Top 10 Tips To Stay In Control When Your Market Feels Out Of Control 
When the economy seems unstable, business people can feel shaky. Hysteria sets in, sending salespeople, managers and CEOs running for cover, making panic moves that cause more problems than they solve. Avoid making costly mistakes by learning how to implement the top 10 tips to stay in control when your market feels out of control.
How To Create Marketplace Strategies That Actually Gets Results
Research shows very few companies actually know how to create an effective strategic plan AND successfully implement it in the marketplace. Is your company one of them? Follow these strategic planning strategies and you will create a marketplace strategy that actually gets results.
Converting Clients From Time-Based To Value-Based Billing
Consulting businesses are losing money and doing their clients a disservice by using time-based, rather than value-based billing. Value-based fees are important, not just because they generate more wealth for the consultant, but because they are more honest in terms of the client.
Ship-Shaping Your Partnership
Things to consider when starting a business with anyone other than the person that stares back at you in the mirror.
A Blueprint For Getting Maximum Impact From Your Talent Management Planning Process
Talent Management Planning, an integrated process for aligning business strategy with people systems, can have a powerful impact on business performance, with greater organisational efficiency, greater employee engagement and a framework for continuous improvement.
How To Write A Dynamic Business Plan
Want to start a business? Start with a great business plan! The elements below will aid you in formulating and writing a dynamic plan that is sure to get you closer to fulfilling your dream.
Increase Profits Through Financial Review And Planning
An essential first step to improving profitability is to step back from the day-to-day business and analyse the activities and financial accounts from a third party perspective.
Building Supply Chain Partnerships
For effective supply chain management, the management of relationships is critical. The "hard" quantitative measures need to be complemented by an even greater focus on the "soft" relationship ones. Relationships are the glue that holds the supply chain together.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Transparency Is Essential
Transparent decision making and problem solving processes are essential in deciding and executing strategy.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Plans Need Systems
Plans without a system for follow-through rarely get executed - people need performance systems. Two of the critical components of a workable people performance system are employees aligned to your purpose and principles, and matching people to roles where there is great clarity of the roles.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Strategic Planning Is An Oxymoron
What is essential, is individual performance possibility plans for each person involved in executing strategy.
Changing Strategy In Changing Times
Effective management can take the following steps to maintain positive cashflow and profitability in a slowing economy.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Turning Strategic Thinking Into Strategic Insight
There are many people out there that have more information than you can poke the proverbial stick at. They even have a genuine feel for where the world is going and how their business can capitalise on that, yet lack the crucial piece of the puzzle-insight; and therefore a flawed strategy is about to be embraced.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Strategic Intuition Precedes Strategic Thinking
The great business leaders I meet have a gut feel, an inner knowing, a sixth sense, about how best to get where they are going within the context of where the world is going.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Aligning Possibility, Purpose And Principles
Get crystal clear on where you are going, why you're going there, and what you stand for, don't hire or keep employed anyone who is not congruent and aligned with these, and you will have begun the amazing journey to becoming remarkable in business.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: All Stakeholders Are Important
Regardless of our products and/or services we are all in the same business; the delivery of the value to all stakeholders that they demand, desire, and feel they deserve.
Budget Help For The Small Business Owner
Don't avoid budgeting because you are not sure that you know how. You know more than you think you do. Here are some tips for putting together your business budget.
Creating A Business Plan That Is Useable
'Business plan' remains a dusty, conceptual notion for many businesses. Here's how to bring that document to life so you can start achieving this year's goals right now.
What To Include In The Financial Section Of A Successful Business Plan
Having extraordinary skills and talent in a business area, being hardworking and determined, persistent, having great ideas and full of energy is a fantastic mix for a successful business career. But all those exquisite qualities mean nothing if the end result is not represented in the bottom line.
Developing An Action Plan
Your action plan should be the pathway to helping you achieve your goals and objectives in each area of your marketing plan.
