Strategies for Business Growth: Newbury News Limited Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of business growth strategies for Newbury News Limited, a small-to-medium enterprise (SME) operating in the newspaper and magazine industry. The report begins by analyzing key considerations for evaluating growth opportunities, including the application of Porter's generic strategies (cost leadership, differentiation, cost focus, and differentiation focus) and PESTLE analysis to understand the external environment. It then evaluates growth opportunities using Ansoff's growth vector matrix, recommending a market development strategy for expansion into the German market. The report also assesses potential sources of funding, including bank loans, overdrafts, and angel financing, discussing the benefits and drawbacks of each. Furthermore, the report includes a business plan for growth, outlining strategic objectives and financial information for scaling up the business. Finally, it assesses exit or succession options for the small business, explaining the benefits and drawbacks of each, providing a holistic view of strategic planning and growth for Newbury News Limited.

Planning for Growth

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Analyse key considerations for evaluating growth opportunities and justify these
considerations within an organisational context..........................................................................3
P2 Evaluate the opportunities for growth applying Ansoff’s growth vector matrix...................5
P3 Assess the potential sources of funding available to businesses and discuss benefits and
drawbacks of each source............................................................................................................6
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
P4 Design a business plan for growth that includes financial information and strategic
objectives for scaling up a business.............................................................................................8
P5 Assess exit or succession options for a small business explaining the benefits and
drawbacks of each option..........................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Planning can be explained as the process which is needed to conduct by each and every
entity for the purpose of earning profit and it is only way of taking further growth. Planning in
necessary because it allows to determine about all of those factor which may have positive as
well as negative impact upon business organisation. In addition, for any of the SMEs, planning
plays the vital role in the overall growth of an organisation and even it finds out the way that
how any of the company can give competition to rivalry firm. The chosen organisation for this
task is Newbury News Limited which is one of the SME having its location in Newbury, United
Kingdom. This company works in the field of newspaper and magazines and works at smaller
ground for generating revenue.
Talking about the business report, there are serval important information which will be
covered for understanding the concepts in detail. Firstly, porter generic and pestle analysis will
be conducted along with Ansoff matrix. All of this marketing tools will allow to understand the
situation that how any of the organisation is required to work. Funds always plays vital role so
this topic will be focused too. In second part, proper business plan will be developed that how
company can perform effectively for sustaining within the market.
PART 1
P1 Analyse key considerations for evaluating growth opportunities and justify these
considerations within an organisational context.
In present scenario, planning includes the process of selecting and evaluating all of the
decision for the purpose of future grown of an organisation. It is one of the process which allows
entity to attain their future goals which is necessary in current scenario. In context of Newbury
News, they are one of the small organisation where they are trying find out the way to deal with
the issues of brexit and expand their business at greater platform. Now, company is willing to
expand its business within Germany (Fahlvik, Elfving and Wikström, 2014). For the purpose of
evaluating the growth opportunity company can take the help of some of the models which has
been discussed below:
Porter's generic strategy: It is one of the model which can easily allow the business to
identify ways through which they can give competition within the market by competing with

rivalry firms. Basically, there are four different strategies within this model which has been
explained below:
 Cost leadership: - It is one of the strategy which is being used by number of firm where
they try to deliver its services within the market at a very low price so that company can
get opportunity to cover higher market. In context of Newbury News, they can easily
cover large market share with the help of this respective strategy because low operating
cost will incur in this form of strategy.
 Differentiation: - It is the process or strategy which can be used by company like
Newbury but they must ensure that they will introduce some of the unique feature within
their product and services (Gatukui and Katuse, 2014). Here, company like Newbury will
require effective marketing strategy team which can meet the standard of market.
 Cost focus: - This is among those strategies which has its major focus towards niche
marketing where company only target that how they can reduce the overall expenses so
that service can be delivered at low price. Company like Newbury News can capture
large market share with the help of this strategy which is crucial for the company who is
categorised in SMEs. Differentiation focus: - Here, company like Newbury must ensure that they will provide
their product within the market at low price by including its unique feature as per the
requirement of customers. As company will be able to deliver their product within the
market with specific strategy due to which they can easily generate higher revenue which
matters the most for surviving within the market.
As company like Newbury is trying to expand their business within the premises of
Germany, they must be able to take the help of cost focus strategy because in this they can easily
sell their services at a reasonable price. As focus will be on reasonable price due to which growth
can be taken easily by business entity.
P2 Evaluate the opportunities for growth applying Ansoff’s growth vector matrix
It is one of the business model which can be used as strategic planning tool which helps
to form strategies through which business goals can be accomplished. The major focus of this
model is to determine about the potential opportunity and according to that company can take its
business decision. Here, four types of strategies can be seen and they are:

Market penetration: It is one of the strategy where organisation is required to think that
how they can make current market interesting towards their product and services. Basically,
focus is given on effective marketing, low pricing strategy or bring upgradation in products.
Market Development: This is one of the form of strategy which any of the organisation
tries to expand their business with the help of existing product. This types of strategy are
effective as well because company gets the chance to cover large market share and even their
goals can be accomplished easily. Here, changes are not required to be introduced within the
product.
Product Development: One of the strategy where company thinks about generating
higher revenue from exiting market is known as product development. Here, company requires
to introduce its new product as per the requirement of customers so that better competition can
be given to the rivalry firm.
Diversification: Among all strategy, it is completely different as it focuses that how any
of the company can enter into new market even with new product. It is the toughest challenge for
any of the organisation because proper market research is required for the organisation if they
want to perform better within the new market (Colantoni and et. al., 2016).
Recommendation: It will be important for the organisation like Newbury to take the
help of Market Development at this particular stage because chance of failure is very because of
the brand image which has been developed by the organisation. This will give idea to the
management of a company that how they are needed to perform within the market of Germany
for accomplishing their goals.
P3 Assess the potential sources of funding available to businesses and discuss benefits and
drawbacks of each source
Company can only perform better in that respective situation where they are able to
manage fund because that certainly plays the vital role in accomplishing the goals. There are
number of situation where there is the requirement of fund and in that respective situation
company must try to find out the ways through which they can raise fund. There are basically
two different ways through which fund can be raised i.e., internal and external source.

Internal sources: It is among the source where organisation thinks that they can raise
fund through internal source which includes sales of assets, reduction in overall working capital
and many more.
External sources: This is the external source through which company tries to find out
some of those way through which business activity can be performed smoothly without creating
any sort of issue within assets or capital. Some of the external sources through which Newbury
can raise fund are discussed below:
Bank loan: It is one of the most preferable option through which an organisation like
Newbury News can raise fund. Here, fix amount of interest is to be paid on the amount of which
has been borrowed on a monthly basis. This type of loan can be obtained in both long and short
term bases. Some of the advantages and disadvantage of this types of funding are discussed
below:
 Advantage: - Company can easily determine the amount they need to pay on monthly
basis which is one of the greatest benefit in this type of system.
 Disadvantage: - This types of loan can be obtained only in that respective situation
where some security is placed so that if company fails to do repayment then it can be
recovered from this respective area (Ward, 2016).
Overdraft: - It is one of the way of raising fund in which company tries to enter into the
agreement with Financial Institution for extending the credit limit. It can be one of the effective
way through which fund can be raised by Newbury.
 Advantage: - It is among the suitable way through which fund can be raised. It is said that
company can withdraw amount as per their requirement.
 Disadvantage: - Certain charges are to be paid whenever agreement is formed in it.
Angel financing: - This types of funding is done by investor for the purpose of obtaining the
equity position in company which allow to earn in future period of time. This types of investor
can easily guide Newbury that how they are needed to perform within the market.
 Advantage: - With the support of investors company gets additional benefit at the time of
making decision.

 Disadvantage: - Companies Shares are needed to be distributed among different
members.
It will be suitable for Newbury to take the help of Angel finance because their will not be any
requirement to pay money back to investor. Also guidance can be taken whenever there will be
any requirement.
PART 2
P4 Design a business plan for growth that includes financial information and strategic objectives
for scaling up a business
Business Plan can be explained as the process in which detail description about the plans
and policies of the company is maintained. The main purpose of preparing this document is to
ensure that organisation gets opportunity to achieve its goals and objectives. In context of
Newbury News Limited, it is necessary for them to prepare proper business plan before entering
into the market of Germany as it will contain all of the necessary information which are
information for performing effectively within the market (Barnett, 2017). Business Plan is
important because it simply gives idea that how any of the company is required to perform so
that their goals and target can be accomplished. Not only this but, business plan also helps entity
in ensuring and taking long term decision which are very much important in aspects of the
business. In addition, organisation also gets the opportunity to attract more number of investor
which is essential for performing business activity on a regular basis. Below, business plan of
Newbury News Limited has been mentioned where it has been explained that organisation is
willing to perform its business activity with some of the part of Germany as a future growth.
 Vision: - The main vision of Newbury News Ltd. is to become global brand which
provides every sort of news to its customer’s inn best possible way (Wu, 2015).
 Mission: - Talking about the mission of a company then it is said that they have a strong
vision in which they are planning to satisfy the needs of every single customer.
 Strategical objectives: - Here, company is working in that particular manner where they
can enhance their overall profit to 30% in next 2 years. For this they were working with
the help of SMART objective plan which is always a goal oriented.
 Financial information: - In present scenario, it is necessary to understand that financial
planning is very much important because it simply allows them to find out the ways that

how they can conduct any of the activity. Company like Newbury has the option to take
the help of internal and external investors and loan providers (Mason, 2015).
Whenever any of the business is expanding, company must be able to prepare proper budget
because it is one of the way which can help them to understand that situation that how they have
to take any of the decision for attaining their targets. In context of Newbury News Limited, their
budget has been mentioned below:
This particular budget shows the management of Newbury News Limited that in which
sector how much capital should be invested so that unnecessary expenses can be reduced.

