Accomplished Promotion

When you look at Apple from purely a corporate performance standpoint all you can say is wow, but we all know that such incredible performance never lasts forever – or can it. Recently, our think tank took a look at the company, and had a rather lengthy discussion on the topic. Perhaps, I might share some of my thoughts with you on this as well.

There was a very decent quickie type article in the Wall Street Journal, accompanied by a nice graph of Apple’s success. The chart is clearly going skyward, and somewhat hyperbolic. Every business CEOs dream, and it is all thanks to good business management, executive leadership, marketing execution, and branding. The article was entitled; “On Apple and Its (Enviable) Problems,” by Yukari Iwatani Kane (featured in the “Heard it on the Street section”) on October 18, 2010.

Okay so, that was some interesting commentary and my hopes are that you will go read that article and then come back to this article so you can better follow along on my comments for Apple’s future strategy. You see, trying to keep control of such rocket-ship growth is going to be tough, but there are avenues, venues, and strategies which can allow Apple to continue their loyal following, and grow it organically in the market place.

Consider if you will that there are many PC and Microsoft based loyalists too, and despite what you might think for every religiously loyal Apple follower there are five who absolutely will not touch the product – can Apple win them over? Perhaps, over time, and those who are hard core against Apple could become their best word-of-mouth referrals in the future – or not, depends on how they play it. Likewise there are huge numbers of Blackberry followers too, who seem to be able to be coaxed into trying the Apple products such as iPhone and iPad.

Even as a non-Apple person myself, I happened into an Apple Retail store, which is Apple’s strategy in taking it to the people, will that work? Well, it might for Apple if they only put them into the right demographic, but it didn’t work so well for Microsoft or Gateway, of course, neither really had a cult-like brand loyalist following like Apple has now.

Apple so far has capitalized on its “road-show” roll-outs of new products, and capturing the product cycle curves of each, at the prescribed inflection points, but now Apple must pick up the pace to continue. Is it possible? Or will even their loyal followers get fatigue, and god-forbid they make a big mistake or a product does not do what it says and they lose all credibility. They’ve had a few recent crisis management fires to put out recently – for instance the signal strength of the border-perimeter antenna of one of their latest products.

Still, if Apple is to break into the main-stream and really sell tons of products while keeping price points high for that currently “stellar brand name” of theirs – they are going to need a consumer financing arm, and that means taking some profits and retained earnings off the table, and taking some risks with “Apple Financing Programs” and Apple Loyalty Card Programs, but in this uncertain economy that could be risky too. Please consider all this.

By: Lance Winslow

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Every transaction or activity carried out by a business is commonly done within the scope of the frame-work laid out by the management. Therefore any activity done outside this is counter productive and will not promote the objectives of the organization.

A manager should set the targets to be achieved by the employees. Objectives should be clearly stated, measurable, prioritized and timed. A good manager constantly checks weather these targets are being achieved and takes corrective measures when called upon. He should be able to predict any impossibility and act beforehand.

When it comes to purchasing, it should be made from the cheapest source not forgetting to check on quality of the products. Apart from that, sales increasing policies such as displays and advertising budget should be affordable. A sales manager must also set reasonable prices and not exploit customers.

Lack of records can easily bring down a business; record keeping helps in detecting problems in advance. Updating records constantly will help run a business in an organized manner thus improving efficiency.

Apart from being given instructions, staffs also need to be motivated. Good supervision will lower operating costs by reducing the number of errors made while increase quality of work.

In any organization, the secret to getting the most out of workers is by boosting their morale. Once the employees are motivated, they will work hard towards achieving the company’s set objectives and thus ensure the success of the business. Some of the ways of motivating workers would include periodic salary increments, rewarding best performing employees, organizing team building activities just to mention a few.

By: Belsheba Nyabwa

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Getting involved means getting your hands dirty. Good business management requires a manager to do some of the work to. Rather than handing work out to employees, then sitting back and watching them do all of the work; do some of the work too. If you get right in there and work along with the employees, it shows you all have the same goals and are able to all work together on the same playing field. You are never too busy to get involved in the activities and work of the project. You will feel a personal satisfaction, but be appreciated much more by your team.

