New Year Is Time For Small Biz To Find Opportunities
Bizjournals.com:
In this new year, family owned companies are gearing up to seize new opportunities and face new challenges. Here are the ones I think will offer the most promise and the greatest risks for family businesses this year.
Opportunity No. 1: Professionalize your business structure and operations. I frequently harangue the owners of growing family owned companies about the need to convert from a Mom ‘n Pop business style to a fully professional style, with a mission statement, a strategic plan to guide decisions, an organizational chart and job descriptions, written policies and procedures, affordable benefits, and agreement on how to change ownership and management without undue confusion or conflict.
The process can get a bit thorny sometimes, but with strong commitment, a family can professionalize successfully. This should be the year for your business.
Challenge No. 1: Respond to unforeseen business and family financial demands. The 2008 economy had the finances of many family companies flapping like bed sheets in a windstorm. Lots of people can be leaders when times are good, but it takes a special person to lead when times are rough. Cash shortages, eroding markets and a near collapse of faith in the future are challenging many business owners to keep their heads on straight, to cut costs without cutting their throats, and to remain optimistic when it’s tempting to turn company resources into personal safety nets.
Opportunity No. 2: Make crucial succession decisions and act on them. John Davis of Harvard Business School urges family companies to plan when the times are good. But planning often has to be done even when times are bad. Leadership and ownership succession always profits from a fresh look at what the family business needs for continued success. When conditions are calling for reviews and revisions in many companies, succession planning can benefit from the analysis that’s being done for other reasons.
Challenge No. 2: Make crucial succession decisions and act on them. On the other hand, thoughtful planning for family ownership continuity can be warped by a sense of crisis brought on by tough economic conditions. If temporary conditions make you wonder if the business really is a success, it might be hard to see the characteristics that have made it successful in years past and that should be maintained into the future. Keep a cool head. Continue reading.
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