Includes index.

Machine generated contents note: PART ONE Planning for growth1.1 High growth as a strategy -- Stuart Ross -- What is high growth? -- What are the characteristics of a high-growth company? -- The life cycle of a high-growth company -- Is your business ready for high growth?1.2 Pioneers and fast change -- Kevin Uphill -- The future -- Competitive advantage -- Summary1.3 A plan you can believe in -- Matt Levington and Rod Davies -- Get inspired -- Make your strategy come alive! -- Start with a day -- Structuring the day -- What you might find out1.4 Resilience within growth -- Denis Fischbacher-Smith -- What's in a word? -- The nature of the knowns - resilience and uncertaintyPART TWO Ideas and innovation2.1 Innovation and knowledge transfer -- Michael Smith and Ann Starkey -- Components of the innovation process -- The importance of knowledge transfer2.2 Innovative advantage -- Hamid Seddighi -- Firm's core competency -- Changing market conditions and a new focus of corporate strategy -- Identification and development of a firm's core competence: a direct approach -- R&D activities and development of a firm's core competency -- Incubator R&D clusters -- A framework of firm/SME growth via development of core competence2.3 Creating innovation -- Uwe Derksen and Susiane Sampaio -- Innovation listens -- Innovation talks -- Innovation observes -- Innovation plays2.4 Lessons of innovation in medicine and health -- Michael Smith and Ann Starkey -- Innovation or business development -- Identifying an innovation -- Understanding the market -- Product performance -- Innovation hubs -- RecommendationsPART THREE Gaining market share/building the brand/social media3.1 Brand building -- Matthew Harrison -- Operationalizing your brand -- The link between brand and the customer journey -- Do you know what you are selling? -- What's your story? -- Closing thoughts3.2 How to move a brand forward -- Ben Harris -- Brand strategy -- Name -- Logo -- Website -- Search engine optimization (SEO) -- Pay per click advertising -- Social media/online PR -- Other online marketing -- Traditional forms of marketing -- PR3.3 Branding made simple -- Andrew Hall -- Consistency to the letter -- Brochures too -- Banners and beyond3.4 How to stand out digitally -- Simon Thompson -- Phase 1: web presence -- Phase 2: social media -- Phase 3: e-commerce -- Phase 4: brand dialoguePART FOUR People and performance4.1 The right people -- Richard Cummins -- Getting the right employee -- Getting off on the right foot -- Settling-in period -- Managing people can be a daunting and challenging task -- Don't fear your employees -- Speak to your employees -- Be a fair and understanding boss4.2 Regulatory compliance and employment law -- Ben Posener -- Regulatory risk -- Employment risks4.3 Sourcing new talent -- Stephen Isherwood -- Why graduates? -- How can you recruit them? -- What am I looking for? -- What do I need and how do I attract them? -- How do I assess them? -- How do I make sure they join us?PART FIVE Enterprise support5.1 Growth hubs -- Richard Ball5.2 Growing out, growing up -- Dave Chapman5.3 Support and schemes -- Vanessa Robinson -- Growth -- Innovation -- Finance5.4 What business schools can offer to small businesses -- Suneel Kunamaneni and George Lodorfos -- Co-creating growth -- New knowledge, new thinkingPART SIX Cashflow and working capital6.1 Creating headroom for growth -- Adrian White -- A holistic approach -- Good business cash management -- Clear credit terms for customers -- Managing supplier relations -- Effective spending controls -- Forecasting -- Finding the right finance -- Cashflow for growth6.2 How to improve a credit rating -- Ade Potts -- The credit knowledge gap -- Always-on -- The benefits of creditworthiness -- Protect and thrive6.3 How to manage the costs of growth -- Brian Whitford -- Know your market -- Know your own business -- Can you fund it?6.4 Collecting payment -- Peter Wallwork -- Critical overdues -- Maintaining control -- Balancing the cost -- A professional approach -- Measuring performance6.5 Cash positive -- Steven Renwick -- Know your customer -- State your payments terms in advance -- Invoice your customers promptly and accurately -- Communication and discipline -- The dunning process -- When all else fails -- Credit insurance -- Invoice financePART SEVEN Information systems7.1 The power of the cloud -- Lucy Thorpe -- Digital transformation -- Cloud -- ERP -- Conclusion7.2 How systems fail -- Marco van Beek7.3 Automating business processes -- Robert Gothan -- Introduction -- The challenge -- Intelligent business processes -- Process intellectual property -- Change control -- The spreadsheet question -- Design vs execution -- How can you automate your processes? -- Conclusion7.4 Access to information -- Paul Rollins -- Two types of business information -- Information should be managed -- How copyright affects business information -- Statutory exceptions and exemptions -- Copyright infringement -- Remedies for infringement -- Potential