Where is your business going? #1

The newspapers are full of IPO’s (initial public offers or stock exchange listings), trade sales, franchising and private equity deals.

Some strategies are designed to provide extra capital to expand the business, some are purely exit strategies to pay out the business founder or investors.

Each of the strategies has its advantages and disadvantages. But none of them can be achieved without thought and preparation. None of them can be maintained without diligent management.

Making a decision on any of these strategies requires the current owners to have agreed on where their business is going and where they, as individuals, want to go.

It is not unusual for a business to go public and be listed on a stock exchange, and its original owners decide to buy it back a short time later. This is a costly exercise.

I will be publishing a series of posts dealing with these issues.

#2: Franchising
#3: Family businesses
#4: Raising finance: Venture capital