Business Excellence Through Strategy : A model for the Startups

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate management methods and actions in startups. Startups do not have it easy as their failure rate is around 90%. There are several identified business-related issues that influence in startup failure. The central goal was to find a way for efficient value delivery needed & wanted by the market, while utilizing scarce resources. A startup operating on the B2B technology markets was used as a case company. Data was gathered from internal sources of the case company and by surveying the company’s external stakeholders. The background of the study was reinforced through a profound examination of existing research. The existing research used, contributed to this research in the areas of the digital technology sold by the case company, marketing, sales, strategy, operations, quality, measurement and competition on different markets. The data was analyzed, and the findings were merged with the behavioral research findings acquired by analyzing the case company. These results were then combined with the foundation of the existing research, in order to provide a fully operational model crafted for the case company. The model provided by this research is meant to be used for delivering greater value for customers and driving up profitability, while keeping everything aligned with strategy. This is done through different value drivers, which drive value in the areas of Customer & Market Focus, Business Environment and Operational Excellence. All these value drivers contain different business area specific metrics or prioritized actions. Even though designed for a specific startup, the model is expected potentially to deliver value also to other companies alike, especially B2B technology startups. Therefore, further research testing the model in similar companies is suggested.