Business Growth vs. Corporate Growth

Growing a business is a journey fraught with challenges. It is a long road and there are no shortcuts to success. In order to climb the ladder of success, businesses need a sound growth strategy that involves meticulous planning and implementation.

However, what entrepreneurs miss is the fact that a growth strategy in business has two sides – a corporate growth strategy and a business growth strategy.

Sound the same, don’t they?

But hold your horses. They’re not as similar as you’d think.

Convergence, not divergence  

Corporate growth strategy refers to an area in which a company is competing with others. A business growth strategy focuses on defining how the company should compete.

The latter is taken care of in the starting phase of the business. However, it is the former that needs to dictate how a business will compete and grow. This is essential because it will decide how the business will fare in the industry aka how it’s going to survive!

No Sweat. Yes, SWOT! 

Noted academic, Kenneth R. Andrews, has developed the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis.

It can help your business grow.

How?

With the right questions!

The analysis helps you identify your competitive leverage by drawing meaningful information through several questions.

These are:

What are your Strengths? 

This may involve elements of business or project of the company that keep it one step ahead of others.

What are your Weaknesses?

This answer should refer to characteristics of the business or your project that highlight problem areas with respect to your competitors.

What are your Opportunities? 

These refer to key characteristics of a system that any company could use to its advantage. Often, these opportunities convert your weakness to strength.

What are the Threats?

This refers to issues that could potentially cause problems for any business or project.

The SWOT strategy helps your company in addressing the questions that are key to your business growth and in turn, bolster your corporate growth.