roundtable


Scholes: “With any channel play, you need an absolutely crystal clear proposition to get the channel interested, so they can sell it directly to customers.”


Riddick: “It will kill your brand if you get it wrong.”


Hill: “Picking the right buyable brand to scale is vital.”


Can your business operate with direct and indirect sales models? queried Francis: Segregation or ‘Chinese walls’ can be divisive in more ways than one.


McLeman suggested hybrid models seldom worked successfully long- term. Buying and selling often involves personal relationships and segmentation of customer-bases gets complicated by brand and regional marketing activities.


Scale-up ... but not as we know it now


Taylor saw the millennial mindset as another scaling issue. “We don’t understand that generation. Our ‘People buy from people’ maxim is not perhaps how their generation will buy. We’re saying they’ll learn the value of human interaction. I’m not convinced they will. At the moment we are creating environments for them to work among us; things might be very different in the future.”


Scale-up will have a different definition for future generations, agreed Francis.


The gig economy with its zero-hours contracts, flexible and remote working, co-working and serviced offices scenario, might make scale-up movements of people and locations easier, suggested Murray. Probably only for small sub- 20 staff businesses was the Roundtable consensus.


21st century scaling might be very different, Hill agreed. “What is a service today may be ‘App-ified’ or productised in the next 10 years. In macro-scaling terms that will be reductive to growth, possibly GDP.”


McLeman didn’t believe digitisation would reduce economic growth. Technological advancements remove friction, increase velocity and create commercial opportunities.


Gidar recalled a forecast that two-thirds of the top Nasdaq companies in 10 years time have not yet been formed.


Telling: “If things can be digitised, the younger generation will take that approach. We can’t necessarily change that view, but we can help them recognise what things have historically been done best by humans.”


Cardew noted that millennial ‘careers’ were already different, featuring blocks of two to three-year work experiences,


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – MARCH/APRIL 2018


rather than long-term company loyalties. Flexible and remote working was also reducing workplace camaraderie – all issues for scale-up.


McLeman agreed, exampling his own company’s workspace design changes and ‘in-office’ attractions for staff to help maintain workplace camaraderie and culture.


Taylor: “In-office camaraderie may be what we think is needed, but not millennials. My daughter has a great friendship group, but her ‘camaraderie’ is all online.”


McLeman suggested the issue wasn’t black and white. Workplace cultures in the north or south, Thames Valley or Solent were not necessarily the same and often had a successful mix of camaraderie opportunities.


The willingness of businesses to change, particularly their workplace environments, was crucial, noted Gidar: “We don’t think now, the way that the future generations will. We are making changes now that will become obsolete.”


Adopting different communication channels within the business, notably digital and social media, was also important, stated Atkinson. “Businesses need to constantly evolve.”


But, recognising what suits your business model and client base was also key, Phillips added. Change could have disruptive internal and external implications.


Is the current climate right for scaling?


Hill: “It has to be, doesn’t it, with macro- issues now facing the UK?


Scholes, Atkinson and McLeman all stated that regardless of economic climate, the first question was still: ‘Why do we want to scale-up?’ There had to be an objective, key business reasons, opportunities good enough for taking on the market risks of change, capital investment and potentially disrupting one’s workforce.


It was easy to get sucked into the passion, the ego-trip of scale-up, warned Atkinson. Avoid hasty decisions, sleep on the facts, and view them in the cold light of morning.


As head of a fast-growing business McLeman admitted he was now considering slower growth but achievement of more profit.


“Less can be more”, commented Gidar, while Riddick advised an early start on strategic planning for any key future events.


Every decision made now will impact the future profit of a business, noted Francis.


David Murray businessmag.co.uk 41 John Riddick Suhki Gidar


Sarah Phillips


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88