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10 Tips for Writing a Business Plan

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Archives, Global Trade Daily, Special Reports

10 Tips for Writing a Business Plan

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Many entrepreneurs and business owners make mistakes when they rush to start a business before considering important details.

A great business plan can help you anticipate important issues and possible challenges before you start your business.

In fact, studies show that entrepreneurs who take the time to write a business plan are 2.5 times more likely to follow through and get their business off the ground.

Here are 10 tips to help you write a great business plan.

1. Learn from other entrepreneurs and business owners

Start by reading as many business plans as you can get your hands on.

-Search the tables of contents and consider which parts are relevant to your business.

-Flip to the index and see how well organized and granular it is.

-Check out any exhibits or charts and consider how your business plan could benefit from similar exhibits or charts.

Remember, you’re not reinventing the wheel here. For example, you can get a free business plan template for a traditional business plan and a one-page business plan.

There have been many who did this before you and you can benefit from their experience and expertise.

2. Be prepared and do your homework

Don’t mess around – research everything.

Thoroughly.

If you expect to be the market leader in 2 years, you need to demonstrate why this is possible and how you’ll meet this goal.

If you say your product will be viral, you have to support this statement with facts.

If you say your management team is experienced and qualified to help the business succeed, you have to support that claim with resumes that demonstrate the experience.

It’s easy to lose credibility – and investors – if you’re making claims you can’t fully support.

Need specific insights on how to write a great business plan?

Read this definitive guide on how to write a business plan. You’ll learn about each section of the business plan, from the executive summary to the appendix, and you’ll be able to download free business plan templates for a simple one-page business plan and a traditional plan, and other important templates, including a SWOT analysis template, sales forecast template, profit and loss template, cash flow template, and a balance sheet template.

3. Know your market and your competition

Some business owners avoid talking about potential competitors.

This is a mistake.

Unless you’re creating a new industry, you will have competitors. And you’ll need to figure out how to beat them or at least to compete with them.

To understand your competitors and the industry, you’ll need to do market research.

Invest some time and effort and do it correctly. A business can’t succeed if the owners don’t understand their industry, target customers, or the competition.

4. The table of contents is your friend

The TOC is your outline for the plan.

Take your time with it; make sure you are including all of the relevant topics.

At a minimum, your plan should include sections on the company you are forming, your marketing plan, financial information, and your go-to-market and growth strategy.

Look to other business plans for inspiration.

5. Don’t give away your secrets when sharing your business plan

If you plan to share your business plan with potential investors, bankers, or others, require confidentiality.

And make sure you cover yourself with a strong disclaimer. The last thing you want is for a potential investor or partner to claim that your business plan misrepresented your business.

6. Write a strong executive summary

People are busy. Few read 50-page business plans. Even fewer read 100-page business plans.

Most will read only the executive summary and flip through other sections of your business plan.

This creates both a challenge and an opportunity.

If your executive summary is strong, you increase the prospects to have a further conversation with a potential investor or partner to make your pitch in person.

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7. Know your audience

Who will be reading your plan?

Is it written for investors? For potential partners or board members? For a bank to get a small business loan?

Anticipate the kinds of questions those people will want to be answered and answer those questions. For example, if your audience includes bankers, think like a banker and write what they would need to see to fund your business.

A great business plan will show that you have thought through your business idea clearly and have developed a plan to develop the idea into a sustainable and profitable business.

8. Make the business plan readable

A great business plan should be compelling, interesting, informative, and exciting.

Make sure that you include detail, but not so much that people are overwhelmed.

Use appendices for the details and anything else (like resumes) that would bog down the body of the plan.

Do a careful edit for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and voice.

Get a second (and third) set of eyes to give you constructive feedback.

Do not be stingy with charts, graphics, illustrations, and tables. They are great ways to present detailed information in a digestible form.

9. Use Pro-formas wisely

People interested in your business plan will want to see projections of your performance, your costs, and your anticipated growth.

But, they are sophisticated enough to recognize when those numbers have been arrived at based on real data compared to when you simply make up the numbers.

So, be conservative in all financial estimates and projections. If you think you’ll get a 25% share of your market in 2 years, hint at those numbers but assume you’ll get only a 5% share for purposes of your financial projections.

One good approach is to show the best, worst, and most likely scenarios for sales and growth.

10. Keep it simple

Keep your language simple and use readable fonts and a clean layout.

And, let your personality show. If you believe in what you’re writing, your passion will show in the final product.

And at the end of the day, remember that most people don’t invest in a business plan.

Most people invest in a person.

You.

___________________________________________________________________

Ross Kimbarovsky is founder and CEO at crowdspring, where more than 220,000 experienced freelancers help agencies, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-profits with high-quality custom logo design, web design, graphic design, product design, and company naming services. Ross mentors entrepreneurs through TechStars and Founder Institute, was honored as one of Techweek100′s top technology leaders and business visionaries, and enjoys wearing shorts to work after a successful 13-year career as a trial lawyer. Ross has founded numerous other startups, including Startup Foundry, Quickly Legal, and Respect.

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Archives, Global Trade Daily, Special Reports

Why Today’s Leaders Are Channeling Ancient Philosophers

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Steve Jobs wished he had met Socrates.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Marcus Aurelius fan.

Elon Musk leans toward Aristotle.

Across the land – and the world – leaders in business, government and other areas look to the future by seeking wisdom from the past – the far past. While that might sound surprising, perhaps it shouldn’t be – especially when it comes to entrepreneurs and CEOs.

