customer acquisition and retention rates, profitability improvements, and achievement of strategic goals. Regularly reviewing these metrics and adjusting strategies as necessary is key to sustained growth.

9. Why is customer retention considered a business development strategy? Customer retention is crucial because acquiring new customers can be significantly more expensive than keeping existing ones. Retained customers often make repeat purchases and can become brand advocates. Effective retention strategies can lead to sustained revenue growth and profitability.

10. How does CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) enhance business development? CSR enhances business development by building a positive brand image, fostering customer loyalty, attracting and retaining talent, and potentially opening up new markets or customer segments. Companies that are viewed as socially responsible can differentiate themselves from competitors and achieve sustainable growth.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

In conclusion, navigating the complexities of today’s business landscape requires a strategic approach to development that encompasses a broad range of tactics and methodologies.

From diving into the depths of market penetration and development strategies to exploring the innovative horizons of digital transformation, businesses have at their disposal a plethora of paths to achieve growth and sustainability.

The key takeaways from our exploration into business development strategies and techniques underscore the importance of a multifaceted approach tailored to your company’s unique goals and market conditions.

Key Takeaways:

• Strategic Alignment: Ensure that your business development strategies are in harmony with your company’s overall vision, mission, and capabilities. Tailoring strategies to fit your unique strengths and market position can lead to more effective and sustainable growth.
• Customer-Centric Approach: Whether it’s through retention strategies, innovation, or CSR initiatives, keeping the customer at the heart of your business development efforts is crucial. Understanding and addressing their needs can drive loyalty and long-term success.
• Adaptability and Innovation: In a rapidly changing business environment, staying adaptable and open to innovation can set you apart from competitors. Embrace digital transformation and continually seek new ways to improve your offerings and processes.
• The Power of Relationships: Building and maintaining strong relationships through networking, strategic partnerships, and alliances can open up new opportunities and resources critical for growth.
• Measure and Adjust: Regularly measuring the success of your business development strategies with clear metrics is essential. Be prepared to adjust your approach based on performance data and shifting market dynamics.
• Sustainability and Responsibility: Incorporating CSR into your business development strategies not only contributes positively to society but also enhances your brand’s reputation and appeal to modern consumers and employees.

By embracing these key insights, businesses can develop a robust framework for growth that leverages the best practices in business development strategies and techniques.

Remember, the path to success involves not just the pursuit of growth for its own sake but doing so in a manner that is sustainable, responsible, and aligned with your core values.

Here’s to your business’s continued growth and success in navigating the exciting challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

About The Author

Silvia Valcheva

Silvia Valcheva is a digital marketer with over a decade of experience creating content for the tech industry. She has a strong passion for writing about emerging software and technologies such as big data, AI (Artificial Intelligence), IoT (Internet of Things), process automation, etc.

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A very good and educative article

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What Is Business Development?

• Understanding the Basics
• Areas of Development
• The Process
• Creating a Plan
• Skills Needed

The Bottom Line

• Small Business
• How to Start a Business

Business Development: Definition, Strategies, Steps & Skills

Why more and more companies worldwide are embracing this planning process

In the simplest terms, business development is a process aimed at growing a company and making it more successful. That can include seeking new business opportunities, building and sustaining connections with existing clients, entering strategic partnerships, and devising other plans to boost profits and market share.

Key Takeaways

• The overarching goal of business development is to make a company more successful.
• It can involve many objectives, such as sales growth, business expansion, the formation of strategic partnerships, and increased profitability.
• The business development process can impact every department within a company, including sales, marketing, manufacturing, human resources, accounting, finance, product development, and vendor management.
• Business development leaders and team members need a wide range of both soft and hard skills.

How Business Development Works Within an Organization

Business development, sometimes abbreviated as BD, strives to increase an organization's capabilities and reach in pursuit of its financial and other goals. In that way, it can impact—and also call upon the specialized skills of—a variety of departments throughout the organization.

As the financial services giant American Express puts it, "When it comes to organizational growth, business development acts as the thread that ties together all of a company's functions or departments, helping a business expand and improve its sales, revenues, product offerings, talent, customer service, and brand awareness."

For example:

Sales and Marketing

Sales personnel frequently focus on a particular market or a particular (set of) client(s), often for a targeted revenue number. A business development team might assess the Brazilian market, for example, and conclude that sales of $1.5 billion can be achieved there in three years. With that as their goal, the sales department targets the customer base in the new market with their sales strategies.

Business development often takes a longer-range perspective in setting goals than many sales departments have in the past. As the Society for Marketing Professional Services puts it, "A traditional view of sales is akin to hunting, but business development is more like farming: it's a longer-term investment of time and energy and not always a quick payoff."

Marketing , which oversees the promotion and advertising of the company's products and services, plays a complementary role to sales in achieving its targets.

A business development leader and their team can help set appropriate budgets based on the opportunities involved. Higher sales and marketing budgets allow for aggressive strategies like cold calling , personal visits, roadshows, and free sample distribution. Lower budgets tend to rely on more passive strategies, such as online, print, and social media ads, as well as billboard advertising.

Legal and Finance

To enter a new market, a business development team must decide whether it will be worth going solo by clearing all the required legal formalities or whether it might be more sensible to form a strategic alliance or partnership with firms already operating in that market. Assisted by legal and finance teams, the business development group weighs the pros and cons of the available options and selects the one that best serves the business.

Finance may also become involved in cost-cutting initiatives. Business development is not just about increasing market reach and sales, but improving the bottom line . An internal assessment revealing high spending on travel , for instance, may lead to travel policy changes, such as hosting video conference calls instead of on-site meetings or opting for less expensive transportation modes. The outsourcing of non-core work, such as billing, technology operations, or customer service, may also be part of the development plan.

Project Management/Business Planning

Does an international business expansion require a new facility in the new market, or will all the products be manufactured in the base country and then imported into the targeted market? Will the latter option require an additional facility in the base country? Such decisions are finalized by the business development team based on their cost- and time-related assessments. Then, the project management /implementation team can swing into action to work toward the desired goal.

Product Management and Manufacturing

Regulatory standards and market requirements can vary across regions and countries. A medicine of a certain composition may be allowed in India but not in the United Kingdom, for example. Does the new market require a customized—or altogether new—version of the product?

These requirements drive the work of product management and manufacturing departments, as determined by the business strategy. Cost considerations, legal approvals, and regulatory adherence are all assessed as a part of the development plan.

Vendor Management

Will the new business need external vendors ? For example, will the shipping of a product require a dedicated courier service? Will the company partner with an established retail chain for retail sales? What are the costs associated with these engagements? The business development team works through these questions with the appropriate internal departments.

10 Potential Areas for Business Development

As noted earlier, business development can require employees throughout an organization to work in tandem to facilitate information, strategically plan future actions, and make smart decisions. Here is a summary list of potential areas that business development may get involved in, depending on the organization.

• Market research and analysis: This information helps identify new market opportunities and develop effective strategies.
• Sales and lead generation: This involves prospecting, qualifying leads, and coordinating with the sales team to convert leads into customers.
• Strategic partnerships and alliances: This includes forming strategic alliances, joint ventures, or collaborations that create mutually beneficial opportunities.
• Product development and innovation: This involves conducting market research, gathering customer feedback, and collaborating with internal teams to drive innovation.
• Customer relationship management: This involves customer retention initiatives, loyalty programs, and gathering customer feedback to enhance customer satisfaction and drive repeat business.
• Strategic planning and business modeling: This includes identifying growth opportunities, setting targets, and implementing strategies to achieve sustainable growth.
• Mergers and acquisitions: This involves evaluating potential synergies, conducting due diligence , and negotiating and executing deals.
• Brand management and marketing: This includes creating effective marketing campaigns, managing online and offline channels, and leveraging digital marketing techniques.
• Financial analysis and funding: This includes exploring funding options, securing investments, or identifying grant opportunities.
• Innovation and emerging technologies: This involves assessing the potential impact of disruptive technologies and integrating them into the organization's growth strategies.

