Business management for small businesses

When people think of business, they usually think of profit and money. When people think of management, they usually see a person or group of persons wearing nice coats and ties. All of these are like viewpoints seen on a tip of an iceberg which still had unseen deeper notions under it. Being in business should not only mean being in a quest to financial wealth. Likewise, management doesn’t only mean a process which can be handled by people who have finished college or master’s degree in business management or administration.

For big companies, management is well-funded and well-established. But how about those small entities which obviously don’t have huge money to spend to establish a well-placed management structure? The answer is… they don’t actually need big bucks to have a management system that will effectively and efficiently run their small companies. What small entrepreneurs need is a great participation in their small businesses. This rigorous participation means great investment of time, passion and personal qualities (i.e., intelligence, wisdom, emotional strength, ability to influence and lead people, etcetera). Read more

Management tips: Dealing with employees turnover

What if your employee resigns tomorrow? And another good employee resigns the day after tomorrow? These questions form fears inside the minds of many employers – perhaps these employers include you.  The fear is considerable since a high employee turnover rate insinuates ineffectiveness of a company’s management (particularly human resource management). Moreover, it hurts an employer and his company whenever an employee resigns. It may involve emotional pain on the human side of managers and employers. It may also involve financial and operational pain on the business side of companies and organizations. But many companies, especially large companies that maintain effective “Human Resources” departments, can manage this kind of emotional and business pains.

In small businesses, high employee turnover is very common since these companies usually don’t have HR departments or HR officers who oversees and preserves harmonization between companies and employees. Maintaining HR departments or hiring HR personnel may be costly for small business owners. But what we can do to eradicate a high employee turnover rate in our small firms? Do we really need to invest a lot of money for that? Read more

How to Keep Business Success in Times of Global Economic Recession

As small to large companies are coping with our slumping global economic condition, I believe this is just the right time that we share each other’s ideas and strengths. For me, when things get worst and there are no other solutions we can find in our brain banks, we need to go back to what are basic and fundamentals. I believe that the following basic solutions will make it through the road of business success despite of any unfavorable and negative economic forces.

1. Have no fear. The first thing we should do is to eliminate our fear with this negative economic phenomenon. In this battle of financial crisis, the first thing that we need to conquer is our own fear. Besides, so much fear will just eat your time and energy into nothing – what a waste! Isn’t it? Read more

Boracay Island Philippines: A Simple Business and Profit Brought by Tourism

Last January, I went to Kalibo Aklan (Philippines) to audit one of our clients – a credit cooperative. Aklan is popular for Boracay Island where you can find purely white beaches. If you are going to Boracay from outside the Philippines, you can fly to Manila (the country’s capital city), and then ride another plane to Caticlan for an hour. Another way is to fly directly to Kalibo International Airpot where you can ride a van or a bus for an hour to Caticlan. When you arrive in Caticlan you will need to ride a boat for about 15 minutes to reach the Island of Boracay.

It was my first time to visit the Island and it was really a great experience to see the white sand that attracts many tourists around the world. When I first arrive at Dmall (a mall near the beach) it was filled with different races of people – Chinese, Germans, Japanese, Americans, British, Koreans, Italians, and of course Filipinos. The place, although a small island, is already urbanized and commercialized. Five stars hotels like Boracay Regency hotel and Discovery Shores entice the visitors to stay there. At night, you can hang-up on different bars line up beside the sea, offering fine wines and tasty foods. Read more

World’s large companies continued cost cutting that caused thousands of job cuts

Global economic recession has already hit the first month of 2009 as several large companies moved into cost cutting plans that involved thousands of job and employment cuts. The following is a list of companies that already announced to cut down their number of employees:

Ford Motor Credit, due to sinking car sales, the company announced on Wednesday that it will cut 1,200 jobs, or 20% of its workforce. Ford Motor Credit is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. Read more