Questions about business management?

An enterprise must go through a difficult, painful and dangerous process from its establishment to growth and development, and then to maturity.

Any enterprise will encounter various development problems and bottlenecks at different times. These bottlenecks are often turning points in the development of enterprises. If they successfully break through, they can enter a broader development space. On the contrary, they may be brutally The market was eliminated, and even collapsed before being eliminated by the market.

When large companies encounter development bottlenecks or problems, because of their rigorous organization and rich experience, they are often able to face them calmly and successfully break through.

And small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those that have just started or even are still in their infancy, are often confused about the problems that arise during development and have insufficient understanding of the dangers behind them.

The average life span of small and medium-sized enterprises around the world is shortening year by year.

This is especially true for Chinese enterprises. The problem of enterprise survival crisis is becoming more and more serious, and crises and problems often begin to appear when enterprises encounter development bottlenecks.

What are the bottlenecks and problems that small and medium-sized enterprises often encounter in their development? How should companies respond and make breakthroughs? The author has the following brief opinions.

12 Problems Commonly Encountered in the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises 1. Remaining conservative and unable to keep pace with the times In the 18th century, the West invented the automobile, which gradually posed a serious threat to the previous means of transportation, the horse-drawn carriage.

Two horse-drawn carriage manufacturers made different choices in the face of threats, and the results were completely different.

Carriage Factory A made a big fuss about the appearance and comfort of carriages; Carriage Factory B turned to the production of automobiles.

In the end, Carriage Factory A gradually disappeared as horse-drawn carriages withdrew from the stage of history, while Carriage Factory B’s business grew bigger and bigger with the development of automobiles.

The rise and fall of these two horse-drawn carriage manufacturers was determined by the business owners’ different understanding of the problem.

The owner of Carriage Factory A believes that he produces horse-drawn carriages, and the emergence of automobiles is a serious threat to him and a competitor of horse-drawn carriages. The owner of Carriage Factory A thinks of various ways to fight against automobiles; and Carriage B The factory owner believed that he was a company that produced transportation tools. The replacement of horse-drawn carriages by cars would be the inevitable result of social progress, so he decisively gave up the production of horse-drawn carriages and switched to the production of cars, avoiding the bad luck of being eliminated by the market and achieving a leap forward. development opportunities.

With the development and progress of society, continuous innovation and elimination are inevitable. If you can seize the opportunities behind the threats and take advantage of the opportunity to make breakthroughs and develop like the owner of the B carriage factory, you will be successful.

However, there are very few business owners in my country's small and medium-sized enterprises who can see the problem in this way. Most of them are like the owner of A Carriage Factory, clinging to yesterday's glory and refusing to adapt to the development of the times, let alone discovering The opportunity behind it.

Violating the laws of market development is like sailing against the current and will eventually be eliminated by the market.

2. Success is also a failure, relying too much on past experience. There are many large companies that lose because of over-belief in past successful experiences, and even more small and medium-sized enterprises.

Most small and medium-sized enterprises achieved their initial success and primitive accumulation by seizing opportunities, acting decisively, daring to fight hard, and being flexible and flexible.

However, as the company develops and expands, the market situation becomes more complex. Without a systematic and scientific strategic decision-making system, decisions are still made based on the boss's brainstorming, which inevitably leads to decision-making errors.

For small and medium-sized enterprises, a major decision-making mistake may be fatal.

We all know those large companies that failed based on empiricism, so we won’t talk about them. Let’s take a small business around us as an example: Mr. Zhao of Fuyuan Wood Processing Factory, who seized the market opportunity. .

The company has grown rapidly. In order to continue to expand production, Mr. Zhao plans to introduce several new equipment, each with a price of about 1.5 million. This is a very risky investment.

After market research, the marketing department of Fuyuan Furniture Company FromEMKT.com.cn believes that the market prospects of the products produced by this new equipment are unpredictable and it is not suitable to buy them at this time. Mr. Zhao believes that this is a rare opportunity. The opportunity was missed after waiting for the market situation to become clear.

So, against all odds, we purchased 3 new pieces of equipment.

But half a year later, there has been no greater market demand for the products produced by this machine, and this new type of machine itself still has design flaws. In the end, Mr. Zhao sold all the equipment at a price of NT$300,000. The company lost its vitality and has never recovered.

The experience and intuition accumulated in the market are very precious and valuable, and have strong guidance in the market. However, if they cannot be combined with scientific methods in modern management marketing to make objective and scientific decisions, , in a complex and ever-changing market, it is inevitable to make mistakes simply by relying on experience and intuition.

