After pouring your heart and soul into your company you are finally at a point where the possibility for strong growth is before you. How will you navigate the needed changes to be successful?
This Harvard Business Review article from 1983* may provide some insights. Its framework for the 5 stages of small business growth still holds, even as we move into 2021. “Exhibit 3” from the article graphically presents the general progression of stages together with how management style, organization, and formal internal management systems typically must change to be successful.
If you are trying to grow your business, it is important to first understand where you are along this continuum. When you get out of the initial “Can I make a business?” phase, which Churchill and Lewis call “Existence”, you then move to stage 2, “Survival”. In both of these stages, the CEO typically wears “many hats” and is heavily involved in all aspects of the business. While this may be necessary and appropriate for this stage of the business, if growth beyond mere survival is the objective, this cannot be sustained for long. There is only so much one human can do.
Frankly, taking the steps necessary to get from stage 2 (“Survival”) to stage 3 (“Success”) where growth is sustainable and scalable is really difficult for most private CEOs because day-to-day challenges absorb most of their bandwidth. Also, installing effective processes and organization changes may require expertise that CEOs that do not possess in one or more of the needed areas such as installing the right sales process, product management strategy, product life cycle process, or strategic planning process.
At Market Operandi, this is exactly how we can help. We have created a lean and modular approach for customer-centric product management, sales and marketing processes, and strategic planning. We help you implement the right processes and methodologies for future, sustainable growth and to position yourself within a framework of customer-delivered value in each of your market segments.
Whether your company is an early-stage startup, a multi-million dollar business that has been in existence for decades, or anything in between, if you are ready to move to the "next stage", then MO's expertise and programs can be of enormous value.
*Source: “Five Stages of Small Business Growth”, Harvard Business Review, May 1, 1983