Scotland is a powerhouse for business development, and in Edinburgh, the capital, there is no shortage of businesses looking to expand their reach outside the city, develop new outlets and ideas, and work to broaden the vision and the opportunity to make good money.
Edinburgh is in an excellent geographical position for a business to be expanded. Just down the road, as you will well know, is Glasgow, but all around are smaller towns that may have the potential for your business expansion.
What are your options? It does depend on your business, but here are some ideas.
Franchising
If you have a good business model you can franchise it out, with franchisees paying to buy an outlet. These are usually very talented people willing to work hard for their own business. You can also get high returns for little investment from royalties if it is a success.
You will lose some control as your managers will be working to their own agenda – you will collect a percentage of sales and a royalty for allowing the franchisee to use your brand name and your operating system. The franchisee makes money from the profits of the outlet, so if you suggest anything that might depress these (promotional coupons, for example) you could come into conflict.
New location
You need to research your market depending on where you want to go. Look at premises and equipment costs as well as competition. What staffing will you need, and what are the costs? Can you get funding in place if you require it?
Buying into other companies
If you have the money, you could always consider buying into other companies with similar products and/or services with a view to gradually taking them over or just benefit from dividends if they are doing well. You should take professional advice on this and other ways to expand your business.
Turning to the cloud
If you don’t know what the cloud is in terms of computing, you should get an understanding of it as quickly as possible as it is likely to increase the efficiency of your workforce and drive down costs.
Cloud computing is, put simply, using the internet for all your operational requirements instead of clunky hardware, such as servers and desktop computers, that costs a lot to buy and maintain, not to mention the software required to run all your applications.
Using Enterprise Resource Planning through the cloud will help you streamline your operational activities, putting all departmental data into a central database that can be accessed by any employee at any time and from anywhere.
Growing a business
Anyone who goes into business thinking it will be easy is probably a touch deluded! You’ll know it is tough, and expanding your business could be tough as well, but very worthwhile. If you’re looking for some support and information, the Scottish Government has a range of guides and services that could give you a real boost as you develop your expansion plans.
