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INTRODUCTION
You need a competitive edge whether you are already running a small business or just thinking of starting one. Why? Because without an advantage, your chances of success aren't good. The sad fact is that most new businesses fail in the first five years. The traditional estimate has been that four out of five new companies fail in the first five years. That may not be entirely true: for example, in the late 1980s Bruce Kirchoff, a professor at Babson College, and Bruce Phillips, an economist at the Small Business Administration, examined an extensive data base of new companies. They found that nearly 40 percent of new companies survived six years or longer. Regardless of whether the true statistic is four out of five or only four out of ten, small businesses still have a high mortality rate.
Given that an uncomfortably large number of start-up businesses fail, does that mean you should give up your dream of being an entrepreneur? Not necessarily. First, consider why so many small businesses fail. The fact is that most businesses go out of existence for one of two reasons: lack of capital or poor management. Of the two reasons for business failures, poor management is the most common. Obviously, it's nice to have lots of capital. But even with lots of capital to work with, if you waste all that money, your
Business may still fail. On the other hand, if you have a good grasp of essential management skills, you are less likely to run out of funding before your business has a chance to take off. Plus, with good management skills you'll find it much easier to convince your financial backers to extend you that small amount of additional funding to help you survive the tough times and turn what could be just another business failure into a roaring success. We can't give you the capital to start or run your business. We can offer you the essential business skills. That's what The Competitive Edge is all about.
In the chapters that follow, we will give you tips and techniques to help you succeed. We'll show you how to develop a business strategy, hire and train people, motivate employees, and deal with customers. We'll show you how to manage your time, delegate to your staff, and deal effectively with problem employees and problem customers. Read and apply what we suggest in the pages that follow and we are confident you will give your business a better chance of success and, at the same time, reduce the strain and stress all entrepreneurs encounter.
The advice, tips, and techniques contained in this book grew out of the experiences of consultants in our consulting firm. For over twenty years, they have trained managers and owners of American businesses in essential business skills. Based upon our consultants' experiences, we have chosen to cover in this book those skills that we have found to be most critical for helping executives improve performance. We have also boiled down the tools and techniques to a few short pages on each skill. You can read this book from beginning to end and cover all of these skills in a few hours. Or you can just pick out those specific chapters that cover areas of most benefit to you right now. However you read this book, we think you will find it filled with simple, practical advice you can put to work right away.
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