Re-Designing The HR Function In Your Business
When was the last time you considered how effectively you are running your HR function? The good news is that there is a remarkable degree of agreement on best practice in human capital management. You might already be headed in the right direction but the devil is in the details.
The Value Of A Business Model
Whether you are a successful or aspiring business owner or manager, understanding and developing your business model is vital to improved performance and sustainability.
Make Time To Do More Than Mark Time!
We all know that SME businesspeople are far too busy to work on their business, and focus all their efforts on working in it. Don't we?
Using Game Theory To Make Strategic Decisions - Game, Set And Match
Game theory can assist business owners, CEOs and managers make better strategic decisions when confronted with the uncertainty of competition. Competitive conduct will not always be "fair play" and if you don't change your game plan to seek out the advantage, your competition will.
Human Resources Planning - More Than Filling Vacancies For The Next Few Months
Workforce planning for many people is just about looking at new jobs coming up and how they might fill the vacancies. To do it effectively requires a little more forward vision. A few of the steps you may wish to include are listed below.
HR Planning For The Future Of The Business
Human capital is one of your greatest assets. You have probably heard this before but the reality is that more than with other assets, human capital has to be planned for.
Checklist Of 12 Basic Steps To Help Your Business Grow
The article 'Business Plan Preparation' enabled you to gain a thorough understanding of your business and the direction it should be taking. In this article we outline 12 steps to action this understanding.
Do You Plan Strategically?
Is there a difference between strategic planning and other forms of planning? I think so. What's more, your ability to plan strategically is becoming more, not less important.
Strategic Planning For Improved Organisational Performance
Most of us believe that if we do things right, we will be successful. Nevertheless, few managers have been spared the frustration of seeing weeks of good hard work wasted because what we were doing right was not the right thing for our organisation at that time. Reading this article may save you from doing it again.
A Roadmap For Planning A Diversity Strategy
While your diversity strategy should be customised to the specific needs and goals of your organisation, using the following guide can help ensure the successful development and implementation of your initiative.
Business Strategy Execution
Four reasons why your company's strategy isn't working.
Finding The Right Business Structure
Once a business structure has been set up, changing it can be complicated and costly. It is always worthwhile to make decisions carefully so you get it right at the outset.
Workforce Planning Starts With Understanding Demand
Stated very simply, the key to successful workforce planning is making sure your organisation has the right people available for the right roles at the right time - so the right things get done.
Evaluating The Structure Of Your Business
Structure allows organisations, and the various groups within them, to function efficiently and effectively.
How To Develop A Strategic Marketing Plan: Stage Four - HOW (Competitive Advantage)
This article addresses the HOW in the planning process – but in the context of identifying a Competitive Advantage. Whereas the Competitive Strategy is the game plan, the Competitive Advantage is superior execution. What is it that your company does that is different - and better than the competition.
How To Develop A Strategic Marketing Plan: Stage Three - HOW (Competitive Strategy)
This article looks at the third stage in developing a strategic marketing plan - HOW.
How will you get from NOW to WHERE you want to be.
How To Develop A Strategic Marketing Plan: Stage Two - WHERE
This article explores stage two in developing a strategic marketing plan, deciding WHERE it is you want the company to be in the future (usually five years).
How To Develop A Strategic Marketing Plan: Stage One - NOW
The first stage when developing a strategic marketing plan, is to work out where the company is NOW and the influences that will come to bear on the company's future.
Strategic Planning That Works!
Did you know that 70% of people in organisations are passive about change? They prefer the status quo. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the same 70% will change - given a convincing enough reason to do so.
How You Can Build More Profitable Markets
Most executives are aware of the importance of understanding and managing the market forces that drive profitability: customers, competitors, complementors,
substitutes, suppliers and potential entrants. In this article, we will present some of the more innovative ways that certain companies are using to manage and exploit some of these six market forces.
Putting Those Plans Into Action - Starting With The People Is A Good Idea
The early part of the year is often taken up with planning. Very soon after that we get caught up in what we think is our normal business. Towards the end of the year we'll wonder what happened and find out that much of what we planned just didn't eventuate.
