Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Outsourcing Initiates New Opportunities for Business Development

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There is no question that outsourcing does initiate new opportunities for business development. Any small to medium sized company that feels that they have the needs should seriously consider outsourcing as a means to reach new goals. It can effectively be used as risk diversification and once the defined service levels are met, the determination can be made as to whether to add staff to cover the new area of business, or whether the project has met the potential that was projected. If not, there is no need to continue with it and if so then hiring more staff may be the next move.

This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Design Business Plans That Promote Export Growth

Business Plans, Export GrowthIn today’s slow moving economy, every company needs to have a business plan designed to keep them moving forward in order to keep up with the competition. This can be accomplished with a little strategic planning and taking the time to design business plans that promote export growth. Firms need to strategically project their plans into the future and plan to be doing business internationally for the long term. Companies that have set plans to increase exports actually succeed far more than businesses who do not export at all. When companies succeed with exports, not only does the business grow, it also stimulates the economy and surrounding business.


While it can be very difficult to gauge how well doing business in another market may be, when the projection is accurate the firm can experience faster growth than companies that only operate in domestic established markets. Because of this difficulty in prediction, many firms are less likely to engage in exporting when they have no idea how profitable it might be. By creating a well-researched business plan, established companies may be more apt to work through the barriers to exporting than to be dismayed when they are presented with them while conducting their business.


There are many positive effects to companies marketing internationally. One of those effects is that those firms who do are more likely to engage in research and development in regards to their products. This can occur because products may need to be customised to fit other countries standards or there may be regulations to meet. This helps expand the knowledge base of the firm and may lead to improvements in the business and its products. As a type of spill over effect, this knowledge may be shared within the business community and benefit the industry as a whole.


Firms that export as part of their strategic planning can also have a positive effect on those companies that do not yet export. When exporting businesses share information with these firms they can actually teach them very important information in regards to exporting. This may encourage non-exporting companies to consider exporting as part of their business plan too. This can lead new firms to design business plans that promote export growth for themselves. As each new firm works its way into the exporting of their goods and manoeuvres the current barriers, it paves the way for the next generation of exporters.

If your firm has not yet contemplated exporting internationally, perhaps the reason may simply be that it has never been researched enough to be considered. There are places that companies can turn to for assistance with learning more about export and international trade. Trade promotion agencies can help any firm with strategic planning in regards to exporting. Before ruling it out, arrange a consult with one of staff in regards to exporting and find out if it might be right for your business.

This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Management Consultants Provide Training for Board Mentoring

Board MentoringFor many businesses, the training of new board members can take valuable time away from the board meetings themselves. When management consultants are utilised, they can be used to help train other board members to be effective board mentors for the newer members. The key role of a board member is to make informed decisions on company business as effectively and efficiently as possible. Learning to do this can take some time to master and having a mentor to help guide new board members through the first few months can be a huge advantage, provided the mentor knows how to direct the mentee.

An effective management consultant can spend a small amount of time pointing out what areas of business are the most important to highlight to a mentor. The management consultant doesn’t need to know all of the aspects of the business in order to train the mentors what to pass along. However, the mentors need to possess the knowledge of the business in order to pass it on to the mentees. You could say that the management consultants are training the mentors to be trainers themselves. If done in an effective manner, the mentors then possess the training to pass along to the next generation of mentors.

Many consulting firms hire consultants that have expert training capabilities under their belts in order to best assist their clientele. The consultants themselves know how valuable of a tool this is and many will keep their training skills updated so that they are of more value to the company as well. When looking to consulting firms for the right management consultants, make sure to check their skills to see if they have mentor training listed amongst them. If they don’t have it listed, be sure to ask the consulting firm to verify it before hiring them on, if mentor training is one area that you need assistance with. Other areas of expertise can include;

·         Organisational governance.

·         Direction over the creation, administration, and evaluation of company policies.

·         Ensuring the company’s effectiveness in the marketplace.

·         Maintaining the company’s credibility and viability in the marketplace.

While some of the board duties can seem company specific, you must remember that the management consultants will not be doing the actual decision making, they will be training the actual board members on what types of things need to be taught to the mentees. The consultants need not ever see the inside of the company board room if that would be your choice.

By hiring a management consultant specifically for training board mentors, you are ensuring that the next generation of board members are trained on the important factors of being a board member for the company. The frugal business owners might also take advantage of the training time and create a company training manual during the training to ensure that each new board member is trained on the same things in the future. If you are paying for the consultant already, you might as well get the most for your money.


