SME Growth Strategies Analysis

Introduction

The corresponding research process has been formulated on the analysis of the nature and characteristics of a specific Small and Medium Business Enterprise (SME). For this purpose, the research report has selected the Orion Electrotech Ltd as the SME of research focus. The SME is located at the United Kingdom and primarily provides white collar and blue collar contractors as well as skilled labours for the industrial sectors such as petroleum and natural gas extraction, engineering, technology management, aerospace and construction and manufacturing to various associated organisations throughout the United Kingdom. In this context, the research report has undertaken a Qualitative data collection session through performing a direct interviewing of the proprietor entrepreneur of the SME venture which culminated into the Orion Electrotech Ltd. The interview has focused on the determination of the entrepreneurial venture concerning the entire start-up process on the process of determination of the business concept through which the market based operations are executed at Orion for the purpose of gaining competitive advantages. Furthermore, the research report would be highlighting on the criticalities of evaluation of demand and that of competitive environment so as to comprehend the growth prospects and the development potentials of such a start-up venture. Furthermore, the report would be deliberating on the challenges of management and conducting of businesses in the current competitive scenario. The strategies applied by the start-up undertakings for growth and consolidation would be also delved into. The aim of the interview has been to outline the different conditional aspects related to the current business environment under which any established and successful SME could find itself. The objective of the research report, in context to the research aim, would be to determine the best possible recommendations involving the suitable strategic progressive methods thorough which the SME under consideration could achieve the determined business objectives in future. Finally, the report would take into account the availability possibilities of different governmental measures of intervention and support concerning the provisioning of assistance to the existing and developing SMEs to overcome the hurdles and challenges which could be faced by such organisations such as the Orion Electrotech Ltd.

Findings

The research session involving the interview with the current proprietor of the Orion Electrotech Ltd has brought forth a considerable trove of Qualitative data regarding the opinion of the interviewee on the multiplicity of issues which the organisation under consideration has to contend with as well as the various government support mechanisms in the United Kingdom which could be utilised to facilitate the operations of the SMEs. According to Afrifa and Tauringana (2015), the initial issue which afflicts every SME is to determine the most opportune accessibility to available finances concerning growth capital for the small businesses. In this context, Antony, Vinodh and Gijo (2016) have outlined that the Finance Hub of the British Business Bank could be accessed to avail start-up loans and this could lead to the obtainment of multiplicity of financing options. Cowling et al (2015) also pointed out that the entrepreneurs based at the northern regions of the United Kingdom, could avail growth and finance capital from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund so that their respective businesses and start-up ventures could be provided with the necessary financial assistance for the realisation of the business potential.

According to Del Giudice et al (2017), availability of monetary support could be a definite prospect from the UK Governments in particular cases. The availing of the start-up loans could materialise while any organisation could be defined to be a start-up SME. This is achieved when any such organisation could be identified to have commenced operations recently or could have been in trading operations for no more than two years. The loan amounts generally amount to within the range from £500 to £25,000. This is primarily noted as an unsecured personal loan which is backed by the incumbent government of the UK. This is the primary difference of it from any conventional business loan. Furthermore, the applicants can access the services of support and guidance regarding the formulation of their business plans for free of charge while they could be undergoing the loan application procedures. The criteria of availing the loan amount involve the benchmark of having UK citizenship and passing a mandatory credit check. The approval of the loan amount also could bring with it the added advantage of one year long services of mentorship and that too without any additional cost. This assists in the improvement of the skill sets of new entrepreneurs regarding the functionalities associated with a successful SME. Furthermore, Galbraith et al (2017) has stated that the next issue which the SMEs such as the Orion Electrotech Ltd have to contend with is sustaining competitive abilities in the increasingly hyper competitive market scenario at the UK regarding the extensive numbers of the SMEs which could be operating within the United Kingdom financial sector. In this context, Georgiadis and Pitelis (2016) have specified that Be the Business could provide the necessary resources and practical tools to that small businesses could be enabled to enhance their productivity.

The third issue could be identified, as per the research of Gledson and Phoenix (2017) and which has been corroborated through the opinions gathered from the responses of the interviewee, as the dearth of availability of proper professional advice and guidance support expertise which could be useful for the small ventures such as the Orion Electrotech Ltd. In this regard, the research of Grandinetti (2016) indicates that Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy could provide the starter SMEs with the necessary support and in most of the cases, the business advice is generally of free of cost. Certain workshops are also organised in this regard which could be of effective assistance to the start-up ventures. However, as per Harrison and Baldock (2015), the available support generally varies with the differences in the regions. In spite of this, it could be recognised that the basic similarity of direct advice and professional guidance remains the same in all of the different forms of service availability. The organised workshops are mostly helpful in addressing the problems concerning the knowledge gaps and the outlining of necessary measures through which the determination of best methods of growth acceleration could be performed. According to Hillary (2017) the development routes for any SME such as that of the Orion Electrotech Ltd could involve the prospects of application of open innovation, in terms of recruitment potential analysis and delivering the skilled personnel to the clientele for operations in the technology intensive sectors of the respective industries. This format of entrepreneurship, as has been highlighted by Johnson (2015) could find acceptance at every segment of the business industries. The value behind such acceptance could be acknowledged in the form of economic achievement and increment in knowledge and information which could lead to the sustaining of financial operations. Orion Electrotech Ltd, could utilise this format through application of different operational discourses through which the value of investment could be gained and enhanced further. The problem lies in the difficulties related to the development of the business model which could be sustained since the SMEs such as the Orion Electrotech Ltd consequentially operate at the periphery of the operational value chain. The basis of the current study is thus formulated on this perspective. According to Jordão and Novas (2017) Orion Electrotech Ltd has to consider the size, nature, characteristics of business undertaking and the pattern of the market under which it has to operate. The factors which could influence the sustainability based routes of development could be understood as the research processes into the best methods of more qualitative recruitment, management of the intermediaries and the other stakeholders such as the clientele and, finally, the utilisation of government intervention and assistance programs through which the betterment of value management could be achieved.

