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Sunday, December 10, 2006

Pacing the progress

How fast should we grow? In previous posts, I suggested that it is time to put the brakes on the ambitions, for now, but I still believe we will be ready much sooner than later to add products and markets to the business. The key issue is how well we can manage our resources, and also how people working within the company can assume their responsibilities and tasks.

Especially in expanding to new markets, where we have 'publishers in waiting' the question is, "are they readyfor their responsibilities." If we go ahead and blindly expand, without some real drive, initiative and contributions at the local end, we'll be trapped in a frustrating vortex. The last thing I want to be doing is travelling across the continent to prop up a business where the local co-ordinator isn't pulling his or her weight.

On the other hand, I don't want to deny those that are ready to grow, the opportunity to grow. So we've decided to set out a set of conditions -- an action plan -- that the local publishers will need to complete before we invest time and resources in 'opening' new publications. This makes the effort more balanced and complete, and gives us the capacity to truly help the people who are working hard (and smartly) to help themselves.

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