Don’t you hate a smart ass who answers a question with a question? Nevertheless; chew on this hopeful exception. Irrespective of your growth mode, don’t you believe the continuation of your success is important? Of course you do!
When you have pulled the trigger to grow, you:
- Become more vulnerable to market swings, manufacturer issues, key manager performance, teamwork, capitalization, etc.
- Are typically dealing with increased debt, unknown territory, new employees; major distractions from your core business.
What if you:
- Encountered a death or disability in the midst of stretching your resources (time, people and money) to grow?
- Lost a key manager or your business performance took a turn south.
Never know, Murphy may be waiting in the wings. In the realm of CV-19 dialogue, the immune system of your business would be lowered during a strategic growth move.
Growth is a sign of life and, it is not optional because the opposite of growth is protracted decline. Succession planning assumes growth, internal or external; no acceptance of the status quo while the world advances. The fundamental assumption of succession planning is that you need a resilient, strong foundation to grow that will assure the continuation of your success beyond contingencies mentioned above and many more. That could mean you need a larger economy of scale that would promote immediate growth. Or, to the contrary, that could mean more efficiency, teamwork, productivity and working capital in current operations which would mean postponing external growth. Both succession and growth are strategic maneuvers which require planning to appropriately identifies, aligns and focuses your resources.
