Keeping a Business Competitive

KEEPING A BUSINESS COMPETITIVE

Keeping a Business Competitive

Tiffany Burgi

School of Business, Liberty University

Author Note

Tiffany R. Burgi

I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tiffany R. Burgi.

Email: [email protected]

KEEPING A BUSINESS COMPETITIVE

by example. A lead that is also a Christian need to understand how to implement their Christian

principles and values into their everyday work. Leaders need to see how much value there is in

the data they are gathering and use it to the best of their abilities. Not all decisions need to be

made with analyzed data. Larger impactful decisions for a company should never be made

without analyzed data in order to avoid problems.

Keywords: Analytics, data, decision making, culture, data management, principles.

KEEPING A BUSINESS COMPETITIVE

been changing so that they are able to keep giving their customers what they need and keep

operating at the level they need. With the amount of data and evolving technology that

companies are dealing with, the ways they were doing business years ago are a thing of the past.

Because of this, companies need to have more than one way to manage the information. They

need to have several to keep their company competitive with others in their field. Because of the

changes in the business world, companies are forced to become more reliant on technology to

assist them in making decisions. Because of this, leadership needs to determine how much data

they need and balance that well to give it the best value.

Smaller companies often depend on the data they receive more than their employees

(Ahmed & Khan Pathan, 2019). Companies use predicting models, the trends in businesses and

the data they have gathered to make the decisions. The customers need to be understood by the

company for them to stay competitive in their fields. Companies need to understand the who,

what, where, when and why of the important things in their company to be able to use the right

things to gain the information they need to understand who their customers are that they are

serving. As Christian leaders, we need to make sure we do not just depend on the data and other

tools, but we also depend on God and what he wants from us as leaders. God needs to be a

guiding force in our decision making and our goals for the companies.

KEEPING A BUSINESS COMPETITIVE

beliefs with their work obligations. But good leadership cannot happen if the company is lacking

resources to obtain these goals.

In a company, the employees are one of the best resources they have to learn from

(Bartlett, 2013). Companies need to, in the hiring processes, make sure the people they are hiring

are able to use the tools they use to analyze and leverage their data with. They also need to make

sure they are also willing to learn new tools that come in the future. When a company needs to

understand their customers better, like how they act and try to predict what they will do, they

need to set up a good a business model based on analytics. When data have been collected in an

ethical way, and it is good data, it gives the power to the leadership to be informed decisions and

not make decisions in the dark. When a company uses data analytics well, it will give them an

edge to be competitive in their fields; when a company uses the right tools with data, algorithms

and statistical analysis, it with be able to avoid issues that could incapacitate its businesses.

Resources

A good strategy for a company is to look at its current employees and asses who would

be good at business analytics. Do they need to train them completely, or do they already have a

grasp on it and just need additional training? To do this, the company "requires an understanding

of how data supports risk, marketing, sales, and profitability considerations" (Bartlett, 2013). To

KEEPING A BUSINESS COMPETITIVE

there is input from all departments affected (Bartlett, 2013). Learning how to delegate

responsibilities is a skill leadership need to have and know how to do well. To have a good

analytical process, there needs to be collaboration and a sharing of resources within the

company. Companies need to have a good internal culture, which is vital in a company that is not

led by Christian values and those that are being led that way. Collaborations can be successful

inside companies if they are able to exchange knowledge, data and resources freely(Dubey et al.,

2019). Much like Bartlett talks about leadership Dubey et al. (2019), companies need to have a

sharing mentality to accomplish the goals for the company with the sharing of all its resources

without causing issues. Ultimately as Christian leaders, we need to make sure we understand

how data collection is done and facilitate collaboration to reach goals.