“Philosophy is one of the most important things that can be introduced into the corporate world today because of its fundamental properties and practical benefits,” says Cristina DiGiacomo (www.cristinadigiacomo.com), author of Wise Up! At Work and founder of MorAlchemy, a leadership consulting firm that helps CEOs and executives use philosophy to tackle challenges by teaching them to think differently and see new solutions to help their companies thrive.

“In fact, most of the important and progressive management, communication, and organizational practices are based on principles firmly rooted in philosophy.”

Helping others and doing your work dutifully come from philosophies of service espoused by Romans such as Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, DiGiacomo says. Ideas of employee-centric cultures and employee-driven suggestions are a modern expression of Plato’s ideas. Reciprocity and meritocracy, mutually beneficial acts, and equitable work cultures can be traced to ideas from Confucius.

“Even the idea of work/life balance has philosophical moorings in Lao Tzu’s teaching on balance in life,” DiGiacomo says.

At some level, many top leaders understand this – either knowingly or unknowingly channeling ancient philosophers whose wisdom has remained constant and relevant for centuries.

Just a few examples of the phenomenon are:

Musk and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings have both used “first principles” thinking to grow their businesses. The term “first principles” was coined more than 2,000 years ago by Aristotle, who believed we learn more by understanding a subject’s fundamental principles, breaking down problems into their basic elements and then reassembling them.

Schwarzenegger, the actor, politician and businessman, cited the words of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius when he addressed 2020 graduates in a video commencement speech. The COVID-19 pandemic created plenty of obstacles in the final months of school for those students, inspiring Schwarzenegger to use the Aurelius quote: “What stands in the way becomes the way.” In other words, Schwarzenegger told the graduates, impediments that keep us from our goals can also be the motivation to achieve our goals.

Robert Ceravolo, head of Tropic Ocean Airways, said in a Forbes interview that one way he manages the stress of running a business is by reading about stoicism, particularly Aurelius and Seneca. “What makes something good or bad is your perception of whether or not it’s good or bad,” Ceravolo says. “When [the worst] happens, it’s not a massive shock.”

Lucio Tan Jr., CEO of Tanduay Distillers Inc., has said that his father taught him Confucian values, such as doing to others as if you’re the other person. Tan has said the Chinese philosopher’s teachings “give you a deeper perspective of humanity, respect for others and for nature,” and have served as a guide for his approach to leadership and life.

“The reason ancient philosophers continue to have relevance in America’s corporate boardrooms is simple,” DiGiacomo says. “Their ideas stand the test of time and still have practical applications in the 21st century, just as they did hundreds or thousands of years ago.”

__________________________________________________________________

Cristina DiGiacomo (www.cristinadigiacomo.com), author of Wise Up! At Work, is the founder of MorAlchemy, a philosophical consulting firm. She also is the inventor of industrial philosophy and is the driving force behind the idea of applying philosophy in the workplace for the benefit of the leadership of organizations. DiGiacomo has 20 years of corporate executive experience at companies such as The New York Times, Citigroup, AMC Networks, and R/GA. She holds a master’s degree in Organizational Change Management from The New School. She also dedicated nine years to the study and practice of philosophy.

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Archives, Executive Education, Global Trade Daily

Researchers Propose a Model to Better Manage Knowledge and Innovation in Multinational Corporations

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With a clear understanding of knowledge management, executives can make more effective managerial decisions. Knowledge management has been evaluated from various perspectives. This variation may differ because knowledge management is understood in many different ways and therefore different scholars focus on different aspects of it and offer several options of managerial application. These perspectives are discussed below.

Taking a Technological Perspective

Executives know that they can take a technological perspective. In this case, the executive understands how knowledge management as facilitating organizational processes and activities uses information technology to organize existing information. Executives have found that knowledge management embraces information technology to convert individual knowledge into valuable resources for their organization. Executives focus on individuals as the major source of knowledge and show how followers tie together so that they can effectively share the storage, transfer, and application of knowledge within organizations. Executives, therefore, see these connections, and the related shared knowledge and memory, as central to the effectiveness of knowledge management.

Taking an Economic Perspective

Executives agree with Doyle McCarthy, who sees society as a product of knowledge. Defining culture as various forms of knowledge and symbols that make up an organization’s culture. However, knowledge is a by-product of culture and knowledge’s role in guiding and facilitating people’s action is key to executive decision-making. Four scholars by the names of Bernard Marr, Oliver Gupta, Stephen Pike, and Goran Roos define knowledge management as “a set of activities and processes aimed at creating value through generating and applying intellectual capital.”

Executives direct practices that create value from intangible organizational resources. For executives, it is clear that the objective of managing knowledge is to add value to organizations. The focus here is that executives consider the fact a firm’s knowledge is positively associated with its outcomes.

Taking a Process Perspective

The process perspective focuses on knowledge flows that executives use through embracing the processes of knowledge management for strategic management decision-making. Managing knowledge is not new, scholars have considered the various processes involved. Executives can look at three-step processes of knowledge accumulation, integration, and reconfiguration. Jang-Hwan Lee and Young-Gul Kim’s model for managing knowledge takes a strategic process-oriented approach and is relevant to executive leadership. Executives build a climate of openness for individuals to exchange ideas. Knowledge is accumulated by creating a new approach to gathering, evaluating, and disseminating information throughout the organizations.