The Business Development Process in Six Steps

While the specific steps in the business development process will depend on the particular company, its needs and capabilities, its leadership, and its available capital, these are some of the more common ones:

Step 1: Market Research/Analysis

Begin by conducting comprehensive market research to gain insights into market trends, customer needs, and the competitive landscape. Analyze data and gather additional information to identify potential growth opportunities and understand the market dynamics.

Step 2: Establish Clear Goals and Objectives

Leveraging that research, define specific objectives and goals for business development efforts. These goals could include revenue targets, market expansion goals, customer acquisition targets, and product/service development objectives. Setting clear goals provides a focus for the business development process.

Step 3: Generate and Qualify Leads

Use various sources, such as industry databases, networking , referrals, or online platforms to generate a pool of potential leads. Identify individuals or companies that fit the target market criteria and have the potential to become customers. Then, evaluate and qualify leads based on predetermined criteria to determine their suitability and potential value.

Step 4: Build Relationships and Present Solutions

Initiate contact with qualified leads and establish relationships through effective communication and engagement. Utilize networking events, industry conferences, personalized emails, or social media interactions to build trust and credibility. As your relationship forms, develop and present tailored solutions that align with the client's needs. Demonstrate the value proposition of the organization's offerings and highlight key benefits and competitive advantages.

Step 5: Negotiate and Expand

Prepare and deliver proposals that outline the scope of work, pricing, deliverables, and timelines. Upon agreement, coordinate with legal and other relevant internal teams to ensure a smooth contract execution process.

Step 6: Continuously Evaluate

Continuously monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of business development efforts. Analyze performance metrics , gather feedback from clients and internal stakeholders, and identify areas for improvement. Regularly refine strategies and processes to adapt to market changes and optimize outcomes.

While it's common for startup companies to seek outside assistance in developing the business, as a company matures, it should aim to build its business development expertise internally.

How to Create a Business Development Plan

To effectively create and implement a business development plan, the team needs to set clear objectives and goals—ones that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). You can align these objectives with the overall business goals of the company.

Companies often analyze the current state of the organization by evaluating its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats through a SWOT analysis . That can make it easier to identify target markets and customer segments and define their unique value proposition.

A substantial component of a business development plan is the external-facing stages. It should lay out sales and marketing strategies to generate leads and convert them into customers. In addition, it may explore new potential strategic partnerships and alliances to expand your reach, access new markets, or enhance your offerings.

Teams should conduct a financial analysis and do resource planning to determine the resources required for implementing the plan. Once you implement, you should track progress against the key performance indicators (KPIs) you've chosen.

Skills Needed for Business Development Jobs

Business development is a fast-growing field across industries worldwide. It is also one that calls upon a wide range of hard and soft skill sets.

Leaders and other team members benefit from well-honed sales and negotiating skills in order to interact with clients, comprehend their needs, and sway their decisions. They have to be able to establish rapport, cope with challenges, and conclude transactions. They need to be able to communicate clearly, verbally and in writing, to both customers and internal stakeholders.

Business development specialists should have a thorough awareness of the market in which they operate. They should keep up with market dynamics, competition activity, and other industry developments. They should be able to see potential opportunities, make wise judgments, and adjust tactics as necessary. Because many of their decisions will be data-driven, they need good analytical skills.

Internally, business development practitioners need to be able to clarify priorities, establish reasonable deadlines, manage resources wisely, and monitor progress to guarantee timely completion.

Finally, people who work in business development should conduct themselves with the utmost morality and honesty. They must uphold confidentiality, act legally and ethically, and build trust with customers and other stakeholders.

Why Is Business Development Important?

In addition to its benefits to individual companies, business development is important for generating jobs, developing key industries, and keeping the economy moving forward.

What Are the Most Important Skills for Business Development Executives?

Development executives need to have leadership skills, vision, drive, and a willingness to work with a variety of people to get to a common goal.

How Can I Be Successful in Business Development?

Having a vision and putting together a good team are among the factors that help predict success in business development. A successful developer also knows how to write a good business plan, which becomes the blueprint to build from.

What, in Brief, Should a Business Development Plan Include?

A business development plan, or business plan , should describe the organization's objectives and how it intends to achieve them, including financial goals, expected costs, and targeted milestones.

Business development provides a way for companies to rise above their day-to-day challenges and set a course for a successful future. More and more companies, across many different types of industries, are coming to recognize its value and importance.

American Express. " Business Development and Its Importance ."

Society for Marketing Professional Services. " What Is Business Development? "

World Economic Forum. " The Future of Jobs Report 2020 ," Page 30.

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The Ultimate Guide to Business Development in 2022

What Does Business Development Do?

Business development (or biz dev) identifies ways to increase long-term value through establishing your business in new markets, building meaningful partnerships, and increasing the value of an existing customer base.

Business developers collaborate with various business units across the company while influencing the firm’s direction and growth. This can be based on both current business and market trends.

Although business development and sales are closely related, it’s important to note what makes them different.

How is Business Development Different From Sales?

Business development helps you establish and maintain relationships with prospects, increase brand awareness, learn about your buyer personas, and look for new opportunities to promote company growth. In short, it covers every aspect of your business operations.

In contrast, the goal of your sales team is to get new clients. They can generate sales by email outreach, cold calling, or networking. Your sales team's success is measured by how many prospects they convert into customers.

The work of a business developer simplifies the sales manager's job. Let’s take a closer look at what  business development representatives do.

What’s the Role of Business Development Representatives?

Companies typically hire business development representatives (BDRs) when they’re ready to scale from a small startup to a fast-growing company or when inbound leads are insufficient to keep the pipeline full. 

When a business needs more qualified leads than it can generate through digital marketing , BDRs can help by initiating calls with prospects to determine if they'd be an ideal customer for the company. 

If the potential customer is a good fit, the BDR will arrange for a discovery meeting between them and a member of their sales team. From there, it's the sales rep's responsibility to build strong relationships with the prospect and eventually get them to close deals.

Business development reps must know their product and service offerings intimately to communicate their value and purpose to potential clients. 

Other BDR responsibilities include:

• Presenting the business to potential clients
• Identifying client needs and suggesting appropriate products or services
• Customizing product solutions to increase customer satisfaction
• Looking for new business opportunities in the market

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What Are the Activities of Business Development?

Successful business development activities run across various departments, including sales, marketing, product management, and project management.

All these activities are based on the goals set by the  business development team. For example, suppose a business has a successful product in the United States. In that case, the biz dev team might evaluate the further potential for expansion. 

After doing market research , the team found that they could expand the product to new target markets like Australia. The business development team then assesses the Australian markets and concludes that the company can achieve sales worth $2 billion in four years. 

With such goals in place, the sales department can now use its sales strategies to target the customer base in the Australian market.

The main departments and activities influenced by business development are:

• Sales: Salespeople focus on a specific set of customers or markets with a particular revenue goal in mind.
• Marketing: The marketing team promotes and advertises products to sell them to end-users. It plays a complementary role in achieving sales targets.
• Project management: The business development team assesses the cost and time needed to expand a business into new markets. Once they set the goals, the project management team then swings into action to achieve the desired result.
• Strategic partnerships: When entering a new market, the business dev team weighs all the benefits and drawbacks of forming strategic partnerships with local businesses operating in the region. The team then decides if it's worth creating the partnership or going solo.
• Product management: Biz dev teams develop a plan that adheres to legal approvals, cost considerations, and regulatory adherence. The product management team then uses this plan to drive their work.

For instance, let’s say certain medicine compositions are allowed in India but not in France. In that case, the business development team will find out if the market in France requires a customized or new version of the product. They'll then create a product development plan from their research, which the product management team will use when creating medicine for that market.

Builds Crucial Relationships

Relationship-building is a critical component of the business development process. While acquiring new customers has its appeal, keeping existing customers will always result in a higher ROI — and it will cost you 5–25X less . 

So whether it's networking with prospective partners, cultivating existing talent , or courting potential customers, a skilled business developer can zero in on the relationships that require the most attention. 

In doing so, they'll be able to identify new business opportunities, generate leads, and make critical hires.

