“Growth is above all a way of life”

Growth is an active choice and a way of life for a company. It doesn’t just start with action, but you have to make a program for it, define a growth concept, says Elina Björklund, former CEO of Reima and current Chair of the Board.

“Growth is a choice that is followed even in small decisions. Management must show what is rewarded, what is talked about and who is recruited. All of these choices support growth.”

We asked Björklund to list three things that a company needs to consider in order to build growth.

Attitude

“Growth requires the right attitude and a conscious change in attitude. The bar needs to be set high.”

When Reima was acquired by a US venture capitalist in 2011, the goal was to double the size of the company in five years. Elina Björklund was hired to build this growth in 2012.

Björklund remembers going to Reima’s then-headquarters in Kankaanpää and telling people that the company aims to start growing.

“I said that this means that the bar is going to be raised, the speed is increasing, and it can be a bit chaotic at first. We will develop a program to drive growth forward.”

Björklund understood that the pursuit of rapid growth is not for everyone and said so out loud. Later, the CEO received a call from an employee telling her that he was resigning because he did not feel that Reima’s new direction was his own.

The attitude of the company was measured by the fact that the pursuit of growth was boldly stated out loud.

“No one knows that you are seeking international growth if you don’t say it out loud,” reminds Björklund.

Reima’s turnover was not doubled in five years, but it was tripled in ten years. The risks also came true. The company had grown significantly in Russia alongside other markets and had taken a conscious risk, even though there had been almost no investments in the country after 2016. Overnight, more than a third of the company turnover melted away.

“We were down on our knees, reassessed our size and set out to seek new growth. Now North America is growing at a 30 percent annual rate and has already surpassed the Finnish market in terms of turnover.”

According to Björklund, the change was possible because the attitude of growth was written into Reima’s core.

Customer and the customer's customer  

“We Finns are already pretty good at telling others, what we know how to do, and where our own competitive advantage lies. However, what is critical for companies is that the competitive advantage produces what the customer wants.”

According to Björklund, this means that the view must shift from our own expertise to the market.

“Do we sell what we produce, or do we produce what we sell? This old question is still relevant.”

Sustainable growth is created when we get involved in the customer’s everyday process. Then we no longer sell a product, solution or service, but position ourselves as part of the customer’s value chain.

“This requires not only traditional engineering skills, but also commercial expertise and an understanding of the digital customer experience.”

Björklund summarizes the building of a new kind of capability this way: we must dare to recruit people who have already been where the company wants to go. With new people, the dynamics within the company change. We also need people who understand the customer’s customer.

“Getting attached to the customer also requires a leap beyond just the customer relationship. In order to truly create value in your own customer's process, you must strive to understand the customer's customer, that is, how the customer strives to serve their own customer.”

AI and a digital touchpoint

If a company does not yet have a digital strategy or artificial intelligence strategy, it is worth acquiring the expertise to create one now. Björklund does not see artificial intelligence as just a tool for efficiency, but as strengthening commercial and customer processes that customers are attracted to.

“Digital data and digital processes must be seen as a company’s critical infrastructure, a glue surface for the customer. For example, Pemamek, a manufacturer of welding equipment in Loimaa, is a great example. The company began measuring and automating welding and created a digital touchpoint for its customers. Instead of welding equipment, Pemamek today sells more reliable welding, i.e. value instead of a product.”

Instead of making internal processes more efficient, digitalisaation can also mean pure growth. The touchpoints created for the customer applies internationally, as digital technology can be used to scale reliably over the network without increasing sales personnel. However, internationalisation cannot be achieved through networks alone.

“You have to go out, be boots on the ground, see people and network.”

In the lifestyle change for growth, Björklund reminds us that it is difficult to make and implement a lifestyle change completely alone. But when you do it in a peer community, it gains momentum.

“Every leader can ask themselves: Is my company on the right path? If it hasn’t already been done, today is an excellent day to start a lifestyle change to achieve growth.