Battle lessons for SME’s

80% of the GDP of the UK comes from SME’S, even though big media likes to focus on ‘big business’, and ‘big things’. The reality is that the engine room of growth in the UK are the SME’s. As is the case in most countries around the world.

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The 7 Samurai

Yet, every SME is today confronted with some truly epic challenges. The seismic evolution of economic powerbases, the biggest change in 150 years, is now well under way, which means that by 2050 England will be the 7th most powerful economy in the world, a country mile behind China, India and the US and even trailing Brazil.

The implications are these:

  1. We face a fierce fight for economic survival
  2. A fight for resources
  3. A fight for talent – and for the best-educated young
  4. And a fight for the space of mind of your customers

Yet we are still have same challenges: how do we find our customers, how do we make our customers sticky, how can we increase trade with our customers and serve those customers whilst at the same time, reducing the cost to serve? Whilst being realistic about money and relentless on innovation.

Workshop outline

[1] The question we must pose to ourselves and that we must individually and collectively answer is; how does one successfully compete in a global market place?

[2] How can one harness and utilise communication networks, to attract, and engage, potential customers?

[3] What type of business models work in the networked economy, and how does one scale in the networked economy?

[4] What does marketing look like?

[5] How can SME’s innovate at speed and scale without breaking the bank? How does for example, an automotive company reduce the cost to develop new vehicles, that fit a demanding specification 100 fold and increase the speed of that development?

[6] We must be aware of the structural changes, understand them and then embrace them. If we accept that as a truth then that truth changes what we make, how we make it and how in fact we market and communicate with our customers.

SME’s have notoriously not had access to world class, communication and marketing/sales expertise, but this has to now change, and, we cannot wait for governments to do it for you.

A day of your time should leave you inspired and also enabled to better compete for growth in a challenging environment.

Who should attend?

Any SME that is keen to ensure they are as competitive as they can be, entrepreneurs that want insight and information not built from an industrial society perspective but a networked 2.0 one.

Click here for workshop enquiry