Executives inspire people to create new ideas and develop effective mechanisms to acquire knowledge from various sources such as suppliers, customers, business partners, and competitors. This is similar to a value-chain approach. Executives need to first support this approach for the model to work because they play a strategic role in expanding the knowledge accumulation through applying incentives as mechanisms to develop a more innovative climate and managing effective tools to acquire knowledge from external sources.

Executives then integrate knowledge internally to enhance the effectiveness and efficiencies in various systems and processes, as well as to be more responsive to market changes.

Accumulated knowledge is synthesized to produce higher quality outcomes. Thus, knowledge integration focuses on monitoring and controlling knowledge management practices, evaluating the effectiveness of current knowledge, defining and recognizing core knowledge areas, coordinating expert opinions, sharing organizational knowledge, and scanning for new knowledge to keep the quality of their product or services continuously improving.

Executives can promote knowledge integration by creating expert groups or steering committees to enhance knowledge quality and evaluate knowledge assets. Follower’s diversity of skills and interpersonal relations that is based on trust and reciprocity can improve the performance of group cohesiveness.

Therefore, in the process of knowledge integration, knowledge enters organizational processes and provides valuable contributions to products and services. Executives as leaders steering the organizational strategy facilitate this process, by undertaking initiatives that improve knowledge transfer, thus enhancing the performance of employees and the implementation of effective changes to maintain the quality of products and services. The burden of success when the effective implementation of knowledge integration is concerned is heavily dependent on the capabilities of the organization’s leaders.

Executives must also curtail knowledge within organizations. This knowledge needs to be reconfigured to meet environmental changes and new challenges. At the same time, it should not be leaked to the competition in any shape or form unless agreed upon by senior executives. When executives agree to share knowledge with other organizations in the environment, studies have shown that that knowledge is often difficult to share externally. One reason is that other organizations have too much pride to accept knowledge or are apprehensive to expose themselves to the competition.

Therefore, executives may lack the required capabilities to interact with other organizations, or distrust sharing their knowledge. In addition, just the notion of creating an expert group or steering committee may be shortsighted because such groups may not have sufficient diversity to comprehend knowledge acquired from external sources. On the other hand, executives are aware of networking with business partners is a key activity for organizations to enhance knowledge exchange.

Networking is a critical concern for leaders in this process is developing alliances with partners in external environments. Executives and their expert groups and/or steering committees are the ones who can make final decisions about developing alliances with business partners.   Figure 1 depicts this model of knowledge management.

In Conclusion

There are some executives that like to look at academic journals but unfortunately, the crossover literature has not reached them enough. This article attempts to blend scholarly concepts with real-world applications. This article introduces an applicable model to evaluate knowledge management success. Also, this article provides evidence that knowledge management is used in corporate infrastructure for strategic decision-making.

________________________________________________________________

Mostafa Sayyadi works with senior business leaders to effectively develop innovation in companies and helps companies—from start-ups to the Fortune 100—succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders. He is a business book author and a long-time contributor to business publications and his work has been featured in top-flight business publications.

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Archives, Global Trade Daily, Special Reports

3 Ways to Ramp Up Your Internal Communications and Improve the Bottom Line

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A workplace should be more than simply a place where employees carry out their jobs. It should also be a place where they feel empowered to grow, develop, contribute to the organization, and feel the direct impacts they have.

Think of your workplace like a car: Communication functions like the car’s internal computer, sending the correct signals to disparate parts so they can function, work together, and deliver a top-notch finished product or service. The best way to create this environment is to implement tools and processes that promote internal communications.

Case in point: 71% of frontline workers state that new communication tools increase their productivity, which improves the bottom line with timely communication between head offices, team leads, and frontline workers. Because better communication tools and processes also lead to less time spent in meetings, frontline managers can focus on their tasks while eliminating nonvalue-added steps.

As companies navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of internal communications becomes even clearer: An Edelman study recently found that workers currently trust their employers more than they trust the government when it comes to information about the pandemic.

During these turbulent times, your workers require empathy and need to feel safe. It’s absolutely essential to remain in close contact with your teams and keep them informed of ever changing regulations and policies that impact the way they work.

The Case for Revamping Your Communications

Over the long run, businesses that implement effective internal communications strategies tend to have more aligned and engaged employees who outperform in their roles. This is because they’re enabled to easily access up-to-date information and freely share ideas. As a result, companies reap many benefits, including improved employee morale, reduced turnover, better customer service, and increased innovation through collaboration.

Beyond that, digital communication tools can also provide a big boost to a business’s bottom line. Employees often waste precious working hours searching for documents and information because companies don’t store these materials in a strategic fashion. We know that, on average, employees waste about 8% of their working time per week, according to Deloitte. Depending on your company’s size, that could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars spent every month on simply searching for information to do the job right.

To make it easier for your frontline workers to find what they need, opt for a single point of contact that includes all their communications and tools.

3 Steps for Facilitating Impactful Internal Communications

Currently, not nearly enough businesses capitalize on the benefits of internal communications. In fact, an alarming 60% of companies have “no long-term strategy or vision” for internal communication. The reason behind this is nothing new: It’s because business leaders have historically resisted the adoption of new communication tools and strategies.

For example, when email first emerged, a common reaction to the technology was: “Why do I need an email account when I can just send a fax to my employees?” It took several years before companies wholeheartedly embraced email and made it a natural part of daily communication.

Today, emails are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to workplace communication. Widespread smartphone usage has unlocked an entirely new world of options. Plus, 80% of the global workforce is made up of frontline workers who aren’t tethered to a desk. It’s clearly time for companies to embrace a mobile-first communication strategy that effectively and efficiently loops in every employee in real-time.