Boosts Growth and Lowers Costs

Growth is the end goal of business development, and one of the most common metrics for measuring business growth is the bottom line. Creating a strategy to increase the amount of money coming into the business while ensuring less money is going out is critical to business development. 

When you focus on business development, you identify which products and markets have the highest profit potential and which deals to chase first. As a result, you'll make wise business decisions that'll keep costs down and identify areas of funding needed to facilitate expansion.

Helps Improve Your Brand’s Overall Image

A well-known brand can make more money than a lesser-known brand. In fact, the value of the world’s 100 most valuable brands increased by 42% in 2021, totaling a whopping $7.1 trillion. 

Important Skills Business Developers Should Have

As your business grows, you may experience bottlenecks because of failing to notice problems as they emerge. These unexpected issues can arise within your company or outside the business due to, for example, poor customer management. 

In either case, hiring a business developer to identify the problems hindering business growth can be beneficial.

Here are some must-have skills for business developers:

Strong Communication Skills

An excellent business developer must be a team player and have strong communication skills. Teams with effective communication can increase their productivity by up to 25% , and these skills are required to engage all the different stakeholders involved. 

Business developers should also be able to confidently cold call prospects to increase the chances of gaining new clients. 

Understanding Your Business and the Competition

A business developer should understand your products and services. They should also know everything about your competitors to provide you with the leverage needed to outperform them. 

They'll conduct the necessary market research to identify your company's current position and competitive advantage over similar brands in the industry. 

Negotiation & Persuasion Skills

Business development professionals should be tactful and diplomatic at all times. They should know when to compromise and when to take a stand to achieve your business goals. 

They should also be able to win the hearts of your prospects to persuade them to become loyal customers.

High Collaboration Skills

Business development isn't a one-person show. Pumble shares that 86% of employees and executives blame workplace failures on a lack of effective collaboration and communication. 

An effective business developer should be able to influence and build relationships and manage conflicts to get things done. 

Effective Project Management Skills

Since developing a business is a project in itself, good business developers are effective project managers. Companies generally waste 11.4% of their resources due to ineffective project management. 

So, business development managers should be able to set goals, manage projects, establish timelines, manage risk, calculate budgets, delegate tasks, and manage teams.

How To Create a Business Development Strategy

A solid business development strategy instructs your team on how to generate high-value leads that'll ultimately support your organization's long-term goals. 

If you don't have a strategy, your team members may find it hard to identify qualified prospects . They may waste time developing relationships with prospects that'll never convert. 

That said, here are three main steps to developing a reliable business development strategy:

Identify Your Audience and Competitive Landscape

Crafting a successful business development strategy starts with identifying your target audience. Focus on specific companies or clients that present significant growth opportunities for your business. 

That's crucial because business development is a long-term game. The customer relationships you build may take months or even years to turn into sales. So, you don't want to build relationships with unqualified prospects.

Moreover, identify other businesses operating in your industry and get a clear picture of what they're offering to differentiate your product and deliver value to your customers.

Determine Which Channels To Use To Achieve Your Business Targets

Once you've identified your target audience and understood the competitive landscape, outline the channels you'll use to achieve your targets. That involves analyzing your yearly revenue goals and developing specific ways to achieve them. 

The most effective business development channels are a combination of advertising, networking, referrals, content marketing, and cold calls.

Set SMART Goals and Choose Effective KPIs

Set SMART — specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound — goals for each channel to measure and track your progress. 

Your business development objectives don't have to be directly related to revenue generation, but they should contain strategies for introducing prospects to your sales funnel .

In addition, ensure you can measure those goals with relevant, meaningful KPIs that reflect your company's health. 

These metrics should give you a good idea of how effective your business development efforts are.

Thanks to inbound and the HubSpot software, we’ve been able to bridge the gap between marketing and closed sales.

Charl Grobler

National Marketing and Product Planning Manager

Suzuki South Africa

Wrapping Up

Business development is vital to any successful company. It helps you figure out the best ways to identify your ideal prospects, generate more leads, close more deals, and boost revenue.

However, you must carefully craft your business development strategy to avoid losses resulting from misguided attempts to gain new clients and business opportunities.

A simple business development plan is far more effective than having several complex strategies in the hopes of seeing positive results. When implemented correctly, fewer elements always produce better results.

Learn about HubSpot's sales tools that are built to help your business build for growth.

Scale quick, stay lean. Bring your teams together with HubSpot’s CRM.

Frequently Asked Questions

What qualifications do you need for business development.

Most companies prefer candidates who have a Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, or a related field. They also want individuals with basic knowledge of CRM software and MS Office and an understanding of different markets and marketing strategies.

Whatis a business development executive?

A business development executive oversees the business development process within the company to promote its long-term growth. This position is ideal for people who enjoy working as part of a corporate management team. 

You can do well as a business development executive if you have a knack for numbers and sales strategies, strong communication and interpersonal skills, and work well under pressure.

What is the difference between marketing and business development?

A marketing department focuses on the consumer, their journey from awareness to loyalty, and the strategies used to get them there. 

Business development, however, focuses on the tasks and processes that'll increase revenue opportunities.

How to Create a Business Development Strategy for Your Sales Team [Template]

Updated: May 19, 2021

Published: June 05, 2019

Before HubSpot was named "HubSpot," it was LegalSpot.

According to Brian Halligan , LegalSpot was going to be "a suite of applications that helped you manage your law firm." He and Dharmesh Shah then "tinkered" with their business model until they transformed it into the universal Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service Hub it is today.

The moral of the story? Brian and Dharmesh had a business plan from the start. They created a development process that fostered growth and strategized for long-term success. That's what propelled a lunch table idea into the first software for Inbound Marketing .

If you want your business to grow, you need a business development process that's organized and consistent. If you're not sure where to start, let's begin with discussing what a business development process is and how to create a strategy to improve it. Then, we'll wrap up with a free template you can use to implement a plan at your company.

Business Development Process

The business development process refers to the steps your business takes to improve the organization as a whole. This includes everything you do to attract, engage, and delight your customers. Outlining this process helps your team understand current business conditions and set goals for the future.

It's important that your sales team understands your business development process because they can use that knowledge to set annual sales targets.

For example, let's say your business development team finds that your U.S. sales are growing and are projected to hit five million dollars in five years. With this information at hand, sales management can set hiring goals and review sales strategies to ensure they meet their projected growth.

Once you hash out your business development process, you'll need a plan that improves it over time. To help you get started, let's go over what a business development strategy is and how you can implement one at your company.

Business Development Strategy

A business development strategy is a detailed plan outlining how an organization will grow and succeed over time. Companies use business development strategy to address specific business needs that influence the organization's growth. By creating a long-term development plan, marketing, sales, and customer service departments have a better understanding of how their work contributes to the business's success.

If your company doesn't have a development strategy, or you're unsure about how to make one, let's go over the steps to creating a plan in the next section.

Business Development Strategy Plan

1. mission statement and background.

Your business development strategy should begin with outlining your company's purpose as well as any relevant background information. This includes your mission statement, vision statement, and company history. Having this information front and center makes your organization's intentions clear to the reader and present throughout the document.

Before you start describing your goals and strategies, it's important to highlight the employees that will make this plan possible. You should outline who your sales leadership consists of, the team's overall structure, and any new hires that join the organization. This not only develops a chain of command, but it also helps you identify hiring needs and fill vacant positions.

3. Target Market

Once we have the background information out of the way, the next step is to describe your target audience. You'll need to identify who your product or service is designed for and how you'll segment this audience for your sales team. You should also discuss audiences that shouldn't be pursued to ensure your team is engaging with qualified leads.

The best place to start is by describing the location of your target audience. Are they nation-wide or region-based? If region-based, how will you reach them?

Then, include your buyer personas . Buyer personas are representations of your ideal customers based on market research and existing customer data. This will highlight to your sales team the exact type of customer they should be pursuing.

4. Tools, Software, and Resources

The next section should describe the tools, software, and resources that will help you achieve your goals. This includes your CRM , marketing automation, social media, and customer service tools. These assets streamline functions and store valuable information about your customers. Your sales team should be aware of each of these tools as they may be useful for closing a deal.

