What does being big mean?
- Details
- Category: 7. Get big, get special or get out
It means that you gain benefits that come from…
sheer size, such as having several branches in an area so that if staff are sick you can move some in from another branch;
market share, so that you can negotiate harder with your suppliers as they want to get their product to consumers via your channel;
low marketing costs as 'everybody knows about you'.
You get big by customers loving what you do. Consequently you grow organically (which, interestingly, is back to the 'get special' strategy). You can also get big by having sufficient money so that you can acquire other organisations. Microsoft, for example, is less special than it once was, but it has a significant war chest from those days which it can use. Being big makes you money because your organisation is able to keep costs down and, as you grow, is able to reduce costs even more. This in turn maintains and/or grows margin and consequently increases profitability.