costs of infringement -- Obtaining permission to use copyright material -- Risk and compliance management -- Take steps to minimize risk -- Take action to ensure compliancePART EIGHT Enterprise risks8.1 Risky business -- David Ross -- Why choose a Chartered broker?8.2 Safe, reliable and resilient -- Luise Vassie -- Making it happen... -- By law you must... -- Other resourcesPART NINE Leading fast growth9.1 How to make high growth happen -- Stuart Ross -- The characteristics of high-growth leaders and how they achieve self-leadership -- The fun of the chase9.2 Coaching and mentoring -- Ross Nichols -- What are coaching and mentoring? -- How are coaching and mentoring provided? -- What are the benefits to SMEs of coaching and mentoring? -- Summary9.3 High-performing teams -- Ken Russell -- Summary9.4 Responsible governance -- Nick Beech and Simon RobinsonPART TEN International expansion10.1 Seizing global opportunities for growth -- Adrian White -- Taking the first step -- What are the factors in selecting where to start? -- Understanding risk -- Mitigating risk -- Accessing finance -- Managing working capital -- A community of support10.2 Developing business internationally -- Kevin Smith -- Product/service -- Markets -- Sales structure -- Pricing and payment -- Intellectual property rights -- Selling locally -- Culture10.3 Export for growth -- Clive Lewis -- Why should UK businesses export? -- OK, so where do I start? -- Europe may be a first port of call -- Why consider developing countries? -- Which markets offer high growth? -- Are there recognized distribution channels? -- How to evaluate the opportunities -- Customer, suppliers and inward investors -- SummaryPART ELEVEN Growth models11.1 Acquisitions -- Tim Hardman -- Getting ready to acquire -- Defining the acquisition target -- Identifying and approaching targets -- Business valuations -- Acquisition meetings and negotiation -- The transaction and due diligence -- Acquisition integration -- Summary11.2 Managing the intangible for growth -- Mike Barlow -- IP needs to be managed for growth -- Know your IP story -- IP strategies are unique11.3 Winning and negotiating new contracts -- Ben PosenerPART TWELVE Growth capital12.1 Angel finance -- Bill Morrow -- What is angel investing? -- Why do business angels invest? -- How is the angel model evolving? -- What can entrepreneurs expect from angels in 2015/16? -- What information do angels expect to see? -- What returns do angel investors expect? -- What size and type of deal is being funded?12.2 Crowdfunding -- Miles Harvey -- Crowdfunding -- What is peer-to-peer (P2P) lending? -- How to protect yourself -- The future12.3 Structuring finance -- Kevin Smith -- Equity -- Senior debt -- Crowd finance -- Subordinated debt -- Mezzanine finance -- Asset finance -- Trade finance -- Structured financePART THIRTEEN Selling the company13.1 Exit strategies -- Tim Hardman -- How to value a business -- Is it the right time to sell your business? -- Increasing your business value -- The business sales process -- Conclusion13.2 Valuing a company -- Rupert Cattell -- Net asset valuation -- Accounting rate of return (ARR) or return on capital employed (ROCE) -- Discounted cashflows -- Internal rate of return (IRR) -- P/E and multiples -- Net assets + adjusted EBITDA -- Zero cash zero debt13.3 Sale structure -- Rupert Cattell -- Purchaser buys the assets out of the company -- Purchaser buys everything inside the company -- Reasons for a share sale -- Advantages of a share sale -- Tax and stamp duty -- The process of selling a company -- Company sale structuresIndex.

"The Growing Business Handbook is a superb reference tool for all businesses with growth potential, filled with invaluable insights and guidance from SME specialists in finance, HR, marketing, innovation, people and IT, as well as help on enterprise risk and useful legal advice. It is the reference source of choice to help you ensure and manage business growth, particularly in challenging economic conditions. Now in its 16th edition, this book looks at all the areas ripe for exploitation by your growing business and discusses ways you can manage the associated risks. It gives a comprehensive insight into the challenges involved in building a high-growth venture in 2015 and beyond"--

"The Growing Business Handbook is a superb reference tool for all businesses with growth potential, filled with valuable insights and guidance from SMB specialists in finance, HR, marketing, innovation, people and IT, as well as offering help on enterprise risk and useful legal advice. It is the reference source of choice to help ensure and manage business growth, particularly in challenging economic conditions. Now in its 16th edition, this book looks at all the areas ripe for exploitation by growing businesses and discusses ways to manage the associated risks. Chapters have been fully updated with new case studies to give comprehensive insight into the challenges involved in building a high-growth venture for years to come"--