Strategic Planning Articles

Business » Strategic Planning | By Dave Kauppi @ Tuesday, 2nd January 2007 @ 12:11 AM

In our mergers and acquisitions practice a very important event prior to receiving letters of intent is the buyer visit. Don't be fooled into thinking that this is a simple headquarters tour. Experienced buyers know just the right questions to ask to uncover risks and to discover opportunities. We try to coach our sellers on how to present and how to answer these carefully scripted questions. Unfortunately, a man or a woman that has called their own shots for the last 25 years is not... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Dave Kauppi @ Tuesday, 2nd January 2007 @ 12:09 AM

We recently completed a Merger and Acquisition engagement to sell our client to a large publicly traded company. Our client had started her company 25 years ago and had set it up a C Corp. She never was advised to change that structure in preparation for a much better tax treatment on the sale of the business. The buyer had an acquisition policy of only asset sales and no stock sales. The tax implications to our client were punishing. In a C Corp Asset Sale, there is no such thing as a lo... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Gaetane Ross @ Tuesday, 19th December 2006 @ 8:58 PM

Contractor and Home Builder shows are becoming extremely popular among folks who are looking to build their home or are even just slightly considering having one custom-built themselves. Some of them are also, perhaps, looking for considering already built property and are there to view some of the services of home builders and/or contractors for whatever revisions and renovations they may wish to make. As a real estate agent looking for leads, this is obviously a goldmine of potential cu... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Dave Kauppi @ Friday, 15th December 2006 @ 9:37 AM

The next line could be, "Will it Derail Your Sale?" We have seen it go both ways, unfortunately. If a deal does blow up, everybody looses. The seller has spent six months of divided focus and many of the normal business development activities have been put on the back burner. His or her business will simply not be as strong if the business sale process is not completed. Normally a buyer that has made it to this point is the one that recognizes the most strategic value and has indi... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Pj Germain @ Friday, 8th December 2006 @ 6:37 PM

Once there was a time in business when you could experience a change and then return to a period of relative stability. Nowadays, changes occur constantly - one on top of another. We need to acknowledge change and realize that change is a continuous journey - a way of life rather than a one-time event that can be lived through. With considerable momentum and continuity building in an organization, it definitely can be said that nothing is ever absolutely certain (other than possibly d... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Dave Kauppi @ Thursday, 7th December 2006 @ 9:17 PM

How much is my business worth? That depends. Of course it depends on profits, sales, EBITDA, and other traditional valuation metrics. A surprisingly important factor, however, is how you choose to sell it. If I could share with you how you could realize at least 20% more for your business would you read the rest of this article? The way to achieve the most value from the sale of your company is to get several strategic buyers all competing in a soft auction process. That is the holy gra... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Dave Kauppi @ Wednesday, 6th December 2006 @ 5:00 PM

Perhaps the most important business transaction you will ever pursue is the sale of your business. Many healthcare business owners attempt to do it themselves and when asked if they got a good deal, many respond with "I think so," or "I got my asking price," or "I really don't know," or "It was a disaster." Often times these very capable business people approach the sale of their business with less formality than in the sale of a home. The purpose of this ar... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Wayne Messick @ Wednesday, 6th December 2006 @ 6:57 AM

Can I assume everyone knows what a business to business peer group is? Maybe you've heard of them called Mastermind Groups instead. In either case the principles are those of Napoleon Hill and his colleagues that have been in use since the early part of the last century. In a nutshell it is a small group of people meeting regularly, using the power of small group dynamics that foster creativity and accountability - to realize their full potential. When people who respect each other c... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Wayne Messick @ Monday, 4th December 2006 @ 6:14 PM

A couple of months ago I was invited to a breakfast where Crains Magazine was honoring some exceptional small businesses located here in NYC. Each company was represented by one of its owners, spread out across the front of the room - each prepared to tell us a little bit of "their story" - Brooklyn Industries was one of them and was well represented by its co-founder Lexy Funk. As soon as she was introduced I realized I was sitting at the table next to her cheering section... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Wayne Messick @ Monday, 4th December 2006 @ 5:42 PM

It seems like we all learn better in groups. In school, from kindergarten to graduate school, you worked on projects in teams or groups. You always seemed to learn more from your peers than when you listened to an instructor droning on about a particular subject. What we all learn talking with and listening to our peers can provide amazing insights. And if these peer groups meet regularly we can really leverage our business strengths. Conducting ongoing conversations with our peers reall... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Wayne Messick @ Saturday, 2nd December 2006 @ 6:32 PM

