“I don’t really understand my business’s numbers. Our costs are huge, we aren’t growing, and we have no contingency to cover us if anything goes wrong.”

“My business is doing really well. My customers all know me by name and trust me to do a good job. I don’t know much about our competitors, but I’m sure they aren’t doing as well as us”

Many small businesses struggle with a fundamental lack of understanding of their markets, customers and competitors. You’ll ask owner-managers how big their market is, and they have no idea. You’ll ask where the opportunities for the market are. They will talk about where they sell to, but they probably won’t...

“The business is doing really well. We’ve achieved so much since we started out, but I don’t know where to go from here”

Strategy is not a silver bullet. It is not that thing that you find and can use forever without ever changing it. It is not a mathematical solution where there can only be one answer. The context is always shifting, meaning that what led you to success yesterday, may not lead you to success today.

How can an ambitious SME go about balancing agility and responsiveness to their market with a solid long-term business growth strategy? Here are five key areas for consideration:

There is a common misconception that, because SMEs have fewer resources at their disposal than large companies, this will stifle their ability to innovate. While it is true that SMEs may not have the resources of large corporates, the streamlined nature of most SMEs means that things can be done without much bureaucracy - which is actually an enormous advantage to innovation.

You might ask, ‘What has leadership got to do with numbers?’. In most business schools around the world, the two are totally distinct subjects. In our experience, however, knowing your numbers is part of understanding the context in which you are operating, and it is only by knowing your numbers that you can have the proper perspective in which to make important strategic decisions that will influence whether or not you can reach your goals. The best leaders therefore have to have a strong...

We all know it can be a roller-coaster of a ride being an entrepreneur, so having the right support from your family can be critical. On the flip side, it is also critical to find the right balance between dedicating time to your business and dedicating time to your loved ones. Failure to do so can lead to unhappy endings where relationships break down. So, if your objective as an entrepreneur is to create a better life for yourself and your family, managing these two crucial forces becomes...

When generations to come look back at 2018 in the history books, it is fair to say it might be labelled ‘The Year of Uncertainty’. Today, it seems, we are still no clearer than we were on January 1^st, 2018, about the terms under which we will leave the European Union, or what life – and business – will look like afterwards.

We first had the opportunity of getting to know Jane, founder and CEO of accredited healthcare training provider ECG, during her BGP  journey in January 2018, and more recently she has shared her inspirational story with us. Read the interview to learn how she quit her job and successfully built not only a business, but a lifestyle that has granted her freedom, flexibility and a priceless sense of accomplishment.

When you are cash strapped and resource hungry, how do you beat the odds and increase your chances of becoming a successful social entrepreneur?

How often do you take time out of the day-to-day of running your business to take stock of the changes in your marketplace? Some of us may attend an annual conference or read the industry press which will, from time to time, remind us of the changes that the industry is currently undergoing such as new entrants, acquisitions and new products or services offered by your competitors. Although the news can sometimes be hard to swallow, often it can also be reassuring

So you've had a great idea for a business. You've done your research and you've set up your home office. But now what? How do you make it through year one? How do you make it to years three and five without becoming just another statistic on how many companies fail within their first years of trading?

Oliver attended the Business Growth Programme in 2010 whilst running his software company, Jupix. Having successfully built the company up, Jupix was later sold and Oliver focused his attention on founding a new business, Loop Software.

We recently had the honour of talking to Richard Goring, manager of Wiston Estate Winery in West Sussex, who completed Cranfield School of Management’s Business Growth Programme in May 2018. He shared his experience with us and gave us exclusive insight into the ways undertaking a business growth course has changed his life and the direction of his business.

When Richard initially looked to engage in self-development, his key motivation for joining the Business Growth Programme (BGP) was simply...