For a business to prosper, it must coordinate efforts to satisfy customer needs in ways that are similar to or superior to what the competition offers. This means that the company must consider customer and market factors while planning strategies for its operations. This article discusses how the 3C's concept provides a framework to integrate three of the most important components of a business's growth aspirations.
What is it?
The 3C's model considers the three crucial elements that contribute to the growth of a business and the fulfillment of its objectives. It affirms that these three elements—the company itself, the customers, and the competition, must be considered and effectively integrated for the company to be successful. The 3C's concept holds that every company must find ways to satisfy its customers with a value/product/service that presents a competitive advantage in the market. The three components are briefly discussed below.
The Company
This refers to the human and material resources, strategies, organizational structure, and operations a company employs to achieve its objectives. It also covers the specialization of man and machine, the decision-making process, and other efforts involved in delivering a product or service.
The Customer
This includes factors influencing the customer's consuming habits, choices, and needs. By looking at the market from the customer's perspective, you can predict their preferences and use this knowledge appropriately. This is only possible by closely observing them and getting relevant feedback.
The Competition
The competition accounts for the forces that act to reduce your market share by providing alternatives to your product in the market. If your competition is a much stronger force than you, you must strive to measure up to them. This can be achieved by understudying and understanding the particular attributes and strategies that stand them out.
When do we use it?
Managers and people in positions of important company decision-making processes use the 3C's under the following circumstances.
When they need to consider the needs and the choices of their customers and the market in the design of their products, it helps them identify possible areas where they can provide the most value.
When they look to identify the company's strengths and weaknesses, it also helps them recognize opportunities in the market that can be exploited for good.
When an effort is made to improve a company's position in the market, it coordinates efforts to facilitate increased patronage and product awareness by establishing a relationship between each 3CS component.
It helps them identify areas where they can provide a competitive advantage over similar products in the market.
The 3C's provides the framework for evaluating the company's values, standards, vision, strategy, and unique value proposition. It can help to promote the company's brand image and establish its reputation.
What business questions is it helping us to answer?
What type of support does the business need to flourish, who is responsible for providing the support, and what area requires the most support?
What can be done to provide the business with a competitive advantage in the market? What appeal does it have, and what differentiates it from alternatives in the market?
What are the customer demographics, consuming habits, purchasing power, and value system that influences their choice? How can this information be processed to create a product that meets their needs?
What segment of the company's operation needs to be worked on? How can the company best deploy its resources and coordinate its operations to achieve its goals?
What does the competition offer in comparison to what you offer? How does this affect your customer's choices and influence their patronage?
How do we use it?
Using the 3C's framework demands that you find effective means to manage the three components in your company's favor effectively. This means that you have to play to your company's strengths, manage its weaknesses and achieve its objectives. The key to achieving this is to set up a work environment that promotes responsibility, collaboration, and productivity.
Your product should be designed to meet customer needs and then fitted with a unique value to offer something different from what is relatively obtainable. Therefore, you must first discover the unmet customer need or a pressing issue that needs attention. You can subsequently research what solutions are available and the companies that provide them.
With this information in hand, you can coordinate efforts on your company's production floor to find a better solution. If you find one, take it through rigorous testing, assess its performance, and ensure it optimally works for its intended purpose. You can now release this product to the market, and you will have fully implemented the 3C's framework.
Practical example
A Telecommunications company looks to use the 3C's model to navigate its next business journey. It looks to roll out 5G technology in its host nation. It considers that the customer is a burgeoning youth population that is largely literate and social media savvy. However, it has to compete with two other network providers. It steals a march on its competition by introducing lower data tariffs and achieving more widespread broadband connection for faster internet. In the end, it creates a value that appeals to the customers and edges the competition in doing so. The result is a widespread reception of its novel 5G market entry, leading to greater profit postings.
Advantages
The 3C's concept is simple to understand and implement. It does not necessarily require expert input to be carried out.
It provides a framework for initiating strategic conversations and operations with people in positions of authority and influence.
It provides a holistic approach to workplace management by factoring in all the elements of the 3C's in strategic planning. A change in one of the 3C's will affect the other components.
It helps business managers carry out internal and external analyses of workplace conditions and their components.
It seeks ways to provide for a company's success by developing strategies through the perspective of the customer, the company, and the competition.
Disadvantages
While it provides the data that'll prove useful for strategy creation, it is not, by itself, a tool to help you determine your business strategy.
It may take a lot more time to be executed. The time spent researching the competition and getting relevant customer feedback may be a luxury for certain companies.
The quality of the 3C's exercise is affected by the quality and consistency of the collected data and the persons who analyze the data.
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