Unlocking Growth: Exploring the Relationship Between Corporate Models and Organizational Performance
It all started when a growth-focused client asked us a compelling question: “How should our corporate model evolve as we grow from a $10 billion firm to $15 billion and eventually $20 billion in annual revenues?” This led us to think about the links between growth objectives and the corporate model – how a company organizes its corporate center, business units, and support functions. Is there a correlation between the size of a business, its corporate model, the quality of its decision-making process, and its overall performance?
To address this question, we fielded a double-blind research study through a third-party firm in order to determine which corporate model was prevalent at nearly 200 companies of different sizes and how effective its model was at its current stage of revenue. The data gathered allowed us to unearth insights into three main areas: the four distinct corporate model archetypes; the implications of each archetype on the organization of the corporate center, business units, and support functions; and the performance and decision-making effectiveness of each archetype. Our analysis also revealed some notable tendencies around how businesses organize to achieve scale and focus as they grow.
