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1. WHO IS DOING BUSINESS IN AMERICA?
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STATISTICS
ABOUT SMALL BUSINESS IN THE U.S. |
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You must become familiar
with the basic principles of business engineering to engineer
your business for success.
Hundreds of thousands of people start new business
every year. All these people are considered Entrepreneurs,
and they play a very important role in the U.S. economy.
There are about 25 million businesses
in the United States.
According to recent statistics, between
95% to 99% are small businesses. They account for about
60% of the total workforce in the country
and contribute substantially to the GNP (Gross National Product)!
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THE AMERICAN
DREAM |
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You also belong to this majority, if you still continue to
read this program. Moreover, you share the American Dream with all
the other millions of entrepreneurs who want nothing less, than to be
independent! However - independence usually does not come cheap! There is
definitely a price to pay! The question is:
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Are You Prepared To Pay That Price?
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2. A REAL STORY ABOUT BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
In order to succeed in business it is
essential to belong to the "Can-Do" category of people.
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THE
"CAN-DO" PEOPLE
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1. If you "can" -
you
do!
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2. If you "can't" -
then you must try again or look for a job.
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A REAL STORY ABOUT
"BUSINESS MANAGEMENT"
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Obviously, since you are reading this program - you also belong to the "Can-Do" category. But, as you already know:
The majority of people in business don't have business management education, while the majority of people, who have business management education, are not in business!
We would like to improve this situation together with you to ensure that you have solid knowledge of sound business management principles.
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Are You Willing
To Accept The Challenge?
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3. DO YOU RECOGNIZE YOURSELF?
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DO YOU RECOGNIZE YOURSELF?
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Many Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners have a lot of things in common, as outlined below.
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See
If You Recognize Yourself.
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TYPICAL TRAITS
OF ENTREPRENEURS
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No.
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Details
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1
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Many entrepreneurs who manage small or
medium-sized business, often overestimate their abilities
and are unaware of personal inefficiencies in the area of
business management. What about
you?
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2
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Those entrepreneurs who are aware of
their inefficiencies still prefer to solve their management
problems by themselves either to avoid exposure and possible
embarrassment as a result of any mismanagement in the past
or to protect their "trading secrets".
What about
you?
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3
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Most entrepreneurs who manage small and
medium-sized companies are usually skeptical toward any advice
about business management given by outsiders, such as management
consultants, and they often cannot afford such service. What
about you?
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4
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Many entrepreneurs are usually not overly
enthusiastic about business management education or literature
and do not really know how to select suitable material. They
do not have the time to shop around for needed information
nor to absorb it. What about
you?
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5
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Many entrepreneurs consider their accountants
as their most important business advisors. Unfortunately,
however, most accountants have a very limited knowledge of
operational business management. What
about you?
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6
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Many entrepreneurs are not able to delegate
functional responsibilities to their employees, and sometimes
become the biggest stumbling block within their own organization
without even realizing it. What
about you?
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4.
WHAT IS REALLY THE PROBLEM?
| Some of the examples which can describe the
Real Entrepreneurial World are outlined below. |
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EXAMPLES OF THE
REAL ENTREPRENEURIAL WORLD
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Details
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1
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Hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs
start, plan, or dream to start a new business every year.
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2
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If you ask all new business
owners, why they decided to go into business, they will tell you:
"Because I want to be my own boss !",
and many will also add: "Because I
want to make more money and be financially independent !"
Not one of them will tell you: "Because
I want to go bankrupt!"
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3
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Unfortunately, however, the reality is
quite different! The statistics indicate that about 80% of newly established businesses fail
during the first few years of their existence. Sadly, 100%
of these businesses did not use the Business 2010 Program.
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4
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Each year many thousands of business
people, who often "sign their lives away to the
bank", file for bankruptcy and loose much more
than just money in the process. Business failures create untold
difficulties for thousands of families, who often sacrifice
everything they have to start a business.
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ASK
YOURSELF TWO QUESTIONS |
Ask yourself the following
two questions:
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1.
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"What
are my reasons of being in business?"
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2.
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"Do I really know enough about business management
to succeed in business in the long-term?"
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If you are not sure about your
Business Knowledge - you may be "skating on a thin
ice..." So, you better be prepared to invest in yourself and
don't be afraid to spend a reasonable amount of time and money
in the process. It will pay dividends in the future.
Remember, that time will never come
back, money you can always make, but knowledge will stay with
you forever!
Those hundreds of thousands of small
business owners who were not prepared to invest time and money
in their own education and, instead, chose to remain ignorant,
paid a heavy price and ultimately went out of business.
