Posts Tagged ‘Business’

There is a tendency for people to think when bad news about the economy strikes the worst thing they could do is attempt to start a small business. This could not be farther from the truth. There is no such thing as a bad time to start a business, provided you go about it the right way. Check the news again. When large corporations are failing and looking for bailouts, small businesses keep on ticking. A small business owner that keeps a tight rein on operations and serves the public with products or services valuable enough to be taken in exchange for money will survive a bumpy ride.

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Any “grey beard” entrepreneur that has made it through the economic swings that seem to part of a natural cycle will tell you not to invest every personal cent you have in your business when starting out. You need to protect your personal assets and savings to take care of yourself and your family while you are building your business income. Nobody will stop you from investing some of your own money, but include acquiring a business loan as part of your start up strategy. There are some steps you will need to take to prepare for applying for a loan, and if you have already been rejected by the bank for a loan you have no choice but to pursuit another avenue.

Do your market research and be certain the product/service you are about to put on the market is viable. Survey everything you are planning to do and make the adjustments as necessary. Give the market what it is willing to pay to have. Make a very detailed business plan.

Choose the correct corporate structure for you business and register with the state. Get all your paper work in order and establish a proper bookkeeping system right off the bat. Find out exactly what your responsibilities are for paying taxes and retaining employees. Get your Employer Identification Number (EIN).

Register with Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) for the purpose of getting a Paydex score. Look for all the ways you can get accounts under your business name and out of your personal name. Set up vendor reporting with D&B. Eventually you will need to get your hands on a list of businesses that extend lines of credit to small business owners and use those to start building your business credit score. You can get as much as $35k through business credit. Get a credit card in your business name and use it wisely.

Money Available Regardless of the Economic Times

If you were expecting a magic formula to get an instant business loan, this is it. But it will take a little time. Depending on your diligence it could be a few weeks to a few months. No traditional banker or alternative lender will give you a loan with a decent interest rate without you doing these steps. You must build up your credit profile and business credit score first. It is the only way you can get money for your business that is not based on your personal credit and will not put your personal assets at risk. In the meantime you can use your business lines of credit from the list mentioned earlier to help get your business started.

Sincerely,

Ilya Bodner

Small Business Owner

Initial Underwriting Group

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When you are going to learn all you can about finance and business, you want to make sure you are getting the most detailed information that is available. When you go to figure out your finances if you own a business, you want to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.

This is to ensure a prosperous future for your business, as well as getting the most from it. This allows you to find out what you really need for your company, and what you really want out of it. How much do you bring in each month? How much do you put out? Can everything be covered with the input of money from it? These are all very good finance questions to ask yourself, and find the answers to in order to keep your business on its toes.

This helps you get the best business management that you could possibly have when figuring all of the money out. Not only can you find business financing information on the internet, and ways to protect your privacy information, you can also call a professional in the finance business to get information from them. They can also set up a time for one of their finance professionals to come over to your business and help you set up a budget, and a finance plan to better assist you with your finances in the future.

What could be better than having the help from someone who does this for a living, and also know all about ways to save you money for your business. Not only will they help you learn everything you need too but they will also help you balance everything out to make sure you are covering all of your debt so you do not go bankrupt in years to come.

A business consultant could help you take your business to the next level. Sometimes company owners are too close to the business to see practical ideas for improvement that are staring them in the face. That’s where business consultants can help. They have experience of a range of businesses and can pick some of the best ideas they have found to help you. If you find it difficult to generate innovative ideas for business growth and promotion, hiring a consultant is a good move. Expect your consultant to spend some time getting to know you and your business and teasing out information about your true goals. For example, you may want to boost profitability in your business, but is your final aim to create a business that you can sell on or to be able to afford business expansion? The strategies the business consultant recommends may vary depending on your answer.

Check Out The Competition

One good way to figure out your next move is to see what your competitors are doing and how you could do it better. When business consultants do a business review, the next logical step is a competitor analysis. This will examine where your competition is and how the market sees them. Expect this analysis to reveal some areas that you could do better with your business strengths. Your consultant will have contacts with people who can help you to gain a competitive advantage and he or she will use those contacts on your behalf. Networking with customers and suppliers can give you valuable insight into what you need to do next to become a market leader.

Don’t Ignore The Web

These days, you can’t afford to ignore the internet. Ideally, your business consultant will help you brainstorm ideas for expanding your web presence. Whether this consists of setting up a sales portal or finding a way to improve your search engine ranking, this is an essential part of promoting your business. A business consultant can help you to make your web strategy part of an overall plan for achieving your business goals. This is a key person when improving your business, so choose your consultant wisely. Look for someone with a strong track record in helping businesses grow, change and succeed, with the references and testimonials to prove it. Then you can be sure that you have discovered the right consultant for both you and your business.

Business VoIP services are already being hailed as the rightful successors to the traditional phone services. Many large enterprises have already integrated VoIP into their networks and with more sophisticated, affordable VoIP solutions in the market, small and medium businesses too are planning to start using business VoIP phones. This is probably the best time for any organization to take a look at the costs and benefits of business VoIP service and determine if it is right for them.

