Growth is generally regarded as a good thing in business but unless managed properly it can be the death of the business.
It is not unusual, for example, for a successful local business to expand into other areas by establishing representation elsewhere, and often by merging or acquisition.
Horizontal or vertical diversification may seem to be a good way of going forward perhaps improving margins or adding complimentary services so that a one stop shop approach can be undertaken.
Sooner or later as a business grows like Topsy the management start questioning the cost of the various units and realising that there is much duplication of staff and facilities which represents a high cost base.
The VALE Support Services team have helped many companies to meet these challenges by combining skills in measuring business transactions with those to develop efficient processes that will also aid systemisation thus reducing duplication and standardising operations.
Rationalisation is a key and can be achieved both by rolling services together but also by establishing a suitable formula in one area e.g. a branch or division, and then rolling it out to others.
The resulting organisation is efficient, runs economically and is easier to manage plus job roles are more clearly understood so training staff and measuring their performance is a much lower overhead and far more likely to be successful.