Management

Microblogging Creating New Social Media Legal Issues

January 2 in Business, Entrepreneurship, International business, intrapreneurship, Product Development, Strategy by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on Microblogging Creating New Social Media Legal Issues

Twitter and other microblogging platforms are obviously powerful social media tools. We have seen much discussion about security and privacy on Facebook and other social media but not much discussion on ownership of contacts and resources developed within these platforms.

We have seen similar discussions before, for example, related to who owns customer accounts when sales employees leave companies. However dissecting ownership rights of Twitter and social media accounts to determine who ‘owns’ which contacts and conversations looks like major challenge.

We are heading into new territory here – you can expect to see more discussion on this topic in coming months as more legal challenges like this emerge. Check out the following Guardian article  http://tinyurl.com/6qeqyye

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Boards & Directors 35th Anniversary Edition Features Worm On A Chopstick

December 13 in Business, Entrepreneurship, International business, intrapreneurship, Strategy by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on Boards & Directors 35th Anniversary Edition Features Worm On A Chopstick

Very pleased to announce that the upcoming 35th Anniversary Edition of Boards & Directors magazine will feature Worm On A Chopstick: : Understanding Today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives in its recommended reading section “Book it: Best bets for board reading“.  As you may know, Boards & Directors magazine targets officers and directors of public companies. To see the  review of ‘Chopstick’ and other recommended books, click here Worm On A Chopstick Featured in Directors & Boards 35th Anniversary Issue

I sent many messages to traditional management in ‘Chopstick’ (e.g., innovation management, entrepreneurial thinking, globalization, etc.), but most positive response for the book to date has been from the entrepreneurial sector. I am very appreciative of the recognition of ‘Chopstick’ which is in good company with the other recommended books here.

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How To Be A Startup CEO – Bing Gordon Kleiner Perkins Video

December 11 in Business, Entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, startup, Strategy by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on How To Be A Startup CEO – Bing Gordon Kleiner Perkins Video

Excellent video I highly recommend by Bing Gordon, partner at VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (http://tinyurl.com/6vc5hy8). I also posted comments on video site and will be using some of these ideas in upcoming entrepreneurship course am teaching at GWU;

My posted comments as follows:

Excellent insightful presentation. I contribute teaching entrepreneurship in the George Washington University School of Business CFEE (“Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence”) and also serve as CEO of Sante Corp, a new venture with proprietary technology developing a new web-based personal health management system. My recently published book Worm on a Chopstick : Understanding Today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives shared perspectives and tips on what entrepreneurial company managers need to know to move to beyond a start-up to create a high growth company.

Many excellent management tips and messages in Bing Gordon’s video I am sharing with both students and colleagues. There are 3 messages in particular I am emphasizing:

  • The Need to Balance Management and Entrepreneurial Responsibilities Entrepreneurship is messy and often frenetic, pursuing innovative technologies, new product launches and building an organization with minimal capital. CEO must nuture and balance entrepreneurial culture with clear focus on tightly managing results. I find many entrepreneurs lack the ‘traditional’ management skills and have a ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy- these new management skills can and must be learned. Bing Gordon’s presentation clearly reinforces this point.
  • Quantifying Objectives with Trackable Milestones Gordon describes Intel’s ‘OKR’ or ‘Objectives and Key Results’ management approach – managers set objectives and identify and track 2 to 3 results, and managers expected to achieve 70 percent of results. Very important discipline which helps companies grow and send messages to Boards and investors. I have used KPI’s (‘Key Performance Indicators’) for years in many global businesses, discussed KPIs in my recent book, and counseled many CEO’s to adopt and use these tools . Also proposed a similar approach to track large numbers of new inner-city entrepreneurial companies in a new “Entrepreneurial Empowerment Program (EEP)” I am proposing to the administration. Excellent discipline and should be more widely promoted.
  • CEO’s Need to Implement Scalable Processes CEO’s need to think and plan long term- that means understanding that scalable processes must be established early, what are the objectives of these processes, when are they needed, what cost-effective solutions can we implement now to serve as ‘building-blocks’ as business scales. This message is often missed by entrepreneurial managers struggling with day-to-day challenges with limited resources.

Thanks for sharing an excellent, insightful presentation.

