How to Develop a Scale-Up Strategy

I don’t want to pass up the opportunity to share an article I read about developing a strategy to scale up your business. Here are a few highlights:

The OECD defines a “scale-up” business (a high-growth business) as one that is growing turnover by more than 20% a year over a period of three years with at least 10 employees at the start of the period.

As such, scale -ups are characterised by having clear plans for growth, being innovative and achieving higher productivity than their peers.

Despite these three characteristics, every scale-up faces three challenges – to effectively access and address their market, to attract and retain and develop great people (and build high performance teams), to secure the necessary finances to support their ambitions.

How can/do scale-up businesses strategise to address these challenges – as, without splitting hairs, a plan is for all intents and purposes a strategy?

Let us introduce you to a 5-step process to help you scope the strategic direction of your business:

1. Start with the “big picture” of what you want to achieve. Your mission and vision and purpose for the business?-?what you want your business to be in, say, three years.
2. Set the objectives that you want to achieve. The “stepping stones” that will evidence your mission/ vision/ purpose. Make them SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound – relative to your markets, people and finance as well as products, services and innovation.
3. Identify which members of your team (the “doers”) will deliver each objective. Those most suited and able and passionate about the objectives and the part of the vision that they fulfil.
4. Scope what you need to do - your strategies to deliver those objectives. If you’ve set those objectives, they’re not being delivered at present! What must your business, and the “doers”, do differently to deliver those objectives? Sub-strategies need to be detailed into action plans.
5. Specify incremental resources and supporters required to fulfil the strategies. This feeds into the budget for the strategy and business plan.

Want to know more? Head on over to the full article?here ?for more ideas and perspective. Afterwards, why not drop me an email to share your thoughts at [email protected]; or call me on 0467 749 378.

Thanks,

Robert