Strategic Growth Plan: Business Strategies for Spring Recruiters

This report examines the growth strategies of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), using Spring Recruiters as a case study. It identifies key considerations for evaluating growth opportunities, including competitive advantage, new product development, and market collaboration. The report analyzes various growth pathways, taking into account risks and mitigation measures, such as organic growth, market exit, and cost leadership. It also assesses different funding sources available to SMEs, including bank loans, crowdfunding, and angel investors, highlighting their merits and demerits. Furthermore, the report discusses exit and succession options for SMEs, comparing their advantages and disadvantages, and emphasizing the importance of strategic planning for sustainable growth. Desklib provides a platform for students to access this and other solved assignments.

RUNNING HEAD: BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SMALL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 0
Spring
Innovation and risk management
Small and medium enterprises

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 1
Executive summary
SMEs are considered the most opportunities fetching enterprises in comparison to the
established businesses. They are said to be responsible for driving innovation as well. In
order to fulfil the innovative and competitive challenges SMEs have to go through many
challenges such as challenges regarding adoption of a growth opportunity, identifying them,
and implementing appropriate technique to achieve the desired goals. In the same way, SMEs
have to identify the risk and measures to mitigate the risk. To overcome the fundraising
issues they must have to identify the appropriate resources as well. The SMEs also have to
find out the appropriate way of succession or exit the market by using strategic planning.

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 2
Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4
Considerations of growth opportunities for “Spring”............................................................................5
Competitive advantage.........................................................................................................5
New products and services...................................................................................................6
Product life cycle..................................................................................................................6
Growth options.....................................................................................................................7
Collaboration........................................................................................................................7
Growth analytical framework to demonstrate the competitive advantage of understanding within an
organization...........................................................................................................................................8
Evaluation of growth pathways taking risk into account and measures to mitigate the risk.................8
Sources available for funding to the businesses and their merits and demerits...................................9
A potential source of funding and its justification for an appropriate source of funding....................10
A potential source of funding evaluation and its justification for the adoption of a particular source in
the context of organizational needs....................................................................................................10
Mission and vision of the company.....................................................................................................10
Business plan securing the interest of the investors...........................................................................11
Exit or succession option for SMEs and their merits and demerits......................................................11
Comparison of the options.................................................................................................12
Implementation of the option.............................................................................................................12
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................13
References...........................................................................................................................................14

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 3
Introduction
Among many professional leaders in the online recruitment industry, Spring is also one of the
leading professional recruiters. It is an expert recruiter in the field of telecommunication and
IT. It operates in over 60 countries and is a part of the leading HR provider in the world, the
Adecco Group. It has an experience of over 30 years in the recruitment sector and it places
thousands of professionals every year into roles of rewarding in the telecommunication and
IT fields and challenging. The company mainly focuses on the recruitment of professionals
and middle to senior level managers having specialization in their fields. The professionals
are also recruited by Spring for employment consultations. The effective and expert
recruitments give a positive benefit to its clients and this is what Spring gets respect for
(Spring, 2018).

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 4
Considerations of growth opportunities for “Spring”
Today in the globalizing world, organizations are very concerned about their business
growth. To evaluate their business growth they need to consider various things at a time.
Some of the business growth opportunities that are to be concerned by small medium
enterprises like Spring Recruiter are discussed as following
Competitive advantage
Today SMEs are very concerned about their competitive advantage. In the present
competitive world for a business organization need to take some competitive advantages to
be sustainable for a longer time-period. In this context, "Spring” recruiters always come-up
with innovative ideas to attract their users. In this order to get, a competitive advantage the
company is socializing its business at different social networking platforms like Facebook,
Instagram, and many more. By doing so the company can take some advantage by
advertising, its business on different platforms where youth is engaged so much. Such an
analysis of competitive advantage includes different factors like political scenario, the market
environment in terms of business, legal consideration of the business (Rodríguez and Nieto,
2016).
Political factor: The political factor will help the organization to recruit as much as of the
candidates it can if the policies of the government are in favour of the company. If there are
no restrictions on the migration of the candidates and the policies framed are favourable, it
will help to grow the business.
Economic factor: By maintaining the quality of work, Spring can grow its business. It needs
to employ the best suitable candidates for its clients who can fulfil their requirement.
Social factor: If the organization fulfils the requirements of the society, it will be beneficial
for it in the way to grow its business. Spring can serve the best experts to its loyal clients,
which will set a positive example for other clients.
Technological factor: Spring has to keep in mind the technological advancement and then
recruit the candidates accordingly. If it recruits the less technically skilled employees, it will
not be fruitful for the organization and its clients as well.

