Many businesses struggle to grow at the rate that they seek. Sometimes, as few as one in five businesses are able to reach their targets. There are several reasons for this. There are two principal reasons, however which encompass many of the problems which stifle business growth. The first issue is a lack of suitable consideration of opportunities at several levels. These can be within the core business, adjacent business, and potential customer target groups. The second issue is an organizational structure which is unable to make the successful execution needed to grow the business as needed. There are ways of identifying these lost opportunities and then taking advantage of them in an effective manner.

Identify the Core Business

This is the first thing to do. It is also what will best assure a minimum level of success as the risk is lowest here. Eliminate anything that you do not need within your core business. Outsource what you can when needed. You need to focus on the most profitable activities, and refrain from trying to do too much. Businesses tend to do one of two things, they either bundle or unbundle. This means that they either bring together similar forms of activity. For example, Sony not only makes televisions, but also other electronic devices which utilize similar technology. They also unbundle. This means that they drop activities which are not central to the core business. For instance, you will find many companies such as Logitech which manufactures electronic devices outsource its call centers because this part of the business is too far removed from the core. Within the bundling and unbundling framework, you need to know who your core customers are and focus on them. You also need to identify those demographic groups which you have not yet reached, but might behave in the same way as your existing core. When it comes to associated businesses, you need to find out what products can come as a by-product of what you are already producing. Take the example of Kofola. This is a Czech version of Coca-Cola. It was invented to find a use for the excess caffeine coming from coffee roasting.