This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Thursday, 15 May 2014

Discover How Outsourcing Stimulates Your Business Development

global outsourcing stimulates growthIf you are considering outsourcing different portions of your business but are still unsure, you should take a look around and discover how outsourcing stimulates your business development. As with every business decision, outsourcing will have both positive and negative effects on your business. The key is to limit the negative effects whilst stimulating your business development at the same time. Some of the many positive effects on your business development may include:- 

·         Maintaining focus – by utilising outsourcing, it allows you and your employees to focus on your core business needs. The consultants handle the portion of business they were hired for and you are left to work on maintaining and building value for your clients.

·         Improving efficiency – when you outsource portions of your business to consultants who have a specific expertise, it can improve the efficiency of the business by allowing you to focus on the portions of the business that you and your employees are best at.

·         Unlimited resources – by utilising outsourcing for the various needs of your business you can spend more time developing the business instead of hiring and training new employees. Consultants are available in nearly every position giving you unlimited resources for business solutions.

·         Gaining the competitive edge – by not spending time learning the various different processes to advance in your market you can gain the competitive edge in your field by being first to innovate new products.

·         Increasing business – by focusing on the core of your business your productivity should increase, increasing the overall business.

While these things may improve the overall development of your business, here are some other aspects of business that need to be considered before you decide whether to outsource:- 

·         Could sensitive data be compromised if you outsource?

·         Will there be hidden costs to outsourcing?

·         Will the customers come into contact with the consultants and if so, how will they be treated?

·         Is the project going to get the attention to detail it should by a consultant?

Of course in every situation there are things that must be considered prior to making a decision. In most cases outsourcing makes a big difference in how quickly a business can move forward with new projects. By outsourcing, it allows businesses to save money over hiring, training and insuring an individual for the same position. For smaller to medium sized businesses that money can be used to further the development of the business. When they outsource, businesses get to pick which positions they hire for and for how long.
 
When a business makes the decision to outsource, they will usually get a professional that has the highest qualifications in their field. To hire for that positions on a regular basis the company could continue to use professionals that have the most up to date training and only have to pay for the hire, not the training. This is yet another way to cut costs for businesses. So in the end the business gets its expert in the field and also get to reduce their operating expense overall.


This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Business Planning Creates Positive Results for Success

business planning successWhen you plan to run a business of any kind, you should always create a complete business plan to run your enterprise from, before you ever get started in business. The reason is, that business planning creates positive results for success by giving you a road map to start from. As with all strategic planning, creating a business plan can uncover things that you didn’t know might factor into your business in the beginning. A business plan will change many times as the business operates and other important factors arise. Knowing where you started and where you are projected to end up, can keep you on track to meet your goals.

To complete a business plan, you need to make sure to include the most important aspects of it in order to create a clear picture of the business. You will need to know where the enterprise is aiming to go, how it aims to get there, as well as all of the details in between. Make sure to include the following:-

  • Your vision statement, mission statement and operational goals.
  • Analysis for your business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
  • The short term and long term goals of the business, 3 to 5 years out.
  • Who the target market is and what their wants and needs are.
  • An analysis of the industry to determine whether it is growing.
  • An analysis of the competition, defining who they are, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Marketing planning to determine how to attract the target market.
  • Financial planning in order to project financial needs for the goals set.
Although it seems like a lot to begin with, when you have it spelled out in front of you, it will leave little room for distraction. This can be important as the business starts to grow in new directions throughout the year.

You should expect to create or revise your business plan annually, in order to make changes to better achieve your goals. During your strategic planning, make sure to spell out your goals very specifically, so that you know what you are working towards. Studies have shown that businesses who had clear goals spelled out, came closer to meeting them than businesses who didn’t bother creating a business plan at all.

Many times a business plan is an internal document that is only going to be seen by the organisation itself. However, in some cases, investors and financiers also need to see the business plan prior to approving additional funding for the business. Either way, the business plan should be complete and detailed in order to increase the chances of positive results and to measure the organisations successes.

By planning out the strategies that your business will utilise, you will be able to recognise what the most important wants and needs are for the target market. By doing this it will allow you to concentrate your efforts on meeting and exceeding those wants and needs for your customers. Once you become experienced in determining your target markets’ changing needs, you can aim to satisfy them before the competition does.

