Sometimes the choice of what business to put up depends on what resources you have in the first place.
For many entrepreneurs, this translates to location. After all, getting a perfect location for your ultimate business idea is next to impossible. So why not go the other way and first look for an available location… and […]

If you’re running an organization, sooner or later you’ll be asking yourself just what exactly is your business good at?
Are you good at marketing? Sales? Manufacturing? Purchasing? Financial administration?
If your business is good in some functions but downright pitiful in others, then it’s time to consider outsourcing.
Outsourcing is the natural tail end of the SWOT […]

There are two schools of thought regarding the idea of being a “nice” manager.
One school says that nice guys finish last, and that their being nice people end up leading to an organization that doesn’t accomplish anything, or in having people that don’t do what they’re supposed to be doing in the first place.
The other […]

What does it take to start your own company from scratch?
Try nerves of steel and a willingness to take risks. These two things are at the core of every entrepreneur.
For the working masses, the comforts of the office and the regular paycheck may numb us into submission, and file down our willingness to take […]

Back in my MBA days, one of my favorite subjects was operations management. This is because I’ve always been fascinated with ways for improving efficiency. And one of the concepts that was brought up was the Japanese idea of Poka Yoke.
Poka Yoke stands for mistake proofing. Or idiot-proofing, for the more sardonic. Coined by Shigeo […]

I had John Lu Koa of The French Baker as the speaker in my strategy class this morning. We talked about his being the CEO, and of his firm’s origins and strategies. He carries his company’s positioning statement in his Treo smartphone (and it’s a long positioning statement!).
John Lu told my students about how, once […]