While your sales team may work with a variety of tools, there are some core ones that should always be listed in this section. For example, email and calling software are essential tools for sales teams. Without them, your salespeople wouldn't be able to effectively communicate with your customer base.

5. Positioning

The positioning section should describe how your product or service is viewed in your industry. Start by outlining the market conditions, then explain how your business brings value to the industry. This information is important for new hires who need to understand how your company is different from competitors.

You can take it one step further by including a competitor analysis as well. A competitor analysis highlights your company's strengths and weaknesses and provides counterpoints to address your organization's flaws. This will help your sales team maintain consistency when communicating with customers.

6. Marketing Strategy

This section should include an overview of your entire marketing strategy. This includes any email, blog, event, video, social media, or direct mail campaigns. It's important for marketing and sales teams to work together, so your team will need to know which campaigns are being executed and when.

7. Prospecting Strategy

Your prospecting strategy should describe the steps your sales team will take to qualify leads. If this process is inconsistent, your team will have trouble closing deals. Be sure to list each step in your prospecting strategy so your team knows exactly how to engage customers.

You should first list your criteria for reaching out to a prospect. Explain what a prospect has to do in order to be viewed as a good fit for a sales pitch. Then, describe your inbound and outbound prospecting strategy. These are the steps your team takes to convert a prospect into a customer.

Now, it's time to set goals. Determine what your sales targets are and list them in this section for your team to see. This should include metrics like revenue, deals closed, and units sold. Make these goals clear to your team and keep them relevant to your work over time. If there are any lulls or declines, remind your team about your goals and what they can do to achieve them.

9. Action Plan

Once your goals are set, you'll need a plan to achieve them. This section is reserved for the steps your sales team will take to hit your goals. This includes the number of calls they'll make, locations they'll visit, and high-profile clients they'll work with. Making these quotas clear provides your team with a realistic strategy for meeting your goals.

You should conclude your business development strategy by outlining your sales budget. Explain how much you're willing to spend on your sales initiatives and forecast what you predict the actual amount will be. Be sure to consider factors like payroll, commission, travel, food, and anything else that keeps your sales team operating.

Business Development Strategy Plan Template

Now that you're familiar with every aspect of a business development strategy, it's time to create one for your sales team. To help, we put together the free template below that you can download here .

For more ways to improve business strategy, read about these business development skills .

Don't forget to share this post!

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Start » strategy, how to create a ‘biz dev’ strategy to grow your business.

A strong business development strategy allows your business to create strong relationships with promising prospects and generate revenue.

If you ask 10 professionals what business development, or ‘biz dev,’ is, you’ll likely get 10 different answers.

To some, business development is just another term for sales. Many view it as the process of forming strategic partnerships. Others define it as a marketing tactic.

Business development expert Scott Pollack describes it best : “Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets and relationships.”

This makes business development unique from other professional fields because the day-to-day tasks vary greatly by industry and by the specific needs of each organization. It is often the link between several different departments, such as marketing, branding and sales, and business development professionals collaborate with these teams to discover opportunities and develop relationships that ultimately have a positive impact on the organization.

Sales vs. business development

It’s easy to view business development as a sales process, but they’re not quite the same job.

The main objective of sales is to close deals with customers to drive revenue and maintain a high profit margin. A salesperson works at the end of the sales funnel to close deals, ensure products or services are delivered, and create repeat customers.

Business development, on the other hand, looks for prospects, nurtures relationships and guides leads toward the sales funnel. It is the process of identifying ideal customers and partnerships, building relationships and developing solutions that can then be handed off to the sales team to close.

While they are two very different roles within an organization, sales and business development work in tandem to generate revenue and grow the business.

Why you need a business development strategy

A strong business development strategy is the roadmap that instructs your team how to find and generate high-value leads to support your long-term goals.

Without a strategy, your team may struggle to find qualifying prospects or, at worst, spend months developing a relationship with prospects who don’t convert.

Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets and relationships.

Scott Pollack, business development expert

How to create a business development strategy for your business

There are four main steps to take in creating a firm, reliable business development strategy.

Identify your audience

Creating a successful business development strategy starts with identifying your ideal audience. Focus on specific firms or individuals that will propel your business forward. You don’t need to have a large audience, but you do need a high-quality one.

Business development can be a long process, and the relationships you develop may take months or even years to turn into a sale. The last thing you want is to foster a relationship with an unqualified prospect.

Perform market research

Once you have defined your audience, learn everything you can about them. Before you can encourage your audience to work with you, you have to be able to answer the following questions:

• What are their primary issues?
• What specific services do they need?
• How are they solving their problems right now?
• How does your product or service improve their current situation?

With these questions answered, you can start analyzing your competition. Understand what makes you different from all of your competitors. This is the competitive advantage that you will use to communicate your value to prospects.

Determine which channels to use

The next step is to assess your total revenue goals for the year and determine which channels will help you achieve that target. The most common business development channels are a combination of networking, referrals, advertising, cold calls and content marketing.

• Networking is one of the oldest and most commonly used business development strategies. Depending on your industry, face-to-face networking may still be the best way to connect with your target audience and build strong relationships. However, this method of networking can be time-consuming and expensive, so many industries have shifted to primarily digital networking through social platforms like LinkedIn.
• Referrals can be a great business development strategy, as a positive relationship with a satisfied customer can lead you to a whole new network of prospects. Many small businesses get most or all of their business from referrals. However, relying on your clients to drum up business for you is passive and may not always result in steady leads.
• Paid advertising , especially through digital platforms, is another solid business development tactic. The key to digital advertising is to find your target audience on their preferred platform and start there. If your audience are avid YouTube users, create strong, targeted video ads and post them there. If your audience has a high engagement rate with your brand on Twitter, advertise there.
• Content marketing has become one of the best ways for companies to interface with their audience and showcase their expertise. In fact, according to the Content Marketing Institute , content marketing generates three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less. It has a strong ROI, and it gives your audience the space to discover your brand organically.

Define S.M.A.R.T. goals

For each channel, set S.M.A.R.T—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-related— goals to measure and track your progress. Your business development goals don’t have to be directly tied to generating revenue, but they should involve methods of introducing prospects to your sales funnel.

If you need help or inspiration defining your goals, take a look at these five S.M.A.R.T. goals for business development from Rapidan Inbound.

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All Business Strategies Fall into 4 Categories

• Jerome Barthelemy

Some are more creative than others.

The problem with strategy frameworks is that although they can help you determine whether an opportunity is attractive or whether a given strategy is likely to work, they generally don’t help you in the task of identifying the opportunity or crafting the strategy in the first place. This article introduces a framework, built on an in-depth analysis of the creativity literature, that aims to fill that gap by providing a systematic approach to identifying potential strategies. The framework categorizes all strategies into the following four groups, from the least creative to the most creative: adapting an existing industry strategy, combining different existing industry strategies, importing strategies from other industries, and creating a brand new strategy from scratch.

The problem with strategy frameworks is that although they can help you determine whether a given opportunity is attractive or whether a particular strategy is likely to work, they generally don’t help you in the task of identifying the opportunity or crafting the strategy in the first place. As the legendary strategy expert Gary Hamel put it: “ The dirty little secret of the strategy industry is that it doesn’t have any theory of strategy creation .”

• Jérôme Barthélemy is Executive Vice-President, Dean for Post Experience Programs, Corporate Programs and Relations and Professor of Strategy and Management at ESSEC Business School. He is the author of Myths of Strategy (Kogan Page, 2023)

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Oracle’s generative AI strategy

Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing the way that we interact with the world. This change presents both opportunities and challenges for organizations that want to take advantage of new AI technologies . Nowhere is this idea truer than with generative AI . Generative AI models combine the ability to assimilate knowledge from many sources and use it to automate tasks and enhance human creativity and productivity. Using this technology, organizations can summarize documents, build tables, create new and meaningful text, generate code, and synthesize ideas.

Many vendors are trying to move quickly in this space, but no one is addressing the specific, end-to-end needs of enterprise customers with generative AI.

Oracle’s strategy aims at the enterprise

Oracle’s strategy is built around the reality that enterprises work with AI through three different modalities: Infrastructure, models and services , and within applications.

