COMMENT
Are you a ‘grow-getter’?
Or does your business fail
to ‘get growth’?
Monzer Tohme, Regional Vice President, Middle East & Africa, Epicor
Software, talks about how organisations can leverage technology to ‘get
growth’ and navigate economic and political challenges as they arise.
N
o business can grow unless
the people behind the
organisation are focused on
achieving growth. As new markets
expand and globalisation becomes
the norm, growth opportunities
can become limited and even niche
areas of business can become
saturated. The ambiguity of the
economic climate and differences
of opinion amongst experts and
forecasters is blurring many markets,
and this is further compounded
by increased competition and
operational complexity.
There is no right or wrong answer
when it comes to growing your
business, so it is therefore important
to focus on the variables that
influence growth.
The Holy Grail of profit
Profit is often seen as the benchmark
metric for measuring business
growth and is ultimately the Holy
Grail of business goals. There
are many more ways of tracking
growth, such as through measuring
footprint, workforce and product
offerings, and all have a real impact
on a business’s overall development.
These significant factors often
need to grow before profits can be
achieved and so businesses need
to build strategies to pave the way
for growth. All businesses have their
own growth journey and before
now there has been little research
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Monzer Tohme, Regional Vice
President, MEA, Epicor Software
tracking business growth and its
related metrics on a global scale.
Our latest study attempts to change
this, bringing the state of global
business growth to life, and showing
exactly how the business landscape
is evolving.
Getting growth – trends
across the globe
The research draws out some
global trends despite the unique
nature of each business’s journey.
It shows that that one-in-three
(36%) businesses across the globe
have failed to grow their profits in
the last 12 months, leading us to
question where these businesses are
on their growth journeys. Do they
‘get’ growth? What goals are they
chasing? Are profits on the horizon,
or out of reach? Not achieving profits
may be down to strategic decisions.
Companies may be investing
elsewhere, for example, or growing
in other ways, before they can see a
growth in profits. The companies that
are coming out on top in the profit
stakes are those with a ‘grow getter’
approach, taking opportunities when
they are presented to them. As a
result, these ‘grow getter’ companies
have invested in technology to
empower their workforces, drive
efficiencies, and increase agility and
profit margins.
They use technology to adapt
quickly to change and demand,
allowing them to drive expansion
into new markets, and establish
processes to adapt their product
ranges to match consumer demand.
What is interesting to note is that
these ‘grow getter’ businesses tend
to be in emerging economies like
China, India and Mexico.
Around three quarters of Chinese
and Indian firms (74% and 73%
respectively) and 63% of Mexican
firms cited IT investment as
important, compared to a global
figure of 54%. Companies with this
proactive ‘grow getter’ approach
typically see speedier profits and
returns on investment. An impressive
80% of businesses in India grew
their profits in the last 12 months
whilst businesses in other regions
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