Business Growth Strategies: A Comprehensive Analysis

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Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................................2
LO1..............................................................................................................................................................2
P1 Analyse key considerations for evaluating growth opportunities and justify these considerations
within an organizational context.............................................................................................................2
P2 Evaluate the opportunities for growth applying Ansoff’s growth vector matrix.................................3
M1 Discuss the options for growth using a range of analytical frameworks to demonstrate the
understanding of competitive advantage within an organizational context...........................................4
D1 Critically evaluate specific options and pathways for growth, taking into account the risks of each
option and how they can be mitigated....................................................................................................4
LO2..............................................................................................................................................................5
P3 Assess the potential sources of funding available to businesses and discuss the benefits and
drawbacks of each source.......................................................................................................................5
M2 Evaluate potential sources of funding and justification for the adoption of an appropriate source
of funding for a given organizational context..........................................................................................6
D2 Critically evaluate potential sources of funding with a justified argument for the adoption of a
particular source or combination of sources, based on organizational needs.........................................6
LO3..............................................................................................................................................................7
P4 Design a business plan for growth that includes financial information and strategic objectives for
scaling up a business...............................................................................................................................7
M3 Develop an appropriate and detailed business plan for growth and securing investment, setting
out strategic objectives, strategies and appropriate frameworks for achieving objectives.....................8
D3 Present a coherent and detailed business plan that demonstrates knowledge and understanding of
how to formulate apply and achieve business objectives successfully....................................................8
LO4..............................................................................................................................................................9
P5 Assess exit or succession options for a small business explaining the benefits and drawbacks of
each option..............................................................................................................................................9
M4 Evaluate exit or succession options for a small business comparing and contrasting the options
and making valid recommendations......................................................................................................10
D4 Provide a critical evaluation of the exit or succession options for small business and decide an
appropriate course of action with justified recommendations to support implementation.................10
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................................10
References:................................................................................................................................................11

Introduction:
For any business, the competitiveness of the market has increased, and it has become crucial to
have a good strategy and plans for the growth of any organization. Different organizations follow
different approaches and strategies to achieve their targets, but sometimes the organization able
to achieve and sometimes fails. So it is important to analyze growth opportunities and business
plan for any organization. So the aim of this paper is to analyze the growth opportunities for any
business and making a roadmap for good growth. For this purpose vector matrix of growth is
applied for evaluating growth opportunities. Also, the analytical framework is used for options of
growth considering the risk factor and mitigating it. The paper also includes a detailed discussion
about the sources of funding with the advantages and disadvantages of these sources. And at the
end of the paper, a detailed business plan for the success and growth of any business
organization is developed with the formulation and implementation of this plan.
LO1
P1 Analyse key considerations for evaluating growth opportunities and justify these
considerations within an organizational context.
Some key consideration for evaluation of growth opportunities are as follows:
 Measuring the growth- the growth of an organization can be measured using statistics
such as sales, market share, profit and turnover. It helps to evaluate growth opportunities.
 Consolidating existing performance-It can provide a clear idea about the organization
where it stands. It can be done by analyzing the resources and systems of the
organization.
 Diversification- It is considered an important factor for growth opportunities. It includes
selling new products in a new market.
 Market share- Growth opportunities increases with increase market shares. Market
shares can be increased by attracting new customers. It involves analyzing the market
needs and analyzing the competitor and their strengths and weaknesses (Joseph et. al.,
2018).
 Partnership, mergers, and joint ventures- It provides a good and fast-growing
opportunity. It can provide more resources, market, and new skills and talents and can
help an organization.
 Growth options- It includes analyzing the options for growth which are best suitable for
an organization.
These are the factors considered for evaluation of growth opportunities. These factors provide
knowledge about an organization’s current performance and opportunities for growth by