All that’s good with a business VoIP phone….

The most well-known and compelling reason for most businesses to consider VoIP is cost savings. A business VoIP service saves costs for a company on local calls and long-distance calls, which include both domestic and international calls. In particular if the company has many branches, within the country or overseas, then it makes a lot of business sense to go in for a VoIP solution as calls to and from the same provider are often free – similar to cell phone plans.

Other than cost-savings, business VoIP service offers many sophisticated value-added services which make it attractive. For example, a business VoIP phone service does not depend on the location. Whether you are calling an employee in an office a few thousand miles away or a local client, with a business VoIP phone, no extra cables are needed which means there are no extra costs. Also, you can carry your business VoIP phone number with you when you travel. No wonder it is called a virtual number! Where a Wi-Fi network is available, you could log into it and use your business VoIP service to start making and receiving phone calls. The same facility could be extended to mobile phones, which could use the VoIP network to make calls instead of standard mobile operators.

The biggest advantage of business VoIP service over traditional phone services is the complete integrated communications solution that it offers. With a business VoIP phone, it is possible to – make cheap domestic and international voice calls; take advantage of both audio and video conferencing; have features like call forwarding and call waiting; have voice messages and fax messages sent to your email address – and much more.

What’s not so good with a business VoIP phone…

While a business may benefit considerably with the cost-savings and additional features that a business VoIP phone service offers, there are certain cost factors, which need to be taken into account.

A business VoIP service is clearly dependent on power supply, implying that if there is no power, you will not be able to make or receive phone calls. This would mean you need a UPS to keep the business VoIP phone active during power outages and you would need a back-up PSTN line, just in case of emergencies.

Quality of voice in a business VoIP service had been an issue for some time, with complaints of echoes and jitters, etc. However, with VoIP solutions becoming more stable and mainstream now, you could get fairly good quality voice even on your business VoIP phone.

A converged network carrying both voice and data could raise issues of insufficient bandwidth, especially for small and medium business who typically have only one broadband line.

For any business, moving to a business VoIP phone service may be inevitable, but choosing a proper service provider will allow the company to seek features that will bring it immediate benefits, leaving a more comprehensive implementation for later.

Resource Box: Business VoIP can save a company thousands of dollars a year, some report savings of up to 80%. For smaller businesses a look at the benefits of a Business VoIP solution helps to see the advantages this new technology enables.

There are numerous business arguments for spending time and money on customer service, all of which have their own merits outweighing much of the downsides. Running a business without adequate customer service is one sure fire way to lose out in the long run, in terms of both customers and cost to your business. Customer service should be approached as a fixed cost that is also an investment in customer retention and goodwill, and ultimately in bottom line profits. By allotting adequate resources to the cause, your business will undoubtedly see a benefit from the customer service it provides.

One of the key business arguments for providing customer service lies in customer retention, and in maximising the lifetime value of each and every customer. Assume each customer is worth $100 a year to your business. By investing heavily in customer service, your business can retain most customers for longer, which would make each individual customer worth significantly more. However, without any thought to customer service, the short term value of each customer to your business could be much less, and there may be no guarantees of keeping each customer on after one year. Thus investing in a customer service department in your business is not only a good idea, but also one that can make or break your long term financial success.

It’s also important from a business point of view to have strong customer service as a way of protecting your brand, and ensuring the perception of your business remains intact. People talk, particularly after having experienced poor service and word can spread fast that your company is not able to deliver on its promises. If you make a habit of neglecting the customer service issues faced by your company on a day to day basis, you might quickly find that your business loses its ability to attract new sales prospects rather rapidly.

Another main business argument for establishing a competent customer service department is its impact on branding and customer acquisition. Converse to the fact that bad service will attract attention from word of mouth, so too good customer service travels fast and creates plenty of referrals. If people experience positive service, even where they may be having a problem with one of your products or services, they’re likely to tell others about the service they’ve enjoyed. This is an asset to your business, and if you get your customer service right, it can help to bring in new business referrals indirectly.

Running a business is not rocket science – it requires solid business fundamentals and the necessary support infrastructure to ensure you can deliver on what you promise and to keep customers happy. After all, happy customers are repeat customers, and repeat customers have the potential to strongly grow your business. By taking heed of the obvious business advantages to developing and strengthening your customer service department, you can benefit from a growth in your business and a stronger brand perception, which will help retain existing customers and attract new ones in equal measure.

Most individuals are also unaware regarding how to buy grants to begin his or her own business. Finding a grant is tricky because schemes have limited quantity of funding distribution and the government target particular areas and change over time to reflect different objectives.

Small business financial depends upon nature of the business i.e. Separate or seasoned business. Amount fetched through the small business financial can be used for diverse purposes really like getting a land, furniture, raw material, advertisement, machinery, outgoing expenditures and so on.

