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Venture The Jigsaw. Scott Harvey s cott@peoplecatalysts.com. Aim. To consider some real life management issues you need to think about as part of building a business The purpose of a business The audience for a business plan Consider some key business processes. A Jigsaw?. Hobby?.
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VentureThe Jigsaw Scott Harvey scott@peoplecatalysts.com
Aim • To consider some real life management issues you need to think about as part of building a business • The purpose of a business • The audience for a business plan • Consider some key business processes
Hobby? • Watch that you don’t destroy something you really like by turning it into a business that gives you an 18 hour day • And remember if you are REALLY successful, someone may want to buy it so it will not be yours any more!
The key purpose of any business • To make money ie profit (loss equates to going out of business)! • To repay with interest (or simply pay a commission on the ongoing lendings used by the business eg shareholder profit bonus) • To continue to operate (to employ owners or people to allow an ongoing income)
Key considerations about the business • Marketing programmes (7 Ps) • Product (ie what is it?) • Price (premium, niche, everyday) • Promotion (advertising and location of knowledge about the product) • Place (of sale, does it go through distributors or do they come to you eg dentist) • Packaging (brand image, logo, colour scheme – even for business cards) • Positioning (in customer mind) • People (who’s involved in it) • What’s it going to be called (in what language)? • What’s the market for it and which sectors – is it international (cultures) • Maintaining and growing the customer base (emotional link) • Distribution and suppliers (who and where) • Use of discounts and incentives (eg Ice cream in Winter)
Competition • Scale • Type • Ease of others to copy you • How long will it last?
Strong Intangibles • Quality of product or service (Rolls Royce or Fiat) • Reputation (notably in service sector) • Goodwill (and maintaining it) • Problem response • Customer relations (by all in the business) • Public perception of the product/service sector (eg of banks) • Good enough is not good enough (egOfsted) • Aim must be repeat sales!
Sources of Money • Banks • Investment companies • Family and friends • Shareholders • Own capital (eg re-mortgage) • Other loans (eg government incentives, small business start-up or regional funds etc) • Primary audience for the Plan
Good money management • Credit control (cash flow) • Reduction of borrowings • Investment policy (return on investments) • Cash days/ working capital needs (how much is locked away) • Think about where to invest (cash cows, dogs etc)
Optimum use of assets • Money, Property, People and increasingly Information • Depreciation and equipment investment decisions • Gearing (Loans to owned capital) • Interest levels for loans (and cost of early settlement) • Stock (and cost of holding/ aging assets) • Capacity and utilisation rates
People So who are the groups involved • Customers now and future/markets • Shareholders/ Investors/ Banks • Members of staff/ partners • Owners • Competitors (watching how you do things) • But also legal, tax and government and international standards and authorities eg CIPS EU UN etc. • eg the university answers to you as students, to HEFCE on behalf government, to Council as the senior body in the Institution and many others.
Key People Issues • Culture (all friends together or structure) • Change and how it’s managed • Trust and honesty (how much) • Leadership Skills (even in a simple partnership) • Planning of resources (and loss of them) • Retention of key employees (is it just money?) • HR policies (eg holidays)
Best use of employees • Clear business goals (mission-vision-strategy-business plan) • Organisation structure (see Mintzberg models) • Roles and responsibilities • Information flow • Resource planning and scheduling • Evaluation/ training • Pay and incentives (eg performance bonus)
Summary • Be clear what the offer is • Have a clear difference from others • Generate income • Stop money going out • Make the best use of people • Optimum use of assets • Good money management • Strong intangibles