3. People who do not have long-term concerns must have short-term worries. Short-sighted behavior makes enterprises difficult. Most small businesses just do whatever makes money. When the east is not bright and the west is bright, if this industry is not profitable, change immediately. Profits can be made by relying on the small size of the boat to turn around and its maneuverability.

However, as companies grow bigger and bigger, companies with a speculative mentality will inevitably face bottlenecks in corporate development. Without long-term strategic planning, companies will inevitably be unable to grow bigger and stronger.

But looking at the long term requires making painful choices, giving up some immediate interests and giving up some opportunities. This is undoubtedly very painful for small and medium-sized enterprises that started by relying on opportunities, but there is no grand plan. With big ambitions and long-term plans, small businesses will always linger in the small business camp.

4. The confusion of strategy - confusing the concepts of strategy and tactics.

This is contrary to what was said above. What we are talking about here is that companies have long-term strategic plans, but the problem is that they often confuse strategy with tactics. The result is that strategic goals will never be achieved. Lost in strategy.

The reasons leading to this situation are: strategic ambiguity. For example, some companies set the strategic goal as "becoming a world-class enterprise". Such strategic goals are too broad and cannot be implemented in detail. Strategy must have a purpose. Be clear and quantifiable so that you can formulate specific tactics.

2. Over-emphasis on means (tactics) and forgetting the purpose (strategy). Sometimes we work hard on the details of a tactic and invest too much, gradually deviating from the strategy, and ultimately win the part and lose the whole.

Strategy is a mid- to long-term goal, while tactics are the means to achieve this goal. The means are naturally goal-oriented.

The strategy is not static. It must be monitored or adjusted in real time according to market conditions to maintain the correctness of the strategy at all times. For example, in the case of the horse-drawn carriage mentioned in the first paragraph, major changes have led to market changes. When the situation changes qualitatively, it is necessary to adapt to the market and adjust strategies.

5. The organization expands, and the original model of management is insufficient. A small or just-started enterprise usually has few employees. The boss issues instructions and employees directly execute them, and the boss can see the execution results immediately, which is fast and effective. .

When an enterprise develops to a certain stage, the organization expands, and departments increase and become more detailed. At this time, it becomes too much for the boss to personally handle all departments.

As the company develops, the original rules and regulations cannot effectively manage the expanded company. Management methods such as production, procurement, and human resources must be more scientific and rigorous. Otherwise, the company itself will be in a mess. How can we participate in the fierce competition? Compete in the market and win? Many business owners only care about the market, how to make more money, and how to develop faster.

The management of the enterprise itself is often ignored.

It's like a high-performance locomotive carrying a dilapidated carriage.

Management cannot keep up with the development of enterprises, which is one of the most common problems faced by small and medium-sized enterprises in China.

6. Blind market diversification - opening Pandora's box. Many small and medium-sized enterprises have begun to covet some high-profit industries before their industry status is stable. They are eager to make the company so-called bigger and expensive. The cost of experience and the risk of insufficient resources often make companies that expand blindly pay a heavy price.

The high-profit cakes in some industries do look tempting, but they are not necessarily suitable for everyone to eat. The thresholds of experience, channels, talents, funds, and connections... In the beginning, The vitality of enterprises entering an industry is the most fragile, and shortcomings in any aspect may have fatal consequences, and competition in high-profit industries is also the most intense.

As strong as Lenovo Group, it also paid a heavy price on the road to diversified development back then.

The author believes that the following should be considered when adopting a diversified development strategy: 1. The market position is among the top three in the original industry, but it is difficult to continue to increase the share; 2. The future prospects of the original industry Not optimistic; 3. The original industry and the new industry are related and complementary, and can share resources, or even complement each other; 4. The new industry has core competitiveness.

7. Ignoring financial management and causing pain in the capital chain. In small businesses, the boss is basically in charge of the money. The bigger the company is, there will be a cashier and accountant, and it seems that the job of the cashier is to collect the money coming in and out. , issuance and records, and accounting is for tax authorities.

The bigger the company is, the financial department will be set up, but this department seems to have nothing to do with the company. It is rare for financial managers to speak in meetings, and few bosses ask for their opinions. The financial department has become Many "in the cold" companies only rush to the finance department when there is a problem with corporate funds. By this time, the company's losses are inevitable, or even more serious problems.

The Sanzhu Group, which had great success in the 1990s, had a sales network all over the country, and a marketing team of 150,000 people. The superficial reason for its failure was a negative report, but the real reason behind it was The financial chain is broken.

Sanzhu has achieved success in marketing, but has neglected issues such as personnel management, financial management, and product quality.

These problems are covered up when the company is booming, and these shortcomings are exposed when a crisis occurs.