First, we provide a robust infrastructure for training and serving models at scale. Through our partnership with NVIDIA, we can give customers superclusters , which are powered by the latest GPUs in the market connected together with an ultra-low-latency RDMA over converged ethernet (RoCE) network. This solution provides a highly performant, cost-effective method for training generative AI models at scale. Many AI startups like Adept and MosaicML are building their products directly on OCI.

Second, we provide easy-to-use cloud services for developers and scientists to utilize in fully managed implementations. We’re enabling new generative AI services and business functions through our partnership with Cohere , a leading generative AI company for enterprise-grade large language models (LLMs). Through our partnership with Cohere, we’re building a new generative AI service. This upcoming AI service, OCI Generative AI, enables OCI customers to add generative AI capabilities to their own applications and workflows through simple APIs.

Third, we embed generative models into the applications and workflows that business users use every day. Oracle plans to embed generative AI from Cohere into its Fusion, NetSuite, and our vertical software-as-a-service (SaaS) portfolio to create solutions that provide organizations with the full power of generative AI immediately. Across industries, Oracle can provide native generative AI-based features to help organizations automate key business functions, improve decision-making, and enhance customer experiences. For example, in healthcare, Oracle Cerner manages billions of electronic health records (EHR). Using anonymized data, Oracle can create generative models adapted to the healthcare domain, such as automatically generating a patient discharge summary or a letter of authorization for medical insurance.

Oracle’s generative AI offerings span applications to infrastructure and provide the highest levels of security, performance, efficiency, and value.

The Oracle difference for generative AI

Many major cloud providers are coming out with generative AI offerings right now. But what makes Oracle best suited for generative AI? Some of the differences are clear, such as an established history of storing the world’s most business-critical, valuable data, a modern data platform , and low-cost, high-performance AI infrastructure .

However, more factors demonstrate why Oracle can declare that its generative AI offering is truly built for enterprises with an approach that spans considerations, such as cloud-to-on-premises data, deployment to business apps, security, data privacy, and now the best LLMs for enterprise success.

Powerful and high-performing models

Oracle works to create the best models for your organization using its unique data and industry knowledge. From acquisitions, such as Cerner, and experience through our suite of business apps, Oracle trains specialized models that are unique to verticals and our industry-leading SaaS solutions. But Oracle’s approach further enables organizations to refine these prebuilt models using their own data, so the models understand an organization’s business like no other.

Unrivaled data security, privacy, and governance

As customers refine and train prebuilt generative AI models with their own data, they can also trust that Oracle continues to fully protect data. Unlike other generative AI offerings, Oracle’s generative AI doesn’t mix customer data. The models trained by customers are unique to them, and tools for accessing data provenance and lineage are available. Oracle protect data privacy and sovereignty.

Embedded generative AI services

Oracle is integrating and embedding AI across its portfolio of cloud applications, including CRM, ERP, HCM, CX and EMR applications. In addition, Oracle is making generative AI capabilities available in its database portfolio in the same way that it introduced machine learning (ML) features in Oracle Database service and MySQL HeatWave.

Generative AI available wherever customers need it

Customers can use Oracle’s upcoming OCI Generative AI service on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and reap all the benefits of public cloud: Pay for what you use, scale on demand, customize models, and create private model endpoints.

Oracle can also deliver the complete AI stack to organizations’ data centers with cloud deployment options, such as OCI Dedicated Region, to enable organizations to combine generative AI capabilities together with their on-premises data and applications.

Join the AI revolution

As Oracle Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison highlighted in the Q4 FY23 earnings call, a technology revolution is dawning, one in which AI plays a central role. Oracle envisions a world where AI models can help humans more quickly extract insights from enterprise data, augment human creativity and empower human-centric interfaces to solve real-world problems. Join the revolution with Oracle!

If you’re new to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, try Oracle Cloud Free Trial , a free 30-day trial with US$300 in credits. For more information, see the following resources:

Generative AI at Oracle

OCI AI Services

OCI Data Science

Greg Pavlik

Svp, oracle cloud infrastructure.

Greg Pavlik is senior vice president where is responsible for product strategy, service delivery, and physical infrastructure for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. His goal is to ensure Oracle has the most capable and performant cloud platform in the market.

Oracle’s strategy aims at the enterprise

Oracle’s strategy is built around the reality that enterprises work with AI through three different modalities: Infrastructure, models and services , and within applications.

Second, we provide easy-to-use cloud services for developers and scientists to utilize in fully managed implementations. We’re enabling new generative AI services and business functions through our partnership with Cohere , a leading generative AI company for enterprise-grade large language models (LLMs). Through our partnership with Cohere, we’re building a new generative AI service. This upcoming AI service, OCI Generative AI, enables OCI customers to add generative AI capabilities to their own applications and workflows through simple APIs.

Third, we embed generative models into the applications and workflows that business users use every day. Oracle plans to embed generative AI from Cohere into its Fusion, NetSuite, and our vertical software-as-a-service (SaaS) portfolio to create solutions that provide organizations with the full power of generative AI immediately. Across industries, Oracle can provide native generative AI-based features to help organizations automate key business functions, improve decision-making, and enhance customer experiences. For example, in healthcare, Oracle Cerner manages billions of electronic health records (EHR). Using anonymized data, Oracle can create generative models adapted to the healthcare domain, such as automatically generating a patient discharge summary or a letter of authorization for medical insurance.

Oracle’s generative AI offerings span applications to infrastructure and provide the highest levels of security, performance, efficiency, and value.

Many major cloud providers are coming out with generative AI offerings right now. But what makes Oracle best suited for generative AI? Some of the differences are clear, such as an established history of storing the world’s most business-critical, valuable data, a modern data platform , and low-cost, high-performance AI infrastructure .

Oracle works to create the best models for your organization using its unique data and industry knowledge. From acquisitions, such as Cerner, and experience through our suite of business apps, Oracle trains specialized models that are unique to verticals and our industry-leading SaaS solutions. But Oracle’s approach further enables organizations to refine these prebuilt models using their own data, so the models understand an organization’s business like no other.

As customers refine and train prebuilt generative AI models with their own data, they can also trust that Oracle continues to fully protect data. Unlike other generative AI offerings, Oracle’s generative AI doesn’t mix customer data. The models trained by customers are unique to them, and tools for accessing data provenance and lineage are available. Oracle protect data privacy and sovereignty.

Customers can use Oracle’s upcoming OCI Generative AI service on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and reap all the benefits of public cloud: Pay for what you use, scale on demand, customize models, and create private model endpoints.

Oracle can also deliver the complete AI stack to organizations’ data centers with cloud deployment options, such as OCI Dedicated Region, to enable organizations to combine generative AI capabilities together with their on-premises data and applications.

If you’re new to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, try Oracle Cloud Free Trial , a free 30-day trial with US$300 in credits. For more information, see the following resources:

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Priced Out of Housing, Communities Take Development Into Their Own Hands

Across the country, neighborhood groups are uniting to fund mixed-use developments that meet housing and business demands, giving locals a place to live, work and learn new skills.

By Keith Schneider

Reporting from Traverse City, Mich.

As the owner of the coffee retailer Higher Grounds Trading Company, Chris Treter had a problem: Business was booming, but his new hires couldn’t find affordable places to live.

“Traverse City is becoming Myrtle Beach meets Hilton Head — a place catering to a population outside the region,” Mr. Treter said. “Our work force can’t live here anymore.”

Mr. Treter and others in this small Lake Michigan community with a population of nearly 16,000 came up with a solution: a 47,000 square-foot building that offered spaces for residences, businesses and community activities that had been in short supply as gentrification in the city pushed prices up and local residents out.

What sets this project apart from others like it is how it’s paid for. Mr. Treter developed the space with Kate Redman, a lawyer who works with nonprofit organizations, and several other entrepreneurs who were dealing with similar challenges. They created a crowdfunding campaign that recruited nearly 500 residents to invest $1.3 million as a down payment to help finance the project’s construction and earn up to 7 percent annually in dividend payments. Roughly 500 more residents contributed $50 each to join the project as co-op members.

