The huge expansion of the internet has influenced many businesses around the world to try and expand to a global level. It’s one thing to run a local small business, but completely another to dive into a world of a global presence. This isn’t to say that expanding a business is a bad thing, not at all, but it does have its drawbacks as well as the advantages.
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Pros and Cons of Business Growth 2017
Growing a business to a global level carries certain risks you need to consider, especially when it comes to growing your manpower and capital. This is why you need to be informed about pros and cons of a business expansion, and this guide is a good place for you to start.
#1 Pro – Boosts Your Brand’s Awareness
Growing a business into a larger one also means that your targeted market is going to expand too. An increased presence on the international stage is bound to affect your reputation, thus making your brand better known around the world.
This means that the growth of your business will also enable you to continue with your expansion in the future, but also to potentially get better deals with your distributors, because of the reliability and trust your brand represents. You’ll also get easier access to media – thus improving your marketing efforts.
#2 Con – Expansion Requires Larger Investments
Yep, expanding a business will require much more money than what you needed to run a small business. Not only will your operating costs be higher, but you’ll also have more staff to pay, a marketing campaign to run, as well as new projects that you need if you’re going to grow anyway.
For every additional employee, you’ll have to pay not only their wages but also health benefits, which will amount to quite a hefty sum if you hire a considerable amount of people that you need to grow your business. Consider that you’ll also probably need a bigger office, which means moving, which means more expenses. If you’re starting to grow and you’re not prepared for it financially – you’re in for a bad time.
#3 Pro – Growing Your Business Means Less Competition
On the contrary to popular belief, there are way more small businesses out there than large ones. This basically means that the further you go up the ladder the less competition you’ll have. Sure, your competitors will be stronger too, but it’s nothing compared to a ton of small competitors that make it difficult for you to stand out.
With a good product that’s globally known you won’t have to worry about local-level competition anymore. Sure, some customers are always going to favor a local business over a global one, but that’s only natural and it shouldn’t concern you.
#4 Con – Potential Quality Decline
With rapid growth, everything is going to speed up immensely and you’ll have less time to control every aspect of your products. Sometimes you’ll have to launch a product when you’re not 100% ready. These things mean that it’s possible that your products might see a drop in quality, which can do some serious damage to your reputation.
This is why it’s important to have a quality control set up in advance, as well as a great customer support for any problems that your customers might face. We’ve all heard about the Samsung 7 Note catching fire and that’s because word travels fast in the world of internet. But Samsung is large enough to take it, most other businesses would be destroyed in a similar situation.
#5 Pro – Your Business Will be Safer against New Trends
Small businesses are typically vulnerable to emerging trends because their products are usually tied to one local area. With business expansion, you’ll get access to many more markets, which basically means that if your product falls out of popularity in one market – it will most likely be popular somewhere else.
So if you’re not selling your best product in one area, you can easily transfer your inventory to another area that’s selling better at the time. Trends are an important factor when it comes to large businesses as well, and your newly designed products always need to reflect that.
#6 Con – You Might Need a Bigger Office
As previously stated, expanding a business will require you to have more manpower – which usually means a bigger office too. While this isn’t exactly a con per se, it still is something you need to invest time and effort in, at a time when it might be needed elsewhere.
You’ll also want to upgrade anything you can within your office inventory and get rid of the stuff that you don’t need anymore. Try to plan ahead for this move and maybe rent some company like Supercheap Storage Wollongong to help you store your stuff while in the process.
#7 Pro – More Customers Means More Sales
As a growing business you’ll be in a position to hire local workforce around the world, which will help you connect with local customers and promote your business, with different demographics in mind. With access to a bigger market, you will inevitably be selling more products, which means more revenue.
However, you need to do a good work on pricing to make this go work. Businesses often don’t include all the costs into the price of a product and they end up with lower revenue even if they are selling more.
Conclusion
Today, business expansion is certainly something most business owners strive for. However, leaving your comfort zone and engaging in a wider market has its drawbacks as well and you might not be prepared for them. This is why it’s important to have a strategy in place before committing to a business expansion.
Try to predict every step of the way and you’ll be in a much better position to take over the market. Research your soon-to-be competitors and check how they handle things and you’ll be in a better position to stand toe to toe with them when the time comes. 🙂
