Business Growth Plan: Evaluating Opportunities and Funding Sources

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of growth planning and funding strategies for businesses, focusing on Doisy and Dam as a case study. It begins by evaluating growth opportunities using the BCG Matrix and Ansoff's growth vector matrix, detailing strategies like market penetration, product development, market development, and diversification. The report assesses potential sources of funding, including bootstrapping and angel investors, discussing their benefits and drawbacks. Furthermore, it outlines the importance of growth for organizational success and recommends strategies for Doisy and Dam to leverage its 'star' products and diversify its product line. The report also touches upon risk mitigation and exit and succession planning, providing a well-rounded perspective on business growth and sustainability. Desklib offers a platform to access this and many other solved assignments.

Planning for Growth
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................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...................4
M1 Discuss the options for growth using a range of analytical frameworks to demonstrate the
understanding of competitive advantage within an organisational context................................5
P3 Assess the potential sources of funding available to businesses and discuss benefits and
drawbacks of each source............................................................................................................6
M2 Evaluate potential sources of funding and justification for the adoption of an appropriate
source of funding for a given organisational context..................................................................8
D2 Critically evaluate potential sources of funding with justified argument for the adoption of
a particular source or combination of sources, based on organisational needs...........................9
P4 Business plan for growth that involves financial information along with strategic goals for
carrying business.........................................................................................................................9
Executive Summary:...................................................................................................................9
D3 Present a coherent and in-depth business plan that demonstrates knowledge and
understanding of how to formulate, apply and achieve business objectives successfully........12
P5 Assess exit and succession options for business examining their benefits and drawbacks. 12
M4 Comparing and contrasting exit and succession plans.......................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................14
Books & Journals......................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
Planning for growth is a strategic approach designing a growth plan which helps in
systematically recording the ambitions for which the business aspires for. It is basically
considered as an growth plan having a major objective to grow the business with a set of
strategies. This will ultimately help the business in attaining the organization goals in the
most efficient and planned manner. While considering the small and medium sized industry
a strong business plan will support the company to attain the desired objectives in the longer
run. It is highly important that small and medium industry to grow and expand and for this
they require different types of funding which has been mentioned in the report. In context to
this, Doisy and Dam has been selected for the purpose of this report. Also, this company is
one of the popular small and medium scale chocolate company. It was found in the year with
the motive of serving customers with the best range of chocolates combined with different
exclusive combinations. The report will be majorly focussing the key areas of identification
of the different growth opportunities in accordance to the analytical frameworks like BCG
Matrix and Ansoff matrix. The report will further be including different types of funding for
the selected company along with their critical evaluation.
P1 Analyse key considerations for evaluating growth opportunities and justify these
considerations within an organisational context.
BCG Matrix:
It can be defined as a strategic technique that is basically used by many organization for
the purpose of strategic business unit and all the potential which is related to it. BCG matrix
consists of four strategies namely, dog, star, cash cows and question marks (Boumans and De
Marchi, 2018) . The major role that this matrix play is that it helps the business in the long term
strategic planning in accordance to the growth opportunities available. It helps the business sin
taking the decision of whether to invest more or to discontinue the product from the markets
based on specific reasons. The BCG Matrix of Doisy and Dam is mentioned below:
Dog: In the category of Dog, products and services in the market have weak share with
low growth amongst the competitors. They are in that situation in the market where they neither
generating profits nor having money to invest in the business. The company in this section of the
matrix face huge cost disadvantage. In context to Doisy and Dam, the flavours in which they are
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providing their chocolates are few in range. They must come up with variety of flavours to
gather the interest of the customers towards the huge variety of chocolates for all the age groups.
Cash cows: This category of cash cow means that the products and services of the
company is having a large market share but it is having a slow business growth (Munro and et.
al., 2019). They usually require low investment but have an efficient capacity to generate huge
amounts of profits for the business. In relation to Doisy and Dam, they have a well established
exclusive range of ethical flavours that they are serving to the customers in the best possible
ways. This has helped the company to gain a considerable share in the market. Also, the segment
of their products in cash cow can be considered as the major contributor of profits.
