Planning for Growth: Key Considerations, Ansoff's Growth Matrix, Funding Sources

This report discusses the key considerations for evaluating growth opportunities, applying Ansoff's growth vector matrix, and potential sources of funding for small businesses. It also includes a business plan for Trinity Limited, a grocery retailer.

Planning for Growth

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Key considerations for the evaluation of growth opportunities in relation to the establishment 3
Evaluating the opportunities for growth applying Ansoff’s growth vector matrix-....................6
The potential sources of funding available to businesses-...........................................................7
Business plan for the growth of company:..................................................................................9
Exit or succession options for small business:..........................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Planning for growth are the kind of strategies as well as key actions that are planned by any
business organization to expand their business operations in order to achieve the end and final
goals in most successful manner (Heydari and Sullivan, 2018). Managers of the establishments
are required to provide and devote huge amount of time, efforts and energy to prepare an
effectual action plan which has been taken by firm to enjoy maximum profitability as well as
market share. Trinity limited is the small business organization deals into grocery retailing and
has remained highly profitable from past 5 years.
This report will elaborate the critical points that are related to key considerations that
managers has to think at the time of planning and evaluating suitable and available growth
opportunities. Apart from this, the study will also highlight potential sources of funding that are
potentially available for small and medium sized business establishments to meet certain
expenses in beneficial manner. At the end of the study, the business plan has been prepared
which provide various existing strategies that could be utilised by the company operations into
external environment.
MAIN BODY
Key considerations for the evaluation of growth opportunities in relation to the establishment
There are various things and elements that requires huge amount of consideration specially
by the manager of the Trinity Limited company at the time of analysing and evaluating various
growth and expansion opportunities that are available into the external environment (Sparkman,
2018). There are certain areas that needs to be considered by the manager of the company at the
time of doing planning for the growth and expansion of the company has been illustrated as
below:
 Competitive advantages: In order to identify and understand the ways in which the
Trinity Limited company can highly able to retain its competitive advantages in the
external environment can be elaborated with the help of VRIO model through which it
has been identified that:

Resources Value Rare Imitable Organize
Human
resources
Yes No Yes Yes
Technology Yes No Yes Yes
Products and
services
Yes No Yes Yes
Brand image Yes Yes No Yes
Valuable: As per this component, it has been stated that the Trinity Limited has a valuable
human resource department that are always ready to provide their services in best possible
manner so that the company can able to attain maximum amount of market share as well as
profitability. Better quality of products and services that are being maintained by the company
has help the firm in order to satisfy the desires and requirements of the customers in the best
possible manner (Kim and et.al., 2021). The brand image of the company us also considered to
be valuable as it highly contributes their part among the practices that are belongs to retaining
and attracting new consumers within the establishments.
Rare: After considering the above drawn table, it has been evaluated that, technology, products,
services, hu8man resource personnel, etc. are not considered among the rare components of the
company as all such are also available among various other similar kind of companies as well.
Apart from this, it has also been stated that the brand image of the company us rare in nature as
company us highly efficient enough to deliver differentiated products and services among the
diversified market within which various number and variety of customers are available having
different and dissimilar demands.
Imitable: Within this specified criteria, it has been interpreted that brand image is the one and
only single element which can never been copied by somebody else while all other factors such
as human resource, products, technology, services, etc. are all easily imitable components from
other organizations as well (Shah, David and Surawski III, 2022). All the businesses have the
primary purpose to get high level of profit margin and thus through such resources each and
every company is able to gain such advantages although proper management is highly
recommended and required to achieve such position.

Organised: Appropriate arrangements and organization of varied resources which involves the
employees, technology, services, brand image, offered goods, etc. of the company has helped the
company in order to retain their competitive advantages within the market space where other
competitors are also available and highly present with similar kind of offering for their
consumers.
New products and services: The Trinity Limited is highly focused over the development and
management of offered goods and services such as by adding organic range of the goods can
fulfil the current and latest requirements of the consumers. Thus, the manager of the company
with the assistance of focusing towards the innovative concept within their goods and services
helps to make improvements which is only responsible for building strong brand image.
Identification and mitigation of risk: There are numerous risks that are associated within the
business which requires to be mitigate so that the company can able to expand and grow along
with sustain for majority number of years. The risks that are involved within this are:1. Competition risk: Competition risk refers to the risk that are associated within the
business because of the availability of various competitors. Thus, the company in order to
mitigate competitive risks required to focus over different types of goods and services as
per client’s requirements in order to make their consumers happy and satisfied.
2. Financial risk: In order to get appropriate operations of Trinity Limited, there are various
financial resources required by the company, So, high financial risks can be mitigated by
the manager through appropriately evaluating the results that can be gained from
specified investment.
Collaboration: Furthermore, it has been stated that manager while planning for growth required
to be considered for collaboration and joint venture in order to enter into the international market
place (Renne and Tolford, 2018). Further, with the help of joint ventures with other similar type
of company, the Trinity Limited will able to expand and grow its business by sharing their
overall risk as well as profitability aspects.

