Marketing Strategy for Small- to Medium-Sized Manufacturers

Step Three: Assess Preliminary Strategic Options Based on Financial Trends

Here are examples of preliminary strategic implications stemming from the assessment of a company’s financial situation that should influence its development and execution of sales, marketing, and growth strategies. It entails looking at five situations that involve trends in sales, profitability, and cash flow.

Cash flow involves the movement of cash in and out of the business and corresponds to the firm’s working capital—accounts receivable and payable, inventory, credit line, and debt repayment. It basically is the amount of available cash in the business. Slow-paying customers and slow-turning inventory hold up cash flow. Similarly, payments to suppliers and creditors ...