How to grow without going broke

Abstract

Growing a business without killing it with debt is an ongoing challenge for business owners. Too often, leaders have taken a shortsighted approach that involves buying expensive equipment, hiring additional employees, or acquiring new facilities to meet a fickle uptick in demand—only to further deplete organizational resources. Learning from the mistakes that some well‐known firms have made in their growth efforts can help business leaders avoid the pitfalls of poor change management, stagnation, and sloppy expansion. As the experiences of one high‐tech engineering firm show, even a failing company can become profitable again by cutting expenses, engaging customers as partners, and judiciously shoring up cash flow to take advantage of industry developments. Managers at companies of all sizes can apply these lessons to ensure that short‐term gains are not made at the expense of their organization's long‐term viability.