In a small business partnership, to assist both your business and your marriage thrive, it’s most acceptable to exceedingly think things thru before taking the first steps. Have a few weeks to make under the impression you can really work well together before putting any significant cash into a small business partnership. If your business, your marriage or both are also relatively new, you really may also you would like to take a piece way more time to evaluate both situations before making final calls about a little business partnership.

Consequently, lots of individuals have questions getting ready how a tiny online business manages and about the different stuff that assist to keep it afloat for therefore long down the road. Having a good positive attitude is a should for anyone who is handling a small the internet business. If your customers feel because though you also are rude or mean to your employees, they probably will be telling everyone they understand about your negative behavior, because well as the reality that they would not come back into your tiny the internet business in the future. Losing patrons constantly or buying a exceedingly bad reputation for being dishonest or mistreating individuals, is one convinced path of ensuring that your tiny the internet business will not ever be exceedingly successful. This is true, especially for any tiny online business that’s located during a little town. Little town individuals have a tendency to chat a lot far more, preparing rumors, gossip, other individuals online business, because well as anyone handling any of the local small online businesses.

On the other side if the business individual does not you would like to risk real estate, he or she will be ready to choose for unsecured little business loans that are approved without collateral. However, on unsecured tiny business loans, lenders cost increased interest rate for covering risks. The lender gives most effective shorter repayment duration for unsecured tiny business loans.

With these guidelines in mind, you actually is in a position to increase your opportunities of getting unsecured the web credit for your tiny business without having to danger your private property.

Even in a sluggish economy there are smart solutions that can help grow your business or better service your business, to keep or add to your client/patient database. Let us start with one solution that is not utilized often enough by companies and medical practices. Many progressive companies and practices utilize the services of an answering service. Why’s that, you may ask? It’s simple: they understand the importance of staying in touch with their customer, clients or patients whenever it’s necessary for them to call their company or medical facility. Or at a minimum, allow them an after hour calling service option for their callers. They realize servicing these calls either on an overflow or after hours basis at times is not only necessary, but a value-added service. Another reason why is to seamlessly have their calls covered. What company/practice can afford to miss a call?

Industry leading answering service companies like 1-800 We Answer have been providing a wide array of services for companies and medical professionals/practices for 40 years. They are well aware that the first voice a customer/prospect/patient hears is important.

A sour tone, an unfriendly voice doesn’t help your business in any way. Nor does hearing a voicemail message or that recorded “Our offices are now closed” message. The best answering service only hires and offers to its clients the best trained and articulate operators in the industry. Answering service companies are well aware that the voice they first hear truly matters.

Answering services exist that are well suited to help you better service and sell your business/practice. These services include: a complete call center, voicemail service, fax to e-mail service, business systems installation of phones from cable to phone selection and installation to creating your telecom infrastructure.

The best answering service companies have grown successful by listening attentively to their clients and offering them services they’ve truly needed. Your business or practice can and should do the same. Whether you need overflow call coverage after hours or at a peak seasonal selling time, you cannot afford to miss any calls. A mail order catalog company I know utilized the answering service solution and their sales grow. How? Well, while their sales staff was asleep, answering service operators were taking their calls after hours, especially from the west coast clients and prospects that had that recently received their new catalog in the mail.Their answering service was capable of servicing these calls and even helping people navigate on the company’s web site and providing some helpful product information. When the sales staff arrived in the morning there were numerous messages left for all of their sales representatives. As a result, many of those calls received and handled by the answering service lead to actual sales.

What too many companies overlook is that a quality and professional answering service can practically become a partner, a sales and service partner without any legal paperwork or percentages owed or owned by another individual. And that’s how any business or practice can creatively grow their business.

A reliable and well established company, like 1-800 We Answer, is capable of being that partner. They can successfully play that role for you at an affordable price, offer flexible billing options and provide all the expensive new technology and telecom equipment along with a skilled staff that will be available when you need them. The answering service that your company chooses should back-up their services with a skilled staff of customer service and IT professionals. You shouldn’t feel pressured you into signing any long-term contracts. Your answering service should want to earn your business over the long-term. And that to me is a good and old-fashioned way of doing business the right way. Good and trusted relationships over time usually pay off in more ways than one.

The manner in which people relate themselves to the things they use on a daily basis is called consumer psychology. In this theory studies the manner in which a person behaves when he decides to buy a particular product. It is also called consumer behavior and it deals with all the factors that lead a consumer to buy a particular product such as product value and influence of advertising.

Consumer psychology helps explain the mannerisms of a consumer’s behavior and predicts the way in which a consumer will make his decisions. Many of the theories of this stream of psychology are influenced by advertising, marketing, economics, social and cognitive psychology. After all if the consumer is understood, the demand/supply flow can be better strategized.

People who specialize in this field are researchers, educators, consultants and make policies. Graduates in this field are likely to get a job in advertising, in firms that do research on human behavior, or in government institutions study consumer behavior.

A degree in management or marketing may be needed in order to get more advanced jobs. For someone who is pursuing this career a normal day at work will involve meeting a number of people and trying to apply certain skills to solve problems and to find solutions. The main work involved in this job is to think, analyze data, preparing research reports and to meet a number of people.

A job in consumer psychology and business involves analyzing data, preparing research reports, and working with people. The job profile is extensive but satiating both monetarily as well as vocationally. The options and scope for taking skill and training/qualifications further are many. With a recognized business management certification in place, the ingrained theory and practical on analysis of psychology of consumers enables the corporate personnel to relate to the target market better.

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Buying a franchise has become a progressively more popular way of getting into commerce. It is imperative to indulge the purchase of a franchise the same way as buying an existing business or setting up. Therefore, the information already covered in this guide can apply to a franchise.

Franchising is where an obtainable business has found that it can imitate its success in different regions by selling franchise rights to previous staff or outside country buyers.

The specialized naming and proficiency of the franchisor is the key. Look for an established business record and a history of remarkable performance. The last thing you want is to buy a franchise run by an insincere or ineffectual operator. You want to make sure that you are entering a business with a feasible enduring strategy – both for the franchisor and for the franchisees.

Taking Precautions While Buying A Franchise

Determine for a franchise that has an elite item for consumption, customer service or system and try not to be the first franchisee. Only spend in a franchise that previously exists. This agrees to you to go and visit other franchisees to acquire an idea of how they have executed. If you can, volunteer to work in their authorization.

The reason of buying a franchise is that you are buying a confirmed system, so look for a franchise with a well-established track record. In addition, the association between you and the franchisor is decisive – they should be providing you with as much support as you need to succeed.

Benefits Of Buying A Franchise

If you buy a first-rated franchise, your possibilities of achievement are much superior than trying to initiate your own business, as you get an established product or service that someone else has spent time and energy establishing. But this is only one of the many advantages.

- Franchising may be a recovered option for people wishing to own their own firm.  However it will be possessing partial small business management skills.

- Achieving access to an established business system that should comprise working manuals, support with record keeping and protocols for selling.

- Obtaining an established brand name that may be illustrious by your consumers. You will get prospect to learn from the skill of the franchisor. Gaining possible access to official instruction and support.

- The opportunity to operate within a bigger, more powerful business environment and the subsequent benefits of buying power and market recognition.

- Continuing practical guidance is on hand. You can get reasonably priced inventory which enables you to be very price competitive. You can also buy other franchises.

- Publicity is normally beyond the reach for small businesses. So, if all franchisees give marketing fee to the franchisor then it will be beneficial for long-term business. You will be having the opportunity to employ good workforce.

Drawbacks Of Buying A Franchise

- The franchising corporation usually controls what you vend and how you function. You may have restricted prospect to follow your own ideas.

- If you not succeed to attain agreed sales revenues or do not run the franchise to the obligatory standards you could have the franchise taken away from you. If they are bought out, lose interest, or forget the needs of the franchisees, your prosperity could be exaggerated. You have to pay a franchise fee and, usually, ongoing royalties. If the business fails, you will have ended up paying the franchise fee for a useless name.

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Everyday more and more people are discovering that they would like to start their very own online business. Yes it is very true that starting an online business can be quite lucrative if done correctly. The problem that many who would like to take on this venture is that they do not know what is needed in order to start a internet based business. This article will go over some things that one should have when thinking about starting their business online.

The things listed in this article apply to basically any type of online business. Here are some must haves.

A Computer – I know this is common since but I had to list it anyway because this is obviously goig to be the nucleus of your online business. I do want to point out that you should not be using a really old computer. I would personally recommend using Windows XP or newer, although you maybe able to get by using windows 98, but nothing older then that. You should be able to find a nice new desktop computer for anywhere between $400 – $1000. If you are looking to use a laptop you can expect spending anywhere between $400 – $1500.

Good Internet Connection – You are going to need a good internet connection because this will make running your online business a lot smoother. I would use a broad band connection instead of dial up, because for especially running an internet business using dial up would typically be to slow.

A Good Antivirus Software – This is important because a good antivirus software will keep your business protected. There are many viruses circulating all over the net and it can only take your computer getting one of them for it to cause some serious problems for you and your business.

Email Account – Most computer users have at least one email account. If you do not have one it would be a good idea to get one. You will need one of these to be able to contact people and businesses and so that they will be able to contact you via the web. There are several places where you can signup for a free email account such as Yahoo, Gmail and Hot Mail.

Zip File Program – You will need one of these for times when you may have to zip or unzip large files that are related to your business. There are several paid versions and free versions of these types of programs. To be honest with you most free versions will do just fine.

A Credit Card – No you do not need a credit card so that you can run them up and get in debt. A credit may come in handy for those times that you may need a service for your business and that service may only take credit cards. You do not need a credit card to start an online business, but it would be a good idea to have one just in case you might need one.

Startup Capital – One of the great things about starting a business online is unlike many offline businesses that cost a fortune to start, an online business does not cost anywhere near as much. I would recommend having at least $200 to invest in your business. This money will be used for important things like domain names, hosting, different software and advertising. In some cases you may be able to start your online business for less then $100.

Paypal Account – This just like the credit card is not necessarily needed to start your business, but will be very beneficial to you if you do. Setting up a paypal account is free and easy to operate. Having one will help attract more customers and make your overall business look a lot more legit and up to date.

A Desire To Succeed – Starting an online business can be challenging at times. There is a lot of work that must be done to create a successful internet business, but it can be done. All you have to be able to do is learn and keep going. It will be well worth it in the long run.

BUSINESS ETHICS

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Can Ethics and Business co-exist?

Or are the two mutually exclusive?

Is Ethics relevant in Business Management in today’s world?

Or is “Business Ethics” an oxymoron, not relevant in today’s business and corporate environment?

Is there such a thing as Ethical Fitness?

When recruiting new people, or promoting/appointing persons to senior / sensitive positions, a number of attributes ( Hard Skills and Soft Skills) like Professional Competence, Managerial Proficiency, Domain-specific or Technical skills, and pertinent soft skills comprising leadership, communication, behavioural and emotional aspects, and even physical and medical fitness are assessed, evaluated and given due consideration.

But does anyone evaluate a candidate’s Ethical Fitness before recruitment or appointment?

No, I am not talking about the routine verification of antecedents or background integrity checks. I am talking of assessing Ethical Fitness.

Ethical fitness refers to ensuring that people are in proper moral shape to recognize and address ethical dilemmas. Ensuring Ethical fitness in a proactive manner will result in preventive, rather than corrective, Ethical Management.

Before launching any inquiry pertaining to the concept of Ethical Fitness, it is necessary to explore the moral dimension. Moral development is a prerequisite to ethical behaviour; in fact, a sine qua non for ethical fitness. Kohlberg offers a handy framework for delineating the stage each of us has reached with respect to personal moral development.

Stage 1. Physical consequences determine moral behaviour.

At this stage of personal moral development, the individual’s ethical behaviour is driven by the decision to avoid punishment or by deference to power. Punishment is an automatic response of physical retaliation. The immediate physical consequences of an action determine its goodness or badness. Such moral behaviour is seen in boarding schools, military training academies etc. where physical punishment techniques are prevalent with a view to inculcate the attributes of obedience and deference to power. The individual behaves in a manner akin to the Pavlovian dog.

Stage 2. Individual needs dictate moral behaviour.

At this stage, a person’s needs are the person’s primary ethical concern. The right action consists of what instrumentally satisfies your own needs. People are valued in terms of their utility. Example: “I will help him because he may help me in return – you scratch my back, I will scratch yours.”

Stage 3. Approval of others determines moral behaviour.

This stage is characterized by decision where the approval of others determines the person’s behaviour. Good behaviour is that which pleases or helps others within the group. The good person satisfies family, friends and associates. “Everybody is doing it, so it must be okay.” One earns approval by being conventionally “respectable” and “nice.” Sin is a breach of the expectations of the social order – “log kya kahenge?” is the leitmotif, and conformance with prevailing ‘stereotypes’ the order of the day.

Stage 4. Compliance with authority and upholding social order are a person’s primary ethical concerns.

“Doing one’s duty” is the primary ethical concern. Consistency and precedence must be maintained. Example: “I comply with my superior’s instructions because it is wrong to disobey my senior”. Authority is seldom questioned. “Even if I feel that something may be unethical, I will unquestioningly obey all orders and comply with everything my boss says because I believe that the boss is always right.”

Stage 5. Tolerance for rational dissent and acceptance of rule by the majority becomes the primary ethical concern.

Example: “Although I disagree with her views. I will uphold her right to have them.” The right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights, and in terms of standards that have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society. (eg) The Constitution. The freedom of the individual should be limited by society only when it infringes upon someone else’s freedom.

Stage 6. What is right is viewed as a matter of individual conscience, free choice and personal responsibility for the consequences.

Example: “There is no external threat that can force me to make a decision that I consider morally wrong.” An individual who reaches this stage acts out of universal ethical principles.

Moral development is in no way correlated with intellectual development or your position in the hierarchy or factors like rank, seniority, status, success or earnings, salary, material wealth. In the words of Alexander Orlov, an ex-KGB Chief, “Honesty and Loyalty may be often more deeply ingrained in the make-up of simple and humble people than in men of high position. A man who was taking bribes when he was a constable does not turn honest when he becomes the Chief of Police. The only thing that changes in the size of the bribe. Weakness of character and inability to withstand temptation remains with the man no matter how high he climbs.” Ethical traits accompany a man to the highest rungs of his career.

In a nutshell the governing factors pertaining to six stages of Moral Development which determine Ethical Fitness may be summarized as:

FEAR – Stage 1

NEEDS – Stage 2

CONFORMANCE – Stage 3

COMPLIANCE – Stage4

CONSENSUS – Stage 5

CONSCIENCE & FREE WILL – Stage 6

Before we try to delve into exploring how to evaluate Ethical Fitness, let us briefly ponder on the concepts of Ethical Susceptibility and Ethical Vulnerability.

Ethical Susceptibility is your inability to avoid ethical dilemmas. Ethical Susceptibility is environment dependent (on external factors) like, for example, your job, your boss, colleagues and subordinates, or the persons around you, or even the ‘prevalent organizational culture’.