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 5
Legal factor: Taking the most important factor into consideration is important before
entering into any operation in the business. If the candidate is legally eligible to enter into the
particular job irrespective of any legal restriction, it will be the most favourable option for
Spring.
Environmental factor: The environmental factor simply tells about the nature of being
environmentally friendly. If the organization works environment-friendly, it will be beneficial
in the interest of the organization (Srdjevic, Bajcetic and Srdjevic, 2012).
New products and services
In order to grab growth opportunities, new products and services are always successful.
Innovative products always attract customers for its uniqueness. Therefore, Spring Recruiters
introduce new products periodically as an evaluating element of its growth opportunity. In
terms of its growth opportunities, the organization is efficiently looking forward to the
introduction of such innovative products.
Product lifecycle
Product life cycle is also an opportunity for the growth of an organization. Product lifecycle
describes the development of a new product over time in the organization. A shorter product
life cycle encourages organization for more innovation. In this context, the product life cycle
of an organization is an important consideration for the growth evaluation in SMEs.
Growth options
While evaluating the growth of an organization especially in the case of SMEs, Ansoff's
Growth Vector Matrix is also considered significant. Ansoff's matrix is a proposed paper,
which works as a marketing strategy by using four strategies: market development, market
penetration, product development, and diversification. When these four strategies are
displayed visually, it creates the Ansoff Growth Matrix. This matrix system is used for a
variety of business purposes. This matrix is mostly used for market penetration, market
development, product development, and diversification of the organization. All these are the
indicators of growth of an organization that makes this matrix as an important consideration
for the growth evaluation of SMEs.

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 6
Collaboration
In the globalizing world, an organization’s growth is evaluated by its market co-ordination
with other competitive organization. In the context of this, SMEs look for maximum
collaboration with several organizations in the same sector. This collaboration of
organizations highlights their market growth in the global market. In this way, while
evaluating the growth of SMEs in the international market, their collaboration is an important
consideration (Dawes, 2018).
Growth analytical framework to demonstrate the competitive
advantage of understanding within an organization
Strength
The strength in the context of growth in
Spring could be the recruitment of more and
more experts and consultants. So that, it could
increase its market share and increase its
market standing. The consultants will also
help it in international expansion by
influencing the candidates.
Weakness
The weakness of Spring could be its
competitors and the benefits provided by them
to its candidates.
Opportunities
Opportunities for Spring could be more
requirements of the candidates by its client
companies for which it works. Spring can
grasp the opportunities by recruiting
candidates with more skills and abilities,
which can help it to enhance its business
Ghaffari, Delgosha and Abdolv, 2015).
Threats
The threats for such business operations could
be the political changes made in its domestic
country or any international market. Because
it will affect its recruitment policies and the
ratio of recruiting, the eligible candidates will
fall. For example, Indian candidates moving
to the USA for better job opportunities could
be stopped by the president in coming years
by introducing new policies.

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 7
Evaluation of growth pathways taking risk into account and
measures to mitigate the risk
Grow organically: It simply means that expanding the business by selling more of the
products and acquiring more of the customers. Spring can use this measure by recruiting
more of the expert consultants so that the business could be expanded. It also involves a risk
of not getting appropriate candidates or candidates as per the requirement. The reason behind
it could be the less of the people knowing about the, therefore, the organization needs to
promote itself in a way to attract the candidates.
Market exit: When the market in which the business is operating is not growing, the
organization should leave the market. Growth always does not mean getting bigger,
sometimes it is better to get out of the market is a good option. The risk involved in this
measure is losing the goodwill of the organization and trust of customer and clients. In that
case, it can be mitigated by solving all the misconceptions in the mind of the customers and
clients.
Be the low-cost provider: Organic growth can also be increased by cutting the cost
dramatically. In the language of experts, this technique is called ‘jellyfish strategy’, which
means going up when the tides are up and going down when the tides are down. However, it
involves a risk of favourable and unfavourable market conditions and its impact on the
business of the organization. Therefore, to mitigate this risk the organization should take the
decisions accordingly.
Do nothing: It is a rare pathway to follow. It is an everyday choice made by the companies.
Overstatement can be named as a choice. It is planned by a few board members as to do
nothing strategy. However, it can lead to a risk of employees getting into negligence of their
authorities and responsibilities; in that case, the organization has to form the statements
accordingly (Chowdhury, Lau and Pittayachawan, 2016).

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 8
Sources available for funding to the businesses and their merits and demerits
Bank loans: For debt, financing bank loans are like the supermarket. All the asset needs are
fulfilled by them being it short, mid or long term requirement. However, borrowings from the
bank have its own merits and demerits. Banks provide a secured loan service to the customer
and on the other hand, the borrowers have to pay the amount borrowed by them on the time
due.
Crowd fund: To finance a large number of individual’s crowd funding is used in the small
amounts in a new venture. Through social media and websites crowd, funding makes an easy
accessibility in vast networks.
Peer-to-Peer: It is a method of lending and borrowing money from one person to another
without the involvement of any official financial institution. It consumes more time, risk, and
efforts.
Angel and venture finance: When the investment is done in small start-ups, it named as
angel investment. Eventually, angel investments are made through family and friends. On the
contrary, finance provided the investors to small businesses and start-ups, which are believed
to have, a potential of long-term capital growth called venture capital.
A potential source of funding and its justification for an
appropriate source of funding
A bank loan is considered as the most appropriate source of funding. As the banks provide a
secured loan service and they are authorized under the guidelines of the Central Bank of the
particular country. It also provides loan on a cheaper rate of interest in comparison to private.
Spring can also raise funds by taking the loan from the bank, as it seems to be a most flexible
source of fund. However, the company can use other sources as well for raising the funds
(Baldock and Mason, 2015).

