Growth & Strategy 101

Growth strategies, market research, competitive intelligence, expansion, partnerships, franchising, M&A basics, valuation and exit planning.

Move from running a business to scaling a business.

  • Business growth strategies – The four classic ways a business can grow, how to pick the one that fits your position and appetite for risk, and how to turn a growth idea into a plan with numbers behind it.
  • Market research – How to find out what customers actually want and how big the opportunity really is, using cheap methods a small business can run itself, before committing money to a product, market or expansion.
  • Competitive intelligence – A practical, ethical system for understanding who you compete with, how they win and where they are weak, and for turning that knowledge into pricing, positioning and product decisions.
  • Business expansion – How to open a new location, enter a new region or add a new channel without breaking the business you already have: readiness tests, the options compared, the numbers to model and the sequence that works.
  • Partnerships and alliances – How small businesses grow by working with other businesses: the forms a partnership can take, how to choose a partner, what belongs in the agreement, and how to keep the relationship fair as it matures.
  • Franchising and licensing – What franchising and licensing really are, how they differ, what the Franchising Code of Conduct requires in Australia, and how to decide whether either is the right way to grow or to buy into a business.
  • Mergers and acquisitions fundamentals – How a small business buys another business, from strategy and target search through due diligence, deal structure and the first hundred days of integration, with the Australian specifics that matter.
  • Business valuation – How small and medium businesses are valued in practice: the main methods, why earnings must be normalised, what drives the multiple up or down, and how to use valuation to make a business worth more before you need to sell it.
  • Exit and succession planning – How to leave your business on your terms: the exit routes available to Australian owners, why planning should start years out, how to make the business saleable or transferable, and how to manage the handover.