In this context, Karadag (2015) has observed that the management of Orion Electrotech Ltd is deliberate in development of the various management programmes through which business leaders and under-skilled or semiskilled personnel could be trained. Such training could impart effective learning experience in terms of the development of the staff, identification of the focal points in the respective industrial segments of business, ability to plan and execute complex operational decisions and finally to undertake effective business communication, both on the interpersonal and external basis. The various key metrics of performance management and monitoring could be identified as career field progression, self-promotion, work-pattern development and finally the employability management within the designated work conditions. The proper handling of such criticalities could be utilised by the Orion Electrotech Ltd to properly develop multi-process routes of development.

The interview based qualitative research has outlined certain challenges which, the Orion Electrotech Ltd, does encounter in the current business scenario.

These are the following:

1: The initial challenge could be identified to be that of the implementation of the Open Innovation model based principles through which the external information and knowledge could be accessed by the SME under consideration. The purpose is to enrich the capabilities of the expert recruitment consultants who have been working on the internal structure Orion Electrotech Ltd. This also entails the challenge of successfully implementing the necessary marketing R&D processes through which the sufficient value generation could be achieved. Such necessities directly and negatively influence the dependence of the SME on internal resources to a great extent. The objective of Profit maximisation could as well become extremely problematic and a considerable challenge for any such organisation as this could come into conflict in acquisitioning of strategies of building sustainable operations models. This is challenge is also critical for Orion Electrotech Ltd as the recruitment consultancy requires to formulate the business operations strategies prior to reaching the recruitment market. This entire problem culminates in the challenge of determining the most effective process through which value could be fostered in the value chain.

2: According to Krishnan and Scullion (2017) client dependence could be one of the most intractable problems for any SME. The research interview has also brought forth that Orion Electrotech Ltd could be also subjected to such a challenge despite the fact that the organisational footprint is spread over five different industrial sectors, as has been mentioned previously. However, according to Massaro et al (2016) the emphasis of the organisation is primarily on the clientele relating to the automation, aerospace, automotive defence services and consumer electronics based facilities since the majority of the revenue generation belongs to such business sectors. This entails the problem of the clients of the organisation being in the position to avoid addition of the services of Orion to their payroll to save themselves from any volatility of the market since work could dry up in such sectors depending upon the global economic situations. The arrangement of supplying skilled employees to the clientele could only be secured if the consistency of service subscription could be a definite aspect on part of the primary clientele. Thus, for the Orion Electrotech Ltd, it is essential to avoid getting the entire risk of suspension of service subscription from the primary clientele in the respective business engagement segments.

3: As per the opinion of Rizos (2016), the issues related to growth of the small and medium business could often outweigh the benefits. This is the challenge of balancing growth with quality and this requires the sacrificing quality for the purpose of scaling of the business. This has been indicated by the organisational proprietor as the inability of micromanaging every aspect of the business including the client relationships and inspecting each widget. This challenge is critical since the criteria of achievement of even partial success in the small and medium business organisations involve the ability to manage the client relationships with personal engagement and detailed attention provision to every aspect of the business process by the company management, especially by the entrepreneur. In this context, according to Scuotto et al (2017) it is always necessary for Orion to maintain the middle ground between the tawdry work outcome and the objectives of maintaining highest quality at each working juncture of the business processes undertaking. Thus, it is necessary for Orion to arrive at a compromise of business processes execution through which scale improvement could be maintained without having to jeopardise the brand identity of the SME.

From an analytical perspective, according to Storey (2016), the utilisation of the Ansoff Matrix could be effective to map and outline the growth trajectory of the Orion Electrotech Ltd concerning the competitive abilities and advantage determination of the SME from the perspective of the business process as well as the concept of setting up and running an SME. Timans et al (2016) has stated that the Ansoff Matrix could be utilised as a tool of strategic planning through which a definite framework could be developed for the executive leadership for the purpose of devising market oriented business strategies to realise future growth prospects.