The following steps will help your company revamp its internal communications infrastructure:

1. Audit your current systems and processes

Conduct a comprehensive assessment of how your company currently communicates. Then, identify all of the different tools and methods each team uses to exchange information. Keep in mind that managers and executives have completely different workflows than frontline workers. Leaders should either spend time in the field to better understand how these individuals communicate with each other or conduct a series of in-depth conversations to ensure they have an accurate picture and can effectively coach employees.

Ultimately, you’ll likely end up with a long list of communication methods, including emails, phone calls, text messages, digital files, paper documents, and more. From there, your goal should be to eliminate manual paper-based processes and narrow the list down to as few digital avenues as possible. Streamlined internal communications will help you ensure consistent messaging and better organizational alignment.

2. Give every employee a connection and voice.

Each employee at your company should have a unique digital identity. Regardless of their roles, employees should be able to log into an online communication portal that allows them to send individual or group messages, access important documents, and read companywide announcements.

In many cases, companies will spend millions of dollars on complex digital systems but grant access only to a small group of employees. Many other companies will fail to properly utilize the tool itself, and the project ultimately fizzles out because employees refuse to adopt the system.

In reality, you don’t need a complicated piece of software to accomplish your communication goals. A simple, intuitive, and relatively inexpensive mobile app could do the trick — and your workers will thank you for offering this option. After all, modern-day employees are digitally savvy and want to communicate with colleagues using their smartphones.

Likewise, encourage your frontline employees to speak up using these communication tools. How you encourage that conversation will depend on your organization, but you should be able to understand their perspective and offer a sense of belonging by implementing a bottom-up communication strategy.

3. Follow up and seek feedback.

After meetings, many companies overlook an essential element of effective internal communications: following up with employees. Upload a recap of every meeting to your digital platform and ensure everyone is clear on the messaging and aligned around the next steps.

And don’t forget that internal communications should be a two-way street. Throughout the year, host a combination of town halls, webinars, and digital Q&A sessions that allow workers across all roles to share ideas and insights with the leadership team. Surveys and polls are another effective way to collect feedback — whether they follow meetings or events or simply function as a quick pulse-check. All in all, provide ample opportunities for each employee at your company to let his or her voice be heard.

It’s time for business leaders to start thinking more critically about how communication ties into productivity, profitability, and safety — especially during a global pandemic. By clinging onto inefficient, outdated communication tools, you’re missing out on a golden opportunity to create a stronger, safer, and more productive workforce.

___________________________________________________________________

Daniel Sztutwojner is chief customer officer and co-founder of Beekeeper, the single point of contact for your frontline workforce. Beekeeper’s mobile platform brings communications and tools into one place to improve productivity, safety, and agility. Daniel is passionate about helping businesses operate more efficiently. He has a background in applied mathematics and more than eight years of experience in sales and customer success.

science
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily

The DNA of A Science Startup: Betting on the Right Horse

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There is no doubt we are living through atypical times. A confluence of factors have introduced, in an unprecedented way, the one thing that businesses and investors abhor: uncertainty. Now more than ever, the investor community needs to evaluate, which startups and newly launched businesses are likely to weather the storm, particularly businesses commercializing a science-based idea.

We’ve identified three kinds of science-based startups that are likely to weather the storm, and three that may succumb, beginning with three that will succeed:

1. Startups that add value (beware of “complete reinvention”): Many startups, given their energy and momentum, may seek to “completely reinvent” the ecosystem. These startups underestimate the inertia of not only consumers but also established players, supply chains and practices within the industry. One good example is the diagnostics sector; a startup that aims to improve efficiency for large players (E.g. such as Quest Diagnostics) by offering, say, a new kit that greatly reduces testing expenses, is more likely to thrive, even if it does not have unicorn potential. Conversely, a startup that offers new technology that will require a large player to completely replace or revamp an existing pipeline will not be easily adopted.

2. Startups in evergreen sectors within biotech/pharma: Science-based startups are almost immediately equated with biotech. This is understandable, as the biotech sector attracts the most attention and most capital. While all of medicine is always up for improvement, within biotech/pharma, certain disease areas such as Oncology and Neurobiology remain evergreen. This is not to say that a strategy similar to Gilead’s in developing some antivirals (best-in-class) will not succeed, it is just that such strategies need to be executed very carefully. In contrast, the drastic unmet need in some sectors means a less than perfect drug stands a good chance of gaining market share. In fact, over the next 10-15 years, Neurobiology appears poised to experience leaps similar to Oncology when biologics took the stage by storm. As the population ages, neurodegenerative diseases are likely to increase, creating potential for a large market. The same demographic trend also hints at one as yet untapped area, that of aging biology. Although there are big players, for instance, Calico, the path forward remains unclear given the complicated science.

3.  Startups that address fundamental needs: Startups that address fundamental needs and deficiencies in any sector are most likely to survive and thrive. This is not by any means a new thought or message, but one that needs to be highlighted and should remain a guiding principle. While they may not be apparent, deficiencies exist in all sectors, be they automation, manufacturing, or even something as distinct as textiles and apparel. One straightforward example here is biotech/pharma: economic downturn or not, new medicines are always needed. Another example is food-tech, nobody is going to stop eating; in fact, disruption of supply chains is expected to create new opportunities. It is not surprising that a number of startups are developing plant-based substitutes for animal products, and demand for these is expected to remain strong. From a high-level perspective, startups emerging from materials science, nanotechnology, and of course computer science, especially AI, are particularly attractive, as they appear poised to provide solutions to long-standing environmental problems. On the other hand, areas such as biofuels, which attracted considerable attention a decade ago, no longer appear viable given the shift toward electric and hybrid vehicles.