Paul B. Silverman

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Entrepreneurship -Interview on Inside Scoop Business Show Nov 21st

November 24 in Business, Entrepreneurship, startup, Strategy by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on Entrepreneurship -Interview on Inside Scoop Business Show Nov 21st

Agreed to be interviewed on weekly Upside Business Show November 21st- live on local channel 10, FIOS, Comcast, other TV markets, and live web streaming

Copy of broadcast now available at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18671440 (click on Nov.21st show if needed)

Welcome your comments on the show – I think local entrepreneurs may find this helpful

Here is blurb I shared with local press and regional business development groups after the program:

In the one hour program, I  reviewed entrepreneurial strategies, perspectives for entrepreneurs, sharing some perspectives on evaluating ventures and new venture strategy.

I also reviewed several new entrepreneurial programs I have proposed to support job creation and economic growth- discussion expanded on information in my recently published book Worm on a Chopstick : Understanding Today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives ( available at Amazon, Kindle) Good discussion with strong feedback – I am encouraged by the positive response

I do see real opportunity to develop creative entrepreneurial-driven, business expansion programs and  shared some of the directions I am pursuing on the show. Given today’s economic situation, we need to do more here.

I have shared my views on what I think should be done and will be talking with both administration staff and private groups in the next few weeks to discuss these initiatives. I welcome the feedback of others who also have interest and ideas- we need a dialog here given the job creation and economic challenges we are facing.

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TV Interview -Entrepreneurship Strategies and Economic Growth

November 23 in Business, Entrepreneurship, startup, Strategy by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on TV Interview -Entrepreneurship Strategies and Economic Growth

Interviewed on weekly Upside Business Show November 21st- local channel 10 on cable also on Verizon FIOS  and live web streaming- check out copy of broadcast now available at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18671440

One hour program  reviewed entrepreneurial strategies, perspectives for entrepreneurs,  and new entrepreneurial programs I have proposed to support job creation and economic growth- discussion expanded on information in my recently published book Worm on a Chopstick : Understanding Today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives ( Amazon at  http://tinyurl.com/797naog Good discussion with strong feedback.

I do see real opportunity to develop creative entrepreneurial-driven, business expansion programs and  shared some of the directions I am pursuing. Like to hear from  others on ideas – given today’s economic situation, we need to do more here.  

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Emerging Opportunities – Internet TV, Ads, New Services

November 2 in Business, Entrepreneurship, Internet TV, intrapreneurship, Product Development, Strategy by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on Emerging Opportunities – Internet TV, Ads, New Services

Emerging Opportunities – Check out NY Times Media Article Today–Ads and Services in Internet TV Sector

I track this area closely – note projected 50 percent of all homes will have at least one digital TV by year end. What is coming is crossover of many
exciting new business and consumer services that build on this new infrastructure (e.g., e-couponing, on-line ordering, mass-customized ‘perfect fit’ clothing, home health care services, and many others).
Advertisers have been missing link so this is positive and expect others will follow – still need to evaluate user reaction to ads but I see this being resolved. High potential area and some creative and exciting new business models are being developed here from what I have seen so far…

Here is article and link…

LG Brings Ad Capability to Internet-Connected TV
By STUART ELLIOTT
Published: November 1, 2011

A LEADING marketer of consumer electronics is adding an advertising capability to its Internet-connected televisions through an agreement with a video advertising technology company. And a charter sponsor has already been signed to join them….. more

I will be adding more info on this topic in next few weeks at https://paulbsilverman.com/blog/

 

 

 

 

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We Need More Focus on Intrapreneurship Not Less

October 31 in Business, Entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, Strategy by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on We Need More Focus on Intrapreneurship Not Less

Involved in Global Entrepreneurship Week at many levels – contributed to New Zealand’s  interest in promoting intrapreneurship – posted following comments today:

We Need More Focus on Intrapreneurship Not Less

Very important topic and should be supported. Glad to contribute.

We see changing technologies, market shifts, new competition and a changing regulatory situation challenging major players in all sectors. The ability to understand and effectively respond to these changes is how I define intrapreneurship. I frequently use 3M, GM and Google when discussing intrapreneurship- all provide insight.

Most know 3M invented innovative products for notes, waterproofing and adhesives, and some were developed ‘by accident.”

Was these pure luck or serendipity? It sure looks like 3M’s success was random and unplanned, and many might think so. Look a bit deeper, however, and you get a different perspective and learn a lesson or two.

