Business Problem Solving Often Means Compartmentalizing

 

When a businessperson has challenges, it can be overwhelming. If you chat with some businesspeople, they believe they have challenges that no one else has. Because they haven’t experienced the new challenges before or haven’t heard about the problems elsewhere in their industry.

But that doesn’t mean the problems are terminally unique to the person’s industry or business.

If it’s any consolation, no matter what the problem, it’s nothing new. Not to oversimplify, but somebody, somewhere has experienced the same dilemmas. That’s why there are business processes and problem-solving approaches. So part of the solution is to compartmentalize the problems.

Compartmentalizing is a simple process for a businessperson with multiple headaches. A compartment for a problem might be in personnel issues, poor sales or product complaints. So break complex problems down into manageable situations or compartments. In order of priority, tackle issues — first things first.

It’s best to start in the first hour of a business day. On the left side of a page, write the problem. On the right side, write the aspects of the problem – including the contributing factors – starting with the major points down to the minor.

What problems do you have?

Compartmentalizing helps in these typical challenges:

Culture issues. In unhealthy companies, it’s possible to read the room – see the problems – usually without even seeing the books to understand the problems and anticipate the appropriate solutions. If a company is lacking in teamwork, morale is poor and profits are weak, chances are a culture change is needed. Changing a culture is a monumental chore. Six steps are required to implement a cultural change for profits.

Financials. Of course, it is important to get to the financials. That includes having a grasp on the costs or knowing how to determine the crucial break-even point. Or, the problems lie either in pricing or in an undiscovered embezzlement.

Human resources.  Other internal challenges affecting the control of costs involve personnel and operations. The problems can be widespread – from a lack of employee empowerment to a lack of employee respect for leadership. Others include the link between financial performance and succession planning, and risk management.

Manufacturing. It might be a manufacturer isn’t up-to-date on developing trends and solutions for manufacturing success. Many businesses love cutting waste and costs for profits by using lean manufacturing principles, but many global manufacturers aren’t getting lean results, according to a study of why lean manufacturing principles often don’t work.

Innovation. Some businesses fail to change or recognize when offerings reach their end of product life cycle. The solution is to become an innovator.

Marketing. The dangers lie in not understanding marketing plan essentials for best results or the secrets to success in recessions.

Turnaround situations. If problems aren’t solved, a company will face bankruptcy for not implementing a turnaround. For a successful turnaround, new management strategies are vital. Often, 13 steps will suffice for overcoming obstacles. A financial turnaround requires step-by-step solutions.

So don’t get overwhelmed – compartmentalize for profits.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are profit-making marketing and sales tips:

• The Six Secrets of Becoming a Winning Sales Organization
• Profits: How and Why to Align Marketing with Sales

“You don’t drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.”

— Edwin Louis Cole

 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Developing Trends, and Solutions for Manufacturing Success

 

U.S. manufacturers are getting a reminder about how to be successful – it’s important to evaluate whether they have the human capital, processes, equipment and strategic plans for success.

That’s the result of a 32-page study released in 2011 by the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP) with the American Small Manufacturers Coalition.

The next generation manufacturing (NGM) study points out:

• Nearly six out of 10 U.S. manufacturers could have a new leader in the next five years — a five percent increase over 2009. This presents an opportunity for manufacturers to solidify leadership and direction for years to come if they develop their next generation of leaders now.  
• Sustainability is increasingly important to manufacturers, with 59.2 percent of manufacturers reporting that sustainability is important or highly important to their future, up from 35.1 percent in 2009. Many of these manufacturers are responding to customer demands for greener products, while others recognize cost-control opportunities such as reduced energy consumption and the re-use of materials.  
• Most manufacturers have systems and equipment in place to support the current requirements of the six NGM strategies, but few describe their equipment as “state-of-the art.” For example, only 18 percent have state-of-the-art equipment to support world-class innovation, and just 14 percent have state-of-the-art equipment to support world-class process improvements.  
• Few manufacturers have both talent and workforce development programs to drive world-class performance. Due to an aging workforce and gap in skilled labor, more professional training and development is needed to prepare manufacturers for the next generation.  
• Small companies need assistance in implementing NGM strategies. Smaller manufacturers are less likely than larger companies to be at or near world-class performance in the six NGM strategies, and are less likely to have best practices in place.

“Wisconsin developed the NGM concept and continues to identify new opportunities to help manufacturers in our state,” says WMEP Executive Director Buckley Brinkman. “We believe the six key NGM elements define the areas critical for success, and this study shows how our manufacturers can improve in the future.”

For many manufacturers, a culture change might be needed to get employees fully involved to plan for the next generation.

The six next generation recommendations:

1. Customer-focused innovation: Develop, make, and market new products and services that meet customers’ needs at a pace faster than the competition. 
2. Engaged people/human capital acquisition, development and retention: Secure a competitive performance advantage by having superior systems in place to recruit, hire, develop, and retain talent.  
3. Superior processes/improvement focus: Record annual productivity and quality gains that exceed the competition through a companywide commitment to continuous improvement.  
4. Supply-chain management and collaboration: Develop and manage supply chains and partnerships that provide flexibility, response time, and delivery performance that exceeds the competition.  
5. Sustainability: Design and implement waste and energy-use reductions at a level that provides superior cost performance and recognizable customer value.  
6. Global engagement: Secure business advantages by having people, partnerships, and systems in place capable of engaging global markets.

