Columnist

Survival of the Innovative: Increase the Value of Your Business

Darwin said that ‘one general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die’(2), yet this has not been the case in business. Even larger companies, such as BP and Cath Kidston, have closed or cut jobs, with smaller businesses managing to survive despite lesser resources and manpower.

With the impact of Brexit and the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, business worldwide has swiftly changed. The Office for National Statistics states that over 15,000 businesses in the UK have ‘shown a significant negative impact on output during April 2020’(1) due to social distancing and the mandatory lockdown. Both national and local businesses have had to adapt or die.

Business advisor and mentor, Adrian Smith has a practical viewpoint in this regard: ‘Business start-ups and entrepreneurialism are big themes in many countries right now. For governments, there is the hope that entrepreneurs and small business will save the world following the financial crashes … I wish the universities the best in their efforts to train people but how they can do so when the services are provided by academic researchers who are not entrepreneurs escapes me.’

Having mentored at universities and as part of the Rockstar Group, Adrian’s background has four elements: market research, corporate finance, management in the corporate sector and running his own business. His book, 7 Ways to Double the Value of Your Business, published by Ghost & Ribbon, is based on his advisory work, with case studies and advice on marketing, intellectual property, business personality, motivation, and innovation as a value enhancer.

His advice for start-ups and established businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak is digitalisation. Businesses need to ‘revisit their business models and working practices. It is a chance to do all the things businesses gave a low priority or to develop new skills – a time to get innovative.’

The current downturn has meant that more business will be considering selling up, providing lots of work in the mergers and acquisitions market and/or lots of business development. ‘Think about why someone would want to buy your company and what would make them want to pay more,’ Adrian says. ‘For start-ups, the thing I keep going back to is the importance of your team – a great team performs.’

Adrian works with companies via mentoring, project work and also has a large network of potential partners, agents and co-founders he can bring to clients. ‘To have a great business, you have to have lots of ideas … the expertise to assess, plan and find partners, the drive to close deals and put money in the bank now, the ability to assess the situation and trends to see how you can improve your performance and react to changes.’

Post-pandemic, it seems that survival of the fittest no longer means survival of the biggest but survival of the most savvy. 7 Ways to Double the Value of Your Business is available in the UK and worldwide on Ghost & Ribbon and Amazon.

(1) The Office for National Statistics - April 2020 (link to: www.ons.org.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/articles/coronavirusandtheimpactonoutputintheukeconomy/april2020 (2) Darwin, C. (1859) On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ghost & Ribbon .