You are urged, therefore, not to repeat the same mistake and be
prepared to admit to yourself that there are several things that you can
still learn about business management. Once you adopt this
open-minded attitude, you will realize that learning is a
never-ending process and you will become its prime beneficiary.
Remember, that the
more you will learn today, the more you will realize how much you did
not know yesterday...
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5. HOW CAN YOU SUCCEED
IN YOUR BUSINESS?
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THE KEY TO
SUCCESS IN BUSINESS
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Successful performance of your small or medium-sized business
will depend primarily upon your knowledge and experience in
various areas of business management and your ability to act
as an entrepreneurial manager.
Since small business management is based on an
integrated and multi-disciplinary approach, you must learn how
to "wear several hats at the same time", and apply
various elements of business management in a systematic manner.
You must,
in fact, be able to "engineer" your business for success.
In other words, if you want to succeed - you must become a
"Business Engineer"!
But this is still not enough! You will also need a business method which will enable you to act as a real business engineer. So, here it is! It is called:
THE BUSINESS ENGINEERING METHOD
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6. INTRODUCTION TO THE
BUSINESS ENGINEERING METHOD
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WHAT IS THE BUSINESS ENGINEERING METHOD?
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The Business Engineering Method is designed to provide you with a unique
Be-Your-Own-Management Consultant tool. Moreover, this method will help you to keep the focus on plain business essentials and manage your business more effectively!
The Business Engineering Method was developed by Joseph Shetzen over a 20-year period and first described in
"Maximum Performance: The Dow Jones-Irwin Complete Guide To Practical Business
Management", published by Dow Jones-Irwin in 1990, currently The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The Business Engineering
Method represents a logical continuation of the Contingency Approach
to business management, as illustrated below. (10)
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
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Scientific Management Principles (Taylor, Gilbreths, Gantt, and
others).
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Administrative
Management Theory (Fayol, Mayo, McGregor, and others).
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The Process
Approach
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The Behavioral
Approach
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The Systems
Approach
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This approach views management as the continuous task of planning,
organizing, leading, and controlling a group of employees (Fayol).
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This approach focuses on understanding human behavior and evaluating
factors which influence workers' performance and productivity
(Follet, Mayo, McGregor, and others).
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This approach suggests that an organization is a set of interrelated
parts such as people, materials, and equipment, arranged in
one structure that pursues diverse objectives in a changing
environment.
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The Contingency Approach |
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This approach provides a methodology for determining the most
suitable solution to any organizational problem and includes
a company's situational analysis, identification of the problem,
statement of performance standards, generation and evaluation
of alternative solutions, selection and implementation of proposed
solutions, and evaluation of final results.
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The Business Engineering Method |
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This method represents a logical continuation of the Contingency
Approach. It goes one step further by providing entrepreneurs
and small business owners with a practical "Be-Your-Own-Management-Consultant"
tool. This tool enables entrepreneurs to appreciate the importance
of essential business management principles, to evaluate the
performance of their organization, to identify specific management
problems, to learn how to solve those problems on a
"step-by-step" basis, and to implement suitable
management solutions professionally.
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7. WHAT IS THE "BUSINESS 2010 PRO" MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM?
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THE
"BUSINESS 2010 PRO" MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
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The Business Engineering Method
provides the basis for a unique management program, which will
become available in 2005: "Business 2010 Pro".
Once available, this user-friendly program
will enable you
to act as a management consultant within your own company. This
program, in fact, will represent a continuation of the Business 2010
Program, which you are using at present. While Business 2010 is
designed to provide you with basic knowledge in various areas of
business management, Business 2010 Pro will provide the actual tools in accomplishing specific
tasks.
The three main parts of
the Business 2010 Pro Management Program are presented below.
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THE BUSINESS 2010 PRO MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
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Part 1: Business Analysis
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The main purpose of Business Analysis is
to find out where is your company now and where is it coming
from.
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Part 2: Business Plan
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The main purpose of the Business Plan is
to develop specific objectives for your company and formulate
a plan of action for achieving them.
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Part 3: Business Solutions
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The main purpose of Business Solutions is
to implement the Business Plan in order to achieve your
company's objectives in the most cost-effective manner.
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A flow chart of the Business
Engineering Method and the Business 2010 Pro Management
Program entails a number of tasks, as illustrated below.
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THE BUSINESS 2010 PRO MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
BASED ON THE
BUSINESS
ENGINEERING METHOD
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PART
1: BUSINESS ANALYSIS |
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1.1
Operational Management Analysis
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1.2
Financial Performance Analysis
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2.1
Operational Management Plan
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2.2
Financial Performance Plan
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PART 3: BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
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3.1
General
Management
Solutions
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3.2
Human
Resources Management
Solutions
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3.3
Financial
Management
Solutions
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3.4
Production
And
Operations
Management
Solutions
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3.5
Marketing
And
Sales
Management
Solution
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Repeat The Above Process On An Annual Basis.
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Note:
Certain portions of the Financial Performance Analysis, Plan, and Solutions, will be performed by the existing accounting packages, such a
Quicken ®, Quick Books Pro ®, Clarisys ®, and
Peach Tree ®
accounting programs.
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8. BUSINESS ANALYSIS
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PART 1: BUSINESS
ANALYSIS
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Part 1 - Business Analysis, outlined below, comprises
two parts and is designed to assist you and your management
team in conducting a comprehensive evaluation of your
company.
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1.1
Operational Management
Analysis
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1.2
Financial Performance
Analysis
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This part provides direction in completing a comprehensive
evaluation of your company's operations in five major
areas of management activities and identifying related
strengths and weaknesses.
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This part provides direction in completing a comprehensive
evaluation of your company's current financial performance
and comparative financial performance during the last
three year, provided that the financial data is available.
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9. OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
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PART 1.1: OPERATIONAL
MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS |
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Operational Management Analysis, outlined below, comprises five tasks and
is designed to enable you and your management team
to complete a comprehensive evaluation of your company's
operations in five major areas of management activities.
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Task No.1:
General
Management
Analysis
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Task No.2:
Human
Resources
Management
Analysis
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Task No.3:
Financial
Management
Analysis
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Task No.4:
Production
And
Operations
Management
Analysis
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Task No.5:
Marketing
And
Sales
Management
Analysis
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Evaluation
of 20
check-points
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Evaluation
of 20
check-points
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Evaluation
of 20
check-points
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Evaluation
of 20
check-points
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Evaluation
of 20
check-points
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HOW DOES THE
EVALUATION WORK?
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Each task entails evaluation of 20 check-points, as
provided in the Business 2010 Pro Management Program,
and each check-point, in turn, will require your company's
management team to provide simple "Yes" or
"No" answers to up to 10 questions, depending
upon the nature of your company's operations.
If you will need additional
information about a specific check-point, you will be able to get it
from 100 check-points contained in five Tutorials in the Business 2010 Program, as outlined below.
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THE BUSINESS 2010
PROGRAM |
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Tutorial 1:
General
Management
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Tutorial 2:
Human
Resources
Management
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Tutorial 3:
Financial
Management
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Tutorial 4:
Production
And
Operations
Management
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Tutorial 5:
Marketing
And
Sales
Management
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Provides
information
about 20
check-points
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Provides
information
about 20
check-points
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Provides
information
about 20
check-points
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Provides
information
about 20
check-points
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Provides
information
about 20
check-points
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WHO
SHOULD COMPLETE YOUR COMPANY'S EVALUATION?
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The operational management analysis should be completed
by up to five key members of your company's management team.
Upon completion, the Business 2010 Pro Management
Program
will generate a set of Company Evaluation Reports.
These reports will help your management
team to identify your company's strengths and weaknesses
in various areas of operational activities and provide
guidance for the development of your company's business
plan.
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10. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
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PART 1.2: FINANCIAL
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
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Financial Performance Analysis, outlined below, comprises
three tasks and is designed to enable you and your management
team to complete a comprehensive financial performance
evaluation of your company activities.
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Task No. 6:
Current
Financial Analysis
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Task No. 7:
Comparative
Financial Analysis
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Task No. 8:
Financial Ratio
Analysis
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Comparative
balance sheet
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Comparative
income statement
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Comparative
statement of cash flows.
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Evaluation of up to 20 financial ratios related to the
company's:
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Liquidity
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Solvency
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Profitability
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Ability
to manage assets
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CURRENT
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
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Current Financial Analysis
entails evaluation of your company's current or most
recent financial statements, namely, balance sheet, income
statement, and statement of cash flows.
The information contained
in these statements will be used by the Business 2010
Pro Management Program to calculate a series of financial
ratios for the corresponding period.
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COMPARATIVE
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
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Comparative Financial
Analysis entails evaluation of your company's financial
statements for the previous three fiscal periods, namely,
comparative balance sheet, comparative income statement,
and comparative statement of cash flows.
The information contained
in these statements will be used by the Business 2010
Pro Management Program to establish trends developed by
your company over the last three fiscal periods, and to
calculate a series of financial ratios for the corresponding
periods.
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FINANCIAL RATIO ANALYSIS
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Financial Ratio Analysis entails calculation of up
to 20 financial ratios, designed to describe your company's
liquidity, solvency, profitability and ability to manage
assets. |
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WORK
WITH YOUR ACCOUNTANT
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To complete Financial Performance Analysis you may require
assistance from your accountant or CPA, who may have your
company's financial information on their computer.
