ACHIEVING GROWTH: PLANNING AND EXECUTION, THE KEYS TO SUCCESS

When it comes to planning for growth, most SMEs are disciplined in developing a plan however the day to day demands, both external and internal, can make it difficult to execute plans in the most effective manner.

KPMG has released the 'Growth Intentions Snapshot 2015' a survey which sought to understand how SMEs plan for and implement initiatives to grow their businesses.

The key findings are as follows:

• Almost all SMEs (90 percent) are planning for growth. However the depth of their plans varies with most having performing a SWOT analysis (78 percent), defined their growth objectives (74 percent) and defined their customer segments (72 percent) however only 60 percent had developed a value proposition. However, less than half (47 percent) has completed a competitor analysis.
  
• In contrast to this 73 percent of respondents said that effective marketing strategies had been a key to their success.
  
• The vast majority are developing their growth plans internally, only 28 percent sought external assistance.
  
• Fifty percent of businesses wanted to grow and believed their business had the potential to expand at a rapid rate but were simply not equipped with the right systems and practices to accommodate rapid growth.
  
• Nearly one third of respondents are having difficulty attracting the right talent.
  
• The day to day pressures of running the business take a significant toll on the ability to execute on growth plans with 76 percent saying they were too focused on the operational aspects of the business or running their internal operation to track revenue growth regularly. A further 17 percent were focused on customers and suppliers so didn't have the time to track revenue growth.