Business growth affects the company's income and also the commitment and sense of belonging of its employees.
Every organization aims to grow, expand and cover more markets . To achieve this, it is necessary that you have a business growth strategy inspired by short, medium and long-term goals, based on the mission and vision of your company.
Planning business growth will avoid scenarios that affect productivity and work dynamics.
What is business growth?
The business growth is the processes that manage a company continuously improve and drive the organization to achieve goals or milestones of success pre - planned.
This usually occurs through a business strategy aimed at empowering the different fields of the organization to achieve immediate and future goals.
GUIDE ON OKR's (objectives and key results of a company)How to set measurable goals that involve the entire workforce.
Key factors for business growth
The growth-oriented business strategy of the organization is based on the following factors:
Adequate professional skills
The growth-oriented business strategy must be based on people with the differential talent that the company needs. It is about integrating the objectives set with qualified people to achieve them.
To simplify the recruitment and selection process , there are now automated tools that can be tailored according to the interests of the organization and the type of employee you are looking for in your workforce.
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A planned process
The organization, as part of its business strategy, must recognize what the key areas are and establish employee job training plans . This can be planned on a group or personal basis, depending on the interests and capabilities of the organization.
Have technological tools
Technological innovation applied to business fields is necessary to keep up to date and be competitive in the market. These are technological solutions and computer programs that facilitate, automate and streamline the processes of an organization.
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In the same way, as we mentioned before, if you have the right person but you want to take them to another level, a training software allows you to create a personalized training plan for their functions and tasks, a real career plan for the best talents.
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Business knowledge
To achieve the best results, as part of its business strategy , the organization must pay attention to its organizational structure and division of tasks.
One way to maintain control over these aspects is through an organization chart software that perfectly measures the structure of the company and clearly establishes the functions and responsibilities of each department and employee.
Business growth: benefits and risks
Business growth affects the organization in different ways . Here are some positive aspects:
Positioning
Brand building
Achievement of goals
Projection
Economic benefits
However, when growth does not go hand in hand with a correct business strategy , these benefits can appear uncontrollably and negatively influence the organization, resulting in:
Lack of control in production
Disadvantages in logistics
Storage issues
Overload in the division of tasks and responsibilities
Deterioration of the quality of the products or services offered
How to make a business growth plan?
Strategic planning
It consists of a process in which the short, medium and long-term objectives and goals of the organization are defined jointly . This process should include the development program to achieve those purposes.
The correct execution of this planning is subject to having a team of professionals trained for the various tasks and the constant participation of the organization's management.
Management by objectives in a company (APO) How to assess the performance of your staff with respect to previously established goals.
Budget
Any business strategy focused on growth must take into account the economic capacity with which it has. The goals and objectives must be conceptualized in conjunction with the company's accounts , to avoid financial complications.
This is the responsibility of the CEO of the company or the finance department.
In this process, aspects such as:
Brand positioning
Spending on staff
Methods to increase income, which also require investment
Plans to improve profitability
Find potential customers
Sales and Marketing
Once the objectives and goals have been defined, the target market must be found to boost income and the distribution of products and services. In this search it is key to have a marketing and sales department.
These departments will facilitate the definition of advertising, distribution channels, the sale price, among other aspects that will facilitate the business strategy to be a success both functionally and economically.
Some important tasks in these areas are:
Brand and product positioning
Exploring business opportunities.
Analyze the behavior of customers, market and competitors
Product conceptualization
Indicators of business growth
The results of an effective business strategy can be recognized through different factors. Some of the most obvious are:
Increase in hiring, regardless of the sector or hierarchy.
Increase in points of sale and means of commercialization.
Rapid product turnover.
Improvement in positioning, with greater impact, such as recruitment in social networks, social recruiting , and market evaluations.
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Business growth strategies
When looking for a growth strategy, two models are usually taken into account, the one developed by Igor Ansoff and the one by Michael Porter .
Igor Ansoff's growth strategy
Igor Ansoff's matrix is based on the following aspects:
Market immersion
It consists of increasing the presence in the market through products supported by marketing strategies to generate a consumer circle around what is developed by the organization.