OK, that first assumes you have a real business, one that has lasted at least five years. About ninety percent of the new businesses founded go broke before their fifth anniversary, so I am excluding them here. The companies who make it past their fifth anniversary have more than just potential! They have proven that theirs is a viable business proposition, they had the money to out last the vast majority and they know a lot more than the average about running a business. Now it's ti... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Gaetane Ross @ Sunday, 22nd October 2006 @ 5:51 PM

Rather than creating a bogus link directory and filling it with 25,000 links, link to partners with pages that are actually indexed by search engines and have page rank. Additionally, ask them for inbound links from their pages that are indexed and have page rank. Both of you will gain more from this exchange. There are two major ways in which you can use links. You can use them to improve your natural search engine rankings. You can do this through reciprocal link exchanges, triangular l... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By James Lowe @ Sunday, 22nd October 2006 @ 11:39 AM

Much of the effort in beginning a home based Internet business is installing and maintaining the various technical pieces of software and equipment programs you will need to market, create, and deliver your different products or services. While this fascinating technological side of starting a home based online business may seem tedious, highly detailed, costly and even frightening at first, please keep in mind that ultimately it should advance the quality of your life. It shoul... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Phil Morettini @ Saturday, 21st October 2006 @ 9:30 AM

So when should you license your technology to other companies? This can be a complicated question, since I always say "no one sells your product like you do." Depending upon your tendencies, there is a bias toward holding everything you develop close to the vest, unwilling to give that hard-earned technical advantage to another company. Or you may be on the other side of the fence, and want to very quickly "cash in" on a technological development--thinking that there are v... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Jonathon Hardcastle @ Friday, 20th October 2006 @ 6:21 PM

To survive in a competitive global environment, an organization must provide targeted customers more value than its competitors, as customer value is the difference between all the benefits derived from a total product/service and all the costs of acquiring those benefits. For instance, owning a car can provide a number of benefits, including flexible transportation, image, status, pleasure, comfort, and even companionship. However, securing these benefits requires paying for the car, gasoline, ... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Gaetane Ross @ Wednesday, 18th October 2006 @ 2:13 PM

A sitemap of a website is similar to the table of contents of a book. Sitemaps are important because it guides web surfers to the particular part of the website they have a point of interest in. With it they would save time following links and get right to the point instead. Sitemaps are also where search engines look at if somebody is looking for a particular keyword or phrase. If you have a site map, you can most likely be searched. Creating a sitemap, now with software technol... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Gaetane Ross @ Saturday, 14th October 2006 @ 10:13 AM

Before revealing the secrets of the trades, here are myths and fallacies that need to be cleared before one indulges into building an opt-in list. These marketing misconceptions could pose so much of an obstacle towards your profitting well from your business. Not a lot of people use email Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing methods nowadays simply because virtually almost all people use email. Check on those email fields or blanks required to be filled up on var... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Laura Watkins @ Wednesday, 4th October 2006 @ 10:41 AM

These days, when it comes to seeking out information, most people turn to their computers to do the work for them. "Surfing the Net" has become a routine way of gathering necessary data, facts, and other such knowledge. Need directions to your Aunt Susie's friend's garage sale? Head to mapquest.com and you're likely to find a customized map, tailored to your specifications. Can't remember what macerate means? Dictionary.com will remind you. In fact, these days, ... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Gaetane Ross @ Wednesday, 20th September 2006 @ 3:04 AM

The following paragraphs summarize the work of affiliate programs experts who are completely familiar with all the aspects of affiliate programs. Heed their advice to avoid any affiliate programs surprises. Employ some form of exclusivity in your product launch in order to develop curiosity. For instance, announce that you will only allow a total of 25 affiliates to join your program and all those who do will receive some sort of benefits. Consider making affiliates fill out an applicati... more...

Business » Strategic Planning | By Kadence Buchanan @ Sunday, 17th September 2006 @ 10:56 PM

Many firms, driven by a need to better communicate with their customers and other stakeholders, recognize that marketing "is not a specialized activity at all. It encompasses the entire business and is necessary for a healthy business . It is the whole business seen from the customer's point of view." Every aspect of the marketing mix - the product, channels of distribution, price, and marketing communications - affects customers' response to a product/service. The Mark... more...