‘Your business is a living organism.’ If you want it to thrive, you must take care of it.

According to Kevin Cope, ‘Companies either continue to grow or risk dying. Companies growing profitably tend to be more energized, innovate products and services, expand market share, attract motivated top talent.’

‘Companies not growing can enter a ‘downward decline and die.’ cycle of higher costs, lower sales, lost market share, lower share price, cost cutting, reduction in force, demoralized employees, lost productivity. lost customers, more loss market share, and so on. The competition will take over their markets, customers, brand positioning, and even their best people.’

‘Organic growth means internal expansion- opening new stores, selling more products, and entering new demographic or geographic markets. Inorganic growth means merging with acquiring new business to increase revenue.’

‘Growth expectations may change based on a company’s stage of development. High growth may be realistic in the early years but may be less sustainable as the company matures and becomes larger and more complex.’

‘Risks of high growth include expenses that grow faster than sales revenue, a decline in quality, and burnout among employees. Many companies grow sales rapidly but lose money and go out of business.’

‘People are the most important resource for any company. Employees and customers are two important stakeholders to your business.’

‘Successful companies usually have a history of strong employee satisfaction and longer employee tenure, so companies work hard to keep employees satisfied and to attract top talent.’

‘Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. You should focus on your customers more than on your competitors.’

‘Employees can improve asset ultilization by eliminating inefficient or nonproductive assets, getting more productivity from existing assets, making business processess more efficient, and by working to use personal time more effectively.’

‘The productivity of employees reflects how much work employees can accomplishand is often affected by the tools and technology they have and the training and education they receive.’

‘Employees can impact asset strength by doing anything that benefits cash position.’

‘Investors evaluate the worth of companies in large measure by their potential to consistently increase profits from their core business over time.’

‘Cash is the fuel of business. All companies require cash to operate, pay bills, and invest for the future. Lack of cash is a primary reason businesses fail.’

Finally, ‘Everything you do to impact cash, profits, and assets influences your balance sheet.’

Source:

Kevin Cope (2012). Seeing the Big Picture: Business Acumen to Build Your Credibility, Career, and Company