Boosting Profitability: Succeeding as a Profit-Driven Manager

Boosting profitability is a constant leadership challenge and is a task by which most – if not all – business leaders are judged. Whatever the organisation and whatever its stage of development, ensuring profitability requires two things: a focus on the right priorities and an ability to influence attitudes and behaviour. Fostering an outlook among people, so they routinely understand the most significant business issues and are looking to increase profits, is the essence of entrepreneurship. In addition, every business will have its own issues affecting its profitability, and these will be influenced by:

• The type of industry – whether it is a service or manufacturing business.
• The type of business – the issues that a law firm may face will obviously differ from another service business such as an advertising agency.
• The maturity of the business and the stage in development that it has reached – whether it is a business start-up, a small or medium-size enterprise, a large business or a major multinational.
• The views and attitudes of the business’s stakeholders.
• The external environment – notably whether there are conditions of economic prosperity or recession.