Conversely, there are three types of ventures that may not weather the storm:

1. Startups that pivot without having a core strategy: A pivot by itself is not bad, and many businesses do indeed change directions to take advantage of an opportunity or rebuild their revenue streams. But there is an important distinction: businesses that lack a core strategy will rarely survive even with a pivot, especially in a fickle investment environment. Many companies and even well-funded startups may venture into new areas such as infectious diseases, but this does not change their original business model. A COVID-specific solution will melt away the minute a good drug/vaccine is announced. The diagnostics sector here provides good case studies. A newly developed scientific method or protocol may be able to detect the SARS-Cov2 virus within minutes or seconds, which is a great achievement, but will this solution supplant existing medical pipelines and setups? If a startup’s pivot is purely opportunistic, rather than being part of a larger strategy, it may indicate inability to survive over the long term.

2. Startups that address trends: This overlaps with the previous point, but it is important in its own right. Ideas are dime-a-dozen, and many startups are born during times of distress and social upheaval when deficiencies in our societies and industry come to fore. It is important to distinguish if the startup is addressing a need-of-the-hour or a trend that has the potential to stick.  With regard to science-based startups, there is less of a trend following, although it is quite common for startups to mushroom every time new technology is developed. One example of this is AI, which represents a trend that is cyclically in vogue. Established computer scientists can attest to multiple periods when AI was supposed to solve all of the world’s problems, only for scientists and entrepreneurs to realize that the real world was too complex and you could never really leave decision making to machines for many crucial tasks.

3. Startups that fall prey to shifting regulation and circumstance. This is unfortunately beyond a startup team’s control, but investors should be careful when funding startups in such sectors. Two interesting examples here are businesses that provided services to the oil and natural gas industry, and the development of biotechs around CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology. In case of oil, it would have been very difficult to predict that petrochemicals and related sectors would plunge overnight, wiping billions of dollars’ worth of value from some of the biggest companies in the world. A strange confluence of geopolitical contests, coupled with uncertainty due to a pandemic and shifting consumer habits, probably a once-in-a-lifetime event, may spell doom for many players. Any startups connected to this sector may likely suffer significantly in the coming months, and their long-term survival is uncertain. In the case of CRISPR, the potential for rogue actors to misuse the technology means that many governments in the world will proceed extremely cautiously, and indeed, initial miss-steps may lead to stringent regulation. While there is plenty of potential, CRISPR-based startups should be evaluated carefully.

This brings us to the big question: where are the real returns? Can we break out of COVID play? Real returns are where startups and ideas address fundamental questions and needs that are apparent but overlooked. Overall, even though investor interest these turbulent times still appears to be strong, with many new startups being funded, the next few quarters will be the ones to watch, as the downturn reduces both investor appetite and revenue. Investors must continue to be discerning with their dollars, especially when it comes to science-based startups.

___________________________________________________________________

Dr. Shailesh Date is the founder and CEO of LRC Systems, which uniquely combines advances in natural and quantitative sciences with cutting-edge technology to help solve fundamental health, economic and social problems for public and private organizations. LRC serves as an ideas hub for high-level transdisciplinary research that is bigger, faster and more impactful, to propel innovations that can change the world.  Dr. Date obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology (computational focus) and completed his postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine, focusing on apicomplexan parasites, including Plasmodium falciparum, the causal agent of malaria. His current research covers topics in both public health and complexity science). He also serves as Associate Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at UCSF and Adjunct Professor of Biology at SF State.  

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Archives, Commentary, Global Trade Daily

4 Factors to Consider Before Buying an Essential Business in COVID Times

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The shutdowns and rollbacks of businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic continue to play havoc with the U.S. economy. But the least-affected businesses during the crisis, for the most part, have been those deemed “essential” by state and local governments, allowing those companies to remain fully operational or close to it.

Meanwhile, with the idea that essential businesses can be recession-proof and even boom during a public crisis, buying one is becoming a more attractive prospect for some people, says Chris Buitron, president of Mosquito Authority® (www.mosquito-authority.com).

“Our current economic challenges as a nation are showing that owning an essential business can be a solid financial strategy for an individual,” Buitron says. “They are practical purchases. They are not often glamorous businesses, but they make sense largely because they offer services that are currently in demand, and as such they can weather economic downturns.

“Some essential businesses, such as ours, are busier than ever as people are trying to maintain social distance by staying home and not taking many vacations. People consider protection from mosquito bites and the diseases they carry as a high priority for their family’s health and outdoor enjoyment. Like other essential businesses, our franchisees provide measures of security and comfort, allowing people to enjoy being in their yards at a time so many are cooped up inside due to the pandemic.

“And at the same time, all kinds of essential businesses provide ownership opportunities while millions of unemployed people are looking for new opportunities or new career tracks. Perhaps they’re looking to be their own boss and to have more control over their financial future.”

Buitron suggests considering the following when weighing whether to buy an essential business:

Focus on successful types of essential businesses. Among the essential businesses  that have the potential to succeed even during difficult economic times are: delivery services, grocery stores, convenience stores, e-commerce, gas stations, cleaning services, liquor stores, auto repair, lawn care, pest control, mailing/shipping services, and contracting. “The pandemic may be with us for a while,” Buitron says. “People will be home more often, and businesses that can service their needs while home will gain customers.”

