These days talks about latent trade wars are impacting the global economy and the global indicators.
"Growth" remains the central word in a business world, polarized between Large Corporations (growing larger through M&A) and Rampant Start-ups selling "near" priceless dreams. Hence, the strength of pragmatic and successful medium-size companies is left on the sidelines.
On the other hand, though, it is relevant to mention that, according to the National Center for The Middle Market of Ohio State University, the middle market indicator shows significant improvements across all categories: confidence, growth, employment, investments.
The most important challenge for the middle market is maintaining growth. Growth by expansion into new territories is now possible and easy for midsize companies However, adjusting to the needs of the new markets is not always an obvious path.
Consequently, to grow it takes courage, vision, resources, and patience and as Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's says, “growth is not a strategy, but an outcome” of the connection between the core of a company and client audience. Clients will always choose for the values a company generates and shares with them.
In our projects, we have identified three type of resources to generate value: Business-time; Money; Intelligence.
Let's focus, at first, in this post, on Intelligence.
Intelligence comes in multiple forms; in particular, for the mid-size company to expand and capture growth, it should be a mix of business acumen, pragmatic decision-making, and visionary disruption.
The source of intelligence could come from a classical consultancy firm which will employ people and literature (by now mostly electronically) to propose an entry strategy into a new market. Unfortunately, a consultant will never get involved in implementing what it was proposed. So the added value of this form of intelligence will clash with the lack of the other two resources necessary to gain new markets. Another form is through the classical agent/distributor model. Gain market access by selling as a replacement or complement of others with the price/quality/service speech. Although directly quantifiable, this source of intelligence tends to generate latent conflicts on territory and commission without delivering innovative, competitive advantages to a midsize company.
Are there alternatives to the two models above? At Bridging Value, we usually refer to the "a+bX" approach.
Generating value for our clients is a journey of mutual trust and openness. Translating the local idiosyncrasies into added value instead of obstacles is necessary to successfully cater to new market needs.
Therefore, engaging directly with our clients, we develop a thorough and comprehensive strategy, always analyzing uncharted sales territories and channels to jointly gain access to broader market shares, larger margins, ampler market recognition: Investing at first in "a" to, at stage, gain a bigger "X" by naturally defining "b".
We at Bridging Value motivate, accompany and develop jointly with our client's to grow globally.
Sources of information:
