THE NEW SCIENCE OF EXPANSION! HOW CANNA BUSINESS IS A GROWTH INDUSTRY

The Cannabis business sector as a whole is achieving phenomenal growth. An important concern has become identifying the problems, challenges, and success characteristics associated with the prudent growth of individual cannabis-related companies. A strategy used by many small companies is to achieve their growth objectives by way of geographic expansion. This approach involves expanding a company’s business from its original location to one or more additional geographic sites, and is particularly well suited for companies that cannot expand in their present location but believe that their cannabis-related products or services may be appealing to consumers in other markets. Surprisingly, despite the prevalence of geographic expansion as a means of small business growth, this is a neglected area of small business research. Although researchers have examined the common challenges associated with small company growth, a small business that expands from one location to several locations is subject to a number of potentially unique challenges. For example, during the course of opening a new site, a small business manager will be confronted with the task of managing an existing business and a start-up at the same time.

The challenge created by this undertaking, along with the other challenges associated with expansion, have not been specifically identified. In examination of cannabis-related businesses currently operating in cities across Canada, we saw many of these challenges and how they were being addressed - first hand.A number of older, more established businesses within the Canadian canna-business sector are in the midst of huge expansion from the West coast across to Toronto. From National Access Cannabis and it’s footholds in Ottawa and Victoria to Weeds and BCPS’s popping up all over the West Coast to Tweed’s recent merger with medical cannabis producer Bedrocan (who incidentally may have lowered its prices to $5 a gram - stunning cannabis enthusiasts everywhere) to inter-provincial expansion by companies like Weeds, Cannawide, the Green Room, Canada Bliss Herbals and others from Vancouver into the City of Toronto market. As larger groups like Canopy Growth Corp. (a combined company created by Tweed Marijuana Inc. and Bedrocan Cannabis Corp) continue to form and grow, so will a brand-new “legitimate” business sector be created around it. It will create and change laws, perceptions and in many cases expand on our world in many new ways.