According to Wynarczyk et al (2016) the utilisation of a combination of the product and services offerings and the execution of corresponding objectives could lead any organisation, including the SMEs and the large companies, towards achievement of greater competitive acumen. In this context, the initial phase of market penetration strategy exhibited by the Orion Electrotech Ltd has been the instrumental methods through which the engineering and manufacturing organisations have been provided with the qualitative recruitment scenarios. Orion has maintained the qualitative and talented personnel recruitment practices for the designing, engineering and manufacturing sectors. In this process, the selected SME has been deliberate in cultivating the of market specialisation in terms of delivering of the effective and suitable solution to the clientele. According to the interviewed proprietor, the development of products and services by the Orion Electrotech Ltd has involved, over the years, to include a vast range of manufacturing and engineering operational criteria based selection of talented candidates so as to maintain appropriateness of the assigned task profiles of their with their talents and experiences. This aspect could be reflective of the product development phase of the Ansoff Matrix, as per the research of Zhou (2016). Orion Electrotech Ltd could be recognised, as per the research findings, to have extended the service diversification measures into the electronic, mechanical, electrical and software disciplines. The SME has successfully supported various capital ventures and this has backed an entire range of different business organisations including the start-ups to corporations worth multi-million Euros. The emphasis has always been on the development of the core skills in tandem with the personal capabilities of suitable candidates for the clientele. The services have been extended to original equipment manufacturing organisations to the smaller and medium sized organisations. The process has further involved the screening of the candidates with the eligibility to suit the complicated technological industrial disciplines.

According to Gledson and Phoenix (2017), Orion Electrotech Ltd has undertaken the phase of Ansoff Matrix relating to market development, through the meeting of the demands of the diversified and consistently changing and expanding industry through remaining at the forefront of the recruitment processes. The market development efforts have involved the first and second tier of the manufacturing industrial suppliers and the manufacturers themselves. The dedicated and specialised team members and consultants of the SME under consideration have focused on the provisioning of the support for the permanent as well as contractual recruitment across all of the four core segments of the manufacturing and technology invasive industry. These four segments could be identified as the Hardware, Software and Electronics based segment, the Manufacturing, Quality and Supply Chain based segment, the Sales and Project Management based segment and the Research, Design and Development of product based segments of the manufacturing industry. This could be further evaluated as to have contributed towards the product diversification phase of the Ansoff Matrix. Grandinetti (2016) has pointed out that Orion Electrotech Ltd. As per the information gleaned from the previously conducted interview, the diversification efforts of the concerned SME have included the following:

1: Controls, Electronics and Software Systems

2: Electronic Distribution Systems

3: Electrical Hardware

4: ECU Safety-Critical Software designing

5: Test and Development relating to Hardware and Software in Loop (HIL/SIL)

6: Manufacturing and Production

7: Supply Chain management

8: Quality Control and Quality Assurance

9: Project and Program Management

10: Commercial and Account Management

11: Business Development

12: Computer Aided Engineering

13: Computational Fluid dynamic

14: Finite Element Analysis

Currently, the company operates out of two separate offices situated at Aylesbury at 9 Bell Business Park and at Reading at the Orion House, 4 Danehill Lower Earley. The turnover of Orion Electrotech Ltd, is £30 million by the financial year of 2018-2019 and, according to orionelectrotech.com(2019) the approximate extent of repeat business related with this organisation is 84% of the gross turnover on a per annum basis. The organisation was formulated during 1996. The SME currently employees in excess to 50 specialised consultants for the purpose of recruitment at the Reading and Aylesbury offices and the organisation under consideration could primarily be identified to be engaged in offering both the clients and the candidates with the contractual and even permanent recruitment services. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial venture is oriented towards providing the most invaluable support and advice to the clientele and to the recruited personnel through the combined experiences of the working teams employed at Orion, primarily composed by previous engineers who hold considerable experiences.

Conclusion

The preceding study report has been conclusive in terms of evaluating and assessing the various aspects of the Qualitative research data collection process related to the performance and growth analysis of the selected SME, the Orion Electrotech Ltd. At the conclusive stage, it could be observed that the current business scenario at the UK for SME based operations could be replete with both the opportunities and challenges which could both facilitate as well as afflict the growth prospects of any such small scale service organisation. Thus, it is necessary to formulate effective, credible, specific, attainable and suitable recommendations through which the Orion Electrotech Ltd could further the business objectives of development and maintaining of sustainable growth.

Recommendation

The recommendations are as the following:

1: Development of sales funnels for the purpose of automation of the business.

2: Consistent research undertaking concerning the competing organisations.

3: Identification of new and realisable opportunities through understanding the nature of the clientele and also through keeping an eye on the market conditions and through evaluation of the potentials of the technology intensive industries.

4: Leveraging of global platforms which could have reached saturation points and this could be effective in imparting better growth prospects to the existing services of the Orion Electrotech Ltd.

5: Considering of franchise models under which the consultation and recruitment services could be delegated to various third parties in terms of joint venture specifics, could be effective as well since this aspect could address the problems related with the dearth of opportunity to micromanage the entire business operation mechanism by the proprietor of the selected SME.

6: Further diversification of the offer line-up of services could be understood to be another credible and applicable recommendation.

7: Finally, the formulation of passive income avenues could as well provide the buffer capital basis on which the entire SME could rely to progress further and take greater risks in terms of new business ventures and this could as well assist Orion in curtailing the debilitating effects of the volatile market economy.

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