analyzing the organization’s resources, system, partners, market shares, and markets. So these
factors are important for analyzing growth opportunities of an organization.
P2 Evaluate the opportunities for growth applying Ansoff’s growth vector matrix.
Ansoff’s growth vector matrix is a commonly used tool for the evaluation of growth
opportunities. It helps to find the best strategy for increasing growth and sales of an organization.
For the evaluation of growth opportunities by applying Ansoff’s growth matrix first it is required
to analyze the strategies it provides for the growth of an organization.
Ansoff’s growth matrix helps an organization to analyze it’s a product in the market and suggests
the better options an organization can start to meet the market requirements. So there are four
strategies offered by Ansoff’s matrix, which are as follows with the evaluation of growth
opportunities by every approach or strategy:
 Penetration of the market: It shows the values of containing the customer and selling
him more same products. It is focused on increasing customer loyalty. By this approach,
an organization can be able to contain the customer by adjusting it according to
customer’s requirements (Nason and Wiklund, 2018).
 Development of the market: This approach or strategy is focused to develop the market
or customers for an organization for the same products. Developing new market includes
making a reach to the new customer, launching products in new area, place or country. It
helps to increase the reach of an organization and adds a new customer with the
organization.
 Development of product: It includes the development of new product or changes in the
existing product by analyzing the need of customers. With the advancement in the
existing product, an organization can attract new customers and will be able to contain
existing customers.
 Diversification: It includes selling new products in a new market. It involves higher risk.
This approach is successful when an organization has a good foundation and supply
chain. This strategy requires analyzing the market requirements and capabilities of the
organization. This approach can provide good and instant growth in an organization
(McAdam and Leonard, 2003).
So these are the approaches or strategies of Ansoff’s matrix. And evaluation of growth
opportunities by applying this matrix is presented.

M1 Discuss the options for growth using a range of analytical frameworks to
demonstrate the understanding of competitive advantage within an organizational
context.
For any organization, it is important to design and follow a strategic framework to achieve
growth and success in the business. So here the growth options using an analytical framework to
understand competitive advantages for an organization is discussed in the below sections.
There are many tools for the strategic development of an organization, which can be divided into
two parts as external and internal tools. The external tools will help to know what is happening
outside the business and how will it affect the business. The internal tools show how you can
improve your business and can achieve a good growth rate. For external analysis, there are some
tools as Blue ocean strategy, PESTLE, five forces of Porters and Planning of scenario. The
framework for internal analysis includes SWOT, VMOST, value chain analysis, VRIN model
(view based on resources), etc. (Reuer and Tong, 2010).
The tools for external analysis show the competitiveness of the market, market trends, and
requirement and allow an organization to change strategy accordingly. And tools for the internal
analysis show the availability of resources, requirement for the management, process and its
challenges. So using these tools can provide a good growth opportunity to an organization.
D1 Critically evaluate specific options and pathways for growth, taking into account
the risks of each option and how they can be mitigated.
For the growth of an organization, there are many options and pathways, but there is always a
risk in following any option or pathways. So it is important to mitigate or eliminate that risk and
following that option for growth. So in the below sections, some options for growth of an
organization with the involved risk and mitigation options of risk is described.
 Increasing products and sales- It is a common and easy way to increase the growth of any
organization. Increasing products involves the risk of reducing demand. To mitigate this
risk the analyzing market is important and according to demand, the product should be
increased. It also includes increasing the market for a product; means to launch the
product in a new market and it also requires analyzing the market before launching the
product (Romano et. al., 2011).
 Exit market- for the growth it is not necessary always to increase the market sometimes
exit the market can help to focus the organization to a new market or the core market of
the organization. When the sales and demands of a product reduce or if there is any
possibility to reduce the sales of demand in near future than it is required to re-plan the
organization about it, and sometimes it helps to remove that product and focus on other.
For this approach, the risk can be mitigated by assessing the effect of exiting the market.
 Reassessing the cost of the product- Sometimes it is required to reassess the cost of the
product to provide the product at a low cost to the customers. Reducing the cost of the

product can help and can increase the sales of the product. It can also increase the reach
of the product and can be affordable for more people (Chandra and Fealey, 2009).
 Engaging with other organization- This can help in growing fast for an organization. It
also reduces the risk and increases products and market for an organization.
 Sometimes when satisfactory results are achieved by an organization then not making so
many changes can help the organization and can reduce the risk.
LO2
P3 Assess the potential sources of funding available to businesses and discuss the
benefits and drawbacks of each source.
Funding sources are important to starting any business. There are several sources for funding of a
business which has their advantages and drawbacks. So these sources with its benefits and
limitations or challenges are discussed here.
 Family or friends: This is an easy source of funding for a small business. But it involves
risk as an investor can start interfering into the business and starts worrying about it when
something is not going well in the business. It can work if you have a proper agreement
before starting the business (Van Auken and Carraher, 2012).
 Lending scheme guaranteed by government: Government schemes can be a good source
of funding as it provides fixed and variable interest rates and a good amount of loans. But
it may have the drawbacks depending on the banks you use for funding.
 Commercial finance: It can be a good source of funding as it provides a good time for
repaying the amount. But it requires some sort of security.
 Business partners: Finding partners can be a good source of funding. If partners have
good understanding and everyone have their role to play identifying their strengths and
weakness then it can get success, otherwise, it has the same risk as funding from friend
and family they may have a conflict on many issues.
 Angel investors: these are the investors having a business background and invest in a
business. They have more interest in the business as they take share into it for the return
of their investment (Kushnirovich and Heilbrunn, 2008).
So these are some sources for funding in business and have their advantages and challenges.