Business Analytics

The people are the ones that gather most of the data in the business world (Bartlett,

2013). In the business world, data collection is the norm. The leadership in the company is

responsible for deciding what is to be done with the information. When it comes to smaller

businesses and start-up businesses, they are also gathering data, but they won't necessarily do it

on as large of a scale as an established one would. Data analytics is the foundation for many

things within a company, and it is used in a multitude of ways; leadership keeps themselves

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not mean that leadership is only to use data analytics to make their decisions. Leadership have

the skills to combine the collection of data and the analysis of data and add in their knowledge

and experience to make decisions (Janssen et al., 2018). The data that had been analyzed will

give leadership information that supports how collaboration can be made and used (Ahmed &

Khan Pathan, 2019). There are so many ways to get the data that is needed to run companies

well, but if collaboration is needed and not used, it can hinder the decision making processes.

Data

If a company is not aware of how much data they are collecting and they are gathering

too much, it will lose its value and muddy the information needed to make good decisions with it

(Abuezhayeh et al., 2021). When a company embraces technology and uses it in the best way

possible new system will have to be learned to get or maintain the advantage in its field with its

decision making (Abuezhayeh et al., 2021). When a company bases its decisions on facts based

on the analysis and has a handle on the new data that comes in, along with the leadership

knowing their roles, the capability of the company will be elevated.

People

People can be the most essential investment in a company because of how they provide

assistance with the goal reaching or missing for a company (Janssen et al., 2018). They provide

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statistical and graphical models to have clarity with their decisions (Bartlett, 2013). People will

always have a hand in decision making. A company may use many tools, technology and

computer programs to aid in decision making, but it is ultimately a person that makes the final

decision.

Competitive Advantage

To have a competitive advantage, companies want to look at their past decision making

that was based on data that had been analyzed to see where they can make improvements and

avoid issues (Bartlett, 2013). It can be a good thing the leadership looks back at the past to make

current decisions. Data management and business analytics practices give companies a

competitive advantage and can set them apart from others in their field (Bartlett, 2013).

Leadership needs to know how to leverage the data to move ahead in their field. Inside a

company, leadership need to understand what their stakeholder wants and need. With that

information and the analyzed data, leaders are able to set goals that will help them stay

competitive.

Data Collection and Software

A company's data is collected from many different paces and in many different ways;

these ways could range from surveys, interviews, spreadsheets, reports, software and polls

KEEPING A BUSINESS COMPETITIVE

feedback. Companies need to make sure the data they are collecting is data that will be useful.

Frivolously collecting data can do more harm than good.

When companies are stringent and profit-driven need to have other purposes than just

selling their goods and services (Ahmed & Khan Pathan, 2019). Companies, when they start,

typically establish a purpose and mission statement. This will give the company guidance when

making decisions. When there is data collecting, the methods and meaning of the process need to

remain in line with the purpose and mission statement of the company. This will establish good

relationships within and outside of the company.

Statistical Diagnostics

Once a process for data collection is set up and the team has been formed to take care of

the correct way to analyze the data, it is important to include statistical analysis to create good

resolutions (Nalchigar & Yu, 2018). Within a company, every time a decision need to be made, it

would not require data to be collected. There are times when leadership can just make judgement

calls. This is the case when the decision that is being made does not have the potential to make

an impact on the company. Leadership will need to look at the data they get and search for

patterns that are hidden from the source data to make impactful decisions and find solutions that

might not have been there (Wu et al., 2020). When the leadership in a company are sure of their

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stakeholders in a way they can understand it (Bartlett, 2013). When company leadership has all

the proper information, they are able to combine both the analyzed data and information that is

not from the analyzed data to make informed decisions.

Data Management

Managing data is a complicated thing to do, and it needs more than just leadership

knowledge to analyze data (Bartlett, 2013). When a company establishes a customer base

database, the important thing is to use it to compete with other companies in their fields using the

analytics. When a company has strong data management in place, the company can with ease

access the information, depend on the data being good and give organization to the storage of the

data. Also, with a strong data management plan in place, a company will be able to manage all of

its assets and make decisions on what is useful to stay competitive.

Faith Integration

In a company, a Christian leader needs to focus on how to achieve the company goals and

what their mission statement needs to ensure they are providing what their customers need

(Krispin, 2019). When a Christian leader is determined to do this, they will be more focused on

getting the best data and applying them to the company's needs. They will also make sure their

ethics and principles are in every decision made. Christian leaders should be leading by example