The $20 million development, called Commongrounds, opened late last year. It is at full occupancy and consists of 18 income-based apartments (rent below market rate based on median income), five hotel-like rooms for short-term rentals, a restaurant, three commercial kitchens (for the restaurant and to be used for events and classes), a food market, a coffee training center (for new hires and developing new drinks), a 150-seat performing arts center, a co-working space, offices and a Montessori preschool.

The owners, made up of over 1,000 co-op members, also embrace a cooperative management approach to operations. Shareholders, business tenants and apartment renters elect the project’s nine-member board of directors.

Commongrounds is the latest and largest example of what developers of similar projects across the United States call “community-owned cooperative real estate.” The strategy was developed a decade ago by a nonprofit legal group and a nonprofit neighborhood group in Oakland, Calif., and has been refined by legal and development groups in Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, Ore., and other cities.

The cooperative strategy enables neighborhood groups to finance unconventional construction or renovation projects that banks and institutional lenders, which prefer strong cash-flow operations, won’t touch.

“It’s part of a robust movement for community control and affordable real estate, rather than enabling high-priced development at the whims of the market,” said Mohit Mookim, a lawyer at the Sustainable Economies Law Center, a nonprofit group in Oakland that helped develop the strategy.

Much of the approach stems from efforts by the federal and local governments to make it easier for small investors to put money into real estate developments. Federal rules once barred small investors — those whose net worth is less than $1 million or who make less than $200,000 a year in income — from participating in development projects; that changed in 2015. At the same time, a few states enacted laws allowing small investors to put their money into local developments.

“Until that change, 90 percent of the residents in a community couldn’t make direct investments in a real estate project,” said Chris Miller, the board chairman of the National Coalition for Community Capital, a nonprofit group. “Michigan allows nonaccredited investors to invest up to $10,000 in a project now. That was unheard-of before.”

Cooperative developments can now be found throughout the country. For this article, we identified roughly 15 cooperatively owned projects in the United States. Here are a few of them:

In Oakland, the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative is widely credited with being one of the first community groups to apply the community-owned cooperative concept to a neighborhood project. In 2019, the group raised $185,000 from a crowdfunding campaign that attracted more than 25 investors to help finance a $1.3 million project to buy and renovate Co-op 789, a four-unit apartment building in North Oakland.

Noni Session, a co-founder and the director of East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, said community-owned cooperative projects responded to the economic disruption caused by what she called the “standard capital pathway” of conventional development. Developers and private bankers who live and work outside the city, she said, typically ignore local residents as they pursue projects that are heralded as “neighborhood revitalization.”

“Almost all of that overlooks every single person in a nonaffluent community like West Oakland,” Ms. Session said. “Our model is economic inclusion. The goal is to reclaim our city and recapture power for how it develops.”

In Boston , 81 community investors raised $142,500 to start construction in 2022 on a vacant lot on Dorchester Avenue for a five-story building that consisted of 29 affordable apartments and a bookstore on the ground floor.

The developer, TLee Development, recruited the individual investors for the $9.65 million project, which was completed last year.

“We’re involved in 15 projects like this around Boston,” said Declan Keefe, a co-founder of CoEverything, a Boston architecture and development consultancy that specializes in community-owned cooperative projects. “The focus is community ownership so that people aren’t being displaced.”

In Atlanta , a worker-owned cooperative called the Guild established the Community Stewardship Trust, in which local residents could buy shares and have a say in future projects that the Guild is involved with. The Guild’s first project is the purchase of an abandoned 7,000-square-foot building on Dill Avenue that it is expanding to 21,000 square feet for 18 units of affordable housing, a grocery store, a co-working space and three commercial kitchens. The project is expected to open this year.

“Our goal is making sure that in neighborhoods that are gentrifying, the people that made these neighborhoods great get to benefit from the development that’s happening,” said Nikishka Iyengar, the founder and director of the Guild.

In Traverse City, Commongrounds was driven by some of the same principles of affordability and community oversight. Once a temperate seasonal beachfront outpost, the city has added 1,000 new residents over the past decade and evolved into a busy, increasingly expensive all-season urban center.

Downtown is booming with new and expensive residential and commercial construction. A one-bedroom apartment typically rents for over $1,900 a month, while annual median individual incomes have barely nudged above $31,000. The median price for homes climbed to nearly $400,000 in February, more than twice what it was in 2010.

Joe Sarafa, a local developer and property manager, helped guide Mr. Treter through the details of buying the half-acre Commongrounds site along the Boardman River, which flows through the city. Eight residents, most of them prominent community activists, invested $550,000 to buy the property and become the project’s first investors.

Ms. Redman, with the help of volunteers, organized public meetings to decide the project’s core mission and develop the crowdfunding strategy. They worked with city officials to adjust several zoning restrictions, such as drastically reducing parking requirements.

Another important player was Jeff Hickman, a vice president of Coastal States Bank who lives in Traverse City and arranged $8 million in rural business and industry loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The balance was funded by a nonprofit lender, and state and county grants.

The finished building, with its sunlight-filled public spaces and inviting offices and residences, was designed by Ray Kendra, a local architect.

“What I want to do now is work on more community-owned projects,” said Ms. Redman, who manages the building’s staff. “There’s interest here to develop more housing and more real estate that meets community needs.”

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40 Facts About Elektrostal

Written by Lanette Mayes

Modified & Updated: 21 May 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

Elektrostal is a vibrant city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia. With a rich history, stunning architecture, and a thriving community, Elektrostal is a city that has much to offer. Whether you are a history buff, nature enthusiast, or simply curious about different cultures, Elektrostal is sure to captivate you.

This article will provide you with 40 fascinating facts about Elektrostal, giving you a better understanding of why this city is worth exploring. From its origins as an industrial hub to its modern-day charm, we will delve into the various aspects that make Elektrostal a unique and must-visit destination.

So, join us as we uncover the hidden treasures of Elektrostal and discover what makes this city a true gem in the heart of Russia.

Key Takeaways:

• Elektrostal, known as the “Motor City of Russia,” is a vibrant and growing city with a rich industrial history, offering diverse cultural experiences and a strong commitment to environmental sustainability.
• With its convenient location near Moscow, Elektrostal provides a picturesque landscape, vibrant nightlife, and a range of recreational activities, making it an ideal destination for residents and visitors alike.

Known as the “Motor City of Russia.”

Elektrostal, a city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia, earned the nickname “Motor City” due to its significant involvement in the automotive industry.

Home to the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Elektrostal is renowned for its metallurgical plant, which has been producing high-quality steel and alloys since its establishment in 1916.

Boasts a rich industrial heritage.

Elektrostal has a long history of industrial development, contributing to the growth and progress of the region.

Founded in 1916.

The city of Elektrostal was founded in 1916 as a result of the construction of the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Located approximately 50 kilometers east of Moscow.

Elektrostal is situated in close proximity to the Russian capital, making it easily accessible for both residents and visitors.

Known for its vibrant cultural scene.

Elektrostal is home to several cultural institutions, including museums, theaters, and art galleries that showcase the city’s rich artistic heritage.

A popular destination for nature lovers.

Surrounded by picturesque landscapes and forests, Elektrostal offers ample opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, and birdwatching.

Hosts the annual Elektrostal City Day celebrations.

Every year, Elektrostal organizes festive events and activities to celebrate its founding, bringing together residents and visitors in a spirit of unity and joy.

Has a population of approximately 160,000 people.

Elektrostal is home to a diverse and vibrant community of around 160,000 residents, contributing to its dynamic atmosphere.

Boasts excellent education facilities.

The city is known for its well-established educational institutions, providing quality education to students of all ages.

A center for scientific research and innovation.

Elektrostal serves as an important hub for scientific research, particularly in the fields of metallurgy , materials science, and engineering.

Surrounded by picturesque lakes.

The city is blessed with numerous beautiful lakes , offering scenic views and recreational opportunities for locals and visitors alike.

Well-connected transportation system.

Elektrostal benefits from an efficient transportation network, including highways, railways, and public transportation options, ensuring convenient travel within and beyond the city.