At 3M, researchers are expected and encouraged to push the envelope, make
mistakes, and pursue new opportunities. 3M management reinforces this by
mandating that all researchers spend at least 15 percent of their time pursuing ideas that have nothing to do with their normal tasks—pushing the envelope, looking beyond mistakes to take the time to understand, research, dig deeper—all consistent with 3M’s innovation management leadership position. And 3M’s commitment to innovation is reinforced in the company’s mission statement: “To solve unsolved problems innovatively.” Sounds boring to some, but make no mistake- mission statements drive companies.

Further reinforcing this commitment is 3M’s impressive $1.4 billion R&D budget in 2008, about 4 percent of net sales revenue. But these emerging new technologies create disruption, and the need for new business processes, retooling and efficiently managing production, marketing, logistics with major business segments changing every several years. And 3M does it well, an example of effective “tops down” intrapreneurship and change management skills.

Now look at Google. Google, founded in 1998, started as a basic search engine,
ramped up sales to about $17 billion in 2007, and achieved a market cap of about $220 billion in November 2007. Note while Google looks like a high growth entrepreneurial venture which it obviously was, Google had
to acquire the same ‘intrapreneurship’ skills needed to grow,i.e., change
management, adapting business processes, focused R&D/product development, skillful competitive analysis/strategy development and so on. No small task for a “startup” like Google but they did it well

Finally look at GM. Started in 1908, a ‘traditional’ company, a “flagship” automobile brand from 1931 to 2007, and valued at less than $20 billion in late 2007, less than 10 percent of Google. Even after a $50 billion government bailout in 2009, today General Motor’s market cap is only about $51 billion, about 29 percent of Google’s $173 billion.

You can argue I selected a dramatic example here, maybe argue that Google “was in the right place at the right time,” at the cusp of the Internet revolution, while GM is stuck in a mature business, auto manufacturing, with nowhere to go but fight for market share in a tough, competitive global market. I consider this ‘traditional thinking’ that really doesn’t work well with markets and technologies morphing, emerging global players, and intense competition from nontraditional players.

Remember the minicomputer market, with players like WANG, DEC and others who missed the PC market shift, failing to acquire ‘intrapreneurship’ skills or “think entrepreneurially,” a term I defined in my recent book.

Bottom line – intrapreneurship is a critically important management tool that should widely promoted if major players are to effectively respond to todays ‘entrepreneurial age tsunami’ now impacting all market sectors.

Paul B. Silverman

Author: Worm on a Chopstick : Understanding Today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives https://paulbsilverman.com/books/

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Can Mission Statements Help Me Grow My Entrepreneurial Business and Create Value? Absolutely!

October 13 in Business, Entrepreneurship, Product Development, startup, Strategy by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on Can Mission Statements Help Me Grow My Entrepreneurial Business and Create Value? Absolutely!

You ask your entrepreneurial management team to join you in the conference room to develop the company’s mission statement. Reaction from your entrepreneurial team may be “ho-hum” , “do we really need to waste time- we know what business we are in,” or maybe ” let’s spend our time designing, developing, selling- doing ‘real business’ ”.  Understandable response in today’s fast moving, entrepreneurial companies.

But mission statements drive companies, especially startups seeking to secure a sustainable business creating high value. Mission statements provide many benefits- here are three examples:

1. Ensures all staff is in sync, understands where the company is heading, how it will get there

Emphasize that the company will be the lowest cost provider sends one message; emphasize providing the highest quality, differentiated products sends another. Remember these not-too-subtle differences drive corporate strategy, operational plans, and often define an organization’s future success.

2. Communicates what the company thinks is most important, what are its core values

Emphasize customers, products, technologies, staff development or ethics sends different messages to the company’s ‘community of interest’ (i.e., staff, customers, investors, suppliers, etc.). You need to ensure these messages are clear and focused.

3. Defines the “reach” of the company’s business- what are the real business targets going beyond today’s technologies, markets and products.

Defining how your company will evolve, to what extent you will protect a current business or create new ones, and similar issues, define your company’s ‘reach’ and strategy roadmap. For dealing with investors, this is particularly important.

My counseling with many entrepreneurial firms shows that spending time to define mission statements and particularly “reach” provides high value.

As an example, in my recent book, Worm on a Chopstick: Understanding Today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives , I compared Google and GM’s mission statements. First, here is GM’s:

“G.M. is a multinational corporation engaged in socially responsible operations, worldwide. It is dedicated to provide products and services of such quality that our customers will receive superior value while our employees and business partners will share in our success and our stock-holders will receive a sustained superior return on their investment.”