The above statement shows that organisation have huge amount of capital through which
they can pay off all of their debt amount. At the same time, the cash in hand which is available in
from the year 2015 to 2017 is £102203, £200354 and £238503 respectively.
BCG Growth Share Matrix: It is explained as the model which can be used by business
organisation in order to attain its target. In this organisation tries to identify the way that how
they can grow within the market. This particular model has been divided into four different
categories which is based on combination of market growth as well as share. Below, detail
information about the model has been mentioned.
 Dogs: It is the first category where market share is low as well as growth rate is low in it.
If organisation like Newbury News Limited relies upon this particular strategy, then it

will become difficult for them to generate higher percentage of case. It is said that dogs
are cash trap in nature where potential are very less.
 Question Marks: This particular category with the growth matrix says that it is
consuming higher amount of cash but it has been seen that this types of organisation have
less market share due to which it becomes difficult for them to generate profit. Talking
about Newbury News Limited, question mark strategy suggests that if an organisation
wants to earn profit they must be able to find out the factor at first and according to that
investment must be made for faster growth.
 Stars: It is among smart strategy where company like Newbury News can generate
higher percentage of profit because it has the potential to generate higher cash because of
the presence maintained within the market. If company will be able to maintain its market
share, then they can easily allow them to accomplish their goals and target by becoming
cash cow.
 Cash Cow: It is the strategy where organisation thinks that how they can generate higher
percentage of return against the investment made on assets. Here, Newbury News will
have to invest their money by analysing each of the factor due to which unnecessary
expenses can reduced significantly and it also reduces the chances of any sort of debt
from the organisation.
Looking at the scenario, it will be important for Newbury New limited to work on Cash
Cows because it is only the way through which they can enhance their market share for the
purpose of accomplishing their goals and target.
P5 Assess exit or succession options for a small business explaining the benefits and drawbacks
of each option
It is necessary to understand that whenever any of the organisation performs its business
activity they should be aware about the each and every action which they might have to take
which basically starts from the process of succession and exit plan. In context of Newbury news
limited, they management have some of the way through which they can close their business
which has been explained below:
Exit plan: - It is that particular situation where company do not perform as per the
requirement of business object and goals due to which they have to suffer to sustain within the

market. Some of the popular way through which Newbury News Limited can shut down its
business is
Winding up: - It is that particular process where company tries to sell out its assets in order
to pay out the liability amount. In this situation, the amount which remains after the final
settlement of payment is paid back to shareholders.
 Advantage: - The main advantage is provided to directors because they are not required
to pay any of the debt amount in it (Denton, Forsyth and MacLennan, 2017).
 Disadvantage: - In this process, company doesn’t get the opportunity to continue its
business activity once order of winding up is passed.
Selling in open market: - This is the process where management of company sells the
company within open market to any of the third party which shows its interest. It is one of the
suitable option because it allows the organisation to maintain its image and allows to continue its
activity on regular basis.
 Advantage: - The third party who purchases the business gets additional benefit because
of goodwill maintained by the entity. Disadvantage: - In some of the circumstances, new management do not have knowledge
about employees which creates to operate business activity.
Succession plan: - It is the process into which leadership and power is transferred to
another entity for ensuring that business gets additional advantage within the market. If company
like Newbury News face any of the problem, then they must opt this process for resolving the
problem. The popular succession plan is Merger and Acquisition
Merger & acquisition: - It is explained as the process into which two different entity
combines together for the purpose of covering large market share.
 Advantage: - In this types of situation, competition within the market reduces because
company gets the opportunity to increase its customers base (Business Exit and
Succession Planning, 2018).
 Disadvantage: - Higher percentage of chances are there of duplication of work.

It will be favourable for Newbury News to take the help of Merger and Acquisition process
because it will allow them to remain competitive within the market. In addition, tough
competition can be given to rivalry firms.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that any of the organisation requires
planning for the purpose of accomplish their goals. PESTLE analysis guides business
organisation that how they are needed to perform any of the business activity by identifying risk
factor. Present scenario says that any of the entity can only perform better in that respective
situation where they have done proper planning for performing any of the business activity.
Talking about different models helps company like Newbury to take effective decision for future
growth.

REFERENCES
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Online
Business Exit and Succession Planning. 2018. [Online] Available through
<https://www.ldb.com.au/our-services/business-exit-succession-planning/>.