Evaluating the opportunities for growth applying Ansoff’s growth vector matrix-
The Ansoff Matrix is also known as the Product or Market Grid matrix and its represents the four
options which helps the company in matching the existing as well as the new products with the
existing and the new markets as these are plotted on the matrix. This growth vector matrix helps
in highlighting the risk that the specific growth strategy may have when moved to one matrix to
another. The Ansoff Matrix is considered as the strategic tool of the marketing which helps in
linking the marketing strategy of the company with its strategic direction. This provides the four
options such as the market penetration, market development, product development as well as the
diversification.
Market Penetration: This is basically selling the same products in large number in the existing
markets and the existing customers. The business has to find the effective ways for increasing the
loyalty among the customers as well as the growing the lifetime values of the customers. This
will help the companies in improving the order process as well as making much easier for the
customers. The Trinity Ltd using this growth opportunity will help them in quick diffusion as
well as the adoption of the product in the market. This strategy of the growth will provide many
benefits to this company as this will help them in creating the goodwill of the company. This
helps the company in seeing how the customers as well as the overall markets views the products
of the company (Chintalapati, 2020.). This is way of achieving the large market share by gaining
the customers of the competitors.
Market Development: Many companies considered this strategy as the best strategy as this helps
them in attracting the new customers to the existing products of the company. The new
customers can be attracted and be defined as by their location that is by the geographic location.
This location can be the another country. This simultaneously done with the market research
where the company carries out the whole segmentation analysis for the existing market and by
short listing the market segment which is the best suitable to be pursued by the company. The
Trinity Ltd company using this growth strategy will be much helpful as this will help them in
attracting the large number of the customers with their existing products to the new group of the
customers or to the different region.
Product Development: This growth strategy involves creation of the new products or making
variations in the existing products for selling this to the present customers. This is the method as
well as the action which is used for bringing the new products in the market or to modify the

existing products and the services of the company. This strategy of the growth also helps the
company to grow their business by developing new products as this will lead to attract large
customers towards the company. The growth strategy helps the company in adding the value to
the customers as the people who will be buying the new products of the company. The Trinity
Ltd company adopting this option of the growth vector matrix will help them in adding the value
to the customers of the company, measuring the success of the company, improving the
reputation of the company by boosting the quality of the products as well as reducing the costs
for improving the competitiveness.
Diversification: This growth strategy is considered as the highest strategy of the risk as strategy
involves selling of the new products in the new market. This is entirely coming up with the new
products in the new market so this strategy also costs much high. This works much well when
the companies have the good collaboration between the supply chain as this will help the
organization in easily adapting the new geographic markets as well as the products. This strategy
is usually used by the large corporations as this helps them in adopting the new products easily,
and they can afford to invest much money for launching and producing new product (Waziri and
et.al.,).
The Trinity Ltd using the market development will help them in growing their business.
This growth strategy will help them in achieving the growth by performing the segmentation
analysis and this is the most effective growth strategy for this company as this will not cost much
money.
The potential sources of funding available to businesses-
The company acquiring the funds from the different sources for the purposes of increasing the
capital of the organization as for the growth of the company. Funding plays the vital role in
growing the business as this helps the company to go for adopting the different strategies for the
growth as every activity of the business requires the financial resources. The potential sources
which will help The Trinity Ltd company collecting the funds are such as-
Small business loans: The government supports the small businesses in providing the small
loans to them who are exclusively in need of it. This is the source of funding for the small
business as this will help them in acquiring the finance from the government at very reasonable
interest rates. This helps the business in many ways such as the financing of the new
equipment’s, increasing the inventory, funding for the expansion as well as the growth of the