Human Resources Planning Checklist
This template is designed to be used to collect relevant information from corporate strategic plans to ensure HR plans are comprehensive.
Fit Or Sexy - Survival Strategies From Business History
Legend has it that there was a high profile meeting at Parker Pens Corporation in the mid 1980s. Parker Pens had been successful for a long time. They had continued to be successful in the face of a number of challenges - cheap imports, ballpoint pens, roller ball pens, etc.... yet somehow by the early part of the decade they had lost their way.
How To Get Smart By Systemising
We all have at least one process in our business that is consistently inconsistent. It’s the one where you just change this bit for one client, this bit for another. If you've ever over-customised, it could be time to systemise your processes.
Small Business Banking
For small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), obtaining bank finance can be complex and daunting. There are five key considerations for SMEs to consider.
Strategy Management And The Balanced Scorecard
The need for an emerging discipline of strategic management.
Do You Know Where You Are Going? - Do The People Who Matter Know?
Effective planning should be carried out systematically, documented and, very importantly, communicated to those involved in delivering it. This is usually most employees. Ironically, even when planning gets beyond being just thought about, it often fails in the implementation - when the people get involved.
Document Good Ideas Into Your Business Plan
Many business owners and managers have a number of good intentions and new ideas for their business that they mull over. However, unfortunately many of these good ideas never see the light of day.
Essentials Of Workforce Planning
"It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow."
- Aesop, Greek slave & fable author (620 BC - 560 BC)
Managing Your Talent... Planning Versus Reacting
Planning ahead for future needs - especially when labor markets begin to tighten up - is not an easy proposition. What follows are some practical ideas to establish a long-term, yet flexible, talent management program with the goal of putting the right people in the right jobs at the right time.
Workforce Planning... It's Not Just About People
Bringing in new staff can be part of the solution, but there are other factors to take into account.
Break With The Past: Get Intimate With Your Customers
A good crisis can be a blessing in disguise: it focuses the mind.
So You Want A Business Plan
Quite frankly the most important requirement for success in business is a business plan. After all, if you don't know where you are going, how the heck can you get there?
Drumming Up Business
During start up, most business owners spend time working out the strategy behind their operation. They cogitate and ruminate about which methods to use for everything from managing staff to product development. Typically, though, the start up phase is the only time strategy is seriously looked at.
Using Balanced Scorecard KPIs To Achieve Your Business Vision
Many businesses use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and many managers agree that KPIs are an important element of sound management practice. But how do you choose and implement KPIs in a way that will take your business where you want it to go?
Budgeting Made Easy: Quick Steps To Success!
Bet that headline caught your attention! And, while all of us undoubtedly yearn for less pain around budgeting, we also bet that this headline is being met with the same dose of healthy skepticism as those late night infomercials touting millionaire-making deals with no money down! We'd like to suggest some survival tips in the form of new, slightly different, ways to approach budgeting for your people-related programs.
Failing To Plan Is Often A Plan To Fail
To ensure the survival and prosperity of a business, owners and the managers they employ need to address the issues of proper and effective planning, management and marketing.
Three Reasons Why Good Strategies Fail: Execution, Execution...
From Vivendi to Webvan, the shortcomings of a bad strategy are usually painfully obvious - at least in retrospect. But good strategies fail too, and when that happens, it's often harder to pinpoint the reasons. Yet despite the obvious importance of good planning and execution, relatively few management thinkers have focused on what kinds of processes and leadership are best for turning a strategy into results.
Making Business Plans That Work
Drawing up a business plan is just the first step; the real challenge is ensuring that it becomes a living, effective dimension to your business.
Be Your Own Strategy Consultant
When someone says the words "strategy consultant" then what frequently comes to mind is the picture of a bright, young, thrusting individual out of a prestigious business school. The idea that "it could be you" might be unthinkable. My argument however is that by seeing yourself as your very own strategy consultant it can become possible to achieve genuine Helicopter vision.
