Before you buy a business:

• Study the disclosure document and proposed contract carefully.

• Interview current owners in person. (They should be listed in the disclosure document.) Visiting them in person may help you identify any that are “shills” — people paid to give favorable reports. Don’t rely on a list of references selected by the company because it may contain shills. Ask owners and operators how the information in the disclosure document matches their experiences with the company.

• Investigate claims about your potential earnings. Some companies may claim that you’ll earn a certain income or that existing franchisees or business opportunity purchasers earn a certain amount. Companies making earnings representations must provide you with the written basis for their claims. Be suspicious of any company that does not show you in writing how it computed its earnings claims.

• Sellers also must tell you in writing the number and percentage of owners who have done as well as they claim you will. Keep in mind that broad sales claims about successful areas of business — “Be a part of our $4 billion industry,” for example — may have no bearing on your likelihood of success. Also, recognize that once you buy the business, you may be competing with franchise owners or independent business people with more experience than you.

• Shop around. Compare franchises with other business opportunities. Some companies may offer benefits not available from the first company you considered. The Franchise Opportunities Handbook, published annually by the U.S. Department of Commerce, describes more than 1,400 companies that offer franchises. Contact those that interest you. Request their disclosure documents and compare their offerings.

• Listen carefully to the sales presentation. Some sales tactics should signal caution. For example, if you are pressured to sign immediately “because prices will go up tomorrow,” or “another buyer wants this deal,” slow down. A seller with a good offer doesn’t use high-pressure tactics. Under the FTC rule, the seller must wait at least 10 business days after giving you the required documents before accepting your money or signature on an agreement. Be wary if the salesperson makes the job sound too easy. The thought of “easy money” may be appealing, but success generally requires hard work.

• Get the seller’s promises in writing. Any oral promises you get from a salesperson should be written into the contract you sign. If the salesperson says one thing but the contract says nothing about it or says something different, it’s the contract that counts. If a seller balks at putting oral promises in writing, be alert to potential problems and consider doing business with another firm.

• Consider getting professional advice. Ask a lawyer, accountant, or business advisor to read the disclosure document and proposed contract. The money and time you spend on professional assistance and research — such as phone calls to current owners — could save you from a bad investment decision

In 1998, Shawn Fanning, an 18-year old student at Northeastern University in Boston, couldn’t access all the music files he wanted to download. So Fanning looked for an easier and better way to access MP3, or music files. By 1999, the file sharing technology that became better known as Napster was driving recording industry executives crazy. Rather than embrace the technology and make it their own, industry executives started to prosecute Napster users who downloaded and shared music without paying royalties. According to Maryam Alavi, vice dean and chaired professor of information strategy at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, “Suing 14 and 15 year olds wasn’t really going to work,” she says.

As a result, technology completely changed the recording industry and nearly a decade later, the industry is still grappling with ways to profit and remain competitive. If the industry had embraced what was happening with music on the Internet, it might have harnessed the technology to its benefit rather than allow college students and others to dictate its course, notes Alavi who spoke on leveraging technology during the Executive Women of Goizueta Conference held recently in Atlanta.

Although the recording industry’s troubles are well documented, Alavi reminded the packed audience that technology is a constantly evolving medium and though technological resources are available to most businesses, recognizing how best to use them can make a significant impact on a company.

According to Alavi, executives can utilize technology to achieve competitive and organizational advantages by consistently auditing whether their business model and processes are in alignment with technological capabilities. “Technology can really change, diminish or render your business model obsolete,” explains Alavi. “If your business model and technology are misaligned, it’s going to have negative consequences.”

Even established brands are not protected from technology-induced changes, warns Alavi. Take Encyclopædia Britannica, which published its first encyclopedia in 1768, and had been in business for well over 200 years, when Microsoft put its Encarta product on a CD for use in PCs in the early 1990s. Executives at Encyclopædia Britannica ignored the move and as a result nearly went out of business.

And it’s not just big businesses that need to pay attention. Alavi tells the tale of “Mr. Harmel,” a freelance photographer who specializes in images related to the healthcare industry. A museum wants to use images of people sneezing for an informational kiosk. Harmel directs them to some of his stock photos and sells the museum six shots at $150 each. Then the museum discovered istockphotos.com. At that site, the museum could purchase very similar shots for about $1 each. So they cancelled the order with the photographer. “Mr. Harmel now has to rethink his strategy,” notes Alavi.

