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Identify opportunities arising from your current business

You can uncover business opportunities by analyzing your current business operations.

Taking stock of your strengths and weaknesses can help you discover areas where you could be more efficient and identify redundancies. Following through on these results can go a long way in contributing to your bottom line.

1. Identify any human, physical or other operating assets that you currently underuse. These could be:
   • Land, space, equipment or facilities
   • Products
   • Systems
   • Cash or credit
   • Licences, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property
   • Skills, knowledge and experience
   • Contacts
   • Reputation
   • Market position
   • Methods of distribution
   • Locations
2. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your business, and try to determine the cause of certain outcomes. Consider:
   • Where your operation excels/falls short
   • Where your operation is innovative/non-productive
   • Product lines or service offerings that are under-performing
   • Compliments/criticisms made by customers or others
   • Weaknesses in your business where competing firms are stronger
3. If you find it difficult to remain objective, consider calling on external consultants to help you review your strengths and weaknesses.
4. Design strategies to improve your strengths, reduce weaknesses or turn weaknesses into strengths.

A thorough examination can help you answer some key questions:

• What strengths can you use as a basis for expansion?
• Can weaknesses be corrected or turned into strengths?
• What new opportunities can be identified after considering current strengths and weaknesses?

Take advantage of services or tools that can help you evaluate your business performance.

• Benchmarking
  
  http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/87/187/
  How does your business measure up to others that are similar to yours? Benchmarking allows you to evaluate your performance and ensure that your company is operating at an optimum level.
• Operations planning
  
  http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/87/911/
  Does your company run as smoothly as you'd like? There are steps you can take to increase productivity, improve quality, and effectively manage the day-to-day functions of your business. Investigate our resources to find ways you can maximize the potential of your operations.
• Review your business performance
  
  http://www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/trouver-nos-guides-de-gestion/-/asset_publisher/wXA6/content/view_maximized/revoir-le-rendement-de-votre-entreprise?redirect=%2Fen%2Ftrouver-nos-guides-de-gestion
  Identify the steps in assessing your business' performance and what you can do to make some desired improvements.
• Assess your options for growth
  
  http://www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/trouver-nos-guides-de-gestion/-/asset_publisher/wXA6/content/view_maximized/evaluer-vos-choix-en-matiere-de-croissance
  Learn how to choose the appropriate strategy for your business, when to implement it and which financial choices are suitable.