Star: This segment of the BCG matrix have a huge market along with a very fast
growing industry. It can be considered as a fact that the products and services generate huge
amount of profits but on the same time they also require huge amount of investments in order to
grow and expand the business to greater heights. In context to Doisy and Dam, they are having a
very innovative approach towards the chocolates. Their attractive combinations of chocolates are
bringing huge number of customers for them. This has helped the company to set its image in the
market as an innovator in accordance with generating huge amounts of profits effectively.
Question Mark: It is considered as the problematic segment of the company where the
products and services are having relatively low market share and is part of high growth industry.
This segment requires heavy amount of investment in order to bring it back on the track. In
relation to Doisy and Dam, some of there chocolate products had some nutritional chocolates
which catered the need of a niche market which is letting the company to face a cost
disadvantage as compared to the existing competitors in the market.
P2 Evaluate the opportunities for growth applying Ansoff’s growth vector matrix.
It is an analytical framework helps in guiding the business organization by implementing
four strategies that helps an business organization providing a scope of growth . the four
strategies in relation to Doisy and Dm are as follows:
 Market penetration: this strategy states that the company should focus on penetrating the
product or service in the market (Friedmann, 2020). It helps in increasing the overall
share of market by increasing the level of sales or by increasing the customer base. In
context to Doisy and Dam, it is highly required to build an efficient online presence in
order to oebetrate the product in the market.
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 Product Development: in this strategy, company focus on bringing a new product in the
established market. In this case, the company can expand its line of products in order to
diversify its product portfolio. In relation to Doisy and Dam, the management needs to
gather its attention on bringing some new products or changed=s the in the existing
products to attract huge number of employees towards its product range.
 Market Development: This strategy states that the company should focus on selling the
existing products and services in the new market. It is basically a growth strategy
focussing on growing the business (Dong, Camci and Kayacan, 2018). In context to
Doisy and Dam, the management should focus on taking the business to new
demographic location such as Australia and Italy. This will help the business
ingathering more customers in the best possible manner.
 Diversification: in this the companies usually focusses on bringing new product or
service in the new market. This helps in gaining the competitive positioning in a
excellent manner. In context to Doisy and Dam, the company should try some herbal
flavoured chocolates. Also, it should consider launching some creative flavoured
chocolate shakes which may help in attracting large number of employees.
From the above strategies, it has been observed that the Doisy and Dam should adopt the
strategy of diversification to gain new as well as potential customer segment. It also help in
increasing the brand awareness of Doisy and Dam in a very efficient manner. It will also
help the company to be encouraged towards bringing new products and varieties in order to
have a competitive edge over the existing competitors in the business.
M1 Discuss the options for growth using a range of analytical frameworks to demonstrate the
understanding of competitive advantage within an organisational context.
One of the most important element for any organization is growth. Growth helps a
business organization in the long survival. Growth helps in driving the performance and
profits for the business in the most effective way. In context to Doisy and Dam , it is highly
recommended for the company to use the star strategy on its chocolate products in order to
attract more and more people towards there exciting range of chocolates (Monclús and
Medina, 2018). The respective company can also provide heavy discounts n the products
time to time in order to grab the customer attention. Doisy and Dam can also diversify the
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line of its products with a major objective to promote expansion and increasing the
profitability of the company to higher levels.
D1 Critically evaluation options for growth and negate risk.
In order to attain the higher growth levels, it has been critically evaluated that Doisy and
Dam should try to explore and grab a new marker with their star products. Also, it has been
recommended that they should diversify the product line so that the whole portfolio of the
company can be expanded in the best possible manner. The company will definitely face huge
risk from the existing competitors in the market. Therefore, in order to prevent that risk the
company should aim at pricing its products reasonably as well as aggressively that will help in
capturing the markets of the competitors effectively.
P3 Assess the potential sources of funding available to businesses and discuss benefits and
drawbacks of each source.