The value of IT alignment
Although all firms have access to technological resources, the differences in what organizations gain from using information technology depend on the management of technology. Performing IT alignment audits on a regular basis is essential, contends Alavi, and provides the key to achieving competitive and organizational advantage. Regular audits give executives a better understanding of their business’ technological capabilities and enables them to better identify technology-driven business innovation. According to Alavi, executives and business owners will be more apt to make smart investments in technology if they ask themselves the following key questions:

• Can IT help me reach new markets?
• Can IT reduce barriers to entry in my business?
• Can IT make my business processes faster or smarter or both?
• How might IT impact who performs a process and where it’s done?

“There are all kinds of ways technology can enhance a business model and create opportunities,” stresses Alavi. Technological advancements can allow existing businesses to reach existing customers in new ways, reach new customers, increase customer loyalty via value-added services, and use data to create new sales opportunities through cross-selling and the like.

For example, technology allows airlines to send customers a message—via email, text or voice mail—to notify them if a flight has been delayed or cancelled. These value-added services help create customer loyalty, notes Alavi.

When an existing customer logs onto Amazon.com, the retailer uses data collected from the user’s past purchases to greet the customer with items “recommended” for him or her. Amazon also uses technology to exploit cross-selling opportunities. If a customer researches a certain book, Amazon provides details and reviews as well as links to similar books.

Entire business ecosystems are spawned by new technologies, adds Alavi. Online auctioneer eBay was founded in 1995 and the infrastructure of eBay made all kinds of new businesses possible (eBay hosts over 300,000 online stores worldwide and claims more than 220 million registered users).

Let Technology Propel your Business
Technology can also refine business processes and make business models more efficient. For instance, Cisco Systems, Inc. is a top provider of IP-related networking equipment, but Cisco doesn’t operate a single manufacturing plant, explains Alavi. Cisco relies on a handful of contract manufacturers for the bulk of its production. A single enterprise extranet connects manufacturers and distributors. By creating electronic links instead of physical ones, Cisco is able to reduce the number of steps necessary to obtain and fulfill customer orders.

Technology can also improve the ability of companies to manage process knowledge. Cisco provides the data collected by its customer service department to equipment designers and manufacturers. Through this process, Cisco’s been able to trouble shoot, identify design and marketing flaws and correct them. “Companies can slice and dice data to create insight,” notes Alavi.

Although it’s a huge multi-year undertaking, many hospitals either plan to or have already revamped their electronic patient record systems so that patient information can be quickly accessed when needed to enhance quality and/or efficiency of patient care. For example, when a doctor prescribes a medicine, he or she will be alerted if that particular drug could have negative consequences when taken along with another medication the patient is already taking. The technology even suggests a similar drug that won’t cause complications.

Technology can also affect what processes a business decides to keep in house. According to Alavi, technology is the impetus behind outsourcing and the emerging phenomenon of “crowd/expert sourcing.”

Crowd/expert sourcing refers to a situation in which information technology allows a large number of individuals to participate in design and development of a product or service in an ad hoc fashion. InnoCentive is an example of expert sourcing. InnoCentive is a web-based system that matches R&D projects of about 35 Fortune 500 companies with about 90,000 registered scientists and engineers from around the world. InnoCentive was set up by Eli Lilly in 2001. Other companies that use the system pay a fee to Lilly to list their project on the system. The registered expert who solves a listed problem gets paid $10,000 to $100,000 based on the scope and complexity of the problem. For example, when Colgate-Palmolive faced a challenge in injecting fluoride power into its toothpaste tube without it dispersing it into surrounding air, the company posted its problem on InnoCentive. A physicist in Canada solved the problem and was paid $25,000. “Could Colgate/Palmolive have solved that problem on its own? Sure, but quickly and for $25,000? Probably not,” notes Alavi. “Technology allows us to change the boundaries of an organization when it makes sense and adds value.”

Alavi advises business executives to monitor regularly what processes are best kept inside the organization, which ones are best outsourced and which ones should be kept somewhere in between.

Remaining competitive is an ongoing process and maintaining that momentum should include regular technology assessments. According to Alavi, business owners and executives “should be constantly thinking about the alignment of technology with their organization’s business model and business processes.”

The Executive Women of Goizueta’s (EWG) mission is to provide a forum for executive level businesswomen to interact and support each other. EWG provides its members the environment in which to share experiences and business strategies, to learn about recent business trends and research, and to motivate one another to be successful women leaders in business. EWG’s Vision is to provide an atmosphere of “Women empowering Women.” To this end, EWG holds regular events including informal discussion forums, an annual conference, and breakfast meetings with business leaders. Use payday advance for saving loans.