After the negative reports about Sanzhu appeared in the newspapers, the subjects of the Sanzhu Empire thought that the situation was over. Many employees raked in the company's money and absconded with channel funds, and dealers withheld the payment.

For a time, the funds of Sanzhu Group were in a vacuum, and the funds did not flow back. Naturally, they had no money to purchase raw materials for production, and the bank loans expired... In the end, the capital chain broke, and the Sanzhu Empire collapsed.

If there had been strict financial systems and risk warnings, a small negative report would not have caused a complete failure of a large enterprise like Sanzhu.

Many companies fail due to financial problems.

We should take this as a lesson. While focusing on the market, we should also pay attention to financial issues. For example, the old version of the company must understand the financial statements that have the greatest impact on the company's operating activities - —Balance sheet, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, profit distribution statement.

In this way, you can often understand and grasp the capital flow and dynamics of the company, and avoid major deviations.

Attention should also be paid to the finance department. The finance department must participate in production and marketing meetings so that they can provide timely opinions when it comes to financial issues, so as not to reach the implementation stage before the finance department tells you that there is no money to call. .

8. Organizational expansion and lack of senior management capabilities. Most small and medium-sized enterprises were started by a partnership or family operation. After the company grew, these founding fathers held important positions. However, because of the large number of He was born in the front line of the market and has weak scientific management and marketing capabilities, which leads to confusion in the enterprise and hinders the development and market competitiveness of the enterprise. In addition, some family enterprises are nepotistic and use power to block talents, which is a serious danger to the growth of the enterprise.

Zhang Zuolin, the leader of the Fengjun army, started out as a bandit. Later, after taking over the military and political power, he entrusted all the brothers who had fought with him to conquer the world with important responsibilities.

However, most of those people were bandits and warriors who had a background of robbing families and had no management skills. After becoming high-ranking officials, they preyed on the common people.

Later, Zhang Zuolin made up his mind to reduce the number of incompetent subordinates and recruit new people such as Guo Songling and Yang Yuting who had new ideas and concepts and mastered advanced and scientific combat skills. Fengjun's combat capabilities gradually improved.

Some of our current small and medium-sized enterprises are in a similar situation to this historical story, but there are not many companies that can decisively lay off brothers who have been born and died together like Zhang Zuolin, and boldly hire new people.

Taking into account factors such as feelings, favors, and holding shares in the company, we cannot kill relatives out of justice, which will eventually drag the company into the abyss.

When such a problem occurs, you must make a decisive decision and transfer incompetent employees from important positions. If they are shareholders, you can use the method of promotion and promotion to give them an unimportant position or position, and then recruit them. Professional managers with professional capabilities, develop a rigorous and scientific performance evaluation system, focus on the discovery and cultivation of talents, etc. Don’t forget that talents are always the foundation of enterprise development.

9. Lack of core competitiveness and falling into the quagmire of low-level homogeneity. Microsoft's software can still be in short supply for a few thousand yuan a set, but no one cares about our products even if they are a penny more expensive than others. This is the difference between differentiation and core competitiveness; Wal-Mart's annual sales exceed 100 billion, while some of our supermarkets are struggling on the edge of losses. This is a question of cost advantage and core competitiveness.

The so-called core competitiveness means that an enterprise has capabilities that others do not have or few people have and that are difficult to imitate. The core competitiveness mainly consists of the following two aspects: 1. Differentiation, just like Microsoft, it is very difficult to imitate. Differentiation that is difficult to imitate allows their products to be sold for as much as they want.

2. Cost leadership, like Wal-Mart, the products are not special, but they are cheaper than others.

Although we do not have the cutting-edge technology of Microsoft or the scale of Wal-Mart, we can still have core competitiveness.

For example, Evian mineral water, with its unique geographical location and water source, has created a differentiated advantage that others cannot imitate. A bottle costs tens of yuan and is sold all over the world.

A small mold manufacturer has seized the opportunity of large manufacturers to produce small batches of products at very high prices. It specializes in meeting customers with small demand. It can produce small quantities at a cost and price that are much lower than those of large manufacturers. , gaining a relative cost advantage.

Most of China's small and medium-sized enterprises compete in low-level, homogeneous price wars with low profits and low ability to resist market risks. In the long run, they will be eliminated by the market.

In fact, the so-called core competitiveness is not an absolute competitive advantage, as long as it has a relative competitive advantage in your industry, and as long as an enterprise works hard, it can always develop a relative core competitive advantage. , sometimes shortcomings and weaknesses can also be turned into advantages.

For example, a company invests a lot of money to develop a strong glue, but the viscosity of the developed glue is very low. Seeing that the investment is wasted, the boss has an idea - why can't it sell non-stick glue? Woolen cloth? This was how self-adhesive was born.