Now here is Google’s mission statement:

“To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and  useful.”

It sure looks like Google is reaching for the stars here.

And the results? Google, founded in 1998 by two Stanford University students, started as a basic search engine, ramped up sales to about $17 billion in 2007, and achieved a market cap of about $220 billion. Compare that to General Motors, started in 1908, led sales for seventy-seven consecutive years from 1931 to 2007, and valued at less than $20 billion in late 2007, less than 10  percent of Google. Even after a $50 billion government bailout in 2009, today, GM’s market cap is only about $51 billion, less than one third of  Google’s $173 billion.

You can argue I selected a dramatic example here. You may also argue that Google “was in the right place at the right time,” at the cusp of the Internet revolution, while GM is stuck in a tough, mature business, automobile manufacturing, with nowhere to go but fight for global market.

I consider this traditional thinking that really doesn’t work well with markets and technologies morphing, emerging global players, and intense competition from non-traditional players. Looking deeper, like many major traditional companies, we learn GM had opportunities to improve competitive positioning but did not pursue them for various reasons.

To succeed today, what’s needed is ‘entrepreneurial thinking’ driving mission statements and all facets of a company’s business, whether you manage a startup entrepreneurial company or a large traditional company like GM.

When you and your team leave the conference room after creating your company’s new mission statement, you may be excited that you are now on track to create the next “Google”. Maybe, but I expect it is more likely you now have a strategic roadmap that will drive your company’s operations at all levels, send a coherent message to all, and help you grow the company and create value.

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If you want to learn more about the the author’s perspectives on new developments, trends, insights, management tools and tips that can help you grow your business, sign up now for a FREE Subscription to the Global Entrepreneurship Forum Newsletter.

Paul B. Silverman is the author of a new entrepreneurial management strategy book Worm on a Chopstick: Understanding today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives; serves as CEO of Sante Corporation creating a new vision for personal health care management; and is an Adjunct Professor in the Center For Entrepreneurial Excellence in the School of Business at George Washington University.

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Innovation Management – The Failure of Eastman Kodak

October 4 in Business, Entrepreneurship by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on Innovation Management – The Failure of Eastman Kodak

Posted the following comments today on interesting Forbes.com article ” The Entrepreneurial Failure of Eastman Kodak” submitted by Panos Mourdoukoutas examining why Kodak failed to capitalize on the digital film market. I like to use 3M as an excellent “best practices” model for managing and leveraging innovation. My posted comments are as follows:

Entrepreneurial failure is a key driver, but I suggest think about two other related factors that determine corporate success- disruptive innovation and a ‘willingness to fail’ corporate culture. I like to use 3M as an excellent example to make these points. Innovation drives 3M, starting with their mission statement “To solve unsolved problems innovatively”, and an impressive $1.4 billion R&D budget in 2008, about 4 percent of net sales revenue.

New technologies create disruption, and the need for new business processes, the need to retool and efficiently manage production, marketing, logistics with major business segments changing every several years. And 3M does it well, an example of effective “tops down” innovation management. It also takes courage to innovate and change current business directions given public market impact- 3M, Corning and others do this well- Kodak not so well.

Next look at corporate culture. At 3M, an innovation-driven corporate culture mandates that researchers are expected and encouraged to push the envelope, make mistakes, and pursue new opportunities. 3M management reinforces this by mandating that all researchers spend at least 15 percent of their time pursuing ideas that have nothing to do with their normal tasks—pushing the envelope, looking beyond even mistakes to take the time to understand, research, dig deeper—all consistent with 3M’s innovation management leadership position. Given today’s technology innovation tsunami, leveraging disruptive innovation and developing an innovation-driven corporate culture are today’s critical success factors which separate winners from losers. Looking at the digital film revolution, Kodak clearly missed the mark here.

 

Paul B. Silverman is the author of a new entrepreneurial management strategy book Worm on a Chopstick: Understanding today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives; serves as CEO of Sante Corporation creating a new vision for personal health care management; and is an Adjunct Professor in the Center For Entrepreneurial Excellence in the School of Business at George Washington University

 

 

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Developing a Winning Business Plan – Improving the Odds

May 23 in Entrepreneurship by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on Developing a Winning Business Plan – Improving the Odds

Creating a winning business plan demands a mixture of precise business thinking, art, timing and luck. Business planning skills such as market and competitive analysis, pricing strategy, organizational planning, financial analysis among others can and must be learned; courses and books can help you.

