Handling a company’s growth successfully requires three things: an increasing number of capable leaders; a scalable infrastructure; and an effective marketing function.

As Porter summarizes, “A company can outperform rivals only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve.

However, we’ve seen profits and cash double within a year when businesspeople also devote just a little more attention and resources to accounting (remember, John D. Rockefeller was an accountant by training).

Kash and Calhoun, authors of How Companies Win, further suggest that there is a niche within any industry that represents no more than 10% of the total customers but holds a disproportionate percentage of the profit —what are termed profit pools.

To tackle the cash conversion cycle, start by reading “How Fast Can Your Company Afford to Grow?” a Harvard Business Review article by Neil C. Churchill and John W. Mullins.