What’s the difference between water and steam? At 99 degrees water is merely hot, at 100 degrees it turns to steam and can move locomotives. Just one degree—a one per cent change—makes the difference. This is a great metaphor for business. In this short article we look at the impact that small improvements in the
Category Archives: Advisory
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Strategic planning is important for your business because it provides a sense of direction and outlines measurable goals to keep you and your business on track. In order to make the most of strategic planning, your business should give careful thought to the goals it outlines and then back up these goals with realistic measures
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I have studied Value Propositions in Michael Porter’s Five Forces framework and in Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy. In Blue Ocean Strategy, Kim and Mauborgne suggest moving beyond the bloody waters where the sharks are and developing core differentiators that the marketplace cannot compete with. In one of my all-time favorite books,
All businesses can benefit from outside advice. But it can be especially valuable to family businesses, which tend to be more insular. After all, in many cases management is made up of family members who’ve worked in the business for decades, perhaps never having been employed elsewhere. In addition, family dynamics can create conflicts that
Hopefully, your family business has chosen a great successor. But if you’re in the midst of training your successor — or even beginning to hand off the reins — and regretting your choice, how can you take a bad situation and turn it around? There are several options you might want to consider. Bring in
When I am on vacation or travelling, I often pick up a new business book to learn more about management, marketing or leadership. This time I decided to pick up a book and read for sheer pleasure. As I walked through LAX, a book called Pirate Hunters by Robert Kurson caught my eye. The book
Companies are made up of individuals. It’s easy to overlook this fundamental fact when you’re deep in negotiations with a potential buyer. But if you ignore employee fear and anxiety about a merger, the individuals who compose your company can make a smooth integration difficult, if not impossible. Silence is the enemy Throughout the sale
The Affordable Care Act contains specific responsibilities for employers. The size and structure of your workforce — small, large, or part of a group — help determine what applies to you. Employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees will need to file an annual information return in early 2016 reporting whether and what health
As 2015 comes to an end and you are planning for 2016, there are many things to consider. You can revisit the planning that you do each and every year: setting goals, budgets, getting the team on board, reviewing and updating your vision, mission and values, etc., but I have one question for you to
For several years I have heard successful business leaders say that profits are earned on the margin, meaning that profit is earned on the outskirts of your business, or not necessarily on the core of your offering. It could be your competitive advantage, your unique core differentiator, or your value added product or service that