There are three different top business management techniques out there. These business management techniques include the autocratic technique, the paternalistic technique or the democratic technique. Here we will do a comparison of the top business management techniques, including the good and bad of all three techniques.

The autocratic technique of business management is for a manager who likes to make all the decisions themselves. The autocratic manager likes to closely supervise their employees along with controlling those employees. These managers give orders and don’t listen to the employees. The orders are to be followed in an autocratic business management technique. There is the one sided communication style which many employees do not like and have a hard time working under. This business management technique can work well however with a large company of low skilled workers. The technique can also work well when a company is in crisis and needs to have answers right away or decisions made very quickly.

The paternalistic technique for business management would include a manager that will give more attention to the social side of the business for his employees. This type of business manager will also keep in mind the views of his employees. These managers are very concerned on how happy their employees feel, almost the same way a father would. These types of paternalistic managers care more about the employees’ views and will consult with the employees on a regular basis. The manager still makes the final decision but for the best of all the employees. They listen to all the feedback from the employees no matter how many there are. The paternalistic manager believes that their employees still need direction and so this technique of management still can look like an autocratic technique. This technique of business management slows down decision making so is not good for fast paced businesses.

The last business management technique is democratic. In this type of management technique the manager puts trust in their employees and will help encourage the employees to make the decisions. These types of democratic managers empower their employees by giving them authority it the particular business. These managers will also listen to the advice and ideas of their employees. The democratic style managers need to have good communication skills for discussion groups that are common with type of management. The democratic manager also needs to be willing to push employees into leadership skills. The best democratic system occurs when all decisions are based on the majority view of all the employees. This is hard to achieve however and will lead to a longer wait in the decision making. There can be more mistakes in a business with this type of management technique because the workers may not always be skilled enough to face some of the problems they have been empowered to fix.

Ultimately the best technique for business management would be to incorporate parts of all these techniques. A good business manager will be able to distinguish between what types of direction their employees need and how to go about it. Not every employee is the same and so no technique will work for the business as a whole.

This comparison of the top business management techniques is to just give you an idea of what types are out there. If you are a business manager you will need to find your own technique. Look at the comparisons of the top 3 techniques and find what will work best for you and your business.

Team building has proven to be extremely useful in the business world where executives have different thought processes. They have different perspectives of looking towards a scenario. Due to this, personal ego and attitude can cause clashes among the employees and executives. This results in unhealthy relations which in turn affects employee performance. Due to such barriers between team members, the team won’t be able to achieve what they are expected to. In such a situation, team building comes to the rescue.

Team Building Concepts
Team building is a kind of bonding of all team members who come from different backgrounds and have different ways of thinking. It enables a mutual understanding and a common goal to be created in the minds of all team members. It helps them in increasing their performance levels and quality, better decision making, problem solving, innovative thinking, and resolving conflicts.

Good Communication in Team Building
Communication is certainly a crucial factor in team building. Team building techniques and activities which don’t involve effective communication are unproductive. It is very important for team members to communicate with each other to pass on their views and ideas. With effective communication, every team member comes to know how the other person thinks, what work does he expect, and what he is capable of. This helps in working efficiently and dividing the work accordingly among the team members, which promotes proper coordination.

Motivation in Team Building
Employee motivation is also a significant aspect of getting the best from the employee. Team building is an effective tool for the management to motivate and encourage employees to move forward towards the set goals. Motivation enables an employee to think that his contribution is truly important for the company. It includes building a person’s confidence regarding his work, his team members, and the company goals.

Team Building Projects
A good leader or manager would surely be aware of all the team building strategies. There are many ways of promoting team building, be it at the workplace or on an outing. Team building strategies are put into practice when either the team has performed well and is expected to continue doing so, or the team is not giving its best for any specific reason. There are several processes in a company, and there may arise a need of two or more processes to work for a single project. In such cases, the leaders arrange some activities which would help the teams communicate and coordinate with teams from other processes for getting ready for the collective work.

Every employee has different strengths and capabilities, and so roles and responsibilities should be assigned on that basis. Employees come from various backgrounds, so the company should take advantage of the diverse mentality in their working processes. Typical team building techniques normally consist of an outdoor trip with all the members of a team. In such activities, they play creative and informative games that includes communication. There are also some informal corporate team building activities just to make the employees feel that it is solely not a formal event.

There are many other team building techniques that can be used by experienced managers to bond a team together for a common purpose. After all, ‘team building for success’ is the most important motto in an organization.