M2 Evaluate potential sources of funding and justification for the adoption of an
appropriate source of funding for a given organizational context.
Assessing the potential sources of funding; shows the advantages and challenges of each source.
It shows that every source has some advantages as well as some challenges. And there is a need
to handle the issues in every source while adopting it. Every option provides its advantages and
has some disadvantages. So it is important to adopt the right source of funding depending on the
organization. For a medium and small business government schemes of lending can be a good
option as it provides a good time to return the amount and also has flexible and fix rates of
interest. But in actual it should depend on the nature of the business, risk of business and then it
is required to decide accordingly.
D2 Critically evaluate potential sources of funding with a justified argument for the
adoption of a particular source or combination of sources, based on organizational
needs.
The evaluation of the sources shows the limitations or challenges and benefits of every funding
source. While selecting the source of funding the requirements of business and the nature of
business should be kept in mind. When the starting profit from the business is analyzed to be less
than it is required to select the funding source which provides more time for returning the
amount. And looking at the risk of business the funding source should be selected as if the
business is of higher risk than funding through the business partner will also reduce the risk of
the business (Beheshti et. al., 2012). So these are some points which show how funding source
depends on the nature of business and how it should be selected.

LO3
P4 Design a business plan for growth that includes financial information and
strategic objectives for scaling up a business.
Business planning and regularly reviewing a business plan is important for the growth of any
business. So a business plan for scaling up a business is designed here, and it includes the
following points.
 Reviewing ongoing business plan-for designing a new business it is important to review
the ongoing business plan, which shows the challenges of implementing the plan and
drawbacks of the ongoing plan which should be resolved in the new business plan. It
shows the required changes in the plan to achieve business objectives.
 New business plan- New business plan should include the summery of development of
business, where it stands and where it should be in the decided timeframe (Versendaal et.
al., 2005). What are the challenges it has, and what are the resources you have to
overcome these challenges or problems. It should include
 Marketing plan and objectives- marketing plan includes analyzing the market
and understanding the market requirements, and targeting the customers.
 Financial information- It should include the cash flow, profit, and loss, sales and
accounts.
 It includes the objective or targets with the decided timeframe.
 Information about the product and its market.
 All individual departments should have their individual objectives.
 Planning and allocating resources- It is related to implementing the plan or strategy. To
achieve the business objectives is required to allocate the resources effectively where
needed. It includes adding more staff to the required department, adding more systems or
equipment (Nason and Wiklund, 2018).
 Targets-It is required to set short term and long term goals for the organization. It
includes sales and profit goals for a period of time, the development of new products, etc.
It will give a good direction to the organization.
 Reviewing the plan- to review the business plan on a regular time interval is important to
check whether it is working or not. It also provides the flexibility to make the desired
changes into the strategy.
So these are the points which a good business plan should include to achieve the growth of
the organization.