This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Thursday, 8 May 2014

Establish Change Management By Hiring Consultants


time for change clockFor many business organisations, establishing change management may not be possible if it is being performed by an internal member of management. The reluctance to actually make the changes that are necessary to improve the areas of concern is greater when the person proposing those changes is close to the situation. For this very reason, it is recommended to establish change management by hiring consultants. This can have both a positive and negative affect on the people within the change. They can, in some instances, view the consultant as a hero if they gain something from the change, or as a villain if they lose something during the change.

Change management consultants know that there are several popular models of change management that are used successfully in business today. Every model has drawn its steps from the same basic principles of change management. Those principles are;

·         Every person who experiences change will react differently as an individual.

·         Everyone seeks to fulfil their own basic needs regardless of what position they hold.

·         In most cases for change to take effect everyone will lose something that is comfortable to them.

·         Individuals have many different ideas about change management efforts, so the plans must be pragmatic.

·         The fear of change is very real and must be dealt with in effective ways.

By taking these principals into consideration with every change, the consultant proposing the change has a higher likelihood of success.

Establishing change management needs to be accepted by all employees in the business in order for it to be successful. Change management can be made less traumatic on the organisation if different levels of peer groups are formed to train employees on the changes and help deal with the changes as they occur. Change should never be delivered quickly without warning. There are steps to implementing change to make it effective with the employees.

·         Inform the employees that there are going to be changes made.

·         Help them to recognise that the changes are necessary for the business to advance.

·         Provide the appropriate training for the employees prior to making the change.

·         Help to meet the employee’s needs during the adjustment period after the change.

·         Gain the approval and support of the employees for a successful implementation.

When a consultant proposes a change management solution, it has been drawn from the facts formed by the data provided by the business. Balancing the steps to migrate the company through the changes successfully is completely the choice of the businesses management. However, if the proposed steps are going to be overlooked, then hiring the consultant would be a waste of time and money. The consultant can direct management on how to sell the proposed changes to the employees by providing best practices in most cases. For a successful migration, management should approve the proposed steps and implement them accordingly.

If your company is serious about making the changes that need to be made to move your business forward in an ever changing marketplace, then hiring a change management consultant is the way to go.


This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Cash is King; Keep it Flowing


cash crownEvery year, many profitable businesses will learn, very painfully, that cash is king. When people create their business plans prior to starting a business, many underestimate how much positive cash flow they really need in order to keep their business running through difficult periods. It is important to take into consideration, that even the smallest enterprise could experience difficulty unexpectedly. When large businesses use small suppliers, they don’t always pay for their products or services in a timely manner. Many times, this can put small or medium sized enterprises into a financial bind. Regardless of money that is late, or that may be coming in the future, businesses need cash on hand to pay the bills when they are due.

Some small businesses can find themselves stuck in a routine of borrowing money for much longer than anticipated in order to meet cash flow needs for the moment. By failing to anticipate these difficulties, businesses find themselves in a negative cash flow situation and end up spending more and more profits on interest rates, just trying to stay afloat. Not only does it impact their immediate cash flow, but it can cause them to be late with payments because of it. When this happens, it can cost them with higher interest rates in the future as well. It just goes to prove, even more so, that cash is king in any business.

For larger businesses that are usually more established, they use holding out on paying their bills to smaller and medium sized companies for their own benefit. If it will help them to keep their own interest rates low, or give them more cash flow for their own purposes, many will take that advantage. This vicious cycle will play out many times, which may result in the need for the smaller businesses to raise their prices to compensate for the negative cash flow. Often times, this practice can cost smaller suppliers their businesses if they can’t get a handle on it quickly.

Thankfully, there are ways to deal with the slow or late payments. Rather than breaking down and hiring a full time CFO to handle the accounting for the business, which most businesses can’t afford, technology steps up and fills the need. Because cash is king, there are now companies that offer virtual CFO’s for hire. These CFO’s can be hired on an as needed basis and can help any business get their finances back on track in a few short hours per week. They can help any business to set themselves up to maintain a positive cash flow, so they can face the needs of the business as they arise.

As well as virtual CFO’s, there are new smartphone apps that have been created to simplify the billing and payment process for businesses. With the help of these apps, many small businesses can easily keep an eye on their invoices and payments. They not only allow the customer to effortlessly pay in a few seconds, but they allow the smaller companies to stay on top of the late payments as well. Any small or medium sized businesses would be wise to take advantage of these ways to manage their finances before they find themselves in a negative situation.

