Today, we're going to talk about Porter's competitive forces and how they affect small businesses. Specifically, we'll dive into the bargaining power of suppliers, the risks that it poses for small businesses, an example of how this power can manifest in real life and what can be done to mitigate the risks.

Small business owners are busy people. They have to juggle multiple responsibilities, from managing employees and marketing to sales and customer service. One of the most significant challenges they face is finding the time to complete all these tasks efficiently. That’s why it’s essential for small business owners to focus on increasing efficiency in their business.

IT Business Alignment and IT Strategic Alignment are two important concepts that must be considered when developing an effective IT strategy. While similar and related, the two concepts are distinct and it may help to think of them respectively as “micro” vs “macro” in terms of scope.

Often, when entrepreneurs talk about their business strategy, much of the discussion focuses on revenue or profit goals, and what sales and marketing initiatives will be used to achieve those targets. Despite the fact that a plethora of IT systems and software are necessary to operatively achieve those revenue targets, there is little consideration given to aligning its technology to the business strategy. As a result, technical components are implemented that guide the internal workflow processes of the business without a full understanding of how those decisions impact the overall strategy.