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How Big Does Your Business Need To Be?

Written by: James Chan

Article Overview: Every business needs to evolve, but not every business needs to expand, and one should never expand just for expansion's sake.

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How Big Does Your Business Need To Be?

Every business needs to evolve, but not every business needs to expand, and one should never expand just for expansion~{!/~}s sake. The virtues of the independent life~{!*~}agility, flexibility, creativity, responsiveness, and personal integrity~{!*~}tend to diminish as a business grows bigger. And the tasks of management loom larger, which is fine if, and only if, that~{!/~}s where your talents lie.

In nature, plants and animals evolve not to grow larger but to be better adapted to their environment, and that~{!/~}s also the right way to think about the evolution of your business. Your business should be exactly as big as it needs to be to take maximum advantage of both your strengths and the market conditions. While it~{!/~}s not always possible to know this optimum size, you should be worrying about what the proper size is, rather than fretting over when you~{!/~}re going to get larger. Often, the key to surviving bad fortune is well-timed shrinkage.

The best time to think of diversification or change is when you don~{!/~}t need to change. People over the ages have been complaining that we live in a world that is continually changing and that the world is changing too fast.

When I started my business just 26 years ago, the telex machine was the only convenient tool to help companies communicate across borders. Then came the personal computer, the fax machine, the internet and teleconferencing and now online social network sites, Facebook, MySpace and other new electronic devices that bring people closer. They also make us crazier and crazier. They make us feel that we must do several things at the same time~{!*~}multitasking~{!*~}or we~{!/~}re not working productively. The world is changing faster than we can keep up. In this swift-paced world of shrinking national boundaries, no businesses, large or small, are invulnerable, especially those of entrepreneurs.

It is no longer safe to do the same thing over and over again without exploring new territories. We must think ahead and be willing to let go of our own personal myths, goals, romantic visions or corporate missions.

One of my persistent dreams is that I find myself falling from the sky and, in my wish to survive, I tell myself to fly. Then, wings sprout from my shoulders, I start to flap, I stop plummeting and begin to soar. Wishful thinking, no doubt.

But this epitomizes the way of the entrepreneur as I feel it. There is no security in this world. We can only cope by convincing ourselves that we can~{!/~}t stand still. We must keep transforming ourselves in order to endure and to prosper. We have, after all, invented our lives. The invention can never stop. We must keep rediscovering ourselves and the world we live in. We learn and grow confident. But we never stop starting over.

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Article Tags: bad fortune, diversification, electronic devices, fax machine, independent life, maximum advantage, multitasking, national boundaries, nature plants, new territories, optimum size, paced world, personal integrity, plants and animals, responsiveness, shrinkage, teleconferencing, telex machine, virtues, where your talents

About the Author: James Chan
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James Chan, Ph.D., is president of Asia Marketing and Management (AMM), a Philadelphia-based consultancy specialized in advising U.S. firms on exporting American-made products and services to China and forging business relationships there. Since he founded his practice in 1983, James Chan has advised more than 100 U.S. companies in expanding their businesses in Asia. To view his background online, go to AsiaMarketingManagement.com. He is author of the book, Spare Room Tycoon at SpareRoomTycoon.com. Dr. Chan is the expert interviewed by three financial managers in the 60-minute DVD titled "Secrets of Business Success in China." The 60-minute DVD is a teaching tool for business schools and international executives. It is available on Amazon.com here.

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