Phimation 2011 Small Business Trend Report - Highlights

Small Business Trends for 2011

The Top Trends Impacting Second Stage Small Businesses

March 2011

Highlights

About This Report

• Phimation works with a wide variety of Stage 2 small businesses (those who are past start-up and at a stage of sustainability). Though Stage 2 can involve companies from 5 to 250 employees, the focus of this report is businesses with 10-50 employees.

• These trends are taken from our work assessing issues in the operating environment inside small businesses, and in the market environment around small businesses.

• There are always many trends acting in and on businesses, so this report should be a starting point for strategic discussions.

• Our Stage 2 Owner’s Manual (s2om.com) includes a complete copy of this Trend Report, with strategy recommendations and a discussion of how to use these trends in your company’s strategy.

TOP TRENDS INSIDE SMALL BUSINESSES

Up-shifting Leaders

There is a whole new generation of small business leaders who have come through their first recession and are building new industries, developing their companies from the ground up, and bringing new energy and thinking.

Photo from Flickr.com

Tired Companies

There are many businesses who are not making the investments and changes they need to, and who are hobbled with poor management. These companies are tired and will likely come to an end in 2012 or 2013.

Photo from Flickr.com

Profit Treadmill

Small businesses are running harder than ever, but their profits aren’t what they used to be.

Photo from Flickr.com

Stalled Succession

Owners looking to retire are putting their plans on hold as they help their businesses adapt to new market dynamics.

Photo from Flickr.com

Changing of the Guard

Some “old guard” leaders in small companies are not changing with the times. In 2011-2013, small businesses will need more from their leaders, and will transition old-guard leaders out of the business if they can’t perform.

Photo from Flickr.com

Mosaic Marketing

Most small businesses are only now starting to jump on the new media trend. They are adapting their marketing approaches from focusing on one or two media, to being active in the range of social media channels that are available. This marketing mosaic is a challenge to manage for small businesses.

Photo from Flickr.com

TOP TRENDS AROUND SMALL BUSINESSES

Procrasti-Nation

Small businesses across many industries are dealing with customers who wait until the last minute to buy.

Photo from Flickr.com

Next-Gen “Innernet”

People will need to adapt their “innernets” – how they manage their time, emotions, relationships, and health – with the on-going growth of mass-connected, many-channeled, multi-media communication. Some will adapt easily; some will struggle.

Photo from Flickr.com

Connectivitis

We have obesity from excessive food consumption, and clutter from excessive material consumption. Now comes “connectivitis” from too much connectivity, communication, and information consumption.

Photo from Flickr.com

Pay-to-UseWith an abundance of products and services readily available, a growing interest in reuse and recycling, and communication networks able to track use, people are increasingly looking to pay for use, rather than ownership, throughout their lives.

Photo from Flickr.com

Play to Live

To deal with the massive complexity in the world today, and the need to retrain people more quickly, play will become a mainstream approach for training and learning.

Photo from Flickr.com

TRENDS FROM OTHER SOURCES

Negative Social Mood

The “mass social mood” has become negative. Though there was a rebound in 2009-2010, the overall trend for much of the next decade will be negative. Negative social mood includes pessimism, restriction, separatism, criticism, and fear.

Source: Socionomics InstitutePhoto from Flickr.com

Hyper-specialized Professions

“There are already significant knowledge gaps and communication difficulties between specialties and subspecialties, and these divides will only become larger and more difficult to surmount.”

Source: World Future Society

Photo from Flickr.com

Middle Skills

“Middle-skill workers ranging from carpenters to radiology technicians will be needed in the key industries benefiting from U.S. federal funding, such as construction, health care, manufacturing, and transportation.”

Source: World Future Society / World Trends & Forecasts

Photo from Flickr.com

Joyning

“The traditional distinctions between producers and consumers, actors and audience are increasingly blurred as brands join with other brands, consumers join with other consumers, and everything in between. In order to succeed, brands must increasingly encourage, and share the rewards for creative collaborations that happen across the usual boundaries.”

Source: Trendwatching.com

Photo from Flickr.com

Expectation Economy

“An economy inhabited by experienced, well-informed consumers who have a long list of high expectations that they apply to each and every good, service and experience on offer.”

Source: Trendwatching.com

Photo from Flickr.com

Thought Leadership

Companies will recognize that to stand out they must activate credible expert voices who can propagate new ideas and engage in meaningful conversations around them.

Source: Edelman Digital

Photo from Flickr.com

Applying the Trends

For information about using trends in your strategies, see “Perkonomics, Nowism, and Mass Mingling: Using Market Trends to Improve Your Stage 2 Business” on page 217 of our multi-media reference guide, training manual, and business improvement playbook created specifically for Stage 2 small business leaders.

Need a copy? Get details and place your order at s2om.com

Stage 2 Owner’s ManualMaking the Transition fromEntrepreneurship to Enterprise

Tools and Tips for Overcoming Your Company’s Growing Pains

Phimation’s Principal Consultants

Dave Haviland

Dave has led operations,corporate development, ormarketing at four telecom/media start-ups, includingservice as BusinessDevelopment Leader for Startec GlobalCommunications and President of Data TVNetworks. He has been a managementconsultant for ten years, and has workedwith over 50 small businesses and presentedto hundreds. Most recently, he was a co-founder and Principal with ShepherdAdvisors, which won 2 FastTrack GrowthAwards. Earlier in his career he was aconsultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton. Daveserves on the Board of several clients, is afeatured blogger for Crain’s Detroit BusinessSecond Stage publication, and speaksregularly to professional associations.

Randy Albert

Randy has served as afounder or executive at fourtechnology start-ups,including positions of VP-Operations at eePulse andfounder/CEO at Bigwig Software. He hasbeen a management consultant for eighteenyears, most recently as a senior managerwith Deloitte Consulting, and earlier in hiscareer with Accenture and DannemillerTyson Associates. As a consultant, Randyhas worked with close to 100 clients rangingfrom several of the worlds leadingcorporations to many small businesses. He’san expert in strategic change and hassignificant experience in the technology andmanufacturing industries. Randy is theauthor of two consultant guides oninteractive strategic planning.

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