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Business Growth 2
Think Big to
Grow Big
Part 1: Plan
or Do?
By Paul R.
Lloyd
Are you more
comfortable charging ahead to get the work out or planning before
you act? Sometimes we become so bogged down on simply getting the
job done that we don’t take time to plan. But you need to do both to
succeed. Thinking ahead
applies to all areas of your company operations, yet it is often the
last thing the owner spends time doing.
Where Real
Growth Happens
Strategy is where the
real growth happens, not tactics. Think about the life cycle of a
company. You start your business at the zero sales point with an
innovative product or service and an entrepreneurial business model.
On a percentage basis, you grow extremely fast during this phase as
your sales, if you are successful, take a sharp ride up.
At some point,
you hit maturity. As a mature company you invest in growth and turn
the business over to a professional management team by filling in
the C-Level seats on your organization chart. However, your sales
have leveled off for a variety of reasons, most having to do with
organizational issues related to past growth and the entry of fierce
competition into your market space. Success breeds competition.
Theoretically, you can continue forever at the mature level growing
roughly at the same pace as the economy. Without a new innovation,
you will not experience the exhilarating ride up you enjoyed in the
beginning.
As your company
ages, and other people introduce newer, better ways of doing things,
you may find yourself in the harvest and divest side of your
“growth” curve. This is where the bell-shaped curve turns the wrong
way. The best strategic move at this point is the old-fashioned
“take the money and run” solution.
Where is your
company in this cycle? Are you riding the escalator at a rapid pace
to the top? Or are you on the great plain of flat growth that can
run on for a long time before curving south into oblivion? Or are
you trending downward on the wrong side of the growth curve?
Knowing where
your company –
and your industry –
are on the growth curve – and knowing where your industry
is on the growth curve – determines the strategies you should be
taking to grow your net worth.
We'll look at
strategy options for each business stage in future articles in this
series.
Join Paul
Lloyd for a business casual conversation at a coffee shop near
you. Call 630-393-6516 or send an
email.
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