Business and Personal Growth
Business and Personal Growth are treated together for the purpose of this article and also because of the keen interest of the author. Business growth is when a business reaches the level of expansion and pursues additional options to earn more profit. It is achievable when business owners and environmental factors determine what happens to a firm’s success.
In addition, businesses experience growth when there is no agent and the principal issues. The industry is expected to grow when its customer base is expanded, revenue increases due to several business models. Also, strategies employed or when different products are produced after researching the market to know the need of consumers.
On the other hand, personal growth is a process of both understanding and forcing yourself to attain a goal potential. furthermore, it can mean new habits, hobbies, skills, and strategies to achieve your goals. It can also mean continually examining who you are becoming and your plans to attain that level.
Indeed, growth is expected to go beyond increasing market share. It covers what has been done in social activities. In other words, it means that the benefits of a particular surviving firm depend on how a wider stakeholder’s services are appreciated. Alos, how such firms can increase their social welfare (Ward, 2020).
Several studies deal with how business is created, made and managed (Santamaria, 2018; Birley & Westhead 1993; Rosa 1998; Iacobucci & Rosa 2010), but this book has identified three pillars of business and personal growth called F-Ojes Model
Component of this model tested
The component of this business and personal model has been tested and applied in business and personal growth knowingly or unknowingly by some successful businessmen and women, which has helped them translate their business into success and expansion.
A good example is Amancio Ortega Gaona, the Spanish billionaire who established Inditex Fashion Group and Zara’s chain store for his business and personal growth. He applied this business concept to invest billions of dollars’ dividends in real estate and back to the business for growth and expansion. Today, he and his company are doing well. He was at a time the wealthiest man in Spain, and Zara has branches and offices all across the world.
The lesson from his leadership style of Ortega is that he learns to listen to both the employees and clients as part of his business network. He was confident not to outsource the manufacturing and pricing of their merchandise to any network that did not have his business at heart.
As he listened to employees’ suggestions, he was able to design unique brands. It has helped him integrate their opinions and views into the organization’s success. A network can do this for someone who receives vital information from the immediate environment.
Several scholars have investigated different models for business growth. Still, this book looked at the model by Churchill and Lewis (1987), which is relevant to small and growing businesses as stated in the five stages of company development. According to Lewis and his friend.
The stages are:
Existence
This is related to garnering customers and delivering product or service.
Survival
This means companies have demonstrated that they are workable business entities, with a big question as to whether there is sufficient money for the firm to break even and remain in business.
Success
This has to do with the decision challenges encountered by owners of the business as to whether to exploit the firm’s achievement and expand or keep the firm stable and profitable, providing a base for alternative owner activities.
Take -Off
It means how to make the firm proliferate and finance its growth
Resource Maturity,
Which comprises the firm’s size advantages, financial resources, and managerial talent, will be a formidable force in the market if they retain its entrepreneurial spirit
Lewis expressed that the model could assist owners during the start-up period and the need for delegation and changes in their managerial roles when companies become larger and more complex and also aids accountants and consultants in diagnosing problems and matching solutions to smaller enterprises.
A business or individual that desires business and personal grow should ensure they apply the three pillars that make men great . It can help them increase their customer base, increase revenue, produce more to sell to the target market, and expand their business to the international arena.
In line with Premaratne, the success of business enterprises and individuals depends on personal networks (Premaratne, 2001). Still, this book extended his work by adding identity and knowledge due to the era of information technology and knowledge economy that we are in right now.
The author identified three pillars called F-Ojes Model in this book, where the first pillar represents IDENTITY, the second pillar, K, represents KNOWLEDGE, and the last pillar, N, represents NETWORK.
These pillars listed by the author are likened to self-determination assumptions, which have to do with what people need to feel, as stated below before the achievement of psychological growth:
Autonomy
This is when people are required to feel of being in control of their behaviors and goals
Competence
This is where people are required to gain mastery of tasks and learn diverse skills. When people have the feeling that they have the skills needed for success, they are more expected to take actions that will help them attain their goals
Connection
This is where people are related to other people across the network. The moment people experience a sense of belonging and attachment to other people, you can see self-determination to get things done.
Today, one cannot do without any of these technology like IoT, Cloud computing, Drone technology, Artificial Intelligent. If all these are added to the application of this F-Ojes Model, it will surely position businesses and individuals well.
References
Birley, S. and Westhead, P. (1993). A comparison of new businesses established by “novice” and “habitual” founders in Great Britain. International Small Business Journal, 12, 38-60.
Churchill and Lewis (1987). The Five Stages of Business Growth. Harvard Business Review, 3(3). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228315536TheFiveStages_ ofSmallBusinessGrowth (Accessed 22 October 2022).
Iacobucci, D. and Rosa, P. (2010). The Growth of business groups by habitual entrepreneurs: The Role of Entrepreneurial Teams. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 34,351-373.
Premaratne, S.P.,(2001). Networks, resources, and small business growth: The experience in Sri Lanka. Journal of small business management, 39(4), pp.363-371.
Rosa, P. (1998) Entrepreneurial processes of business cluster formation and growth by “habitual” entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 22, 43–62.
Santamaria, S. (2018). Company growth or business growth? Business group formation as an entrepreneurial growth strategy. https://business.uc3m.es /seminarios/ filesem1542013693.pdf (Accessed 2nd October 2022).
Ward, A.M (2020). Finance: Theory and Practice, Chartered Accountants Ireland
