1st Edition

Growing your Business A Handbook for Ambitious Owner-Managers

    338 Pages
    by Routledge

    338 Pages
    by Routledge

    Growing Your Business helps owner/managers develop growth strategies for their businesses by providing frameworks, ideas, inspiration and hands-on assignments. Its contents are a distillation of the authors’ knowledge and experience, which has successfully helped hundreds of owner/managers to grow and develop their businesses and themselves over the last twenty years.

    Filled with case studies and examples of businesses involved with the world-renowned Business Growth and Development Programme (BGP) at the Cranfield School of Management, this book covers all industry sectors and includes high profile names such as Karan Bilimoria of Cobra Beer, Angus Thirlwell of Hotel Chocolat and Lara Morgan of Pacific Direct.

    As well as being an ideal text for courses and modules in small business development and business growth at undergraduate and MBA levels, this book also stands on its own as an invaluable 'workbook' that enables any owner manager to develop their own growth strategy and take their business to the next level.

    Introduction Section 1: Where are you Now ? 1. Your Business and its Market 2. Are you in Good Financial Health? 3. Diagnosing the Management of your Organization 4. Now, Let’s Talk about You! 5. Where are You Now?: Bringing it all Together Section 2: Where are you Going? 6. What do you Want? 7. What does the Business have to do to Enable you to Achieve What you Want? Section 3: How do you Get There? 8. What is your Growth Strategy? 9. How do you Further Enhance your Distinctiveness? 10. Can you Develop a Balanced Management Team? 11. How do you Manage the Changes? 12. How do you Fund Growth? 13. What Will your Role be in the Future? 14. Acquistions, Mergers, Joint Ventures and Divestments 15. What are your Options for Realising Value? 16. Writing up your Plans

    Biography

    Gerard Burke is the Programme Director of BGP and the Director of CREDO, the part of Cranfield School of Management which works exclusively with owner-managers and their businesses. Liz Clarke, David Molian , and Paul Barrow are core members of the BGP delivery team and are all visiting fellows at Cranfield School of Management.

    "The Business Growth and Development Programme was a turning point for my business and my career. This book, like the programme, is priceless—a true must-read for every ambitious entrepreneur!"

    --Lord Bilimoria CBE DL, founder and Chairman of Cobra Beer

    "BGP was a massive help to me in growing my business. This new book is a fantastically valuable reminder of much of the key content of the programme and the assignments provide a great way to review my strategy for the next stage of growth. I have no hesitation in recommending both the BGP programme and this book to any ambitious owner manager."

     --Lara Morgan, CEO and top banana, Pacific Direct

    "Growing Your Business is a route map for entrepreneurs seeking dramatic, profitable growth. The programme on which it is based increased the value of Go Ape! by £30 million in 5 minutes. It is well worth a read!"

    --Tristram Mayhew, Chief Gorilla, Go Ape!