Ethical Vulnerability is your inability to withstand succumbing in the given ethical dilemmas /situations. It is dependent on your internal stage of moral development in the given ethical situation.

Whereas being in an ethical dilemma is not in your control, to act in an ethical manner in the prevailing situation is certainly in your control.

Ethical vulnerability is a measure of the ease with which a man be ethically compromised, especially in an ethically poor climate. In situations where the ethical susceptibility is high, morally strong people (ethically non-vulnerable) should be appointed and conversely, only in jobs/situations where ethical susceptibility is low should ethically vulnerable persons be permitted.

If the environment is not ethically conducive, a person can intellectually inwardly reach stage 6 but deliberately outwardly masquerade and remain morally at stage 4 as he may find that he has to sacrifice too much to reach stage 6. This can be particularly seen in most hierarchical organizations where most “smart” employees make an outward preference of being at stage 3 or 4 (Conformance and Compliance) in order to avoid jeopardizing their careers, even if internally they have achieved higher ethical states. This Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde schizophrenic moral approach is at the heart of many ethical dilemmas people encounter in their professional lives and may result in internal stress due to ethical confusion.

Whenever two individuals at different stages of moral development interact with each other, both of them try to force or manoeuvre the other into their own appreciation of the ethical situation, thus leading to conflict.

In a formal hierarchical setup, the players in the chain may not be at similar stages of moral development thereby leading to ethical dissonance in the system. Where the ethical susceptibility is high, morally strong people (less vulnerable) should be appointed and conversely, in only such jobs where ethical susceptibility is low should ethically weak persons be permitted.

What is your stage of personal moral development?

Be honest with yourself and recall the decisions you made in recent ethical situations.

The six stages of moral development are valuable landmarks as they tell you approximately where you are and what changes you will have to make in yourself to move to a higher level of moral development. The ultimate goal is to engage in ethical decision making at stage 6. However, the level that you do reach will depend on your ethical commitment, your ethical consciousness and your ethical competence.

Food for Thought

What do you do if your boss is at a lower stage of moral development than you?

Do you masquerade and make pretence of being at the “appropriate” stage of what moral development and practice situational ethics to reap maximum benefits.

This Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde schizophrenic ‘situational ethics’ approach may cause your outer masquerade to turn into inner reality.

Do you want that to happen? Think about it!

Is there a need to assess Ethical Fitness in business and managerial situations?

Or is “Business Ethics” an oxymoron, not relevant in today’s business environment?

Most importantly, can Ethics and Business co-exist? Or are the two mutually exclusive?

Dear Reader, what do you think? Please comment.

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2009

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

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Interestingly there are many people who still doubt the significance of having a business website. “Our customers don’t use the Internet,” they often claim, oblivious to the fact that a website is not just to facilitate online sales. A website performs multifarious operations right from non-stop promotion, advertising, customer relations and public relations, e-commerce, information dissemination and social media awareness. Some of the primary functions of websites are briefly mentioned below.

Customer service

As a business you constantly need to interact and communicate with your customers and clients. Your customers and clients should be easily able to contact you or avail crucial information about your business on time, and you should be able to convey important messages and make announcements in a timely and efficient matter. A website facilitates two-way communication between your business and your customers and clients.

Through contact form or e-mail present on your website your customers and clients can get in touch with you with great speed without having to be put on hold upon making a phone call. Similarly, whenever there are important announcements or product launches you can publish the updates on your business website. Every message that can have an impact on business-customer relationship can be immediately published on your business website. There are no working hours when it comes to your website; your website is accessible to your customers and clients 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.

Public relations

This is somewhat similar to the point discussed above. Your customers and clients, and even journalists and analysts, can access your corporate literature at the convenience of a few mouse clicks. In case there is a misunderstanding or miscommunication you can immediately do the damage control through your business website. If some misinformation is being circulated regarding your company you can immediately clarify by publishing your side of the story on your website.

Many companies provide highly useful information on their corporate websites and this really boosts the public relations. For instance during the recent cyclone there were many business websites that actively published important phone numbers and contact information on their websites.

Leveraging existing, ongoing advertising

Your advertising effort should always be complemented with the presence of your website URL. You should make sure that the URL of your corporate website is prominently displayed whenever you publish an advertisement — whether to promote your business or to seek employees. People can go to your website for further information at their own convenience this way. The advertising space is limited but the space on your website is not. You can even encourage people to subscribe to your mailing list so that you can send updates to them now and then. If you are already publishing an electronic newsletter make sure that your website URL always appears in the newsletter.

Another great way of promoting your website URL is by printing it on your stationery. Your website link must be prominently displayed on your visiting cards, letterheads, brochures, mailers and folders; wherever they go they will have your website URL on them.

Making money

As mentioned above trillions of dollars are being spent on online transactions. Why not become a part of this massive economy? The greatest advantage of having a business website is that you can sell products and services all over the world from a tiny office in your basement. Doing business from a website is the quickest way of launching a new business and making money. Advanced and innovative websites created by Easy2usesites KZN makes sure that their clients reap great rewards by partnering with such a leading edge company.

