For a business to grow it needs alot of attention and care.Success is not easy especially in business,even with the best of products and proper predictions,markets changes happens unexpectedly affect the growth of a business negatively.
Categorizing the problems and growth patterns of small businesses in a systematic way that is useful to entrepreneurs seems at first glance a hopeless task. Small businesses vary widely in size and capacity for growth. They are characterized by independence of action, differing.
For owners and managers of small businesses, such an understanding can aid in assessing current challenges; for example, the need to upgrade an existing computer system or to hire and train second-level managers to maintain planned growth.
It can help in anticipating the key requirements at various points—e.g., the inordinate time commitment for owners during the start-up period and the need for delegation and changes in their managerial roles when companies become larger and more complex.
The framework also provides a basis for evaluating the impact of present and proposed governmental regulations and policies on one’s business. A case in point is the exclusion of dividends from double taxation, which could be of great help to a profitable, mature, and stable business like a funeral home but of no help at all to a new, rapidly growing, high-technology enterprise.
Finally, the framework aids accountants and consultants in diagnosing problems and matching solutions to smaller enterprises. The problems of a 6-month-old, 20-person business are rarely addressed by advice based on a 30-year-old, 100-person manufacturing company. For the former, cash-flow planning is paramount; for the latter, strategic planning and budgeting to achieve coordination and operating control are most important.
First, the grow-or-fail hypothesis implicit in the model, and those of others, was invalid. Some of the enterprises had passed through the survival period and then plateaued—remaining essentially the same size. with some marginally profitable and others very profitable, over a period of between 5 and 80 years.
Second, there existed an early stage in the survival period in which the entrepreneur worked hard just to exist- to obtain enough customers to become a true business or to move the product from a pilot stage into quantity production at an adequate level of quality.
Avoiding Future Problems
Even a casual look at Exhibit 5 reveals the demands the Take-off Stage makes on the enterprise. Nearly every factor except the owner’s “ability to do” is crucial. This is the stage of action and potentially large rewards. Looking at this exhibit, owners who want such growth must ask themselves:
Do I have the quality and diversity of people needed to manage a growing company?
Do I have now, or will I have shortly, the systems in place to handle the needs of a larger, more diversified company?
Do I have the inclination and ability to delegate decision making to my managers?
Do I have enough cash and borrowing power along with the inclination to risk everything to pursue rapid growth?
Similarly, the potential entrepreneur can see that starting a business requires an ability to do something very well (or a good marketable idea), high energy, and a favorable cash flow forecast (or a large sum of cash on hand). These are less important in Stage V, when well-developed people-management skills, good information systems, and budget controls take priority. Perhaps this is why some experienced people from large companies fail to make good as entrepreneurs or managers in small companies. They are used to delegating and are not good enough at doing.
Although rarely is a factor more than one stage ahead of or behind the company as a whole, an imbalance of factors can create serious problems for the entrepreneur. Indeed, one of the major challenges in a small company is the fact that both the problems faced and the skills necessary to deal with them change as the company grows. Thus, owners must anticipate and manage the factors as they become important to the company.
A company’s development stage determines the managerial factors that must be dealt with. Its plans help determine which factors will eventually have to be faced. Knowing its development stage and future plans enables managers, consultants, and investors to make more informed choices and to prepare themselves and their companies for later challenges. While each enterprise is unique in many ways, all face similar problems and all are subject to great changes. That may well be why being an owner is so much fun and such a challenge.
Sourced from: https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-five-stages-of-small-business-growth
Growth is decided by the demand,and also the success of the business at one location.Growth is a sign that there is more business to chase out there.For expansion to take place we should have enough money for expansion purposes.
Most small companies have plans to grow their business and increase sales and profits. However, there are certain methods companies must use for implementing a growth strategy. The method a company uses to expand its business is largely contingent upon its financial situation, the competition and even government regulation. Some common growth strategies in business include market penetration, market expansion, product expansion, diversification and acquisition.
Market Penetration
One growth strategy in business is market penetration. A small company uses a market penetration strategy when it decides to market existing products within the same market it has been using. The only way to grow using existing products and markets is to increase market share, according to the article “Growth Strategies” at gaebler.com. Market share is the percent of unit and dollar sales a company holds within a certain market vs. all other competitors. One way to increase market share is by lowering prices. For example, in markets where there is little differentiation among products, a lower price may help a company increase its share of the market.
Market Expansion
A market expansion growth strategy, often called market development, entails selling current products in a new market. There several reasons why a company may consider a market expansion strategy. First, the competition may be such that there is no room for growth within the current market. If a business does not find new markets for its products, it cannot increase sales or profits. A small company may also use a market expansion strategy if it finds new uses for its product. For example, a small soap distributor that sells to retail stores may discover that factory workers also use its product.
Product Expansion
A small company may also expand its product line or add new features to increase its sales and profits. When small companies employ a product expansion strategy, also known as product development, they continue selling within the existing market. A product expansion growth strategy often works well when technology starts to change. A small company may also be forced to add new products as older ones become outmoded.
Diversification
Growth strategies in business also include diversification, where a small company will sell new products to new markets. This type of strategy can be very risky, according to gaebler.com. A small company will need to plan carefully when using a diversification growth strategy. Marketing research is essential because a company will need to determine if consumers in the new market will potentially like the new products.
Acquisition
Growth strategies in business can also includes an acquisition. In acquisition, a company purchases another company to expand its operations. A small company may use this type of strategy to expand its product line and enter new markets. An acquisition growth strategy can be risky, but not as risky as a diversification strategy. One reason is that the products and market are already established. A company must know exactly what it wants to achieve when using an acquisition strategy, mainly because of the significant investment required to implement it.
Sourced from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/growth-strategies-business-4510.html