reasons for growth
reasons for retrenchment
what is organic growth
when a firm grows with its existing businesses (increasing capacity and outlets)
what is external growth
is growth that is dependent on other businesses and may be via merges, takeovers or joint ventures
economies of scale
economies of scale arise when unit costs fall as output increases
concept links to economies of scale
unit cost formula
total output in period (units)
internal economies of scale
arise from the increased output of the business itself
external economies of scale
occur within an industry: all competitors benefit
technical economies of scale
as firms grow, they are often able to invest heavily I automatic in order to further improve their efficiency and productivity
managerial economies of scale
smaller firms are often unable to afford manager with specialist expertise (finance, HR, marketing)
what is marketing economies of scale
spring a fixed marketing spend over a larger range of products, markets and customer
what is network economies
what is financial economies
larger firms benefit from access to more and cheaper finance
what’s external economies of scale
economies of scope
where its cheaper to produce a range of products rather than specialise in a very limited number.
- hypermarkets
- amazon
- proctor & gamble
what is overtrading
happens when a business expands too quickly without having the financial resources to support such a quick expansion
when is overtrading most likely to happen
symptoms of overtrading
what are the most effective steps to avoid overtrading are essentially those that would be taken as part of a sensible cash flow and working capital management
synergy definition
happens when the value of two businesses brought together us higher than the sum of the value of the two individual businesses. in other words, when synergy happens, 1+1 = more than 2!
what are the two types of synergy
cost saving :
- eliminate duplicated functions and
services
- better deals from suppliers
- higher productivity and efficiency
from shared assets
revenue:
- cross-selling to customers of both
businesses
- access to new distribution
- brand extensions
- new geographic markets opened up
what is retrenchment
examples of retrenchment in business
reduce output & capacity
- product/market withdrawal
- disposal of business unit
- job losses
- calling back investment