The EY 7 Drivers of Growth

In Growth

In today’s disruptive world, realizing your ambition and growing your business is an exciting challenge. EY has a long history of working alongside many of the world’s most ambitious CEOs, owners and entrepreneurs to support them to accelerate their journey to market leadership. Drawing on their successes, we have distilled these insights to create the EY 7 Drivers of Growth.

Related topics Growth Private equity Entrepreneurship Start-ups Family enterprise IPO

The team

Lee Henderson

Lee Henderson

Americas EY Private Leader; Executive Sponsor, EY Entrepreneurs Access Network

Ryan Burke

Ryan Burke

Global EY Private Leader

What EY can do for you

The EY 7 Drivers of Growth is a framework that enables ambitious leaders to think differently about their businesses, unlock their full potential and successfully deliver their growth strategy. Find out more in the video below.

A 7 Drivers session will help you:

  • Assess your current capabilities relative to your future aspirations
  • Gain insight into the practices of market-leading companies
  • Clarify your strategic priorities, opportunities and challenges
  • Validate and refine your business strategy
  • Build an action plan to help you achieve increased resilience and sustainable growth
  • Achieve consensus among your leadership team about the future of your business and how to get there
EY 7 Drivers of Growth

EY 7 Drivers of Growth

Using the wisdom of thousands of resilient, high-growth businesses – including EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ winners - the EY 7 Drivers of Growth is a tried, tested and trusted framework that can enable you to think differently about your strategy for protecting, building and transforming your business to help it flourish.

 

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Learn from the successes of the world’s leading entrepreneurs

Our research into the growth journeys of the world’s leading businesses – amid all kinds of market conditions - has shown that the most successful companies look at a broad set of capabilities and balance their investments in time, money and energy across all 7 Drivers as they grow. This has proven to be a key success factor for building resilience and driving sustainable growth.

Learn more about each of the 7 Drivers:

  • Customer

    From the outset, leading businesses make customers their focal point. They understand that by putting customers’ needs and desires first, they can achieve a competitive advantage.

    They know all about their customers, they anticipate their future needs, and they deliver customers’ preferred experiences to build loyalty and drive long-term sustainable growth.

    Even after becoming market leaders, these businesses are constantly thinking about how to keep engaging and delighting their customers in all their markets.

  • People

    Any organization is only ever as good as the people working for it. To win the war for talent, leading businesses build an environment that values diversity, and attracts and retains the right people to help grow their businesses — not just great people, but people who fit the company’s culture by sharing its purpose and vision.

    Leading businesses connect their purpose and vision to their performance management and rewards strategy. They provide strong leadership and create an inclusive environment where differences are valued, and people can innovate to drive the business forward.

    To fully realize their ambitions, businesses also invest in their employees, nurturing their talent and helping them develop skills to match the demands of the business during each different growth phase.

  • Technology

    Technology is transforming every aspect of the business. It enables business leaders to make better, quicker and smarter decisions that respond to rapidly changing customer needs, improve business performance and manage risk.

    Digital, technology and data analytics are all having a profound impact on businesses in every industry, presenting significant opportunities and challenges. Digital technologies are fundamentally changing how customers interact with these businesses and opening up new business models that embrace sector convergence.

    Organizations that are successfully harnessing the power of technology are using AI and RPA to enhance human potential, enable increased focus on innovation, creativity and strategic thinking and create a powerful competitive advantage. 

  • Operations

    An organization’s operating model is the link between its strategic intent and the ability to deliver on that intent. Having a clear approach that aligns operations with strategy will increase a company’s ability to achieve success as they contend with changing customer needs and buying patterns, sector convergence, and new market entrants.

    Market leaders drive a culture of continuous improvement, considering all aspects of operations at a macro and micro level. Focused on the details, they understand that every aspect of their business must hold up to scrutiny and be constantly improved to stay ahead of the pack.

    Operations need to be highly flexible so they can adapt quickly to changing circumstances to seize business opportunities as well as mitigate key risks.

  • Finance

    All businesses need funds to grow. How a business manages its money — and its new investors — will determine its course for the future.

    Driven by their growth strategy, leading businesses determine the best financial approach at every stage, deriving maximum benefits from their management of available funds.

    To achieve this, they transform their finance function into one that acts more strategically and commercially, where the CFO becomes an economic advisor who helps improve performance by delivering critical insights to decision-makers. 

  • Transactions

    Market-leading businesses rarely evolve by organic growth alone. To rise to the top, they seek successful partnerships and strategic acquisitions capable of enhancing their growth, competitiveness and profitability.

    Leading businesses are quick to grasp the value of transactions and alliances in today’s dynamic markets. They appreciate that landing the right deal or finding the right partner is not about luck. They make a concerted effort to align their transactions and alliances to their overall growth strategy, remaining alert, building profile in their markets and positioning themselves to successfully seize opportunities as they arise. 

  • Risk

    Good risk management delivers reduced volatility within the business. There is a strong correlation between the maturity of risk management and both top- and bottom-line growth.

    At every stage of a business’s growth, the ability to identify and manage risk stands out as a vital element of success. Market-leading businesses find the right balance between risk management and risk taking to navigate change and drive sustainable growth.  

“The session helped me to understand key focus areas that will allow our business to scale. I feel empowered to make better strategic decisions.”

Read our latest 7 Drivers of Growth case studies

How a shift in focus unlocked an ambition to help high-risk patients
How a shift in focus unlocked an ambition to help high-risk patients

HMG Systems Engineering GmbH applied the 7 Drivers framework to transform their gene identification business.

4 Nov 2019 Ryan P. Burke

How JUMBO Seafood is paving the way to international growth
How JUMBO Seafood is paving the way to international growth

JUMBO Seafood applied the EY 7 Drivers of Growth framework to fulfill its ambition of bringing Singapore-style food to diners around the world.

22 Jan 2020 Loletta Chow

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