How Small Businesses Can Compete.
How rival business are more or less competitive then my chosen business. How business compete. ) Small businesses are so much closer to their customers. In fact, the proprietor of a small business will very often meet and speak directly to customers every day. In large firms the owners, senior management and decision makers often don’t get exposure to the coal face of their market at all. The advantage to the small firm is they can get immediate, direct feedback and have the ‘nose’ to be much more oriented to changes in customers’ needs and interests, and spot new business opportunities at the earliest possible stage. 2) Small firms are more responsive and can change things in their business operation and processes much quicker than larger businesses. This is mainly down to size, scale and speed of decision making. So in this respect small firms usually find it easier to innovate or introduce something new at very short notice. 3) Small businesses can be more fanatical and radical about their business and products. No matter how many times they can’t quite get it right, small business owners, in general, are more obsessive and never give up in their attempts to improve their existing services, or make new developments or projects a success. Bigger firms on the other hand are usually more hamstrung by corporate policy and guidelines which hamper their ability to
"Franchising and small businesses"
Assignment "Franchising and small businesses" MODULE: OPERATION MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTOR: STUDENT'S NAME: CONTENTS Definition of the concept of franchising..............................................3 Types of franchising........................................................................4 Systems of franchising.....................................................................6 The franchisor.................................................................................8 Disadvantages to the franchisor......................................................10 The franchisee...............................................................................12 Disadvantages to the franchisee......................................................14 Advantages to the consumer............................................................15 Disadvantages to the consumer.......................................................16 An example of a franchised company...............................................17 The characteristics a future franchisee should have...........................18 Conclusions..................................................................................19 Bibliography.................................................................................21 Definition of the concept of franchising There are three ways for starting a small
How Litigation Affects Small Businesses In America
How Litigation Affects Small Businesses In America Marian Owens Keith Goodeill Larry Benigno Sammie Bush Marcel Thibault COM/525-Managerial Communication and Ethics Linda T. Kulka January 29, 2005 How Litigation Affects Small Businesses In America Small businesses are affected by the rising cost of litigation lawsuits. Small businesses can no longer afford the skyrocketing increases in insurance premiums due to litigation lawsuits. Litigation insurance is second only to the cost of health insurance for small businesses today. Small businesses are impacted by the federal government's minimum wage regulation and regulatory tax laws. This research paper will look at and discuss each one of these issues that impact the small businesses today. Lawsuits The litigation faced by small businesses challenge their survival and success. Not only are these businesses struggling to pay for costly lawsuits brought against their company, but their time and resources are also being consumed while fighting against these lawsuits. Some of these potential lawsuits include discrimination, harassment, and grievance cases. Discrimination claims can be brought against employers with regard to race, gender, age, disability and a number of other factors. Hardin (2000) said, "while claims based on race or sex discrimination or sexual harassment dominate court dockets, the number of age
The Strategic Competence of Small Businesses.
The Strategic Competence of Small Businesses Abstract The general investigative focus of our research paper is on the market. More specifically, we narrow our focus on the question as to whether there is something like a specific strategic competence of small firms. Our initial hypothesis is that small firms have a very different "strategic competence" as compared to large firms. An extensive literature review comes up with 35 potential variables for such a specific strategic competence of small businesses. After a thorough analysis, this list is narrowed down to 15 variables. These 15 variables have powerful theoretical and practical implications and their validity should be tested through more in-depth literature reviews as well as empirical research on a global scale. CONTENTS . INTRODUCTION 5 .1 The General Issue: The Market 5 .2 Narrowing The Focus: Specific Strategic Competences Of Small Businesses 6 .3 What Motivated Our Investigation 7 2. REVIEW OF THE PERTINENT LITERATURE 9 2.1 Vozikis and Mescon (2002) on the Strategic Competence of Small Businesses 10 2.2 Strategy and the Internet - Has Planning Become Obsolete? 16 2.3 The Importance of Planning and Preparation (from Sun Tzu through von Clausewitz to The Economist 2002) 21 2.4 Small Businesses and Planning 23 2.4.1 Perry (2001) On The Relationship Between Planning And Failure 23 2.4.2 Upton et al.
Why Is It That Some Small Businesses Fail?
WHY IS IT THAT SOME SMALL BUSINESSES FAIL? One topic of perennial interest to small business managers is why some small businesses go under. The knowledge of why many small businesses have failed can be helpful in seeing that it will not happen to your investment. It is hard to measure the size of a business. According to The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), an SME can be described as a business that employs between 0-49 people. However a company such as a Chemical Plant may employ less than 49 people but have a turnover of £20 million. So according to the number of employees, the DTI would class it as a small business. However, according to the level of turnover it could be classed as a large business. The size of the firm is generally measured by the amount employed1. The amount of SME's is forever increasing. There are many reasons for the increase, such as; improved technology, ability to sub-contract part of business and public sector being encouraged to become smaller. There is also Push and Pull factors that help people come to the decision to be self-employed. "Push factors" include people who are unemployed or made redundant decide to venture on their own. This may be simply starting their own window cleaning service. Another "push factor" is the "Pratt factor" this is when an employee finds himself working for someone else less talented and wonders 'why am
WHY IS IT THAT SOME SMALL BUSINESSES FAIL?
