IN FORMULATING ONE OR MORE GROWTH STRATEGIES FOR your company, your management team needs to determine whether the focus will be on internal strategies, external strategies or a combination of the two. Internal growth strategies tend to rely on actions such as hiring more employees, growing the customer base, opening new company-owned locations or developing new products through internal research and development. External growth strategies tend to focus on meeting growth objectives by establishing relationships with third parties, such as strategic-alliance partners, licensees, franchisees and co-branding allies.

Internal Business Growth

Although the use of ...