Good business management is not a dictatorship but a team environment. Don’t make people feel like they are walking on eggshells and afraid to make a mistake. Mistakes happen. People need the ability to be creative and take risks. If you don’t allow people to think outside of the box and be creative because they have to do things your way, they might come to resent you and may even feel hostile toward you. Don’t look over an employees shoulder as they work. Give them the freedom in their job to work and be creative. You will get more business productivity this way.

Innovation is important in business management and a factor often missed. Although, innovation seems to be the buzz word in the corporate world today, many managers just don’t get it. If you want your staff to be innovative, they need to know their job is secure with the company. Many people are scared to be creative because if they make a mistake they will lose their job. Letting people know their job is secure makes them feel freedom in their position and they will think of more innovative ways to get the job done.

Good business management means you are a manager that is willing to listen because you don’t think you are smarter than everyone else. You have an ability to lead the team of employees to completion of a project. You aren’t the smartest one in the bunch. Even if you are the smartest person, don’t treat them as if you are. Be willing to listen to new ideas and seek input. You will be surprised at how much more you will learn when you listen to your employees and their ideas.

By: Tony Jacowski

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The current standing of a certain company depends on how effective and efficient the leader is when it comes to managing the company. It is extremely vital for all leaders to use all business management techniques. Once the leader gets the attention of their employees and make them work and cooperate, then there will be a greater percentage for them to achieve their goal as quickly as possible.

Business management techniques are usually in three forms. It includes the democratic, aristocratic and paternalistic leadership techniques. In reality, these three principal types of leadership techniques will determine whether employees will stay longer in the company or not. Let us differentiate the three leading types of leadership in order for us to determine what type are we as a leader.

Democratic business management includes multilateral approach. A democratic leader or manager allows the team to be involved in the decision-making process. The benefit it gives to the company is that there are many sources of ideas that can be applied in any business undertaking. Under democratic approach, each team member has delegation of work and minimum supervision from the upper management.

If democratic management is of the freedom part, the aristocratic business management rules with strict hands or iron hand. With aristocratic business management, the team members do not have any right to share their opinion. They are not allowed to be a part in the decision-making process. All decision comes from the leader or the manager. The pitfall on this approach is that ideas are only limited. Those ideas that came from the leader are the only thing that rules. The only duty of the team member in this set up is to follow and abide with the rules.

Lastly, paternalistic approach deals with the ability and the capacity of the boss to act like a father figure for all of his subordinates. In this setting, they provide all the needs and wants of their employees to the extent that they are being abusive to the management. The best approach towards managing the company is a combination of the three aspects or types of business management. For example, if the manager finds it effective for the business to have a graphic web design, he can consolidate ideas among his subordinates. After that, he can search for affordable web design and affordable web hosting package online by comparing web hosting services. In the end, the leader will formulate decision on which company should they hire to assist them on their goal.

By: Lori Buenavista

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As a business management student at West Chester University, I went into my first financial accounting class with a closed mind. I thought the experience was going to be dull and boring. How exciting can dealing with where to put meaningless numbers and unimportant date be in the business world? I could not have been more wrong about financial accounting. Accounting turned out to be the most important business class that I have taken throughout my college career. Accounting is the business language, it helps companies identify, record, and communicate events to a company’s users.

A company must first identify the economic events that are relevant to its interests. Sales, payments, and wages would be examples of events that need to be identified. Companies need to make records of these types of economic events, for historical purposes. A company then needs to communicate these events to its customers or users of interest, which they do through financial statements. However, before an accountant can go through these steps to help a company identify, record, and communicate, they must understand the basic accounting equation.