Cost-effectiveness

Starting a new business these days is as simple as getting a website developed and then promoting it sufficiently. You don’t have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars opening an office and hiring people. Since most of the tasks are automated when you conduct business from your website there are hardly any operational costs.

Customer-demand

These days every company worth its salt has a website. This means if you don’t have a website then your competitors definitely have one and your customers are aware of that. Your customers demand that you have a website so that they can access it whenever they need to obtain information, contact you or carry out a business transaction. They deem it highly objectionable if you are reachable only during the working hours and after that you are totally gone. Agreed, that you can’t be available all the time and this is a fact that your customers are aware of too but they want your website to be available at every hour. They consider a business extremely archaic and outdated if it does not have a website.

Tracking customer trends

It’s all about information these days; those who possess data wield the real might. Your website helps you gather critical customer data by running interactive applications on your website. Your customers can immediately give you feedback and this can help you carry out modifications, with alacrity. User forums on your website allow your customers make recommendations and interact with other customers and clients. By going through their posts and replies you can make out what difficulties your customers face and what changes they want in the products and services you are providing.

You can even conduct polls on your website and offer questionnaires to your visitors to obtain their direct feedback.

Leveraging the democratic nature

The Internet is highly democratic; it doesn’t matter whether you are a small business or a big business. Everybody gets a fighting chance on the Internet. A great thing about the Internet is that although money matters, it doesn’t matter much because eventually it is your website and your perseverance that opens the doors to success. Provided you are innovative and hard-working everybody can initiate a great venture on the Internet.

Projecting a favorable image

Having a business website can work wonders with your corporate image. You can gain lots of traction by having a good-looking and highly functional website. Your website layout and structure gives an indication of your attitude towards your visitors and consequently, your business. Using latest technologies and tools to create your website conveys to your target market that you are totally at ease with contemporary technologies and are ready to invest on your online visitors.

Remember that there could be thousands of people every day searching for websites similar to your website and all these websites are competing with you in terms of looks, layout, functionalities and content. Doing well in all these sphere can really boost your corporate image.

Expand your market

The world is a global village now and everybody can participate. Stop being confined to your local market and reach out to the global market. It is as simple as launching a website. To an online customer it doesn’t matter if you are sitting next door or in another country or on another continent; he or she can simply log onto your website and carry out business with you within a couple of minutes. You don’t even have to open a local office.

On the Internet there are no barriers. People running businesses online experience the true freedom. There is no bias, there is no discrimination and nobody can particularly create hurdles. By having a website, especially a website created by Easy2usesites KZN, you can be sure of being in the driving seat of your destiny.

Far too many businesses fail entirely or fail to even approach their true profit potential. This is an embarrassing fact, and one that can be changed. Personal issues are the origin of a large number of business problems. A pattern of errors and missed opportunities in the business world often corresponds to poor time management and inability to conduct finances in the business owner’s life. Exacerbating this is the fact that even many high educated ones are not aware of the foundational principles of business management. Everything coalesces to lead to the overall failure of business.

Ask yourself how, exactly, you define “success”. Are you completely sure about what constitutes the running of a business geared toward success? Consistency and quality are two aspects that are all-essential to a business; they can make or break its reputation and future, and positively or negatively impact its bottom line. Perhaps you are inconsistently doing all the right things or consistently doing all the wrong things. Consistency is definitely the key to success in business. If you focus on providing high quality services and products, the chances of business to endure and succeed increase dramatically. There are no medals for mediocrity in this game.

Plan carefully and thoroughly, and also creatively. Ensure that you consider and assess a broad range of details. Planning will set you firmly on the path to achieve success, regardless of what kind of business you are in.

Setting realistic but robust goals for both business and personal life is absolutely crucial. You will know exactly where you stand if at any point you fail because the whole journey is planned out in stages. The more carefully constructed your goals are, the greater your sense of real direction and route in your business venture. It’s easy to be sidetracked and pulled off the path to success if you don’t have goals to guide you.

Consistency is difficult to maintain. Think about this – are you currently able to provide customer service at the same standard on a regular basis? Is every product you sell of a consistent, high quality? Does your product or service reliably maintain its quality from one purchase or use to the next one?

Develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to distinguish your business from the competition. A USP must convey the message that those who enter into business transactions with you are at an appreciable advantage. Your USP also needs to live up to its name: that is, it must be unique. Overused and meaningless phrases like “highest quality” or “best service” won’t cut it, so don’t be lazy and use them to describe your services. Customers will be unmoved. Concretize and quantify – there must be a specific thing your target customer wants.

Developing a great USP means never being forced to sell on price. The trick is to actually get your USP out there – you’ll be going already a step farther than many other rival businesses.
Next, push your USP marketing strategy into the market, let the world know that you’ve got what it takes and nobody else has what you’ve got. Do it over and over. There is no single opportune moment, no precisely perfect message. Your USP is the message, so let the marketing speak for your business.