Funding is a term which can be defined as a help a business organization basically requires
in the process of growth and expansion of its line of business operations. Funding majorly
helps the business organization in accessing the assets in a simpler manner (Springer,
Cham.de las Rivas Sanz, and Fernández-Maroto, 2019) . In context to Doisy and Dam,
different potential sources of funds can be used in order to raise funds for the purpose of
growing the business in order to deal with the financial needs of the company. There are
majorly two sources of funds namely internal and external which are explained below:
External Sources: These are those sources which basically deals with taking help from
the external parties which are not involved with the business operations or the organization
internally. They process by which be raised can be through debt or equity in a form of
borrowing. Types of the external sources of finance are mentioned below:
1. Bootstrapping: This is a technique which is popularly used by a lot of companies as it
is one of the most effective way. It basically consists of the utilization of personal
saving amounts along with an element of luck which arises from the first sales. It is one
the greatest funding source because it does not affect the ownership in any manner.
Benefits:
 Dilution of ownership is terminated from this concept of funding.
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 Owners are the ones who are having the ultimate power of dealing with decision making
process.
Drawbacks:
 The growth rate is slow in case of bootstrapping. Valuable connections are highly required in the business operations which is missed in
this type of funding.
2. Angel investors: These are those investors which helps the business in raising finance
by providing them financial backing for specifically the small and medium businesses
in exchange of the ownership in the business in the form of equity. In the company. the
focus oof the angel investors lie on starting the business efficiently.
Benefits:
 It can be considered as one of the most economical ways of raising finance.
 Angel investors can also play a major ole in guiding the company in making important
decisions.
Drawbacks:
 The owner may loose the control over the business operation in the presence of angel
investors.
 The risks are expected to be higher in this source of business.
Internal Source of Funding: These are the sources by the help of which funds are raised in the
company with the help of the internal parties of the business (Norman, 2018). Many organization
use this source because they put comparatively less pressure of repaying the amounts that have
been borrowed. Different types of internal sources are explained below:
1. Retained earnings: It can be defined as a form of funding which arises from the
profits of the company in the most effective manner. This method is considered as an
efficient way of providing funds to the business with an objective to achieve higher
level of growth.
Benefits:
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 This method help the business in providing boost to the cash flow levels.
 For special small and medium industry, retained earning can help in improving the
liquidity position of the company.
Drawbacks:
 The level of earnings reduces when the retained earnings are used for different purposes.
 The company official may also use the earning in a improper way by manipulating the
share price.
2. Selling Assets: It is considered as the most common form of raising funds by way of
selling the assets of the company. This technique is basically called as liquidation
which means selling of the assets of the company to gather funds for the company.
Benefits:
 This is the quickest method of raising funds when the company is in the need of financial
funds.
 The process can be of liquidation can be done quickly. Therefore, the disposal of the
assets can be done rapidly.
Drawbacks:
 Tax repercussions are considered as the biggest disadvantage of selling the assets.
 Being the fastest method of raising funds for the company, it may happen the assets are
valued at a lower amount than expected amounts.
Therefore, Doisy and dam should select the external source of funding for the purpose of
raising funds in order to expand their business (Hall, 2019). The type of external funding that
can be used by the respective company is ‘Angel Investor’. The reason behind that it is the
most suitable and convenient source of funding.
M2 Evaluate potential sources of funding and justification for the adoption of an appropriate
source of funding for a given organisational context.
There are many options available in the market which can be used for the purpose of
funding the business. This can majorly help the business to grow and become successful
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among the existing competitors. In context to the small and medium enterprises, funding is
something that plays an important role increasing the business’s capacity in terms of
expansion and growth. There re various sources of funds which can be used such as
bootstrapping, commercial finances and angel investors and many more (Swinton and
Schlesinger, 2019). While considering Doisy and Dam, Angel Investor is the best method
of funding that can be used to raise finance. This is considered as the most cheapest form
of funding in terms of efforts and time for getting the seed capital to expand the business.