Consider franchises as ownership opportunities. While some franchises are struggling during the pandemic, others are in a better position, Buitron says. “For franchises in general, much of the industry will be entering a buyer’s market, and those with the means will find some good opportunities,” he says. “People need jobs, and franchises annually employ 9 million people in the U.S. One benefit of buying a franchise is having an organizational and management team already in place to train you and help guide you. Reach out to other franchise owners to get a sense of the company’s commitment and support.”

Know a bargain vs. a bad investment. A relatively low sale price tempts some people into making a poor buying decision on a business. Buitron says it’s important to pore over the business’ financial numbers that it recorded before the pandemic and do all the research possible – especially of the market where the business is located – to determine if it was on a growth track and what the competition is like. “Two questions you need to ask yourself as a potential buyer of an essential business are: What can you bring new to the business to make it more successful, and why was or wasn’t it profitable?” he says.

Be sure you’re up to owning a business. “There are no guarantees with owning an essential business,” Buitron says. “The pandemic has put a spotlight on their importance, but they take lots of work and organizational skills to run. If you are someone who can’t deal well with uncertainty, buying a business any time, let alone during the most uncertain time in our history, isn’t the right choice. Buying a business and committing to it requires thorough research, a passion for the business, a solid financial foundation and a leap of faith.”

“Owning an essential business brings with it the satisfaction of providing necessary services for people,” Buitron says. “In these times especially, that’s a noble pursuit.”

____________________________________________________________

Chris Buitron is president of Mosquito Authority® (www.mosquito-authority.com), a nationwide leader in mosquito control with franchises serving communities across the U.S. and Canada. Buitron has an extensive background in franchise industries. He was chief marketing officer for Senior Helpers, vice president of marketing for Direct Energy (home services division), and director of marketing for Sunoco Inc., where he supported the company’s 4,700 franchised and company-owned rental facilities across 23 states (over $15B in annual revenues).

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Archives, Global Trade Daily, Special Reports

5 Reasons Company Leaders Resist Needed Change – Even During This Crisis

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The thought of change can be scary, even more so during the type of crisis we’re experiencing now with the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there are business leaders who are already implementing change in response to the challenging economic and operational landscape, many others are not.

“Sometimes the writing is on the wall and organizations are triggered to change,” says Edwin Bosso, Founder and CEO of Myrtle Consulting Group and the ForbesBooks author of 6,000 Dreams: The Leader’s Guide To A Successful Business Transformation Journey. “In fact, members of the organization often are keenly aware that something needs to be done. However, despite that, management does not act, and the cost of inertia can be high.”

According to Bosso, there are five reasons why leaders resist change and, as a consequence, struggle to move their company forward:

They confuse important versus urgent. Leaders sometimes confuse the terms important and urgent. “Important issues are those that do not necessarily have an explicit deadline, like urgent issues, but can effectively have some impact, large or small, on a business,” Bosso says. “The confusion sets in when owners and managers spend too much time putting out fires rather than planning. For example, the company may know that it is important to upgrade its operations. But it doesn’t become urgent until later on when the company looks at the output of its competitors that have completed transformation projects and have become a lot more cost-competitive.”

They lack courage/leadership abilities. Successfully initiating and executing a change process involves numerous leadership skills. “It can be intimidating taking on such a challenge that, to some leaders, may seem like moving a mountain,” Bosso says. “Others are better prepared to take risks, confront reality, envision a better way, make plans, and then act on those plans to lead a change.”

They misalign the incentives. The incentive to change or transform organizations can be misaligned with the incentives of people who are in charge of leading those transformations. “Misalignment of personal incentives can cause us not to act, even when we know it’s the best thing for the company,” Bosso says. “When we are in line for a promotion and higher pay, we certainly don’t want to take on risks that can potentially work against us.”

They lack support and/or resources. Not being afforded the requisite tools or the consensus for necessary transformation can leave a leader feeling powerless. “This is a set of obstacles that many leaders run into,” Bosso says. “The powerlessness can come from the lack of company means, organizational backing, human capital and resources to support the cost of a transformation. After a while, they run out of energy, or time, to make the case.”

They lack a method. It’s not uncommon for leaders to know the difference between where their company is and where it could be, but they don’t know how to proceed. “In such situations, leaders often freeze up and put off the impending need to change, or they approach it through trial and error,” Bosso says. “Having a methodology is beneficial when taking on such an effort. Some leaders take the time and effort to learn what needs to be done, while others bring in experienced people to provide a method for leading a smooth and successful transformation.”

According to Bosso, leaders must understand that there will never be a perfect time for change, but also that often the right change only happens if they force the issue.

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Edwin Bosso, the ForbesBooks author of 6,000 Dreams: The Leader’s Guide To A Successful Business Transformation Journey, is the founder/CEO of Myrtle Consulting Group (www.myrtlegroup.com). Bosso specializes in operations improvement and change management, and his project history includes work for major brands such as Heineken, Texas Petrochemicals, T-Mobile, Anheuser-Busch, Rohm and Haas, Campbells Soup Company, Kellogg’s and Morton Salt. A wide range of assignments has taken him throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. He completed his undergraduate education at The Hague Polytechnic in the Netherlands and earned an MBA from Rice University in Houston.