WHY IS IT THAT SOME SMALL BUSINESSES FAIL? It is hard to measure the size of a business. According to The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), an SME can be described as a business that employs between 0-49 people. However a company such as a Chemical Plant may employ less than 49 people but have a turnover of £20 million. So according to the number of employees, the DTI would class it as a small business. However, according to the level of turnover it could be classed as a large business. The size of the firm is generally measured by the amount employed1. The amount of SME's is forever increasing. There are many reasons for the increase, such as; improved technology, ability to sub-contract part of business and public sector being encouraged to become smaller. There is also Push and Pull factors that help people come to the decision to be self-employed. "Push factors" include people who are unemployed or made redundant decide to venture on their own. This may be simply starting their own window cleaning service. Another "push factor" is the "Pratt factor" this is when an employee finds himself working for someone else less talented and wonders 'why am I working for you?' so decides to start up on his own. The amount of SME's is forever increasing. There are many reasons for the increase, such as; improved technology, ability to sub-contract part of business and public
Factors affecting the survival and growth of small businesses.
Survival and growth of small firms Introduction Peacock (2000) argues that small business is different from large corporations by small size and rate of turnover and failure rate. According to Small Business Association, two-thirds of newly founded firms can survive within the first 2 years and only 44 percent are still in business after 4 years. Lowe et. al (1990) argues that failure 'exists between failing and growing small firms.' It can be perceived as there are 2 levels to develop small enterprises. The first prime aim is to make business survive in a short term, and the final objective is to keep it growing in the long run. Churchill and Lewis (1983) illustrate a 5-stages model to develop business: (1) existence; (2) survival; (3) success; (4) take-off; and (5) resource mature. Failure to address the key problems of each stage will hamper organisations from growing (Hill, Nancarrow and Wright, 2002). This essay aims to explore the reasons of failure and non-growth and forces lead to survival and quickly growth. The structure of the essay is as follows. Firstly, I examine the understandings of small ventures' 'survival' and 'growth'. Secondly, I analyse the reasons behind businesses failure through reviewing theoretical and empirical findings. Finally, I discuss the forces lead to success and fast-growth of businesses. Survival and failure There is still no
'Small businesses fail because owners don't plan ahead'. Is this statement true?
'Small businesses fail because owners don't plan ahead'. Is this statement true? In order to answer this question the above statement must be broken up and a few of the words must be examined. It is important to fully understand what constitutes failure in a small business and if more efficient planning could have prevented this failure. When studying about small business failures, one must understand that there is in fact a difference between a business failing and a business going out of business or cease trading. Statistics state that "one in three small firms go out of business during the first twelve months". This statement is not a strong one when other statements show that "one small business in three fails in the first three years." How can two statements such as the two above be so different when it seems like they are both concentrating on the same subject? The answer to this question is simply because one of the statements is concerning 'going out of business' and the other is dealing with a business failing. Therefore there is a difference between 'failing' and 'going out of business'. The second statistic above can be used when considering failure in a small business as is needed in the topical statement of this essay. Many people assume that the main purpose of a small business can only be achieved if the company still trades and is not terminated. That is the
Stakeholder is no longer a top priority for small businesses The fear of recession has overtaken stakeholder pensions as the priority for small businesses according to figures from Marks & Spencer Financial Services released today.
Stakeholder is no longer a top priority for small businesses The fear of recession has overtaken stakeholder pensions as the priority for small businesses according to figures from Marks & Spencer Financial Services released today. Less than one in ten small businesses (8%) spontaneously mentioned that stakeholder pensions were a key issue for them, compared to 20% in January 2001. In comparison recession and lack of growth in the business is now a key issue for 12% of businesses with 5-250 employees, whereas only 2% mentioned it last year. (1) Part of the decline in the level of concern regarding pension provision can be attributed to the increase in the number of businesses that have provided their employees with access to pension provision. In the latest research 78% of companies have set up pension schemes and 63% of companies state with confidence that the pension scheme they have in place meets the requirements of stakeholder regulations. This compares to 60% and 37% respectively in April. While this is positive news, one in five employers (22%) still say they have no pension provision in place for their employees at all and therefore have a long way to go to meet the 8th October deadline. Nonetheless the research highlights that many small business employers have turned their attention away from thoughts of stakeholder pensions and are now more concerned with a
Concentrating on how small and medium-sized businesses ("SME's") obtain finance - The Sole Trader.
Sole Trader. According to the correspondent there are substantial difficulties for SME's in obtaining and managing finance, because of a cautious banking system (particularly for sole traders), slow payment by customers, a lack of medium and long term finance, limited stock market for SME's and restrictive tax legislation. The size and structure of SME's appears to create difficulties in accessing the sources of finance that are needed for development. Of the areas where problems are encountered all but one were considered to be a major problem - only the level of bank charges was rated as a minor problem. Similarly almost all types of business - the exception being export led businesses experience problems in accessing the finance that they require. In this revision note , we concentrate on how small and medium-sized businesses ("SME's") obtain finance. SME's can be defined as having three main characteristics: • Companies are not quoted on a stock exchange - they are "unquoted" • Ownership of the business is typically restricted to a few individuals. Often this is a family connection between the shareholders • Many SME's are the means by which individuals (or small groups) effectively achieve self-employment Why do SME's find financing a problem? The main problem faced by SME's when trying to obtain funding is that of uncertainty: • SME's rarely have a long