This will ultimately help the concerned company to achieve growth and expand to higher
levels.
D2 Critically evaluate potential sources of funding with justified argument for the adoption
of a particular source or combination of sources, based on organisational needs.
It is highly important for any business organization to choose a form of funding which help
the business to grow in the most effective and efficient manner. In relation to Doisy and
Dam, it should raise funds with the help of angel investor technique. This will help in
expanding the business with less amount of risks as well as in the best economical way
which will ultimately help the company to achieve efficiency and profitability (Noble and
et. al., 2018). If in case the company do not consider this source of funding it may face
problems in the other sources while raising the funds. The respective company will also
miss out on the expert opinion of the angel investors which my help it to take certain
important decisions of the company.
P4 Business plan for growth that involves financial information along with strategic goals
for carrying business.
A business plan can be defined as a written document that basically discloses all the
details of the business. It also includes the plans and strategies that the business is planning
to execute in the market place. There are different that are covered in the business plan
namely marketing, finance, production and operational perspective.
Executive Summary:
Doisy and Dam is one of the popular company that is popular in dealing in chocolates of
different varieties and it was established in the year 2013. The company is majorly
focussing on providing chocolate to the chocolate lovers with a beautiful element of
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creativity and passion which is helping making the brand even more popular in the
competitive markets. The company is using a strategic approach of using its retained
earning for the purpose of expanding the business. It is planning to use 15% of the retained
earnings for this purpose (Lee and Kim, 2019)(Kemp, 2018). Also, the company is
planning to launch its chocolate products in Australia and Italy. This will help the company
in increasing the territory of work as well as the profit margins through its business
operations.
Vision of the company:
The vision of the company states that it is basically working hard as well as smart to
capture the market by penetrating its high quality combination chocolates in the market by using
a aggressive pricing technique. The objective is become the new market leader in United
Kingdom.
Mission of the company:
Doisy and Dam entered into the competitive markets of chocolate in order to innovate
and brings the best and quality with creative combination with a motive to become the market
leader in the competitive industry.
Opportunities for growth:
It is highly important for Doisy and Dam to identify the growth opportunities with the
help of the analytical frameworks like Ansoff matrix and BCG matrix. It was highly observed
that the company should enter in new markets with their star product so that a new customer base
can be attracted and grabbed effectively. They must be given some considerable discounts. The
company is also expected to diversify its line of products so that it can promote and expand in
order to achieve higher level of profits with a competitive advantage based on its quality
products.
STP Analysis
Segmenting: Doisy and Dam has segmented its market so that it can convert its potential
client base into the loyal client base. The segment that Doisy and Dam is planning to attain is the
chocolate lovers. Also, the company has been planning to launch shakes in combination with
different flavoured chocolates.
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Targeting: Doisy and Dam is having its target on the chocolate segment majorly. The
company is basically targeting the customers from age group of 10 and above. Along with this
the company is planning to grab the old age group of above 50 years as well.
Positioning: Doisy and Dam has positioned its line of products in order to become the
leading and largest provider of the combination chocolates (Guo and et. al., 2020). It is planning
to position in such a way that it can disrupt the market if the competitors in the best possible
manner.
Smart Objectives:
 The company is planning to use a part of close to 15 % of its retained earnings for the
purpose of expanding the business efficiently.
 To provide the best and creative type of chocolate to its targeted customer segment.
VRIO Analysis:
It is s a type of analysis that is used by a business organization as an analytical technique
which ultimately helps the company in evaluating the resources of the company in order to build
a competitive advantage over the competitors. This analysis basically includes 4 components
which are explained below in context to the respective company:
 Value: Doisy and Dam is having a strong and global presence around the world that is
helping the company to grow on a faster note. This is constantly playing an important
role in increasing the size, sales as well as the market share of the company in the
competitive environment rapidly. Therefore, it can be considered as the great way of
generating more revenues from not only the existing consumers but also the new ones.