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Two Ways to Make It Easy to Engage a Global Workforce

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I attempt to blend scholarly concepts with real-world applications. I place a great deal of emphasis on the literature of information technology and corporate strategy as two significant indicators for financial success. This article adds to a relatively small body of literature but pays homage to the scholarly contributions. I highlight the direct impact of these organizational internal resources factors on financial performance.

Executives will also see that I expand upon the subject matter of a firm’s internal resources. Insufficient consideration of the impacts of these internal resources on financial performance has been exposed and I attempt to address this concern. This article can portray a more detailed picture of the effects of information technology and corporate strategy on financial performance that have been not placed in a model in the past.

Information Technology

Information technology encourages employees to embark on technological facilities, such as shared electronic workspaces, to provide new ideas and possible solutions for solving organizational problems. Information technology plays a critical role in creating a competitive advantage and is therefore aligned with the resource-based theory.  Information technology is necessary to build high-performing companies and also may be necessary as global market demands are increasingly difficult to adapt and sustain profitability.

Financial performance in global markets is dependent on continuous learning. Corporate learning plays a critical role and is a strategic prerequisite for increasing sales and market share in today’s knowledge-based economy. Effective corporate learning can enable companies to actively respond to environmental changes and customer needs and organizational members’ growth needs. Thus, information technology is a key factor that should be embraced at the senior level of organizations to enable financial performance in globalized markets by building a learning climate and empowering organizational members. In the absence of effective information technology management, companies cannot implement successful plans in order to adapt to today’s global business environment.

Information technology is a key factor to improve financial performance for companies. Earlier studies clearly indicate that effective IT implementation significantly contributes to a company’s’ financial performance. These researches acknowledge that information technology is an important enabler to effectively manage business processes. Information technology can reduce paper-based transactions for companies that can potentially decrease costs and subsequently improve profitability for companies.

Furthermore, it can be seen that information technology enables companies to effectively identify opportunities in an external business environment that leads to identifying the best opportunities for investment that potentially improves financial performance in terms of return on investment. Information technology can also help companies to effectively create more innovative solutions for their organizational problems. More innovative solutions and better ideas can improve the quality of products and services, which in turn increases sales and market share for companies.

Business success for companies in today’s global business environment can be, therefore, achieved when information technology is effectively applied and widely used to achieve a higher degree of financial performance. When information technology can create a learning workplace and inspiring vision for future expansion into global markets, companies will secure a foothold in the ever-expansive global marketplace. Thus, I recommend that executives should consider information technology as a key driver for improving financial performance in today’s hypercompetitive environment.

 Corporate Strategy

Executives view organizational strategy is a sum of objectives, plans, and procedures designed to efficiently and effectively upgrade organizational capabilities and interact with their environment more effectively. In particular, strategy defines a pattern to deploy organizational capabilities and interact with both the internal and the external environment. Executives, therefore, manage their knowledge assets to create new ideas and knowledge aimed at achieving commercial objectives. First and foremost, just as one organization is holding knowledge back from competitors they are following suit. Knowledge could be the most important component of success in this ever-changing technological environment of today. Thus, the organizational strategy is an organizational internal resource affecting knowledge and in most cases, knowledge is the most strategic factor of competitive advantage.

Executives are aware that corporate strategy mainly encompasses four aspects: analysis, pro-activeness, defensiveness, and futurity. Analysis strategy is regarded as the tendency to search for problems and their root causes and generates better alternatives to solve them. Analysis strategy, an academic term that is very applicable to the executive span of control is also concurrently aired in the academic circles of higher education. For instance, the analysis strategy is highly related to firms’ capacity to generate new ideas and knowledge and plays a crucial role in acquiring knowledge. Therefore, I appeal to executives across the globe that analysis strategy could improve the quality of products and services, which can in turn enhance profitability and market share.

I also feel that as executives use the pro-activeness strategy which refers to finding new opportunities and proactively responding to current challenges in external environments, they are also enhancing their span of control. Therefore, the pro-activeness strategy can provide a higher degree of knowledge through developing interactions with external environments. As executives effectively use knowledge management for projects and organizational investments they require a continuous investigation from external business environments. The pro-activeness strategy enables companies to identify changes in external environments and accordingly help them to actively respond to these emerging rapid changes.

Some executives feel that a defensive strategy, while necessary, sets a negative connotation on their span of control. However, it is believed that a defensiveness strategic approach enhances efficiency through cutting costs which in turn increases organizational revenue and company’s financial performance.

Futurity strategy can also enhance financial performance by providing a series of clear guidelines for companies to track future trends in the business environment, and accordingly, conduct “what-if” analysis and allocate organizational resources. My explanation of this is clearly within the executive span of control and potentially limits operational risk. My conclusion for executives is that organizational strategy has a positive association with financial performance. Therefore, I suggest that a firm’s ability to enhance financial performance can be highly affected when executives develop and implement an effective corporate strategy.

In Conclusion

This article may be the answer executives need but may also lack the fundamental fortitude necessary to be an all-encompassing model to predict financial performance. Executives can contribute to meet dynamic market needs, through reshaping a firm’s internal resources (i.e. information technology and corporate) to meet the needs of customers in the marketplace. This article has been focusing on thus far is the needs of companies for enhancing financial success. This article also presents executives with organizational internal resources that can be effectively manipulated to improve financial performance and become more profitable.

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Mostafa Sayyadi works with senior business leaders to effectively develop innovation in companies and helps companies—from start-ups to the Fortune 100—succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders. He is a business book author and a long-time contributor to business publications and his work has been featured in top-flight business publications.