A press release indicates WMEP is a private, nonprofit organization committed to the growth and success of Wisconsin manufacturers. Since 1998, WMEP has helped to generate $1.7 billion in economic impact and create and save 14,000 state manufacturing jobs, according to results documented by customers.

WMEP receives financial support from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce and the NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership. WMEP also partners with many public and private organizations to serve Wisconsin manufacturers.

WMEP’s Web site.

From the Coach’s Corner, consider these related resource links:

• 6 Steps to Implement a Cultural Change for Profits
• Why Lean Manufacturing Principles Often Don’t Work
• Management Strategies for a Successful Turnaround

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”
-Peter Drucker

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Options to Navigate This Marketplace Bedlam

Part one of two-part series: “Solutions for a Roller Coaster Marketplace”

 

OK, it’s been a wild ride, right? Uncertainties regarding Wall Street and funding are setting off alarm bells. But if you’re looking for capital, there are reasons to hope, according to leading consultant Joey Tamer.

Ms. Tamer acknowledges that the wildly gyrating stock market and withdrawals of initial public offerings are top-of-mind concerns.

“…the change in IPO activity may be the most significant,” she writes in a blog post, “Will stock market chaos create venture capital downturn?”

“Venture capitalists are excited by a predictable exit market, either strong M&A (mergers and acquisition) activity or several powerful IPOs coming in the near future,” she writes. “If they believe they must wait for these liquidity events, or cannot predict when these will be active, the VCs will become more conservative in their choices, and protect their portfolios.”

Ms. Tamer is imminently qualified to comment. As a trusted source on this business portal, she’s a strategic consultant to entrepreneurs in software, internet, technology, and tech/media.

Having experienced five downturns, she recalls the trends from the last two recessions – patterns, which could repeat now.

She says the patterns include:

• Deals that were not completed at that time rarely were completed.
• VCs took, justifiably, defensive measures to ensure that their existing portfolio companies had enough capital to move forward on their growth cycle.  The VCs allocated much of their existing Funds to those investments already secured.  This left much less for “venturing” into new risks. And the VC’s return on investment (ROI) on their portfolios was threatened, and that ROI is the basis of the VCs being able to raise their next Fund and so to survive.
• VCs became more conservative in the risks they would take.  On my various VC panels in the tech industry (Digital Hollywood, CES, and others), they admitted (this was 2008 and early 2009) they were “broadening their early stage searches” to include those startups that had revenue and market traction.  This criteria became a standard, leaving seed and Series A capital more and more to angel investors and angel groups.
• Deal terms became more aggressive against the entrepreneur, to protect the VCs from potential downside.
• Years of limited capital drove entrepreneurs to bootstrap their companies (since there weren’t jobs for them anyway) and get their companies into a much safer stage once the capital began to flow again.

Ms. Tamer cautions “the cycles of boom and bust are coming too close together.”

Specifically, she warns:

• After the downturn of 2000/2001, the VCs didn’t get truly active again until 2004.
• The next bust was 2008, with investment beginning again in 2010, and more actively in 2011.
• Three to four years of an active investing cycle is not enough time for entrepreneurs to recover from these downturns, especially if the uptick in investing lasts only 3 years going further.  This cycle stresses the VCs and their new Funds as well.
• VCs are handling portfolios with an exit cycle of 6-8 years from funding.  Entrepreneurs may launch and get traction in 3 years after funding (which means 4-5 years after they begin the company), but they are rarely scaling until year 4 post-funding.
• Notice the age of the potential IPOs — up to 8-10 years to build value and find a good IPO window (perhaps now closed again).

But as a knowledgeable veteran strategist, she knows fear leading to procrastination is unproductive for entrepreneurs.

I agree and often use two acronyms in illustrating the dangers of yielding to FEAR:

• “Frantic effort to avoid responsibility”
• “False evidence appearing real”

So, Ms. Tamer offers these strategies:

• Keep building your companies, your technologies, your breakthroughs.  Who knows what will happen next week or next month?
• Consider alternative forms of funding — private funding for an idea re-conceived for this new economic reality; strategic funding from a win/win bigger company that needs what you have; licensing and strategic revenue and no equity or debt funding at all;
• Consider a different take on your product or service idea, or your target market sector, or your market timing, and create a company that builds wealth for you independent of the vagaries of the stock market and other people’s ideas about capital, risk and what is real. This is my favorite kind of company to build.

See 6 Values for Financial Protection for part 2 of this two-part series: “Solutions for a Roller Coaster Marketplace.”

Ms. Tamer’s Web site and blog: www.joeytamer.com.

(Note: I highly recommend Ms. Tamer. She and I are longtime members of Consultants West, a roundtable of veteran consultants and authors, www.consultantswest.com.)

From the Coach’s Corner, be sure to read Ms. Tamer’s opinions on other topics:

• 10 Characteristics of a Successful CEO
• Surviving Economic & Industry Downturns  
• What Should You Divulge When Asking for Investment Capital?
• Eight Strategies to Consider Before Starting A Tech Business

“Do the thing we fear, and death of fear is certain.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson­

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.