Business Chief APAC+ANZ Magazine July 2014 | Page 19

BUSINESS REVIEW AUSTRALIA importantly , the revenue side . Adding synergistic bolt-on businesses gives you the ability to add critical scale across the group . In ecommerce , and most sectors , scale is critical .
It ’ s easy to fall into the trap of growing through acquisition too quickly . We never like to undertake more than one acquisition at a time . It ’ s a delicate balancing act of ensuring that the synergies are realised but at the same time , critical staff and customers aren ’ t alienated in the quest for short-term profits . In most of our acquisitions , we have experienced

‘ We were willing to sacrifice market share and revenue in the short term to build a solid base , ensure profitability and solvency .’

a short term sales drop off , but a substantial improvement to longer term profitability .
GET LUCKY You can do everything right , but without a hefty dose of luck , it could all come to nothing . As Malcolm Gladwell noted in Outliers , you have to be in the right place at the right time and be able to execute to be successful . To grow your business you need to be lucky enough to be in a sector that allows that growth . But if you are in the right place at the right time , the key to shortterm growth is being focused on the long-term .
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