Success is a question of attitude

Sheer determination is what makes design consultancies and other marketing services firms grow. If directors have the wrong attitude the business will fail, claims new research from business consultant Binder Hamlyn.

Binder Hamlyn, Arthur Andersen and the London Business School have compiled a 1996 version of their Pulse Survey, an exercise first performed in 1994. The financial performance of around 200 design consultancies contributed to the analysis.

Binder Hamlyn draws the conclusion that most of the constraints on small and medium- sized companies are not beyond their directors’ control.

Mark Brassington, a manager in Binder Hamlyn’s marketing services sector group, says: “The competitiveness of the marketing services sector is commonly held to be a chief reason why many marketing-related businesses with potential fail to grow effectively.

“But our research confirms that it is the directors’ attitude towards growth that is crucially important. Without the right attitude, a business with everything going for it will often fail. Yet other businesses will succeed against the odds due to sheer determination.”

Brassington adds: “We found that despite what many directors say, analysis of their company records shows they are clearly going for the comfortable option of maintaining their lifestyles.”

The research suggests that companies with the highest growth rates spend at least five per cent of turnover on marketing themselves, while companies with younger directors often produce higher levels of growth than their older counterparts.