Product's release
Be attentive to the evolution of tastes , generate news related to them, so that consumers feel cared for and values by the organization. If innovation in various aspects can be added to all this, it will be even more valuable.
Foray into new markets
Explore new market segments and introduce the organization's products in that sector. This should go hand in hand with your marketing strategy.
Diversification
The more market areas and segments the organization can cover, the more positive returns will be as part of its business strategy to grow. In that sense, seek innovative ideas, study possible shortcomings of competition to exploit them, among other measures
This happens, especially, when the market is saturated due to the lack of innovation or other aspects.
Michael Porter's growth strategy
The bases are the following:
Cost leadership
It consists of offering the cheapest price in the market by reducing costs, ensuring that this does not affect quality.
Differentiation
Being able to differentiate yourself from the competition is always positive. This will be achieved by recognizing shortcomings or potentialities to use them in favor and develop unique proposals.
Focus
Exploring and fully exploiting a specific segment makes it easier to achieve higher performance. For this it is necessary to do a preliminary study, recognize strengths and weaknesses in order to achieve it.
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Coca-Cola's growth strategy
Coca-Cola's business growth is based on the following aspects:
Market penetration
An example of how another market segment can be explored is the case of Coca-Cola with Fanta . This drink, at first, was mainly intended for children's parties. However, through marketing strategy, they managed to expand it to all audiences.
Product development
Coca-Cola has developed, based on its reputation and influence in the market, new products. In this way it manages to get closer to other consumers and continue expanding.
Integration and horizontality
Through the acquisition of Jugos El Valle in 2007, Coco-Cola focused on starting to generate new products in Latin America.
Verticality
Coca-Cola , through the purchase of various bottlers, was able to reduce production costs , eliminating margins with suppliers and having more control over their production dynamics.
Diversification
Although the company has a well-defined profile, since 2017 Coca-Cola has been selling Ades vegetable drinks and Honest organic teas and coffees in Spain . While it is true that these products are not easily associated with the organization, they are taken to expand.
Mercadona's internal growth strategy
Mercadona's growth strategy began in 2017. The basis of its development and positioning within the market lies in the reform of its stores and the reduction of prices.
In this way, it has improved both the consumer experience of its customers and the economic profitability for the people who visit its spaces.
Inditex business strategy
Through an approach oriented towards increasing value in various sectors, Inditex continues to develop as an organization:
Value for the shareholder , making its products profitable and, in turn, diversifying them through the expansion of its brands, such as Zara , Pull & Bear , Bershka , Oysho , among others.
Social factor , paying attention to its impact on the environment. This has been achieved by avoiding agreeing with suppliers who work with minors or offer inadequate working conditions.
Value for the client , seeking a quality experience and good design through affordable prices.
Importance and value for the employee , taking into account their vision and opinion in different fields of the organization.
Tinder business strategy
Today, Tinder is one of the top dating apps in the world. However, its globalization was not such from the beginning.
As part of its business growth, the company focused on a first meeting in which the application was put into practice and later expanded to other spaces, such as cafes.
Experiencing positive results through user encounters, match's and feadback , it gradually expanded organically.
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WhatsApp business growth strategy
WhatsApp's business growth is based on the simplicity of its system .
Although it was not innovative in terms of messaging, it did find a way to differentiate itself through the easy use of its platform, progressively incorporating advantages such as voice notes, video calls, the use of images ; this plus the low price of the app (even free in many countries) enhanced its massive dissemination.
Slack business strategy
This work and communication platform based its growth on the classic word of mouth .
An organic development through recommendations from various users . To this was added the attention to requests, suggestions and demands of its clients in order to enhance its services and evolve as an organization.
Dropbox business growth strategy
Similar to what was developed by Slack , Dropbox also bet on recommendations . They did so by offering the information storage and management product for various users to test, offering incentives.
Later they recommended them and a circuit of interest and use began to be activated that was sustaining and growing over time. Thus they managed to attract new users and customers to the organization.