plans and many more. The major drawbacks of the small business loans are that not all of the
business has the access and are eligible to take these loans as well as the banks may take the
interest rates at higher levels (Caglio, Copeland and Martin, 2021).
Crowdfunding: This is the way of raising the funds through the finance projects as well as from
the businesses. This enables the company to collect the money from the large numbers of the
people through the online platforms. This source of funding is usually used by the start-up or the
small business or by the growing businesses. This source of the funding is the fastest way of
raising the finance without any cost. The benefit of this option is that the companies have the
ability to engage the crowd as well as the helps them in receiving the comments and the
feedbacks and this reduces the financial risks and helps the businesses in validates the idea. The
drawback for this option is that this is not much easier process for comparing the traditional ways
as well as may fail the risk damage of the projects.
Family and friends: This is also the effective way of raising the funds as this will help the small
businesses to collect the money from the friends and the family at very low cost or may at no
cost of the interest. This method of collecting the money is most appropriate sources of funding.
This will help them in getting the funds at very low interest and it is the most effective and the
suitable source of the funds for the small scale businesses. The benefit is that the family and
friends may offer and provide the loans without any security. The drawback is that any
misunderstandings related to this can lead to damage in relationships.
Angel investors: These are the most effective for collecting the funds for running the activities of
the business. Angel investors helps the small businesses by investing their own money in the
early stages of the business. These investors are also known as the private, seed or the angel
funders as they provide the financial backing to the small businesses by exchanging the
ownership equity in the organisation. The benefits of this option is flexibility, no interest or the
repayment is involved whereas the drawbacks are loss of control as well as higher level of
expectations.
Lines of credit: These are the most popular form of the source of funding for the small
businesses. This source of the funding let the businesses borrow the certain limit of the credit on
the lower annual percentage rates as compared to the credit card. Advantages of Lines of the
credit helps the small businesses in providing the higher level of the credit for the smooth
running of the business activities over the credit cards. This helps in providing the short term

loans for the small businesses who are in need for the bigger investments for short period. The
drawbacks are that these are very expensive as well as these are much time consuming.
Small business grants: When the small businesses want the complete free money that is the cash
which does not require the repayment of the money borrowed. These grants are very hard to be
received by the companies as compared to the bank loans because of the high demands. There
are many small business grants which will help the company in getting the business grants
opportunities. The biggest benefit is that these are not be repaid as well as helps the company to
develop. The drawbacks are they did not provide to the start-up businesses and these grants are
highly competitive.
Peer to peer lending (P2P): This source of funding helps the business owner to borrow as well
as lend the money with the peers in the business. This is the method of the financing the debt
which allows the individuals for borrowing and lending the funds without involving any official
financial institution as the intermediary. This shows that this process removes the middlemen or
the intermediary from in between the process of collecting or borrowing the funds from the peers
(Boudreau, K., Nwakpuda and Sauermann, 2019). The main drawback is that this requires to pay
the additional fees other then the interest rate on the loan. The benefits of this source of funding
is that it fast process of the application as well as it has less impact on the credit score of
individual.
The Trinity Ltd company using these sources of funding will help them in raising and collecting
the financial resources for running the business activities.
Business plan for the growth of company:
It Is very important for the Trinity Ltd company to plan for the growth for the sustainability as
this will help the company in effectively implementing the changes in the organisation. A
business sustainability plan is basically the process in which the organisation develops and sets
the goals for achieving them by creating the financial, societal as well as the environmental
sustainability.
Objectives of organisation:
 Using the E-waste Recycling bins at workplace
 Use of the bulbs which are energy efficient
 Setting up the automatic light shut off
 Reduction of scrap material while the production process

 Reduction of waste and water consumption by 10% within this year
There are many steps involves in the planning of the growth such as-
Assessing the areas for improvements: It is very important to analyse the areas where the
improvements are required that is the ways through which the sustainability in the organisation
can be improved. It is necessary to know all the law and the compliances before making
improvements of the sustainability in the organisation. Researching about the issues such as the
global warming, energy as well as the fuel crisis, ecosystem so that ti will become easy for the
organisation to control the or make improvements for declining these issues in the environment.
Finding the Opportunities: Making innovations in the organisation is directly related to the
sustainability in the organisation. If the company wants to reduce the waste and the energy
consumption, they then have to innovate very effectively for the successful innovation.
The business plan for the sustainable development for the Trinity is as follows-
Market Analysis-
The market analysis can be done by applying the models such as the SWOT analysis and the
Pestle analysis.
SWOT Analysis:
This analysis helps the company in knowing the areas which are to be improved by the company
for achieving the goals and the objectives of the overall organisation.
Strengths
 This company is located at very good
location.
 The company is showing growth for n
the past 5 years as this is the biggest
strength of the Trinity Ltd company
(Geissdoerfer, Vladimirova and Evans,
2018).
Weaknesses
 There are lack of the digital innovation
and it is the biggest weakness of this
organisation.
 The business model till now was
unsustainable as there are many other
competitors who have adapted this
change.
Opportunities
 The biggest opportunity for the Trinity
Ltd company is that the demand for the
Threats
 The biggest threat for this company is
easy entry in this sector.

