QCED Uncovers Top Challenges

CEOs fret over cash

2000-05-09 - By Elizabeth Church
The Globe and Mail

For all the talk about a war for talent, keeping the cash coming is still the biggest hurdle facing leaders of fast growing firms, a new survey of chief executive officers says.

The research, conducted by the School of Business at Queen's University in Kingston, asked the CEOs of 100 Ontario high-growth companies to identify their biggest challenges. At the top of their list was managing cash flow during growth, followed by getting employee buy-in and picking the right partners and strategic alliances.

"When you want to grow quickly, what is in the bank is often a limiting factor," says Niraj Bhargava, managing director of the university's new Centre for Enterprise Development.

The centre, which helps small technology companies manage growth, conducted the survey during a recent meeting of members of the Innovators Alliance, a provincially sponsored group designed to foster the exchange of ideas among leaders of Ontario high-growth firms.

The group identified the following as major challenges:

Managing cash flow during growth
Getting employee buy-in and fostering an open environment
Choosing partners and strategic alliances wisely, to ensure alignment.
Finding employees with the right personal qualities, not just technical knowledge.
Preventing and/or dealing with the departure of employees with critical knowledge or proprietary information.
Understanding the Internet and e-commerce.·
Having a CEO who can communicate a vision for the company's future.·
Developing management skills in executives.·
Communicating effectively with customers.·
Using technology to add value and reduce costs.