Title: Business growth in a tough economy

Authors: Jokull Johannesson

Addresses: Northampton Business School, University of Northampton, Park Campus, Boughton Green Road, Northampton NN2 7AL, UK

Abstract: In a global recession, executives face new challenges and opportunities in strategy formulation and the first alternatives to come to mind are cost reduction and restructuring, but these will result in poor performance and place the firm at a disadvantage in the coming economic recovery. Executives need to focus on the growth opportunities and many executives may use the Ansoff Matrix to analyse their strategies. This paper addresses some of the concerns and ambiguities that are imbedded in the Ansoff Matrix, clarifies them, and proposes an extended Ansoff Matrix, giving eight growth vector strategy alternatives that are easier to use.

Keywords: Ansoff Matrix; business strategies; global recessions; growth strategies; strategy evaluation; economic conditions; challenges; opportunities; strategy formulation; cost reduction; restructuring; company performance; economic recovery; executive management; strategy analysis; growth vectors; Tesco; UK; United Kingdom; supermarkets; business competition; business growth; business excellence; market competition.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBCG.2011.038257

International Journal of Business Competition and Growth, 2011 Vol.1 No.3, pp.231 - 244

Published online: 22 Apr 2015 *

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