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Why Knowledge Management is Important to the Success of Your Company

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Executives today are more focused on strategic management decision making due to the hypercompetitive global environment and the public and private sector evaluation and opinion. Executes still wonder where is knowledge and how can it be captured, utilized, and enhanced when it comes to decision-making. Executives found that within organizations, knowledge resides in various areas such as management, employees, culture, structure, systems, processes, and relationships, and its role is to enhance organizational functions.

Executives across the globe have found that knowledge is critical to business success. Knowledge, in of itself, is not enough to satisfy the vast array of changes in today’s organization. Therefore, knowledge management is only a necessary precursor to effectively managing knowledge within the organization.

First executives must understand the concept of organizational knowledge itself. Organizational knowledge cannot merely be described as the sum of individual knowledge, but as a systematic combination of knowledge based on social interactions shared among organizational members. Executives can categorize followers based on their human knowledge which focuses on individual knowledge and manifests itself in an individual’s competencies and skills. Executives, being more conceptual, agree with Haridimos Tsoukas who determines organizational knowledge as a collective mind, and Kiku Jones and Lori Leonard who explain organizational knowledge as the knowledge that exists in the organization as a whole. Most importantly, organizational knowledge is owned and disseminated by the organization.

The key take-away for executives is that knowledge is a resource that enables organizations to solve problems and create value through improved performance and it is this point that will narrow the gaps of success and failure leading to more successful decision-making. The key is for executives to convert individual knowledge into valuable resources to ensure that the knowledge is actually helping the organization grow both professionally for individuals and profitably for all stakeholders.

Companies are increasingly investing in knowledge management projects. But knowledge management in companies is still quite limited. Knowledge management can help companies identify their inefficiencies in organizational processes, and subsequently recover them on an instantaneous basis which enables executives to prevent further operational risk. The question remains. How does knowledge management impact executive success?

Executive success is tantamount to organizational performance and in many cases, their salary is concurrently determined on organizational success. By combining knowledge management and executive success, executives are able to answer the questions necessary to apply knowledge management without having to delve through all the models and theories to find what works well for them and what does not. Knowledge is firstly accumulated by creating new knowledge from organizational intellectual capital and acquiring knowledge from external environments.

This knowledge exchange with external business partners develops innovative environments that can enable executives to create a more innovative climate in companies. The knowledge management process enhances the capabilities of executives to play the role of inspirational motivation, which enables executives to directly set highly desired expectations to recognize possible opportunities in the business environment. The knowledge exchange also positively contributes to executives to develop a more effective vision, including a more comprehensive array of information and insights about external environments.

Executives then integrate knowledge internally to enhance the effectiveness and efficiencies in various systems and processes, as well as to be more responsive to market changes. Knowledge integration focuses on monitoring and evaluating knowledge management practices, coordinating experts, sharing knowledge, and scanning the changes of knowledge requirements to keep the quality of their products or services in-line with market demand. It is apparent that knowledge integration activities can help executives assessing the required changes to keep the quality of both products and services at maximum levels. Furthermore, a systematic process of coordinating company-wide experts enables executives to propel the role of intellectual stimulation, which creates a more innovative environment within companies.

Executives must also curtail knowledge within organizations. The knowledge within organizations needs to be reconfigured to meet environmental changes and new challenges today. What worked yesterday or a few years ago is changing rapidly as technology has increased in a prolific way. Knowledge is globally shared with other organizations through domestic and global rewards such as the Malcolm Baldridge Award in the United States and the Deming Award in Japan. However, past studies have posited that companies might lack the required capabilities or decide to decline from interacting acting with other companies or even suffer the distrust to share their knowledge. Therefore, expert groups may not have sufficient diversity in order to comprehend knowledge acquired from external sources.

Based upon these limitations whether natural or caused, networking with business partners is a key activity for companies to enhance knowledge exchange and it should not take an award to be the impetus to initiate interaction. Ergo, networking with external business partners may enhance executive success, thereby empowering executives to better develop strategic insights to develop a more effective vision incorporating various concerns and values of external business partners.

The knowledge transference among companies itself improves the effectiveness of learning, which in turn enables executives to empower human resources by creating new knowledge and solutions. Thus, I suggest that networking takes place among companies in both domestic and international markets which may lead to enhance the effective use of leadership. Therefore, if executives in senior positions effectively use knowledge management then they may be able to improve executive success through increased learning opportunities.

In conclusion, this article actually investigates the crossover potential of scholarly research and how it can be applied in the organizational boardroom. I offer practical contributions to managers at all levels of the organization. This article introduces a new and dynamic perspective of knowledge management within organizations, and adds to a relatively small body of literature but pays homage to the scholarly contributions. I stress that knowledge is a strategic resource for organizational portfolios.

This article suggests that knowledge management constitutes the foundation of a supportive workplace to improve executive success and reduce operational risk. The key here is that there are positive effects of knowledge management on executive success. I highlight the direct impact of knowledge management on executive success by facilitating important components of performance. When business leaders ensure executive success they increase control and lesson operational risk. In fact, I suggest that if knowledge management initiatives are not completely in favor of supporting organizational processes, companies may become obsolete, taken over, or acquired.

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Mostafa Sayyadi works with senior business leaders to effectively develop innovation in companies and helps companies—from start-ups to the Fortune 100—succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders. He is a business book author and a long-time contributor to business publications and his work has been featured in top-flight business publications.