This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Monday, 28 April 2014

The many faces of Procrastination

Stop procratinating, starting tomorrowWhen you are trying to operate a business, getting caught up in procrastination can cost you. There are a number of things that you can lose out on if you procrastinate for too long. You might find that your profits take a nose dive while you procrastinate about various business decisions. As a business owner or CEO you don’t get the luxury of procrastinating for too long. If you don’t get that loan application in on time, or you don’t hire that tax accountant in time, there could be serious consequences to those delayed decisions.
There are so many reasons that someone might procrastinate, and every one of them has been used countless times by someone telling themselves, it’s not a problem. The most common reason for procrastination is that the person doing it feels that they have too many other important tasks to complete to dedicate time to just one task. They may tell themselves this while they take time to dawdle and flit from one small project to another, then when crunch time arrives, they could kick themselves for not concentrating on the main priority first. This person needs to concentrate on one thing at a time. The most important things need to be done first, then, if there is time left, tackle the smaller less important items on the list.
Many times people will just feel overwhelmed with a project or task and put off starting it because they just feel it is too involved for them to complete. These people should break the project up into bite sized pieces and take care of each one until they are all completed. If being overwhelmed is an issue, they may want to talk to the person who gave them the task and see if they could assign it to someone else. If you happen to be in charge and need to complete the project yourself, then you will need to do it one small piece at a time until it is finished. If you can’t do this, either delegate it or hire someone who can do it for you.
While someone may put off a project related task, it may be because something else is required to be done first. This type of procrastination can be caused by poor planning in the beginning of a project. If this seems to be the problem, then go back to the planning stage and set attainable tasks for the people involved. You can also assign different pieces of the project to more people so the tasks get done quicker and are less stressful on each person.
Nearly every business in the world suffers from procrastination at some point in time. There seems to be very different views on procrastination among various business types and while some businesses see it as a form of creativity, many effects of procrastination can be viewed as negative, and can be measured simply by looking at the end results. When everyday tasks are not being completed on time, something has broken down in the process somewhere. When you examine the evidence, it usually ends up being that someone in the process has gotten distracted or feels overwhelmed. Procrastination doesn’t necessarily have to be about laziness, but is often seen like this. Some people put things off for very specific reasons but take too long to get back to them. If this happens too often it can be a serious problem for business.

This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Wednesday, 23 April 2014

Why export is important for growth and essential for the economy

Export
Exports are directly related to economic growth and recovery in the UK. When products are exported, not only do the individual industries increase their sales and profits, the increased income is then fed right into the economy of the country. With a renewed export strategy to both developed markets, and emerging markets, there is a much higher demand for additional workers in the UK to meet the growth in demand for products and services. Not only does this need equate to additional workers in those industries, it will also create an increase in spending by the new workforce. The local shops and other businesses will earn more money from the workers. In turn, the need for more domestic products rises as does the need to spend more for their products. This influx of revenues all helps to further stimulate the growth of the economy.

By making changes to the tariff barriers, and lowering transportation costs, it allows and encourages more companies to export their goods and services worldwide. This makes way for exports to become a greater share of the GDP in the UK. Although the UK has been in a position of deficit in % of GDP for a while, export does help the country to reduce that deficit. With policies in place to encourage new industry export strategies, the hope is that the UK will gain strength in the global marketplace as an exporter of goods and services. This can cause an increase in competitiveness among industries and eventually someone may lose out. However, the hope is that during this shift in industry it will still increase the overall health of the economy.

The UK quickly took aim at increasing export once it realised the impact that it could have on the country’s economy. In 2009, the UK was exporting to the EU countries and non-EU countries at equal rates as it had been doing for some time. By 2012 UK Plc recognised the changes taking place with emerging markets demands for more products and quickly positioned themselves to meet the increased demands. By utilising this export strategy, UK Plc began exporting significantly more to non-EU countries and emerging markets than they did to EU countries. This was a wise move. However, by changing their products to meet the new emerging markets demands it will decrease their ability for growth without exporting.

Growth into the future will require a strategic export strategy between the government and the industries that export. In order to make a greater impact on the UK economy there should be additional incentives in place to encourage growth in exports worldwide. Some incentives could include such things as tax incentives as well as reductions in governmental regulations over exporting. 

