The Business Diagnostics concept has been developed by three co-authors who have extensive commercial banking and management consulting expertise.
The book has been written to overcome significant challenges facing today’s business owners, including time constraints in acquiring and updating business management skills.
Business owners have limited time or inclination to attend extended business school courses.
Likewise, accessing topical information on enhancing corporate performance (magazines or web sites) can be sporadic and time consuming.
The ideal desk-top Reference Guide for Business Owners
Business Diagnostics has been designed as a valuable reference guide which can be easily read over a weekend or a few weekday evenings.
Business Diagnostics will provide practical assistance to the following target audiences:
- The existing business owner who has growth opportunities and recognizes the need to complete a rigorous ‘size up’ existing and potential operations.
- An enterprise owner planning to buy or invest in another business. That process requires the completion of ‘diagnostic checks’ to ensure that the targeted entity has the right degree of corporate health and potential.
- The individual who wishes to set up a new, yet to be proven, business venture and requires guidelines to assess the likelihood of success and the steps necessary to attract financing or equity.
Readers will gain practical insights into the following key areas:
The Size Up process:
The External size-up examines the business environment (political, economic, societal and technological factors) along with prevailing industry conditions.
The Internal size-up then drills down into the individual company’s performance, evaluating its relative health from different viewpoints – Financial, Marketing, Operations, Human Resources, and Technology.
Sources of Funding:
Company life cycles are explained and how the various sources of funding (equity and debt) can be accessed. Survival and turnaround strategies are also evaluated and the need to recognize potential danger signals is increasingly important given today’s rapidly changing business environment.
Strategic Business Plans:
Tips and insights are provided on the effective completion of Strategic Business plans along with the introduction of a short case study of a fictitious company (Marston Control Devices) which is seeking investment capital to expand into new markets.