My experience shows that you should also pay particularly strong attention to the following 10 points to improve your odds of creating a winning and fundable new business plan:

1.Maintain a market and opportunity focus and view technology as an enabler.

Define a tight, focused opportunity with a well-defined target market. Technology may be the enabler used to create the business. Suppose you propose a new wireless data service for remote entry of patient data by health care professionals- the business addresses a real, quantifiable opportunity. Compare this to framing an opportunity for a new 802b.11 wireless data entry service. In today’s challenging market, specific opportunity-driven ventures are preferable to pure technology plays.

2.Understand the difference between feature, function and benefit

Image transmission is a function. Moving high resolution images via telephone lines is a feature. The ability to send a high resolution image in 5 seconds via a telephone line using a $99 device is a benefit. Sell benefits and make this the cornerstone of your plan.

3.The “So-What” Tool

A very important consultant tool and not used as often as it should be for new venture development. A simplified “so-what” analysis goes something like this. Our new service offers a unique encrypted data solution for e-commerce applications. So what? We can provide authentication using voice recognition. So what? Our voice authentication technology instantly identifies buyers’ interests and demographic profiles. So what? We can identify and route e-commerce customers based on voice response and past history. The results? Using the “so what” tool, we refocused our thinking to create a more unique, defensible opportunity.

4.Sensitivity Analysis

You need to ‘exercise’ your financial model, examine “what-ifs” and boundary conditions. Reduce sales and/or increase costs by 10, 20, 50, 80 percent-what happens? Delay product launch plans, reduce competitors’ costs-how do these impact IRR and total cash needs? Formal analysis tools exist to complete these analyses, but you can also do this with any financial model. Properly done, these analyses show that you understand your market, business, elasticities and sensitivities.

5.Advisory Board

Develop a “hands-on” Advisory Board. Carve out roles and responsibilities. Provide incentives, typically options, vested based on time served and milestones achieved. Powerful, well-known names and impressive marquees may look great, but you need contributors who can help you move the business forward.

6.Strategic Alliances

Same points as for Advisory Boards. Developing marketing alliances with GE, IBM and others sounds impressive, but make sure there is defensible substance here. Are there any revenue guarantees? What staff and other resources have your partners committed to the venture? Any joint promotion plans among their respective customer bases?

7.The Sanctity of the Business Plan

Another important point. The completed business plan looks impressive; GBC bound, laser-printed, color charts, and maybe 200 to 300 hours to prepare- sure looks and feels like a finished product. The reality is this document is probably out of date before the ink is dry. The plan is only the starting point, a work-in-progress, showing what your team is thinking, assumptions, strategies and projected results. These will tested, attacked, defended and changed as your business proceeds. A hard lesson sometimes for those investing more than 200 hours in developing a business plan and financial models, but that is reality. As you progress, create sales, make products, encounter competition, see new opportunities, you will refine strategies, providing the foundation for the revised plan. There is no sanctity of the Business Plan- revising adds value and is the norm.

8.Adapting to Change : Avoiding the Icarus Paradox

Strategic management courses relate the story of the fabled Icarus from Greek mythology. Icarus’ greatest asset were wings of feathers and wax that let him soar higher and higher closer to the sun. He kept going to the sun, ignored warnings about getting too close, the wax wings melted and he crashed and burned. This is often used to explain management failures such as pursuing a single-minded business strategy even in the face of disaster, and also believing that achieving great past success ensures future success. (it doesn’t). Avoiding the Icarus Paradox means that new business “trajectories” must be examined, refocused and assumptions reviewed even when performance is strong.

9.Precision

Don’t say you are addressing a large, growing market. Instead say “ … the market for ‘gizmos’ is $20 million in 2011, increasing to $65 million by 2014.” Specificity and quantitative precision shows clarity of thinking and understanding of your market and business. And also improves your ability to secure funding.

10.Frugality

Running out of cash and inability to secure new funding is most often cited as the reason new ventures fail. Studies show however, that ventures funded with minimal capital have a higher probability of success, implying that a “frugal” investment structure demands tight management and strong financial controls at the outset. The message here is to tightly define cash needs, operate parsimoniously particularly in the early months, and demonstrate that you know how to manage cash and resources to win. Achieving this objective often smooths the path to secure new funding.
There are plenty of minefields and absolutely no guarantees in the entrepreneurial world. Follow the above guidelines however and you may improve your probability of creating a successful new venture.

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