You can’t afford to wait until your marketing satisfies your doubtless superior standards. Executing a decent marketing plan puts you in the field – you’ll have plenty of time and opportunities to fine-tune it. If your actual USP message is solid, you will float and maybe even fly.

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Being self employed is the best thing that can happen in your career life because you finally get to be your own boss. You do not get to report to anyone since you are now the one calling the shots. A lot of responsibility comes with being the boss though. You have to make decisions concerning your business and your employees. It requires a lot of business management skills and wisdom to run a company or a business for that matter.

One must also have the drive and passion. You must be self motivated to achieve business growth. You should be doing what you have always wanted to do, not just doing it for somebody else. Passion is the force that will make you stay a float even when the waters get troublesome.

Self confidence and self trust is also important to have. You have to believe and know that you can make it and that you are capable of running that business successfully. Be a team player, even if you are the authority figure, there is need to ensure team work in all aspects of your business operations.

Product knowledge is very crucial if you are to ensure business growth and promotion. You are the proprietor, so you should understand the market trends, the business strategies that your competitors are using and their marketing strategies.

Attend seminars and workshops so that you can keep in touch with everything that is happening in the market place. Engage only in productive competition. No matter what happens, your aim is to ensure business promotion and making money. This is a business advice worth pondering over.

An important item to be factored in business planning is positioning. This is a very crucial element since a business that is strategically placed will contribute to the business plan working effectively. Business positioning will give your company a sure advantage when it comes to edging out competition. In case of a where business that is offering services, suppliers and customers will find it easy to access your premise thus easing business operation.

Another aspect of business planning is commitment. This involves tactical business resolutions that are not only costly to reverse but also complicated to alter. For the business resolutions to be effective, it should be very expensive for your business rivals to imitate. If this be the case, then all efforts will be put in place to make sure that the decision is implemented thus create commitment.

Business plans that work best are the ones that take into account the future events and can hence predict which business strategies will contain the business in case of any eventuality. Business managers need to give an allowance for flexibility due to the uncertainty of market trends.

Even with business decisions that require commitment to execute, it is imperative to allow your business to evolve when the need arises. This is because one cannot tell what will happen in future. Technology is changing by the minute hence a business owner requires to cushion his business by adapting to these changes.

Business planning is essential in ensuring smooth business operations; having a competitive edge and most importantly meeting the needs of your target market hence profit growth and business promotion.

What will you do?

When planning to start your own business the first thing you ask yourself is “What will I do?” Will your business be a service or will you be selling products on the internet? Finding the right business for you is crucial. Here are some steps to take when deciding what kind of business to start:

Make a list of the things you’re good at and describe how others would benefit
How are your services valuable?
Is there competition; others offering your services in the area?
Learn from the success and failures of others
Believe in what you have to offer
Consider the risk involved and plan for success

What do you need to begin?

When you decide what you want to do, the next step is to plan how to go about it. Do you possess the necessary skills to run your business? Is this something you can do by yourself or will you need to hire help?

Make a list of the items your business needs and what is required for you to be successful, including knowledge, skills, certifications, equipment and supplies.

What are the legal requirements?

You will need to be sure to meet the government requirements needed to operate your business. Go to your County Courthouse or City Hall and ask about requirements for starting your business.

The Secretary of State’s website will have information about starting a business in your state, including licenses and permits.

Business Plan

Serious entrepreneurs start with a solid business plan. Many industries require special licenses and permits. You may need liability insurance. Even if you do not require much in start up costs, you may want to see if you an secure a line of credit, just in case.

You business plan should cover anticipated income and expenses. Make sure you are competitive with the market on what you are charging for your products and services and be sure you are considering all expenses.

Start up costs

How much money do you need to start your business? Do some research on the internet; look for sample business plans. Talk to others who are in business for themselves; ask them how they got started. Maybe you can borrow start up money from friends, family or investors.

You may need to start small to build revenue and a customer base, and then think about expanding. Get to know area vendors who offer supplies and services your business needs; they may be willing to extend credit to help you get started. Eventually, you will build equity in your business which can be used to obtain a business line of credit.

Advertising

One of the worst mistakes new business owners make is thinking they will have customers immediately. Many online entrepreneurs have launched a website just to experience the disappointment of no sales for months. It is critical that you know your target market and how to reach them.

Internet marketing is the least expensive and the most effective in getting the word out. Think about who needs your product or service and develop a marketing plan with a catchy slogan to draw attention to what you are offering.

Technology

A good computer system might be valuable to improving your productivity. There is software available for many applications that can make operating your business easier. The time saved on automating certain tasks allows you to focus on marketing and improving your products and services.

The Future

Are you starting your business with the intention of selling it when you retire? Are you hoping your children will take over one day? Many business owners do not think this far. If you plan to sell the business in the future, you must build something that will be attractive to investors.

Starting and managing your business takes dedication, motivation and talent. It requires a lot of planning and research to help minimize risk and prepare you for what is ahead. Lack of planning is one of the leading cause of business failure.

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