(CLP) Programs

Appleton Greene corporate training programs are all process-driven. They are used as vehicles to implement tangible business processes within clients’ organizations, together with training, support and facilitation during the use of these processes. Corporate training programs are therefore implemented over a sustainable period of time, that is to say, between 1 year (incorporating 12 monthly workshops), and 4 years (incorporating 48 monthly workshops). Your program information guide will specify how long each program takes to complete. Each monthly workshop takes 6 hours to implement and can be undertaken either on the client’s premises, an Appleton Greene serviced office, or online via the internet. This enables clients to implement each part of their business process, before moving onto the next stage of the program and enables employees to plan their study time around their current work commitments. The result is far greater program benefit, over a more sustainable period of time and a significantly improved return on investment.

Appleton Greene uses standard and bespoke corporate training programs as vessels to transfer business process improvement knowledge into the heart of our clients’ organizations. Each individual program focuses upon the implementation of a specific business process, which enables clients to easily quantify their return on investment. There are hundreds of established Appleton Greene corporate training products now available to clients within customer services, e-business, finance, globalization, human resources, information technology, legal, management, marketing and production. It does not matter whether a client’s employees are located within one office, or an unlimited number of international offices, we can still bring them together to learn and implement specific business processes collectively. Our approach to global localization enables us to provide clients with a truly international service with that all important personal touch. Appleton Greene corporate training programs can be provided virtually or locally and they are all unique in that they individually focus upon a specific business function. All (CLP) programs are implemented over a sustainable period of time, usually between 1-4 years, incorporating 12-48 monthly workshops and professional support is consistently provided during this time by qualified learning providers and where appropriate, by Accredited Consultants.

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Executive summary

Growth Strategy

Importance of Growth Strategy

Growth strategies are crucial because they enable a firm to reach the necessary scale to be cost competitive and maximize the business opportunity while concentrating on its other goals, and then specify all the necessary steps to reach them.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 20% of new enterprises survive past their first two years of operation. Even worse, only 45% of businesses that do survive over the two-year milestone will remain in business for five years. Growth is obviously necessary for businesses to succeed and avoid becoming just another statistic.

When executed properly, any of the growth strategies can help a disciplined firm experience sustainable growth that would not be achievable without this option. The long-term survival of a corporation depends largely on growth. It facilitates asset acquisition, talent attraction, and investment financing. Profit and corporate performance are also fueled by it.

For a variety of reasons, corporate growth can be beneficial. For instance, it might enable you to:

• Benefit from fresh opportunities
• Increase the scope of your products or services
• Draw in additional clients
• Boost sales
• Increase staffing

Additionally, it might assist you in meeting consumer demand, boosting your market share, and leveraging your expanding brand. It frequently encourages creativity, assisting you in standing out in the market and fending off competition.

Growth can also improve your company’s reputation, increase your bargaining power in supplier negotiations and give you more supplier options, as well as boost stability and revenue. But for growth to be effective and long-lasting, it must be deliberate and motivated by the appropriate factors.

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Reasons for business growth

The majority of firms expand in order to grow larger, possibly by growing revenue or market share, but size isn’t the sole factor. Numerous more advantages spur firm expansion. For instance:

• A market that is more resilient or sustainable.
• Cost savings as a result of economies of scale.
• Increased market dominance.
• More purchasing and negotiating power.
• The capacity to reduce business risks, for instance by diversification.
• The capacity to lessen the threat posed by competition.
• The capacity to withstand changes in the market and downturns.
• The capacity to recruit top talent.

For certain firms, growth may not be practicable or feasible beyond a certain point (think of a Business Development Company governed by the 1940 Act), but in most circumstances, stagnation is more likely to result in missed opportunities or even inability to survive an increasingly competitive environment.

Who Stands to Gain?

Any kind of growth strategy can help an organization reach new hights, no matter what stage of development it is in, if it is well planned and executed .

