Building Your Strategic Business Growth Roadmap

There are a few key process steps to creating a strategic plan for business growth. 第一个是记录你今天所处的位置, 这需要了解你的业务, 工业总体格局, 以及你在这个环境中的位置.

Insights gained from the first process step will feed the second: crafting a roadmap to achieve your goals based on your desired timeline. 

进行内部评估

Taking an honest look in the mirror can be challenging. It is easy to miss the things you take for granted about your business. 然而, you cannot expect growth to solve your internal problems—it will most likely only compound them—so it is wise to do an internal assessment on an annual basis.

An internal assessment may take the form of a SWOT analysis (identifying strengths, 弱点, 机会, 和威胁). Good areas to focus your attention on are your people, processes, technology, and performance. 你对这些领域的研究越深入, the better prepared you will be to create a solid growth plan unique to your company. Here are some questions to help you get started with an internal assessment:

• 你擅长什么?
• 你做得不好的是什么?
• 你在哪些方面可以改进??
• 我们与竞争对手相比如何?

One potential inhibitor to growth to be especially wary of is company culture issues. These can be hard to document but are very real and can be disruptive. Bringing in a strategic business advisor to help with your assessment, 告诉你残酷的事实, and offer experienced counsel may be a wise investment before you take the next step.

了解风景

企业通过抓住机遇而成长. Opportunities become visible through thorough analysis of data, 跳出思维定势, and understanding the bigger picture through different lenses beyond your own. 作为一个商业领袖, you always need to be paying attention to market trends (and understanding the impact to you), but this is even more important when you are entering a strategic planning phase. In this step, the questions to start with are:

• 当前的宏观经济趋势是什么? (Especially today this means looking at the costs of goods and services and supply chains.)
• 你的行业状况如何?
• 你的客户面对的是什么? 他们的期望改变了吗??
• 竞争对手在做什么?
• Where does your company fit into the market and the views customers have?

Outside forces that will influence your plans are things like prices for raw materials and labor, 利率, 以及供应链方面的问题. Geopolitics may have to be part of the conversations you have as you do this. 再一次。, strategic business advisors who specialize in knowing about macro trends and growth tactics can be extremely helpful in this step.

准备好计划或暂停?

Ask yourself: Where do you see your company and yourself in the next 1, 3, or 5 years? 不管你的时间表如何, you want to go into planning armed with deep knowledge about your company and the competitive landscape.

If that groundwork raises any red flags (like your technology is outdated, 你的文化是孤立的, 或者你的过程很弱), it is prudent to pause and figure out how you can transform your company before setting off on a growth path. 例如, you wouldn’t necessarily want to acquire a company when you are already experiencing downward performance trends; the odds are greater that you will end up simply decreasing the value of the new asset as well.

I tell my clients: “Think of a truck trying to drive in sand. 白费力气只会让事情变得更糟. 最好的选择是停止, 给轮胎放点气, 并获得一些牵引力，这样你就可以继续前进.”

建造还是购买?

每个企业和行业都是不同的, but there are some generalities to guide whether the path to growth is best achieved by building up your company (organic growth) or making an acquisition.

To assess if the organic growth path is best, ask yourself how competitive your industry is. 你在市场上已经有了差异化吗? Do you have the time, as well as the resources and dedication, that the growth will take? 你可能需要雇佣更多的销售人员, take a de novo approach and open additional locations, 投资新设备, or 增加营销支持.

另一方面, 如果你所在的行业竞争激烈, 在一个剧烈变化的时期, or there are economies of scale that can be achieved quickly, 收购可能是最好的途径. 在购买企业时，请记住这一点, you will be paying a multiple of its value on the assumption of future profits. This generally requires more capital than an organic growth strategy, 但它“买下”了一条加速增长的道路.

由于目前劳动力短缺, some companies are acquiring other companies simply for the people that come with it. Another consideration is the importance of brand. If a consumer base is brand agnostic, purchasing a competitor may make the most sense.

资源: 《优德官网中文版》

出口计划

A final note: it is never too early in strategic planning to start exit planning. 如果你的计划是在某个时候出售, the framework you should be using to guide your growth strategy is how you can create the most value for a potential buyer. An M&一个顾问 can help assess ways to do this over your anticipated timeline. 

资源: 《优德app下载》

If your goal is to pass ownership off to a family member or partners, you need to think about how you will set up the business for the next generation so the transition is as smooth as possible. 这可能需要漫长的举措, and giving yourself one to three years for the transition is prudent.