This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Thursday, 17 April 2014

Why You Need an Exit Strategy

Nollett Business Solutions Exit StrategyMost successful businesses start out with a sound business plan that spells out every detail of the endeavour, from how it will operate to where funding will come from, so why don’t all entrepreneurs also include an exit strategy in their business planning? When you undertake any enterprise, you should always include a plan on how and when you will be selling your business, as a matter of course. By doing this, it allows you to set and meet goals that can significantly increase the value of your investment. Whatever you do, you never want to wait until you are in a position that requires you to sell your business quickly, because then there is a very high probability that you will lose out on potential profits that would have been available, had you of worked and sold to a plan. Therefore, it is important to remember that if you don’t keep track of your efforts, it most probably won’t matter in the end anyhow.

By making a plan to pass the business on to new blood, it gives you a goal to work towards for the entire time that you are in operation. Having an exit strategy will also help to motivate you to meet financial goals, as well as performance goals and is great as a measure of success to date. By following the plan, you will know if you are on target to meet the planned exit date, but more importantly, you will know if you are on target to maximise the value of your asset, by leaving some additional growth for a prospective buyer. This way, when you sell, your creation can go on to bigger and better things without you.

Some who go into business for themselves, do it solely for the challenge of creating something from scratch or solving a problem that exists, where they may not have an interest in maintaining the business long term, yet others may do it strictly for financial gain, where their whole plan is to work for themselves and make as much profit as they can within the business. Either way, if you do not have an exit strategy in place, you may not feel the need to challenge yourself to do a good job within the business and you most probably will not maximise the value of the business.

In general, there are three main types of exit strategy that are embraced, situations permitting. Firstly, there are entrepreneurs that will start a business with their family in mind, where they will build up the business and make sure that it is running and established before turning it over to family members. Secondly, there are business owners who prefer the option of selling to the existing management, as they are, and have been, running the place already and deserve the option to receive any additional value that they can create within the business. In this case it would require finding that manager that loves the business as much as you do in order to have them take it over and run it successfully. Finally there is an outright sale to an interested third party, where you may not know what their intention is for the business, and it may not matter, as long as you can come to an agreeable price where it all works to your plan in the end.

The need for an exit strategy exists long before the business ever opens its doors. It needs to spell out exactly what your goals are for the business, from the timescale to the investment and from the profits to a host of other attainable goals. By constantly tracking the progress of the business over time, it will allow you to measure the value of your investment and hopefully get out of it what you have put into it, but all being well, much, much more. In some cases, the effort that you have put into the business far outweighs any price that you are able to realistically ask, but if this is the case, then there should be some valuable lessons that you should take away from the experience, especially if you are planning on doing the whole exercise again.

This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Why Businesses Should Train Their People

TrainingTraining your employees is imperative if you wish to improve your company’s growth and in-turn, achieve greater success. It is a strategy that you must employ. Effective training has many benefits, which can include increased productivity and improved quality of work, to name but two. Following their training, staff tend to feel a sense of pride and responsibility for the business, as well as heightened motivation, where increased productivity is often reflected through this. Training also reduces staff turnover and absence, due to a greater sense of belonging and respect that they have for the business. Providing training for employees also gives you a competitive advantage over other businesses and provides staff with an assurance that you are willing to invest both your time and money into them, thus creating a sense of increased job security and job satisfaction.

Before you begin, it is always important to perform a training needs analysis (TNA), essentially assessing the current level of skills or training throughout the business, as this will help you to identify areas of training that your business needs, or any skills that need evolving further, and develop your training from there. Your staff will have much more direct experience with your business and probably already know where some of these areas of weakness are, so ask for their input.

It is also important that you ensure that the training programme you provide is linked to your businesses performance and objectives, as this will give a clearer focus. At this point, you should bear in mind that the objectives that you set for your employees are both measurable and attainable, as this will ensure that staff can measure their successes towards the end goal. A regular analysis or evaluation will also help to monitor changes in developments and help to tailor your training programme to ensure that it remains effective.

All of these things obviously help to increase profits, due to both staff and customer satisfaction, but to ensure that you get the most out of the training that you provide, you really need to consider a few additional factors. These would include an element of mentoring, so that you focus on helping your employees to carry out their existing tasks more efficiently, otherwise the training could prove counterproductive, due to employees not having the time to implement the new skill set that you have given them. It is also worth investing in the right person or team who will be responsible for the planning and implementing of the training to the staff. Essentially, the most effective training will produce the most effective results.

Act now and help your people rise to peak performance and deliver the results that your business deserves.