Famous for its traditional Russian cuisine.

Food enthusiasts can indulge in authentic Russian dishes at numerous restaurants and cafes scattered throughout Elektrostal.

Home to notable architectural landmarks.

Elektrostal boasts impressive architecture, including the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Elektrostal Palace of Culture.

Offers a wide range of recreational facilities.

Residents and visitors can enjoy various recreational activities, such as sports complexes, swimming pools, and fitness centers, enhancing the overall quality of life.

Provides a high standard of healthcare.

Elektrostal is equipped with modern medical facilities, ensuring residents have access to quality healthcare services.

Home to the Elektrostal History Museum.

The Elektrostal History Museum showcases the city’s fascinating past through exhibitions and displays.

A hub for sports enthusiasts.

Elektrostal is passionate about sports, with numerous stadiums, arenas, and sports clubs offering opportunities for athletes and spectators.

Celebrates diverse cultural festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal hosts a variety of cultural festivals, celebrating different ethnicities, traditions, and art forms.

Electric power played a significant role in its early development.

Elektrostal owes its name and initial growth to the establishment of electric power stations and the utilization of electricity in the industrial sector.

Boasts a thriving economy.

The city’s strong industrial base, coupled with its strategic location near Moscow, has contributed to Elektrostal’s prosperous economic status.

Houses the Elektrostal Drama Theater.

The Elektrostal Drama Theater is a cultural centerpiece, attracting theater enthusiasts from far and wide.

Popular destination for winter sports.

Elektrostal’s proximity to ski resorts and winter sport facilities makes it a favorite destination for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter activities.

Promotes environmental sustainability.

Elektrostal prioritizes environmental protection and sustainability, implementing initiatives to reduce pollution and preserve natural resources.

Home to renowned educational institutions.

Elektrostal is known for its prestigious schools and universities, offering a wide range of academic programs to students.

Committed to cultural preservation.

The city values its cultural heritage and takes active steps to preserve and promote traditional customs, crafts, and arts.

Hosts an annual International Film Festival.

The Elektrostal International Film Festival attracts filmmakers and cinema enthusiasts from around the world, showcasing a diverse range of films.

Encourages entrepreneurship and innovation.

Elektrostal supports aspiring entrepreneurs and fosters a culture of innovation, providing opportunities for startups and business development.

Offers a range of housing options.

Elektrostal provides diverse housing options, including apartments, houses, and residential complexes, catering to different lifestyles and budgets.

Home to notable sports teams.

Elektrostal is proud of its sports legacy, with several successful sports teams competing at regional and national levels.

Boasts a vibrant nightlife scene.

Residents and visitors can enjoy a lively nightlife in Elektrostal, with numerous bars, clubs, and entertainment venues.

Promotes cultural exchange and international relations.

Elektrostal actively engages in international partnerships, cultural exchanges, and diplomatic collaborations to foster global connections.

Surrounded by beautiful nature reserves.

Nearby nature reserves, such as the Barybino Forest and Luchinskoye Lake, offer opportunities for nature enthusiasts to explore and appreciate the region’s biodiversity.

Commemorates historical events.

The city pays tribute to significant historical events through memorials, monuments, and exhibitions, ensuring the preservation of collective memory.

Promotes sports and youth development.

Elektrostal invests in sports infrastructure and programs to encourage youth participation, health, and physical fitness.

Hosts annual cultural and artistic festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal celebrates its cultural diversity through festivals dedicated to music, dance, art, and theater.

Provides a picturesque landscape for photography enthusiasts.

The city’s scenic beauty, architectural landmarks, and natural surroundings make it a paradise for photographers.

Connects to Moscow via a direct train line.

The convenient train connection between Elektrostal and Moscow makes commuting between the two cities effortless.

A city with a bright future.

Elektrostal continues to grow and develop, aiming to become a model city in terms of infrastructure, sustainability, and quality of life for its residents.

In conclusion, Elektrostal is a fascinating city with a rich history and a vibrant present. From its origins as a center of steel production to its modern-day status as a hub for education and industry, Elektrostal has plenty to offer both residents and visitors. With its beautiful parks, cultural attractions, and proximity to Moscow, there is no shortage of things to see and do in this dynamic city. Whether you’re interested in exploring its historical landmarks, enjoying outdoor activities, or immersing yourself in the local culture, Elektrostal has something for everyone. So, next time you find yourself in the Moscow region, don’t miss the opportunity to discover the hidden gems of Elektrostal.

Q: What is the population of Elektrostal?

A: As of the latest data, the population of Elektrostal is approximately XXXX.

Q: How far is Elektrostal from Moscow?

A: Elektrostal is located approximately XX kilometers away from Moscow.

Q: Are there any famous landmarks in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to several notable landmarks, including XXXX and XXXX.

Q: What industries are prominent in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal is known for its steel production industry and is also a center for engineering and manufacturing.

Q: Are there any universities or educational institutions in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to XXXX University and several other educational institutions.

Q: What are some popular outdoor activities in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal offers several outdoor activities, such as hiking, cycling, and picnicking in its beautiful parks.

Q: Is Elektrostal well-connected in terms of transportation?

A: Yes, Elektrostal has good transportation links, including trains and buses, making it easily accessible from nearby cities.

Q: Are there any annual events or festivals in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal hosts various events and festivals throughout the year, including XXXX and XXXX.

Elektrostal's fascinating history, vibrant culture, and promising future make it a city worth exploring. For more captivating facts about cities around the world, discover the unique characteristics that define each city . Uncover the hidden gems of Moscow Oblast through our in-depth look at Kolomna. Lastly, dive into the rich industrial heritage of Teesside, a thriving industrial center with its own story to tell.

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New-business building: A winning strategy in uncertain times

In today’s uncertain economic and geopolitical climate, playing offense—in combination with playing defense—is competitively advantageous and critical for long-term success. Taking an entrepreneurial approach and focusing on business building is an effective offensive strategy. 1 Matt Banholzer, Ralf Dreischmeier, Laura LaBerge, and Ari Libarikian, “ Business building: The path to resilience in uncertain times ,” McKinsey, December 19, 2022. Through business building, incumbents can diversify, shore up, protect, and expand. In the wake of crises, business builders tend to outperform their peers in terms of earnings and revenue growth. For example, following the 2008–09 financial crisis, companies with a business-building focus grew revenues at three times the rate of their peers (exhibit), 2 McKinsey analysis of 2007-2011 data from CPAnalytics and Capital IQ. and many start-ups that are decacorns (start-ups with a valuation of $10 billion or more) today emerged in times of crisis. Overall, according to McKinsey research, organizations that prioritize new-business building demonstrate greater revenue resilience than organizations that don’t. 3 “ New-business building in 2022: Driving growth in volatile times ,” McKinsey, November 15, 2022.

However, many companies are now retrenching instead—avoiding bold moves, delaying strategic investments, hoarding cash, and taking steps to increase efficiency only in core business operations. Yet boldly navigating continual turbulence is an imperative skill for today’s business leaders, given the growing likelihood of ongoing disruptions. Those that remain on the sidelines until conditions stabilize might find themselves in a never-ending period of waiting. A 2020 McKinsey survey of more than 1,000 business leaders highlights that 50 percent of revenues in five years are projected to come from products and services that don’t exist today. 4 “ 2021 global report: The state of new-business building ,” McKinsey, December 6, 2021. In other words, strategies that rely solely on existing revenue streams will miss out on significant potential.

How Nordvik used business building to increase revenues and profits

The success of Nordvik, a rapidly emerging real estate broker in Norway, serves as a compelling example of how a mature company can successfully build new businesses. The company built a new smartphone app, reinventing the omnichannel journey for both customers (property sellers, buyers, and prospects) and brokers. 1 See “Nordvik App,” Mac App Store, accessed November 7, 2023. As part of the strategy, it also built a digital housing ecosystem to provide value-adding services across touchpoints of the sales and buying process based on specific customer needs. 2 See “Nordvik App,” Mac App Store, accessed November 7, 2023. For instance, it generated additional revenue by integrating into the app third-party service providers offering mortgages, insurance products, and moving and lifestyle services. 3 See “Nordvik App,” Mac App Store, accessed November 7, 2023. Between 2019 and 2022, Nordvik quadrupled EBITDA and increased revenues by 27 percent annually; about 30 percent of EBITDA now comes from third-party services.

Broad challenges do exist, of course. We are more than two and a half years into the highest global inflation since the 1970s, with correspondingly high interest rates. Board and stakeholder attention to environmental, social, and governance risks and opportunities continues to rise. Companies that spent years lengthening their supply chains are now reining them in to reduce the risk of disruptions. Prices of essential commodities remain elevated and volatile. And ongoing geopolitical instability and protectionist policies continue to exacerbate the challenges leaders face. But companies whose leaders understand the importance of maintaining an offense-oriented posture, can manage the risk, and have the skills and focus to execute should prioritize business building (see sidebar, “How Nordvik used business building to increase revenues and profits”).

Five emerging archetypes for business building … and their benefits

With this mix of disruptive forces, five business-building approaches are gaining traction. They allow companies to create business models and supply chains that are less vulnerable to supply shocks and to build new, resource-light ventures and products. Although companies can respond to disruptive forces in other ways, business building stands out in terms of speed and impact. Companies can capture opportunities in response to these trends by adopting the following five approaches:

Fully embracing AI and automation

Tight labor markets are creating workforce shortages that could be alleviated through the adoption of AI and automation technologies. Recent advancements, such as AI chatbots that use natural language processing, support use cases aimed at reducing costs and increasing efficiency across many industries.

Automation could also lead to more secure and reliable supply chains by reducing dependency on potentially scarce local labor and increasing flexibility in supply chain design. Moreover, businesses could use automation and AI as the foundation for new, resource-light services and ventures. For example, software developers can complete coding tasks up to twice as fast with generative AI. 5 “ Unleashing developer productivity with generative AI ,” McKinsey, June 27, 2023.

Reimagining the business model to embrace ‘everything as a service’

In today’s business environment, reducing up-front costs and capital outlays for customers is crucial to lowering barriers to purchase. Everything-as-a-service (EaaS) products—with low up-front costs and recurring payments—are more affordable and accessible to a broader range of customers because they reduce the financial burden of making an outright purchase. Companies could increase market share and profitability by adopting EaaS models.

In addition, companies can gather more data on product usage from EaaS offerings and glean valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences. With a deeper understanding of what customers want and need, companies can tailor their offerings accordingly, thereby increasing the value they capture from each customer through more stable, recurring revenues and higher customer lifetime value. Customers are more likely to stay with a company that consistently delivers the experiences and convenience they desire.

Taking control of the value chain

In challenging times, controlling the value chain can enable companies to respond flexibly to disruptions. Companies can reshape businesses processes and value chains to better withstand supply chain disruptions and reduce vulnerability to external shocks, thus decreasing exposure to increasingly common risks and volatility. For instance, businesses can increase the resilience of their supply chains by moving production facilities closer to consumers, thus reducing their dependence on other companies and other factors outside their control.

They can also redefine their ecosystems to simplify distribution channels and reduce costs. A direct-to-consumer (D2C) model, for example, allows businesses to cut out third-party retailers. The D2C model has several benefits for companies. First and foremost, it leads to increased product margins because there is no sharing of profits. Second, the D2C model gives companies control of more customer data along the value chain—data they can use to get to know customers better and tailor products to meet their demands. Third, cutting out third parties gives companies control over the full customer experience, which they can parlay into increased profits by increasing customer satisfaction and lifetime value.

Transforming the business into a green leader

Some businesses are already prioritizing sustainability and leaning into the energy transition to gain a competitive edge and even reinvent themselves. Rising prices, consumer expectations, tightening regulations, and vulnerable supply chains are propelling the shift to circular business models that prioritize sustainability and are less vulnerable to global supply shocks. Companies that mitigate energy risk by implementing green technologies and practices are also benefiting from current tailwinds in the green economy (for example, ESG regulations). Ultimately, businesses that prioritize environmental responsibility are more likely to succeed in the long run.

Leveraging superior information to access new ‘embedded’ revenue streams

Companies can use their transferable incumbent advantages (for example, data about customers) to embed adjacent products or services into their offerings as a source of new revenue. This allows them to diversify into new ventures—alone or in partnership with other companies—with low customer acquisition costs and in a resource-light way. It also builds resilience by supporting the shift into new businesses that are less affected by geopolitical instability, economic volatility, and other prevailing headwinds.

Leaders can start building businesses by taking a comprehensive view across their entire portfolios and capabilities to identify the most promising opportunities. They can then proceed with vigor and conviction to capture these opportunities and surpass competitors in challenging market conditions. In the end, business building is a mindset, not a one-off activity, and needs to be institutionalized to ensure continued development and performance.

Markus Berger-de León is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Berlin office; Paul Jenkins is a senior partner in the Oslo office, where Ludwig Ulmer is an associate partner; and Ari Libarikian is a senior partner in the New York office.

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Related articles.

New-business building in 2022: Driving growth in volatile times

A practical guide to new-business building for incumbents

New business building: A new priority for CEOs

Time in Elektrostal , Moscow Oblast, Russia now

• Tokyo 02:07PM
• Beijing 01:07PM
• Kyiv 08:07AM
• Paris 07:07AM
• London 06:07AM
• New York 01:07AM
• Los Angeles 10:07PM

Time zone info for Elektrostal

• The time in Elektrostal is 8 hours ahead of the time in New York when New York is on standard time, and 7 hours ahead of the time in New York when New York is on daylight saving time.
• Elektrostal does not change between summer time and winter time.
• The IANA time zone identifier for Elektrostal is Europe/Moscow.

Time difference from Elektrostal

Sunrise, sunset, day length and solar time for elektrostal.

• Sunrise: 03:51AM
• Sunset: 08:56PM
• Day length: 17h 5m
• Solar noon: 12:24PM
• The current local time in Elektrostal is 24 minutes ahead of apparent solar time.

Elektrostal on the map

• Location: Moscow Oblast, Russia
• Latitude: 55.79. Longitude: 38.46
• Population: 144,000

Best restaurants in Elektrostal

• #1 Tolsty medved - Steakhouses food
• #2 Ermitazh - European and japanese food
• #3 Pechka - European and french food

Find best places to eat in Elektrostal

• Best pubs & bars in Elektrostal
• Best steak restaurants in Elektrostal
• Best bbqs in Elektrostal

The 50 largest cities in Russia

Current time by city

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Current time by country

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Time difference

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Coordinates

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Geographic coordinates of Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast, Russia

City coordinates

Coordinates of Elektrostal in decimal degrees

Coordinates of elektrostal in degrees and decimal minutes, utm coordinates of elektrostal, geographic coordinate systems.

WGS 84 coordinate reference system is the latest revision of the World Geodetic System, which is used in mapping and navigation, including GPS satellite navigation system (the Global Positioning System).

Geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) define a position on the Earth’s surface. Coordinates are angular units. The canonical form of latitude and longitude representation uses degrees (°), minutes (′), and seconds (″). GPS systems widely use coordinates in degrees and decimal minutes, or in decimal degrees.

Latitude varies from −90° to 90°. The latitude of the Equator is 0°; the latitude of the South Pole is −90°; the latitude of the North Pole is 90°. Positive latitude values correspond to the geographic locations north of the Equator (abbrev. N). Negative latitude values correspond to the geographic locations south of the Equator (abbrev. S).

Longitude is counted from the prime meridian ( IERS Reference Meridian for WGS 84) and varies from −180° to 180°. Positive longitude values correspond to the geographic locations east of the prime meridian (abbrev. E). Negative longitude values correspond to the geographic locations west of the prime meridian (abbrev. W).

UTM or Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system divides the Earth’s surface into 60 longitudinal zones. The coordinates of a location within each zone are defined as a planar coordinate pair related to the intersection of the equator and the zone’s central meridian, and measured in meters.

Elevation above sea level is a measure of a geographic location’s height. We are using the global digital elevation model GTOPO30 .

Elektrostal , Moscow Oblast, Russia