The basic accounting equation is the foundation of the accounting process. It provides the underlying framework for recording and analyzing economic events. The two basic elements to a company are what the company owns and what it owes. The basic accounting equation, assets equal liabilities plus owners equity, allows accountants to organize the basic elements of accounting into documents that are universal. Just like in algebra the basic accounting equation is used such that both sides of the equation are equal. Assets are recourses that a company owns that enable the organization to carry out its business. Liabilities, or existing debt and obligations, are claims against assets and when they are added to equity, or the ownership claim on total assets, the two combined equals assets. This application can apply to every type of business and organization. It can help record and summarize events and personalize the data for every stakeholder.

There are three basic financial statements that accountants use to display the information that they have gathered- income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. The income statement records the revenues and expenses for a given period while the balance sheet reports the assets, liabilities, and owners equity at a specific point in time. The income statement lists revenues first followed by expenses. This statement is used to express the final net income. This is useful because it helps managers see what is being expensed versus earned in the corporation. The balance sheet helps accountants to balance the equation and to make sure that there are no account errors at a given time. This also gives executives the opportunity to review the statement when needed to analyze the company’s standings and to correct any obvious mistakes. The statement of cash flows lists the information on the cash receipts for a specific period of time. This statement tells how a company is using cash and how it affects the operations of the organization. It also records the company’s investing and financial transactions as well as the net increase or decrease in cash flows. It is important that a company have detailed and organized financial statements. These statements should be able to provide useful information or financial information for executives and other stakeholders in the company.

One of the most important aspects in business is the ethics of the company. We have heard about companies such as Enron who were not honest and embezzled money from the stakeholders internally and externally in the company. If a company is not honest and has no standards regarding ethics then it will not have stakeholders and clients that will want to invest and do business with that company. It only makes sense if it is known that a company is not honest with their financial statements, someone would want to deal with or invest in the company. Bad credibility will also hurt the stock value of publicly traded companies. This in turn will hurt the company’s ability to succeed in the market. In the past there have been issues regarding companys’ honestly with their financial statements and other dealings within the company.

Due to the continuous mishaps the United States government and lawmakers were worried that the economy would suffer great loses due to the unethical behaviors of companies and top executives. As a result of this, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in order to rectify the situation. This act was created to discourage companies from taking part in unethical behavior through more strict regulations in financial statements, and harsher penalties for those caught taking part in such behavior.

By: Chris D Schultz

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Keep sight of your goals and reach them with a business plan

Today, the environment and climate of the business world is changing at such a rapid pace that it is necessary to more forward swiftly in order to stay ahead. This is why it is necessary in business management to set out a plan that demonstrates the direction your company is headed in for a set time period. This could be 90 days, 6 months or however you choose to lay it out. However, in business management it’s often better to prepare a plan that spans a shorter period of time, in order to keep workers and departments headed in one common direction and avoid confusion. This makes things easier on managers as well.

Good business supervision means setting out a plan that clearly identifies how fast you want your company to grow in a given time period, your desired rate of profitability for the company, and where you want to be in the industry marketplace as far as position. Setting out a plan that covers all areas such as improving upon profits, increasing market share, forming strategic alliances with others and improving the skills of your workers is necessary in effective business management.

By creating a short-term business plan, management staff can easily keep objectives in mind and know in what direction all areas of business are going at any given time so that changes can be made if necessary.

Directing employees in business management

Your employees are the foundation of your business; they perform most of the tasks necessary to keep your operation running smoothly. In smart business management, you want workers who are motivated, dedicated and goal-oriented. The best way to accomplish this is through effective leadership.

Great leaders are an essential part of exceptional business expertise. Through planning, action, organization, directing, motivating and monitoring, a leader is capable of getting workers “fired up” to do their very best, and to be as excited about reaching the goal or completing the task at hand as those in management are. In order to get the best performance from employees, it is necessary that they feel part of the team.

These are two areas of business management that are absolutely essential to the success and growth of your company. While you may be the general manager or CEO of the company, it takes all of the smaller parts to make up the whole of success. Thorough and effective business management will ensure that your company or organization thrives now and for years to come.

By: Hakan Samad

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