 Rareness: Doisy and Dam is considered as the one of the most unique chocolate selling
company. The major reason behind that it sells some very much unique and new
combinations that are completely different from the existing flavours in the markets.
 Inimitable and Non- Substitutable: The respective company is not having much
competitors in the market because it is producing highly unique and different types of
chocolates. The major dealing so of the company is into non dairy chocolates which is
already having very are competitors in the market which Doisy and Dam is targeting.
 Organized to Exploit: taking the advantage of not having many competitors of the non
dairy chocolates in the market, the company has got advantage on its capability. It is
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serving its offerings to the public in such a way that it is trying to build to build a
connection with its target market.
Therefore, the whole impact of all the points mentioned above are directly o the competitive
advantage if the company. Doisy & Dam have attained the sustainable competitive advantage
that is helping the respective business organization to grow on a rapid base along with high
level of business efficiency.
Marketing Strategy:
Although, the company is using online presence in order to promote the brand awareness
in the best possible manner. For this purpose, it is already using digital platforms like Amazon to
sll its products. Also, Doisy and Dam can use different campaign advertisement in order to
promote its brand on the social media platforms. The digital media platforms are becoming
trendy now a day in order to reach out to the large target audience in a very shorter period of
time. The respective company can also use some promotional techniques like product bundling,
discounts and free gifts which will help in grabbing the attention of the customers and attract
them towards the products in a very effective way.
Financial Information
It is basically a detailed data about the monetary and economic transactions of a specific
business organization or an individual. The financial information is majorly used by the company
in order to define an estimate of credit risk by creditors and lenders.
Particular 31/12/18 ($) 31/12/19 ($) 31/12/20 ($)
Implementing
technology cost
15000 - -
Promotional
event
14000 9000 5000
Advertisement
cost
5000 7000 6000
Total Cost 34000 16000 11000
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 Monitoring and Controlling
It s an important part of any business plan aiming at managing the business
operation in the best possible way. Therefore, it can be considered that Doisy and
Dam should monitors and control all its functioning in a very efficient way so that
it can achieve the organizational objectives. The objectives should match with the
standards that has been framed at the planning stage and it may happen some
deviations may arise so they should be corrected by using the corrective
measures.
D3 Present a coherent and in-depth business plan that demonstrates knowledge and
understanding of how to formulate, apply and achieve business objectives successfully
A business plan with a systematic and in depth approach always helps the business in
achieving success (Linkous, Laurian and Neely, 2019). In relation to Doisy and Dam, it
came up with a very creative plan of selling chocolates with some new and different
combinations paired in an nutritional way. The concerned company also decided to utilize
its 15 % amount of the retained earnings s for the purpose of research and development in
order to bring something new for the customers from time to time. It can also expand its
business to the countries like Australia and Italy so that it can earn more profits in the long
run of the business.
P5 Assess exit and succession options for business examining their benefits and drawbacks.
It is very essential for any business organization to have a well designed and well
developed plan for the purpose of exit and succession suitable for the company. This can
help the company in gaining profits along with the favourable situation that helps the
company to portray a positive impression of the brand. The different exit and succession
plan are mentioned below:
Succession plans : It is defined as a strategy that helps in replacing the old leaders with new
ones. It happens in different scenarios such as leaving an organizations, retirement or death etc.
there are various succession plans which are mentioned below:
 Mergers : there are many company who merge with other popular business brands for
the purpose of gaining an access to a larger market segment. In context to Doisy and
Dam, utilizing this option will help in ensuring that the brand is continuously growing in
the competitive markets with help of merging with another business organisation.
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 Acquisitions: When the company to increase its market share then it can use the strategy
oof acquisition. This will help the company to grow more without wasting time and
come up with diversification in the market. In context to Doisy and Dam , the
management can plan to acquire a business organization which help it to expand its
business operations to a greater levels.
