Business Management - Operations

Huge customers are great when you have them, but what happens if and when you lose them? It can be a disaster, and even put your firm at risk. We see this more and more in today’s market. The most successful and growing firms often have one or more very large customers that grow to dominate their sales and influence how they do business.

It's not easy to humble yourself and admit to other business owners that you need help. I know about that! We ALL need help and direction at some point.

The National Geographic Society uses one paper supplier for both gravure and offset printing, which is one way the group has been able to manage costs.

“We only have one supplier, one make of sheet that we use, which allows us to partner with our paper supplier for strategic buys,” says Phil Schlosser, National Geographic Society Production Services SVP. “We can take advantage of their slower times versus their peak times.”

There are three major components the National Geographic Society looks to when trying to manage costs for their photo-heavy publications: Quality, costs and environmental impact.

Whether you keep a very strong current ratio with large cash reserves in the business or you choose to keep it in liquid personal assets, do one or the other. You will sleep better and will be better prepared for emergencies. Equally important is to be in a position to capitalize on the great opportunities that are still out there in our industry.

If employees are happy, they will enjoy working there, and the end result is that customers see the benefits as well. Don’t be afraid to hear what your employees have to say. Most companies fear the worst, but these fears are unfounded. If done right it can be a very positive experience.

In this current economy it may not be possible to give someone a raise to entice them to stay with your company. In some industries turnover is a fact of life, but you CAN avoid being a revolving door and slow down your turnover rate.

Understanding others’ decisions often starts with empathy—understanding their goals, priorities, and the internal mechanism for evaluating how likely options are to achieve those goals. You also need to look at their range of choices, consider what happens in the absence of a decision, and think about whether they’re looking for the perfect solution or simply one that will suffice.

It would be so easy to reduce the number of phone calls to medical providers, if a simple system—such as an online Corrective Action/System Buster system—was implemented that would empower medical personnel to record, track and FIX every misunderstanding a patient might have with any printed instructions they are given.

Two Paper machines will be closed by UPM—the paper machine 3 at the UPM Rauma mill in Finland; and the paper machine 4 at the Ettringen mill in Germany. The number of employees will be reduced by 87 in the UPM Rauma mill and by 150 in the UPM Ettringen mill.

At just 42 years old, Southeastern CEO Don Mader possesses a vision, charisma and M&A deal-making intuition far beyond his age. With 230 employees working out of five locations, Southeastern is on track to achieve $60 million in sales this year, up from $47 million in 2012.