Against the backdrop of the labour shortage highlighted in the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency’s white paper, this case study presents ELG (ecosystem-led growth), which seeks to improve the efficiency of agency sales and create a repeatable growth model. The author and business representatives discuss the limits of conventional sales built around golf and drinking parties, and the need to rebuild relationships with partner companies.
The 2026 Small and Medium Enterprise White Paper, published by the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, identifies the restructuring of business and organisational models as an urgent priority in response to labour shortages caused by population decline, and points to the limitations of conventional approaches on the sales front as well. Against this backdrop, ELG is attracting attention as a method for improving the efficiency of agency sales and turning it into a repeatable growth model. The publication of the book is prompting consideration of ways to reassess relationships with partners and agencies. The article sets out to clarify who should be involved, how they should be involved, and what should be changed.
“ELG (ecosystem-led growth)” is presented as an approach that treats the ecosystem as a driver of growth and integrally designs and executes B2B go-to-market strategies centred on collaboration with partner companies. The emphasis is on reducing reliance on individual account managers’ experience and personal relationships, and on building a highly repeatable model, while discussing the modernisation of agency sales.
The authors, Umeki Toshinari (梅木俊成) and Inoue Takumi (井上拓海), point to the need for a system that can mobilise more sales partners with less effort, as well as the simultaneous progression of generational change and weakening relationships on the agency side. Against a backdrop in which partner businesses lacked a repeatable framework, unlike the direct-sales “The Model,” the introduction of the ELG model is being considered.
The article recognises the limits of conventional sales built around golf and drinking parties, while asking how cooperative relationships between companies and their partner businesses should be redesigned. It discusses organisational designs that can accelerate growth efficiently even with small teams, the systematisation of partner strategies, and approaches to management using PRM tools.