When Success Isn't Enough

Rate yourself with this checklist based on questions developed by General Electric's Six Sigma Black Belts. If you answer no to any of them, it may be time to reassess parts of your company's growth strategy.

Y N Our company has a defined process to tackle and fix problems raised by customers.

Y N We constantly identify waste in our financial, production, time and materials processes and get rid of it.

Y N We spend more time and resources trying to generate new customers than to retain existing customers.

Y N We balance capital efficiently between today's needs and long-term growth.

Y N We have a defined process to develop, launch and expand products and services.

Y N We've come up with clear growth goals, and we invest in the staff and processes needed to meet these goals.

This article was originally published in the November 2007 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: When Success Isn't Enough.