Once the company has completed its first commercial sales, scaling and growth are next.

In Norway, approximately 600,000 businesses are registered, of which less than 2% have more than 50 employees, and less than 1% have more than 100 employees, according to Statistics Norway. In other words, many businesses plan for growth, nationally or internationally, without success. Growth and scaling are demanding, the intensity of competition is increasing, and the company faces completely new challenges.

Both established players and technological, fast-growing companies do not achieve the desired growth. Often this is due to a lack of market penetration, internal conditions or other challenges that arise from international establishment and growth. Many questions and opportunities arise when you have to scale the business for greater volume, nationally or internationally.

• How to get more customers to use the product?
• Which markets should be prioritized?
• What skills does the team lack?
• How to organize to support growth ambitions?
• How to handle a growing customer base?
• Which partners do we need to grow?

 

 

Factors for success

Many companies experience periods of strong growth without having established an organization to support the growth. The growing pains can become visible in the form of shortcomings in the delivery model, lack of capacity internally or with subcontractors, or there may be missing structures and systems within the organisation. This leads to many manual processes, lack of control and increased risk.

Capital management and measurement of the business in several dimensions are among the areas that are central to the growth phase. Very often, companies lose control over financial management due to a lack of scalability in accounting and financial functions, while at the same time the complexity of the organizational structure and environment increases. This can lead to the relevant decision-making basis disappearing in the amount of data and the necessary prioritization and adjustment of the strategy missing. Others have not succeeded in establishing management systems that make visible and explain why the company's growth is not happening, and therefore manage on gut feeling and hypotheses. A lack of financial management reduces the likelihood of succeeding in long-term growth.

Companies that establish themselves in new geographical areas without the necessary internal control and structure will be able to have problems with both measuring and holding people in the organization accountable. Decisions about establishment are often made without the involvement of the CFO, and thus without sufficient assessment of tax and duty-related consequences, evaluation of opportunities in the ERP system and financial risk assessments. Adjustments in the organization happen reactively and can slow down the company's growth.
 

Financing growth

When scaling, several financial and ownership issues often arise:

• Should the business be sold in whole or in part to someone who can assist with growth?
• Which organizational structure should we choose for international establishment? Should we grow through acquisitions and if so how will this be financed? Which assessments should be the basis for acquisitions/mergers?
• What form of financing should the company have for the various parts of the business?
• Which employees are important for the company's further growth and how can we ensure that they are tied to the company?

 

Helping you

We can assist you whether you need a sparring partner or need practical assistance with growth and scaling. Examples of what our advisers can help you with:

• Establishment of business abroad
• Tax law clarifications
• International accounting
• Financial management for good control of units, departments and projects
• Profit calculations and profitability analyses
• 'Beyond budgeting' and activity-based business management
• Capital planning and liquidity management
• Growth strategy, and "health check" of the organization
• Financial audit