How to Structure Companies for High Growth

The old belief that management systems kill the entrepreneurial spirit is wrong. Perhaps when a company has fewer than 100 employees, a business can get by on less. But as the authors point out in this article, companies are actually able to grow faster provided that they have strong internal planning and control systems in place early on. They identify eight main categories that demand managerial attention if companies are ever to achieve high growth: financial planning, financial evaluation, HR planning, HR evaluation, strategic planning, product development management, sales/marketing management and partnership management. Of these, financial and strategic planning are key ones to focus on from the start, and the authors consider these from the standpoint of start-ups to glean insights into how best to adopt these measures over time. Managers, they say, also need to adopt the right mindset and be prepared to acquire the necessary skills or else step aside if they don't have what it takes. Having the best system or business model in the world counts for nothing if it can't be properly executed. And it is this ability of execution that is really necessary for generating high growth, sustained performance and continued reinvention over time.