This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Sunday, 30 March 2014

Emerging Market Procurement strategies for low-cost sourcing

Low-cost Country SourcingEmerging markets are playing a key role in the realignment of major corporations across the globe. Where many larger companies have been utilising emerging markets in areas of low-cost sourcing already, with the level of innovation and economic growth in those emerging markets, they are now seeing them as playing larger roles for their companies. With an increase in revenue coming from these countries, more and more companies will be looking to include more than the use of their low-cost sourcing to satisfy the needs for their own businesses. With all of these changes taking place across the globe, the need arises for emerging market procurement services for smaller companies as well.

Not many Western companies have experience with handling resources on a global scale. In order to be effective, a company would need to have experience in locating low-cost sourcing in countries throughout the world, and not many do. One strategy a company could employ, would be to utilise a company that specialises in emerging market procurement. With help, smaller companies can learn appropriate low-cost sourcing and logistics strategies for themselves and enjoy increases in business and revenue. Companies that are actually taking advantage of opportunities offered in emerging markets are already enjoying this competitive dominance.

As well as seeing an increase in revenue by using the low-cost country sourcing for their products, many companies are also seeing an increase in revenues from these countries. This is due, in part, to the fact that with the economic growth in these countries, they have moved from only providing labour and manufacturing, to also becoming consumers of the products themselves. Aside from seeing emerging markets as low-cost sourcing, global corporations are now looking at them as new markets. With an increase in innovations from these countries, major corporations are shifting their focus to meet the demands of the emerging markets.

Currently, developed markets seem to be experiencing what can be termed as lifeless growth domestic product rates, whereas emerging markets have experienced significant growth and are expected to surpass the domestic markets by 2050. Companies that take advantage of this growth can expect to experience an increase in profits. However, they do so while taking a risk marketing to an unstable emerging market. For smaller companies this risk may be enough to keep them from taking advantage of these marketing trends all together, although they could still benefit from emerging market procurement for their own products.

Whilst most global corporations may be working towards expanding their business to emerging markets for the sole purpose of increased revenue, a byproduct of their business may be an improvement in the health and wellbeing of the local market. For smaller companies that make the effort, the societal impact may not be as great, but they may still enjoy an increase in revenue from the emerging market. As global corporations make the changes needed to exploit the increase in demand from emerging markets, the need still exists to have a strategy for emerging market procurement of low-cost sourcing to meet those demands.

This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Monday, 24 March 2014

The Key to Development for Small & Medium Enterprises (SME’s)

Economic RecoveryWith the UK experiencing such economic uncertainty since the recession in 2008, great emphasis has been on the economic recovery and growth of our nation’s business structure. More and more independent smaller businesses are struggling to compete with much larger enterprises, and without additional support from banks or government bodies, it seems unclear as to the future of SME’s in light of the negative connotations associated with the impending rising interest rates over the coming quarters.

For many small and medium size businesses, owners fight through the difficulties with outstanding determination and are indeed an admiration to many, but as one analyst recently asked “Why suffer the pain of business, when you could easily see a specialist who can diagnose and medicate the problem?” This suggests that a unique business strategy for developing businesses is key to progression and growth, whilst avoiding the demise of many perfectly manageable ailments associated with businesses at risk of losing their footing.

Essentially, everything is relative and must be treated as such. It is not surprising that small to medium size business enterprises do not succeed beyond their infancy, as every element of business growth and support is generalised, and in doing so, ignores matters that are specific to certain areas of success for growth. Therefore, by applying the same model to businesses of given ages or sizes, we can begin to establish the specific business acumen necessary for smaller enterprises.

Smaller businesses can easily be compared with premature babies whose survival is paramount to how they are looked after, as well as how much they grow, and cared for in the right way, with specialist help, they can become successful and create as many new jobs and resources as that of larger sized long-term enterprises. As with life, businesses need to adopt strategies specific to each stage – nurturing, growth and expansion – whilst maintaining the health of every aspect of their creation, otherwise, one ailment may easily cause a reduction in efficiency throughout the whole process, thus putting it at risk of demise, effectively ending its life.

So how do we enable smaller businesses to employ more staff and reach a higher threshold? Well, in essence, there simply needs to be more emphasis on specific growth strategies for the various stages of enterprise – from infancy to old age – considering the needs unique to that stage in their development, rather than focusing on supporting larger businesses that are a safer bet for the future. This model of support and development, effectively parenting, looks to be a much more productive way of achieving economic success, in every sense of the word.
This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.