EXIT Plan:
It is a strategy that is developed for the companies who want to exit from the market due
to different reasons (Mäntysalo, Olesen and Granqvist, K, 2020). The plan to exit is considered
essential because it focuses on ensuring that the business area is maximized during the time
when the company is exiting from the existing marketplace. Several exit plans are mentioned
below:
 Liquidation: It is basically a process when a business organization has decided to
close the business by selling of the assets of the company. the amount recovered
is hen distributed to the creditors as well as the shareholders of the business. In
relation to the concerned company, this strategy can be used for the purpose of
dissolving the business to attain the profits if the brand value is high in the
existing market.
 Selling Business in open market: In this strategy the company decide to sell off
the its business organization in the open market where different companies or
investors can purchase the entire business firm. In relation to Doisy and Dam,
this can be an effective option to go for to attain goodwill in the market.
M4 Comparing and contrasting exit and succession plans.
It has been evaluated critically that Doisy and Dam should adopt the liquidation
technique as an effective business exit plan as it is simple to execute. Also, it may happen
that the company may face some issues while being in the process of liquidation (Han,
Laurian and Dewald, 2021). Therefore, in order to negate the risk factor the company
should maintain heathy relations with the employees and clients in order to avoid any
kind of dispute during the liquidation process. Moreover in case of succession plan, the
company should adopt merger as its key strategy. This will help the respective company
in grabbing a huge market share in a short time along with huge amount of profits.it is
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highly important that Doisy and Dam should choose only that company for merger which
is having the visions and objectives similar to its and can work peacefully.
Conclusion
It can be concluded tat it is highly important for any business organization to use the
different analytical framework for the purpose of identifying and executing a strategy in an
efficient manner. Along with this it is significant that the company should choose the most
effective source of fund in order to grow a business. Not only this but a well structured
business plan along with an efficient successions and exit strategy will help the business in
order to carry its business operation in the most consistent way. In context to Doisy and
Dam, it is literally important to implement the best strategy of diversification in a well
planned business plan using a perfect source of raising fund. Also it should also focus on the
best type of exit and succession plan helping in a smooth transitional change maximizing the
financial status of the company.
References
Books & Journals
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Tinbergen and Development Planning without Theory. History of Political
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Springer, Cham.de las Rivas Sanz, J. L. and Fernández-Maroto, M., 2019. Planning strategies for
a resilient urban fringe in three medium-sized Spanish cities. Planning
Perspectives, 34(4). pp.725-735.
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Norman, B., 2018. Sustainable pathways for our cities and regions: planning within planetary
boundaries. Routledge.
Hall, P., 2019. Planning for the mega-city: a new Eastern Asian urban form?. In East West
Perspectives on 21st Century Urban Development (pp. 3-36). Routledge.
Swinton, C. and Schlesinger, B., 2019. Population and family planning: an overview. Family
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Lee, B. and Kim, S. Y., 2019. Roles of urban planning to prevent climate change disasters in
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Kemp, R. L., 2018. Strategic planning in local government. Routledge.
Guo, J., and et. al., 2020. Does strategic planning help firms translate slack resources into better
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Linkous, E., Laurian, L. and Neely, S., 2019. Why do counties adopt transfer of development
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Mäntysalo, R., Olesen, K. and Granqvist, K., 2020. ‘Artefactual anchoring’of strategic spatial
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Han, A. T., Laurian, L. and Dewald, J., 2021. Plans Versus Political Priorities: Lessons From
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Friedmann, J., 2020. Planning in the public domain: From knowledge to action. Princeton
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(Boumans and De Marchi, 2018)(Munro and et. al., 2019)(Dong, Camci and Kayacan, 2018)
(Monclús and Medina, 2018)(Springer, Cham.de las Rivas Sanz, and Fernández-Maroto, 2019)
(Norman, 2018)(Hall, 2019)(Swinton and Schlesinger, 2019)(Lee and Kim, 2019)(Kemp, 2018)
(Guo and et. al., 2020)(Linkous, Laurian and Neely, 2019)(Mäntysalo, Olesen and Granqvist, K,
2020)(Han, Laurian and Dewald, 2021)(Friedmann, 2020)(Noble and et. al., 2018)
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