Most SME owners want a business that runs without the owner. Almost none of them know what that actually takes. I am in the middle of a heavy operationalisation engagement right now with a Singapore SME. Solid revenue. Loyal clients. The founder-operator is the SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE for every complex job. When he is...
Most Singapore SME owners I advise treat bonus allocation as a year-end surprise. They look at the bank balance in November, pick a number, then divide it however feels fair at the moment. I wrote earlier about why most SME bonus strategies underperform – this guide gives you the allocation mechanics. The problem is not...
Have you heard of the term SSDD? In the first half of this year alone, 187 companies in Singapore were forced into liquidation. That’s up from 146 in the same period last year… and almost double the 95 the year before. In fact, last year Singapore hit a 15-year record high for compulsory liquidations. So...
I recently read this inspiring story about one of India’s richest men, also known as “the man with 27,000 daughters”! KP Ramasamy, or KPR, built one of India’s largest apparel manufacturers with compassion at its core. The textile company boasts a 30,000 workforce, of which 95% are women who are recruited from remote villages without...
GE2025: Singapore General Election, 3 May 2025 The People’s Action Party (PAP) returned with 87 out of 97 seats. The Workers’ Party (WP) held their 10 seats. The rest of the opposition candidates lost it all – many even losing out on their deposits. Beyond headlines and vote counts, GE2025 offers a real-world example of...
I was re-reading this article again about the global Microsoft breakdown caused by CrowdStrike. I quote, “Even basic checks by a human developer would have found the problem.” So how could a multi-Billion dollar company make such a basic mistake? Their root cause analysis sheds light on a common but costly mistake in business: unclear...
Without a clear business strategy that’s integrated and coordinated, your efforts can often feel like short-term tactics rather than long-term solutions. This is particularly true for many SMEs and early-stage Startups when it comes to marketing. It’s common for SME business leaders to concentrate on the “HOW”: How do I run marketing campaigns to generate...
Remember when taxi drivers said Uber would never take off? Back in 2010, many in the taxi industry believed ride-hailing was just a passing trend. But Uber & Grab proved them wrong. In 2014, we had over 28,736 taxis on the road. By 2024? That number halved to around 13,117. Meanwhile, private-hire vehicles exploded from...
In a vibrant small to medium enterprise (SME) I was working with recently, I was leading a workshop to introduce the Scaling-Up! Playing to Win™ strategy to execution framework and how it has added >$224m growth revenue to my past clients since 2018. The room was filled with leaders eager to enhance their capabilities and...
As a business owner, you have likely experienced the frustrations of slow growth or even stagnation in your business. Despite your best efforts, you may be wondering why your business is not growing as quickly as you’d like. While there are many factors that can contribute to business growth challenges, some of the most common...
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Scaling-Up! Ventures is a Strategy innovation, Growth and Service design company. We are a team of Entrepreneurs, Playing to Win Growth Strategists, Management consultants, People developers, Executive coaches and Business mentors. We link Strategy & Execution, Business & Design, Context & Technology, Behaviour & Growth with Trends & Insight. We facilitate and guide Organisations to re:Imagine™ their business under the light of innovation and what is possible, and we facilitate them through their creative transformation journey step-by-step.
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