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 9
A potential source of funding evaluation and its justification for
the adoption of a particular source in the context of
organizational needs
As the bank loan has been considered as the appropriate option but the company can also
raise fund through angel and venture finance. As sources stated above are specifically made
for investing in small start-ups and businesses. It will help organizations like Spring to raise
funds successfully in order to meet its requirements (Baldock and North, 2015).
Mission and vision of the company
The statement of mission defines the business of the company, the objective, and the method
to reach the objective. The vision expresses the future desired position of the company which
the company wants to attain. To provide the company's goal, purpose and values statements
of vision and mission are made. As a start-up company, the vision and mission of Spring are
to grow more in its own field. Its main objective is to recruit more of the expert advisors so
that it can increase its business on an international level (Anderson and Jamison, 2015). The
areas on which the mission and vision of the company are based are as follows:
Strength: The strength is that it only recruits middle to senior level managers and
professionals. It will help Spring in capturing the large market, encouraging and attracting
more of the candidates through its best consultancies.
Identification of opportunities: The opportunity for spring will be the pool of effective
candidates for its client companies. It will be beneficial for the company to recruit more and
more experts so that the agenda of scaling the business could be achieved.
Ethics and values: The ethics and values for Spring are to save the interest of the candidates
it is going to recruit. To see the overall impact of its policies and procedures on the
recruitment process for the candidates is the main agenda of the organization.
Expectations of stakeholders: Identifying and considering the interest of candidates should
not be the only aim of the organization. It should also think about the interest of its existing
employees, clients, creditors, and shareholders (Church and Waclawski, 2017).

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 10
Business plan securing the interest of the investors
Although investors are the key essentials of any business, they need to be interested in the
business. In this way, the organization has to create an interest of its investors for a long time.
To create this interest every organization comes-up with an innovative business idea. This
idea is presented in the form of a business plan before investors. Spring Recruiters being an
online recruiter wants to attract job seekers therefore in order to attract new investments they
need to come-up with an idea that attracts more online job seekers.
Exit or succession option for SMEs and their merits and demerits
Transfer the ownership: Transferring the ownership to someone who can preserve the
legacy is the better option than the liquidation of the business. Interested parties might be
employees, customers, any family member, or children. If the management takes it, they
make sure the operation of the business. Selling to the family can also result in jealousies due
to promotions in the business by the other member (Flynn, 2018).
Acquisition: One has to look for a strategic fit acquirer who can buy the company and
expand it into a new market or can offer a new product to its existing customers. The strategic
buyer pays more than the worth of the business. However, on the same side, it might clash if
there are any cultural changes acquisition may become difficult.
The launch of a new product with the same brand name: As done by Nike, similarly any
business can launch a new product as per the demand in the market. By adopting this
strategy, the company can cover its cost and losses. However, launching a new product will
lead to too much marketing, which will lead to an increase in cost (Hawkey, 2017).
Comparison of the options
If the comparison is made between the launch of a new product with the same brand name
and acquisition, the launch of a new product is taken as a better option. Because it serves as a
benefit to the entrepreneurs as they need not liquidate their organizations either they just to
identify the market demand and bring the product.
Recommendation

BUSINESS STRATEGIES OF SAMLL OR MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 11
The company should analyse the market demand properly and use less costly mechanisms for
the promotion of new product so that it can cover the cost (Uyarra, Shapira, and Harding,
2016).
Implementation of the option
The organization can implement the above option by examining the records of the company
and analysing the losses incurred due to a particular product due to any external or internal
reason. The organization needs to analyse the demand of the customers and launch the
product accordingly. However, it has to keep in mind the marketing strategies adopted by the
organization so that it could cover the cost (Vanden and Pietersma, 2015).
Conclusion
By studying the various parameters, it can be elucidated that the SMEs may adopt Ansoff’s
growth matrix model for growth opportunity and this will help in expanding the business on
the international level. This will satisfy the international business strategy of attracting the
more advanced candidates from the different area will be fulfilled. It also uses SWOT for
analysing the competitive advantages. Using PESTLE an idea was drawn for the company in
order to build positive actions to meet a competitive advantage. Considering the PESTLE
analysis, the agenda of international business strategy is fulfilled as it provides knowledge
that is more external to the company. To analyse the risk and mitigate it adopts various
pathways. While raising the fund it has to compare the sources, which could be more feasible
to adopt, as it is a crucial decision. The most important decision made by the SMEs is when
they need to plan for succession or exit for the business. They need to find out the strategic
jet to know which are the best method and the best person to hand over the business or to be
in a merger with.