When I get a growth strategy case, I usually have growth strategy as a branch in my issue tree. I noticed that in Case in Point, Cosetino already draw out some possible strategies in his notes to such cases. My questions is then: I usually draw out the first part of my structure tree (could be two branches: Company and Market, both with sub-branches) and then leave the growth strategy without any sub-branches. Then I communicate the first part of my structure and say that I will discuss possible growth strategies bearing the first analysis in mind (in this case Company and Market). Is this a good approach? Or should I already have more structure on the growth strategy branch? (E.g. if it is grow profitability, should I phrase it something like: After analyzing the company and market I will look into possible ways of growing our profitability by increasing revenues and decreasing costs) Or should I have some suggestions ready already when communicating my structure?
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Growth Strategies in Structure
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Hi,
It depends on when the revenue growth question is being asked:
- In the beginning of the case as the main objective
- In the middle of the case as a question on creativity
In the beginning of the case I would use the following broad structure:
Analyze the market:
- Size and growth rates
- Segments (geographical, customer, product)
- Distributors / Suppliers
- Regulation
- Key market trends
Analyze the competitors:
- Market shares, growth rates, profits
- Product / customer / geographical mix
- Products (Value proposition)
- Unit economics (Value proposition vs. price vs. costs)
- Key capabilities (Distribution, supply, assets, knowledge, etc)
Analyze our company:
- Market share, growth rates, profit
- Product / customer / geographical mix
- Products (Value proposition)
- Unit economics (Value proposition vs. price vs. costs)
- Key capabilities (Distribution, supply, assets, knowledge, etc)
How to increase revenues:
- How to increase the scope: Product / customer scope, geographical scope
- How to improve value proposition (How to fix your weaknesses and improve your strengths; Potential increase in price and volumes)
- How to answer the competitors (Unique or hard to build property and contracts; Customers / suppliers / complements with lock-in; Reputation and relationships; Organizational capabilities; Product features and know-how)
- Other benefits of scale (Spreading Fixed costs, Change in technology, Bragaining power)
However, if it is the questions on creativity in the middle of the case as the question on creativity I would use the following framework:
Organic growth
- Vertical integration
- Horizontal integration
Non-organic growth
- Existing product (Value proposition, price, volume, Revenue models (one-time payment, subscription), Channels (Online, offline), etc)
- New markets / New segments (Geographical markets. Types of customers: B2B, B2C, B2G, etc. E.g. Female magazine may sell magazines to customers and advertising services to business)
- New products (Product mix - you may have multiple products and variation of products. Think of breadth (e.g. collection size in fashion) and depth (e.g. sizes and colors of dress) of your product line. Croselling opportunities - e.g. selling accessories)
Best!
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Hi,
the topic is a bit wide, can you please give two very different examples of growth cases you have treaded and I will provide detail plan for each.
Best
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Dear A,
in general a good structure can be evaluated by a certain depth and breadth. The “depth” should be at least 3-4 levels while the “breadth” should cover the entire solution space. You can cross-check this with the MECE principles (For details see respective article on Preplounge), but the CE (collectively exhaustive) part is basically defining your breadth.
Finally, make sure to check for inter-linkages in your structure and point them out.
Simon
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