34 • 100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS
Established businesses often struggle to achieve industry-leading
growth rates because their sector is mature or highly competitive,
or because they become stuck in the rut of incrementalism. Firms
become convinced that they need to compete in the same way as
their rivals: minimizing risk, maximizing resources, and making
acceptable returns. There is another way: fundamentally reconceive
what drives your profi ts, build a better business model, and achieve
breakthrough growth.
The idea
Research by business school professors Rita Gunther McGrath
and Ian C. MacMillan highlights how companies in a range
of industries achieve exceptional growth (see Marketbusters:
40 Strategic Moves That Drive Exceptional Business Growth,
published by Harvard Business School Press). The key is to revise
your business, taking a new, different, and radical approach from
that of your competitors and fi nding better ways to drive profi ts.
It is essential to be fl exible and creative, and to understand what
customers value.
Cemex transformed its small commodity business in Monterey,
Mexico, into one of the largest cement companies in the world
through a radical reassessment of what would drive profi ts. It has
outperformed its international rivals, Holcim and Lafarge, in share
price, operating margins, and return on assets. Cemex moved from