Startups

The most obvious candidates to implement a growth plan are startups, particularly if they are funded by venture capital or investors who don’t mind waiting a while to see a return on their investment to prioritize growth. In fact, most of the big success stories in the technology sector started as VC funded start-ups that grew in the early stages while burning through significant cash, and required several rounds of private capital raising before they became public through and IPO or a SPAC (Special Purpuse Acquisition Company) reverse merger. In many cases, even after becoming public some of them didn’t pay dividends for many years to prioritize growth, and investors relied exclusively on the stock price increase to obtain a return.

Startups are frequently seen utilizing product development growth strategies as they are typically at the forefront of product offerings with cutting-edge items and tenacious teams wanting to make a difference in the world.

Smaller companies

The majority of the time, small firms are wonderful instances of organic growth in action. Being an established company rather than a startup has helped them to continue operating past the scary 2- year failure mark that we previously stated. They must, however, be frugal with their spending because they lack the huge funds of a business.

As a result, it’s possible that you’ll see tiny enterprises employing a market penetration approach and competing on price or quality with lots of loyal clients.

Corporations

No matter how big a company gets, there’s always room for expansion.

Because large companies typically have a lot of cash and internal resources that can readily accommodate additional teams or business divisions, corporations often adopt a mergers and acquisitions model. However, they might also use any of the other growth techniques given their substantial internal resources and talent pools.

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Types of Business Growth

The primary goal of the majority of organizations is growth. Keeping this in mind, business decisions are frequently focused on what would support the company’s ongoing development and success as a whole. We’ll go over some of the strategies that can help growth in more detail below.

You can build your firm in a number of ways. These categories can be used to categorize business growth:

1. Organic

With organic growth, a business achieves scale by using its own internal resources and internal activities, as opposed to having to look for outside resources to support expansion.

Making production more effective so you can produce more in a shorter amount of time, which results in increased revenue, is an example of organic growth. Utilizing organic growth has the advantage of relying on self-sufficiency and preventing debt if it can be funded from the operating cash flow of the business. Furthermore, the greater revenue brought about by organic growth might eventually be used to finance more strategic growth strategies. We’ll go over that afterwards.

2. Strategic

Creating strategies for long-term corporate growth is part of strategic growth. Creating a new product or creating a marketing plan to appeal to a new market are two examples of strategic growth.

In contrast to spontaneous growth, these initiatives frequently need a large investment of time and money. In order to raise the necessary funds for future strategic expansion initiatives, businesses frequently start with an organic strategy before they consider M&A opportunities.

3. Internal

Internal business process optimization is the goal of an internal growth strategy. This technique is dependent on businesses utilizing their own internal resources, much like organic growth. The key to any internal growth strategy is making the best use of the resources already at hand.

Cutting excessive spending and running a leaner organization by automating some of its activities instead of recruiting new personnel could be examples of internal growth enablers. Internal growth is often more difficult, since it pushes businesses to consider how their operations can be enhanced and made more effective rather than concentrating on external variables like expanding into new markets.

4. Acquisitions, Partnerships, and Mergers

Although mergers, partnerships, and acquisitions are riskier than the other growth categories, they can also yield substantial profits. There is strength in numbers, and a properly performed merger, partnership, or acquisition can assist your company in entering a new market, growing its clientele, or increasing the range of goods and services it provides.

An expansion strategy enables businesses to grow. Expanding a product range, opening new locations, or investing in customer acquisition are all ways to accomplish growth. The industry and target market of a firm have an impact on the growth methods it will select.

Plan strategically, think about your possibilities, and incorporate some of them into your business strategy. Depending on the type of business you’re starting, your growth strategy can involve things like:

• Adding new locations
• Investing in customer acquisition
• Franchising opportunities
• Product line expansions
• Selling products online across multiple platforms

Your particular industry and target market will influence your decisions, but it’s almost universally true that new customer acquisition will play a sizable role.

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The Ansoff Matrix

Four high-level company growth strategies used by firms are outlined in the so-called Ansoff Matrix. Let’s take a quick look at each of these strategies now before going into more detail about them in the methodology section.