Usually, a company acts either as a growth company or a strength
company. What do I mean?
A company operating in growth mode is pursuing new opportunities.
The company might be adding new processes to increase revenue, attempting
to find new customers, purchasing other shops, hiring new employees
or creating new alliances and partnerships. A growth company is
taking some or all of these actions to increase its share of the
pie.
A strength company focuses on core competencies, getting back to
basics, doing what it does best. This type of company may take some
of the same actions as a growth company, but the underlying reason
for these actions is to better serve its existing customer base.
Throughout most companies’ histories they’ve gone back
and forth between these operating modes several times. Some companies
may even be in both modes at the same times for different products
or divisions.
While there are appropriate times for both modes, when we become
stuck in one mode without recognizing the other, problems will arise.
The Internet mania of the late 1990s is a perfect example. Everyone
was focused on the growth and potential of the Internet. How can
I use it? What can it do for my company? How much money can we make?!?
During that craze, many companies lost sight of their strengths
and focused too heavily on growth opportunities. When the bubble
of that particular growth opportunity burst, the companies that
continued to focus on their strengths while keeping a watchful eye
on growth were in a much better position.
The important thing to recognize is that a company can’t succeed
stuck in either mode. Management must be able to get employees to
shift between strength and growth modes when the economic conditions
require it.
Ideally, a company would be balanced between the two—focusing
on its strengths and tackling the manageable growth opportunities.