Upon completion of Financial Performance
Analysis you and your company's management team will
be able to accomplish two important tasks of the Business
Analysis, as outlined below.
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TWO IMPORTANT
TASKS OF BUSINESS ANALYSIS
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No.
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Details
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To assess all information and identify
where your company really is in terms of its operational
activities and financial performance results.
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2
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To identify the strengths and weaknesses
of your company and your company's management team.
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Upon completion of Business Analysis
you will be ready for the second part of the Business 2010 Pro Management Program, namely: the Business Plan.
Note:
Certain portions
of Financial Performance Analysis will be performed by the existing accounting packages, such a
Quicken ®, Quick Books Pro ®, Clarisys ®, and
Peach Tree ®
accounting programs.
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11. BUSINESS
PLAN
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PART
2: BUSINESS PLAN
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Part 2 - Business Plan,
outlined below, comprises two parts and is designed to
assist you and your management team in formulating a sound
management plan in accordance with the previously concluded
Business Analysis.
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Part 2.1:
Operational Management Plan
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Part 2.2:
Financial Performance Plan
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This part will enable you to complete a comprehensive
plan of your company's operations in five major areas
of management activities. This plan will be generated
by the Business 2010 Pro Management Program based
on results obtained from the Operational Management
Analysis and adjusted in accordance with your company's
specific needs.
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This part will enable you to complete a comprehensive
plan of your company's financial performance for the
forthcoming fiscal period. This plan will be based
on results obtained from the Financial Performance
Analysis and in accordance with your company's specific
needs.
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12. OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT PLAN
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PART 2.1:
OPERATIONAL
MANAGEMENT PLAN |
The Operational Management Plan, outlined below, comprises five tasks and is designed
to enable you and your management team to complete a
comprehensive plan of your company's operations in five
major areas of management activities.
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Task No. 9:
General Management
Plan
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Task No. 10:
Human
Resources Management
Plan
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Task No. 11:
Financial Management
Plan
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Task No. 12:
Production And
Operations Management
Plan
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Task No. 13:
Marketing
And Sales
Management
Plan
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Plan for up to
20
check-points
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Plan for up to
20
check-points
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Plan for up to
20
check-points
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Plan for up to
20
check-points
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Plan for up to
20
check-points
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HOW DOES THE PLAN
OF ACTION WORK? |
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Each task will
include a plan of action for up to 20
check-points,
depending upon the nature of your company's operations.
The Business 2010 Pro Management Program will examine
the evaluation of each check-point, completed during
the Business Analysis stage, and generate a Plan
of Action Report for that check-point.
You and members of your management team
will have the opportunity to adjust this report
and finalize your plan of action in accordance with
your company's specific needs and priorities.
If you will need
additional information about a specific check-point,
you will be able to get it from the Business 2010
Program (Tutorials
1-5)
You will be surprised how simple
and user-friendly the
whole process is!
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13. FINANCIAL
PERFORMANCE PLAN
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PART 2.2:
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE PLAN |
The Financial Performance Plan, outlined below, comprises four tasks and is designed
to enable you and your management team to complete a
comprehensive financial plan of your company activities
for the next fiscal period.
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Task No. 14:
Income
Statement
Budget |
Task No. 15:
Balance
Sheet
Budget |
Task No. 16:
Cash
Flow
Budget
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Task No. 17:
Financial
Ratio
Budget |
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WORK WITH YOUR
ACCOUNTANT (AGAIN) |
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We recommend that
you evaluate all elements of the Financial Performance
Plan together with your accountant or CPA and make
adjustments in accordance with your company's specific
needs.
Upon completion
of the Business Plan, you and your company's
management team will be ready for the final stage
of the Business 2010 Pro Management Program, namely:
Business Solutions.
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Note:
Certain portions of the Financial
Performance Plan will be performed by the
existing accounting packages,
such a
Quicken ®, Quick Books Pro ®, Clarisys ®, and
Peach Tree ®
accounting programs.
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14.
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
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PART 3: BUSINESS
SOLUTIONS |
Part 3 - Business Solutions, outlined below, comprises
five parts and is designed to assist you and your management
team in implementing cost-effective management solutions
in five major areas of your company's operations in
accordance with the previously developed Business Plan.
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Part 3.1:
General
Management
Solutions
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Part 3.2:
Human
Resources
Management
Solutions
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Part 3.3:
Financial
Management
Solutions
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Part 3.4:
Production
And
Operations
Management
Solutions
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Part 3.5:
Marketing
And
Sales
Management
Solutions
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