M3 Develop an appropriate and detailed business plan for growth and securing
investment, setting out strategic objectives, strategies and appropriate frameworks
for achieving objectives.
The main points on which the plan of a business should be focused has discussed in the above
section. And some issues which require focusing on are shown below:
Securing investment- for securing the investment a business plan should include the assessment
of return of the investment. It is necessary and can reduce the risk of the business. It also helps to
assess the risk of business (Cornell, 2014).
Strategic objective- The strategy should include the short term and long term goal for the
organization and should analyze the results after a regular interval. The organization should work
to achieving its goal according to the strategy.
D3 Present a coherent and detailed business plan that demonstrates knowledge and
understanding of how to formulate apply and achieve business objectives
successfully.
The business plan of an organization should include the following option-
 Market analysis- To analyzing the market is important to understand the need or
requirements of the market. It will help to make the desired changes in the product and
fulfill the need of customers.
 Marketing-The marketing plays an important role in the success of any organization. So
the marketing plans and to attract the right customer through marketing is important.
 Processing- The process of developing the product and delivering it to the customer
should be smooth and well planned. It will reduce the problem occurs at the time of
processing and the management can be aware of the upcoming problems and issues of
process (Bruce and Picard, 2006).
 Delivery-The delivery of products or services of an organization should be on time and
the delivery process should be well managed and smooth, the timely delivery of product
satisfy customers.
Assessing resources- The business plan of an organization should involve to assessing the
resources of an organization after a regular interval. Unavailability of resource can cause
many problems for the organization.
 Analyzing and reviewing- Analysing the results, profits, loses, reviewing the plans and
adjusting it according to the requirement is important instead of stuck on to a single plan
it should have flexibility.
So these are the important points which should be included in a business plan.

LO4
P5 Assess exit or succession options for a small business explaining the benefits and
drawbacks of each option.
An entrepreneur or an owner of small business always wants or focuses on building the business,
but it is not possible to get to success in every business. So there is some option of succession or
exit for small businesses with the drawbacks and benefits of every option.
Selling a business- When an entrepreneur or owner of small business wants the highest returns of
his business he tries to pass his business to others. He has some options for passing his business
to others as:
• Pass the small business to a successor- the successor can be a manager or a
member of the family. It includes the following advantages and challenges.
Benefits-
• The owner can have his influence and involvement in the business.
• It has no involvement with the third party.
Challenges-
• To identify the right successor and train him is difficult.
• The threat of conflict between the owner and assessor.
• Business selling to the third party- It includes public offering and selling
business to another business.
Advantage and drawbacks- It can be a good option when the owner is looking
for getting the highest values of the business and want to clean exit from the
business. It requires prior planning before handing over the business to others.
• Transfer business to employee or management- It is better options for the
owner who don’t have a successor and don’t want to change the culture of the
business (Ip and Jacobs, 2006).
Benefits and challenges- It has involvement of the owner and can maintain the
culture of the organization. But it has the challenges as the management or
employees have limited resources and capital.
So these are the options of successions or exit for a business, which includes benefits and
challenges.

M4 Evaluate exit or succession options for a small business comparing and
contrasting the options and making valid recommendations.
The options of succession or exit the business has some drawbacks or challenges so while
selecting an option the following things should be kept in mind.
Pass the small business to a successor- The successor should be trained and should have the well
understanding with the owner to avoid the conflict of future. And also all agreements should be
clear before passing the business.
Business selling to the third party- Selling the business to the third party can provide better
returns. But you need to plan before one or year before selling the business to the third party. So
it required good planning (Keller, 2018).
Transfer business to employee or management- Transferring business to the management can
help when you don’t find the successor. But the resources are the problems as management or
employee has limited resources or capital. So it is important to think about the resources before
transferring business.
The evaluation of these options shows some benefits and problems or challenges of these options
and some recommendations are made to overcome these problems.
D4 Provide a critical evaluation of the exit or succession options for small business
and decide an appropriate course of action with justified recommendations to
support implementation.
The evaluation of succession or exit options for business shows the advantages and challenges of
every option. So to select an appropriate option for succession or exit and handling its problems
or issues is important to achieve good returns. The appropriate plan for succession or exit a
business can’t be specified; depending on the situations any option can be appropriate for exit or
succession of the business. For example, if the owner of business finds an appropriate successor
in the family or in management of the organization it is easy or a good option for the owner to
hand over the business to him but if he is unable to find the person or find difficult to train the
person than he needs to think about the other options (Shen and Cannella, 2003). And if the
owner wanted higher returns of the business then he can think about handling the business to the
third party with proper planning and it will give him better returns.
Conclusion:
The success of any business depends on many factors, and for achieving the success in business
all these factors should be considered, the report covers some of these factors and analyze these
factors. The report shows the options for growth of an organization and opportunities of growth

for the organization, it helps to develop a roadmap and strategy for the success or growth of an
organization. The report shows the funding options for business and evaluation of these factors.
Also, recommend some better options for funding. It also helps to develop a business plan and at
the end, it covers the options of succession and exits the business. So it covers all points from
starting a business to end it, and helpful to understand many aspects of a business.
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