This is the differentiated selling point found through reverse thinking, and forms the core competitive advantage of the product.

The core competitiveness of an enterprise comes from many aspects, such as technology, cost, management, production, etc.

Discover and explore unique things that you are good at in marketing activities, and think divergently. Maybe your core competitive advantage lies in it.

10. The indispensable soul of the enterprise - corporate culture. When the enterprise is very young, the boss controls everything in the enterprise. At this time, the boss's thoughts can be understood as the culture of the enterprise. As the enterprise continues to expand, , when the number of employees increases and the boss cannot do everything by himself and pay attention to every detail, the company should form its own culture.

The culture of an enterprise is the soul and thought of the enterprise, which allows the enterprise to operate intelligently on its own, and will not prevent the enterprise from being unable to operate normally due to emergencies or the departure of a key person in the enterprise.

An excellent corporate culture can help a company achieve greater and more lasting success, and the core of a company's culture is often the thoughts of the business owner, whose thoughts basically determine the power and role of corporate culture.

11. The boss must do everything by himself - the most dangerous management style. I have heard some business owners proudly show off that their companies adopt a flat management model.

The so-called flat management means that the boss should take care of all the work.

Even buying a mop requires the boss’s signature. Business owners think that this way they can rest assured and the company can respond faster.

In fact, it is quite the opposite, because a person's energy is limited, and if you do everything by yourself, you will inevitably spend a lot of energy on these small things. In this way, you will have no time to take into account the overall strategic development of the company, causing the company to linger in the same place, or even A crisis occurs.

It is correct to reduce unnecessary levels in enterprise management, but necessary levels can improve management efficiency. Just like sales channels, no matter how flat they are, there must be at least one or two intermediate link companies. The same is true in management.

You can plan highly related departments into a module with a person in charge. In this way, no matter how complex the enterprise structure is, no matter how many departments there are, it can basically use 3-5 modules. divide.

As long as the boss communicates regularly with the persons in charge of these modules, he can basically control the entire enterprise, and most of the remaining energy should be used to guide and grasp the overall development direction of the enterprise.

In fact, a good business manager does not need to do too much, as long as he thinks about the strategic direction of the company.

For example, when a car is driving on the road, you only pay attention to whether the interior of the car is clean, whether the seats are comfortable, and whether the car decorations are beautiful, but you don't care about the steering wheel.

The market is like a bustling street, and a business is like a moving car. Business owners only need to be a qualified driver and see the road ahead clearly.

12. Enterprises blindly advertise - good medicine? poison? In the era of oversupply and balance between supply and demand in the Chinese market, a myth has been created that advertising is omnipotent. No matter what the product is, it can sell well as long as it is advertised. Many large companies rely on advertising to rise.

However, with the collapse of long-established companies or brands such as Sanzhu and Aido, as soon as a company or product has a negative incident, the product will immediately become unsalable, and no matter how much advertising investment is increased, it will not help.

We are gradually waking up - advertising can no longer dominate everything.

Procter & Gamble's advertisements are everywhere, but under the bombardment of advertisements, not all products are profitable. Advertising cannot completely create value, let alone other small and medium-sized enterprises.

But now many companies are still very blind when it comes to advertising. They rely on advertising to get their products to market. When sales drop, they immediately think of advertising and regard advertising as a life-saving medicine.

The market structure is very complex, and there are many reasons for a product’s poor sales, which cannot be solved by advertising alone.

The resources of any enterprise are limited, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. They are already vulnerable in the cruel market environment. Blindly investing limited funds in advertising can easily cause the enterprise to fail. Serious "blood loss" and poor cash flow.

The value of advertising should be viewed objectively and advertising should be placed rationally.

In fact, 90% of the solutions to problems in the market have nothing to do with advertising.

The key to breaking the situation - giving up. The above mentioned some problems that small and medium-sized enterprises often encounter in the development, and the core of the method to solve the problems is - giving up.

Advancing with the times and adapting to the development of the times requires giving up; diversified development requires choices and giving up; improving organizational capabilities and downsizing important members of the company require giving up... The development and evolution of anything requires giving up. The process is like a beautiful butterfly, which gains the colorful wings of flying through constant abandonment and transformation. The author found that many small and medium-sized business owners lack courage and find it difficult to give up yesterday's success, yesterday's experience, yesterday's partners, and yesterday's partners. Everything, but hesitant about new opportunities and challenges.

We can all make the right choice in the face of big things, but we are more hesitant about some specious things, and real risks and opportunities often have great ambiguity and uncertainty. Being keenly aware of the essence behind the appearance of things and taking decisive action will help you avoid disadvantages and achieve success.