Why HR?
In this article we will provide you with an insight into the role and purpose of HR and why every business needs to develop its own HR system.
Strategic Planning
A well formulated strategy helps marshal and allocate an organisation’s resources into a unique and viable posture based on its relative internal competencies and short comings, anticipated change in the environment and contingent moves by intelligent opponents.
Six Steps To Profitable Planning
'So much of what we call management today, consists of making it difficult for people to work.' Peter Drucker
Goal Setting
Setting goals, while relatively simple, must be done correctly to ensure success. If you desire success you must commit to learning the correct techniques that will guarantee achievement. While it is impractical to attempt thorough explanations here, following are some starting points.
Learning To Plan & Planning To Learn
How do we learn in business and in life? What are the ramifications of how we usually learn and how does this affect our success?
Strategic Business Planning - In What Market Do You Compete?
One of the keys to successful strategic business planning is a clear understanding of the boundaries of your market and also the factors that influence your business within that market. Unfortunately, many management teams are unable to answer fundamental questions in regards to the market they operate within. So how can they possibly be focused on growing the business and making it more successful?
The Greatest Or Weakest Link In Business
The management of most organisations is driven mostly by ‘budget considerations’ and, to a far lesser extent, by ‘business practices’. However, although these issues should be reversed in terms of importance, there is something far more powerful than both and it is rarely discussed.
Making Strategy Operational
Transcript of Business Essentials interview with John Cleary, Managing Director, Blue Chip Consulting Group. John discusses the development, implementation and measurement of strategic planning...and shares his 7 step strategic planning process.
Reviewing Your Business Plans - Why And How
A checklist.
Vision Statements Reveal Management Weakness, Not Strength
Aside from creating amusement and occasionally disdain amongst staff, what earthly use are vision statements to any business?
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is the process of developing high-level, “big picture” plans to set a company’s strategic direction and overall planning framework within a short (one year) to medium (three to five years) timeframe.
Business Plan Preparation
Business planning isn't a single event in the life of your business. It doesn't matter what stage your business has reached in its growth cycle - whether it is growing as planned, is having problems, or even moving away from its core business - you must regularly revisit, review and refine all the processes involved in creating and carrying out your business plan.
Link Today's Actions With Tomorrow's Goals
Do your business’s budgets bear any resemblance to its long-term strategic objectives. "No" is not an uncommon response. A probable reason?
Strategic Planning For Small To Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
Getting from “Where you are now to where you want to be”.
Strategic Planning: Keeping The Planning Process Simple
Many family business owners express the view that they don’t have the time to plan for the next couple of months, much less for the next two or three years.
Building Bridges - How Businesses Can Fail To Strategise Effectively
Over the last year, we have noticed that many organizations seem to plan their growth - if they plan it at all, in an almost haphazard way.
The Purpose Of Vision
We constantly hear people tell us that the concept of Vision has failed. It doesn’t do what most businesses were expecting of it. Time after time, we have CEOs and Executives who lament that they are "just not getting 'buy-in' to the Vision".
Till Death Do Us Part - Down the Strategic Alliance Aisle
The success rate of marriage in Australia is reportedly higher than for corporate strategic alliances. That’s right, the failure rate of strategic alliances is higher than for marriage!
Till Death Do Us Part - Nurturing and Managing A Strategic Alliance
The Strategic Alliance Honeymoon ... Expectation and good will are abundant. This alliance is going to work. No problem is too difficult to overcome. Energy levels are high and the future looks bright. And then reality sets in.
Why Do Some Owners Plan
A profile of farm owners who plan.
Outsourcing - Leveraging Capital For Strategic Priorities
Outsourcing is a strategic management tool often confused with ideology. Strategic focus and competitive advantage are tools of managers not politicians.
Is Your 'Nose To The Grindstone'?
If so, how will you see the next wave of change?
Why Plan?
Business planning is not a technique - it is a complete way of running an organisation. It is a system that needs to be implemented, maintained and continuously improved.