IDENTIFYING YOUR PATH TO GROWTH

The key to growth is a clear understanding of current conditions and baseline operations. Growth requires adapting to many things, as a growing child does. The tendency is to only look at net profit and not see the path of details to get there or hazards in wait. This is even more relevant when the company has multiple lines of revenue, more complex to control.

Review where your company stands now, what got you to this point. Has your strategy changed since you started your business? Look around - has your competitors changed, and has that caused more pressure on your business?

Alpha Delta Business Consultants

Small companies that think they are not in competition with big companies are completely wrong. Small companies are in competition with every other company that sells the same product or service that they sell, including substitutes. There is no market-place "safe haven."

Small businesses are held to the same legal and market-place standards and requirements. There is no unique competitive consideration given a business simply because of their smaller size. A great disadvantage for a small company is not having the same resources as the bigger competitor. To compensate for this, small businesses hire experts for a limited period or purpose.

Large companies however do the same thing. They call in experts for special circumstances. 

​Constant improvement is the best response to competition.  

WHERE TO IMPROVE PROFITABILITY
Absenteeism
Budget and financial controls

Cash flow forecasting

Idle capacity
Customer complaints - service
Customer complaints - products

Employee morale and satisfaction

Equipment downtime
Deliveries Late

Documentation for Lines of credi

Financial analysis

Maintenance deficits

Marketing program 
Overtime excessive
Personnel shortages, excessive turnover
Inventory outages, slow turns
Production bottlenecks, redo or flawed work

Safety programs and manuals

Supply chain gaps

Each of these problem areas are actually opportunities to improve the company while involving the staff. Each area of the company has a relationship to other areas and are interdependent. They have to work together but what tools does the business leader have to cause that to occur? The Law of Requisite Variety requires the variety of controls  be as rich as the variety of conditions to be controlled.

To improve requires quantification. Numbers are the language of business, providing feedback on control mechanisms in the company.

Lurching about is not a coherent plan. Stop, take a breath and develop your strategic solution.