sustainable goods is increasing due to
the change in the consumer trends.
 The biggest growth opportunity for the
company is the development or the
improvement of the sustainability.
 Many of other competitors of this
company has already entered into the
development of the sustainability (Puyt
and et.al., 2020).
Pestle Analysis-
Political Factors
These are the factors which
can affect the working of the
business such as
 The increasing of the
corporation taxes.
 Launching of the new
laws such as National
Minimum Wage has
decreased the
profitability of the
business.
Economic Factors
Economic factors also have
the impact on the business
such as
 The economy of the
UK is stable as this
will help the company
in growing effectively
as well as earn good
profits.
 The two elements of
the demand and the
supply can also affect
the business in both
negatively and
positively.
Technological Factors
 The technology of the
UK has changed a lot
that is they have
adopted the advances
technology and this
will help the Trinity
Ltd company in growth
of the company.
Social Factors
 The company has to
ensure the changes in
the attitude and the
behaviour of the
customers as the
Legal Factors
 The new laws of UK
can impact the
working of the Trinity
company as there are
many laws made for
Environmental factors
 The environment has
been affected much by
the running of the
businesses so it is very
important for the

demand for the diet
and the healthy food id
increasing.
 This will help the
Trinity Company in
increasing the sales by
producing sustainable
products.
the development of the
sustainability
(Upadhyay and Kundu,
2020).
companies to ensure
about developing the
sustainability.
Sources of funding- The sources of the funding can be done by the using the above stated
sources as this will help them in collecting the finance for the sustainable growth of the business.
This will help the Trinity Ltd company in effectively raising the funds with the low interests’
rates.
Financial projection of the organisation-
Monthly costs Monthly expenses
(EURO)
Cash needed Source of capital
Salary of owner
manager
7560 10,000 Invested capital
Rent 1930 2000 Initial Loan
Advertising 480 500 Initial Loan
Delivery
Expenses
960 1000 Initial Loan
Insurance 480 600 Initial Loan
Supplies 240 500 Initial Loan
Miscellaneous 960 1000 Initial Loan
SUBTOTAL 12,610 15,600 Initial Loan

Exit or succession options for small business:
It is very important for the businesses to choose the appropriate exit strategy as the best step
while getting started. Planning for this is very necessary and the crucial part for the building the
business. Exit or the succession strategy is the plan which enables the business in planning when
and how the business will leave the business in the marketplace. All the small businesses need or
requires the exit strategy at a point even it can be just transferring the ownership of the
organization when the company decided to leave or get retired. The company planning the good
and the most suitable exit strategy helps them in preparing in advance for addressing the tough
situation which can be arrived while leaving the business.
Some of the things which is very necessary to be considered by the companies while making the
exit strategies for leaving the business are the time of being part for the business, financial
situation as well as the expectations and the investor and the creditors who are in need to
compensate and repaid (Elmansy, 2019).
The five most common strategies of the exit for the small businesses are such as-
Liquidation: This process involves closing of the business as well as selling of the assets or
redistribution of these to the creditors and the shareholders of the company. One of the option in
this strategy is to close the business and then selling of its assets as soon as possible. This
method is considered as the last resort of the method for the businesses as in this the companies
can only make the money from selling of the assets and all other valuable items of the business
such as the clients, business relations and many more are lost. The biggest advantage of using
this exit strategy is that it is very simple method of the leaving the business as compared to
others and the drawback is that the business owner can only make the money by selling the
assets of the company and not by the valuable items.
Initial Public Offering: This method of the exit strategy can be defined as the process when the
businesses first of all sells the shares of the stock to the public. This process when used by the
companies helps them in raising the funds or the additional capital for the company. As in this
the companies have to go for to the public so they have to take very big step and the decision.
The advantages of using this as the exit strategy helps them in earning much profit for becoming

the public company as well as going to the public helps them in increasing the publicity of the
company as this leads to increase in the reputation and the brand image of the company. The
main limitation of this method is that it is very expensive and the long process.
Selling the business to known: This is the method in which the business owner decides to sell
the business to the partner or the person whom they are knowing. This helps the business owner
or the seller to maintain the income after selling the business as well. In this the seller also acts as
the mentor during the transition process which enables the new business owner to run the
business activities smoothly. The main advantage of this method is it is sold to someone familiar
to us helps in decreasing the disruption to the business and the drawback is that it could stress the
family relations and the disagreements.
Selling to another business: There may happen that there are many businesses who have interest
in acquiring the small business. This is also the good option for individuals who wants to
continue the work for their chosen sector but with very less responsibility. The main advantage is
of purchasing the business may happen may willing to pay the higher level of the prices for the
company (Kolb, 2019).
Hence, the Trinity Ltd company can use the liquidation as this will help them in restricting as
well as limiting the losses. This will provide the ability of the converting the assets of the
company to the cash as soon as possible.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that it is very important for the business to plan the
growth of the business. The above report has discussed the basis of the competitive advantages
as well as the sources of the funding’s for the small businesses. Along with this, it has also
discussed the business plan for the growth of the company as well as the exit strategies for the
small businesses.

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