| Profitable growth is an imperative – Robust growth validates the value provided to customers, expands jobs and allows productivity improvements that boost profitability. It is, therefore, the primary source of shareowner and social wealth. Without growth, a company will eventually fail itself and its constituents.
To create sustained growth, leaders must tackle tomorrow's issues today:
- Anticipate future events and opportunities
- Develop ideas that are ahead of the pack
- Know how and when to redirect their strategies
Growth should start with the tenet that customers have a limitless need for greater value. It is this unequivocal belief that defines the market-driven company. Customers have many large, unsatisfied needs. They want their needs recognized. They will switch their loyalty to the supplier that understands them.
A clear market view requires observation of marketplace dynamics. One must see transitions in customer behavior which are key to capturing new users. The reasons for loyal, repeat, or heavy usage must be probed in order to drive positioning. Tracking behavior helps reshape distribution channels, sales forces, and points of service. Continuous searching for latent customer needs provides the wellspring of product innovation potential and service breakthroughs. Little of this crucial information is available from today's popular information sources.
Growth means expanding the value delivered to customers, and, therefore, a strong flow of great ideas to create new value for customers is the fundamental driver of sustained business growth. Benchmark studies of "star" growth businesses show that their success is rooted in an innovative value proposition, and that they sustain rapid growth by constantly pushing forward the "value" frontier. Growth businesses must, therefore, invest in proprietary understanding of changing customer perceptions of value, and must ensure that they have the muscle to create new value in response.
Growth is no longer merely the rate of increase in unit production per year; it is the rate of producing great business ideas. The Growth Development Practice at MAC aims to serve as an incubator of growth ideas for its clients. Below are links to our takes on important issues in three major areas:
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"This was the most important presentation in the history of our company."
Chairman of a Leading Hotel Chain
"Michael Allen Company served as a significant catalyst to help our businesses both focus on growth and clarify options."
CEO of a Consumer Packaged Goods Company
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