Berkonomics

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What if you see juicy competitor information?

Berkonomics

Has this happened to you? Many of us belong to industry associations and find ourselves at conferences and trade shows with time to spend with competitors. Some of these are old friends, some even former associates. It is natural to want to associate with these people for many reasons, certainly socially. Most CEOs want to obtain information about their competitors in the most subtle and non-obvious ways.

Examples 156
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Would you commit to an office lease today?

Berkonomics

Always true: Rent your first, next, or continuing office with caution. Several years ago and before COVID’s changes, I became involved with a Southeast Asian company looking to expand into the United States. During the discussions with the CEO about hiring North American managers, he made it clear that he wanted us to find a first-class office facility from which to start the search process, and proceeded to name cities that attracted him.

Startup 156
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How to make a small problem into a big one.

Berkonomics

Allowing small problems to escalate into big ones is simple. Just ignore the signs for long enough and the job is done. It takes far more energy to regularly review the key performance indicators you’ve established for each individual and yourself. But a small excursion caught early and corrected saves massive corrective resources later. Here’s an example: Take for example the manufacturing company with a small quality problem in one component, resulting in a test failure rate above the norm.

Examples 296
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Do employees value their options as ownership?

Berkonomics

How about employees all the way down the line and through the corporation? How do we align them to the goals and strategies of the enterprise? Obviously for the appropriate individuals, a bonus program aligned to the department’s goals is appropriate. But how about awarding stock options to all employees? The argument FOR… I discovered the power of ownership early in my management career, establishing an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), once popular as incentive compensation as well as a t

Slides 156
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Hire as if your survival depends upon it.

Berkonomics

Aside from visionary management, this is your most important job. Many of us go through the motions of hiring to fill a position, trying to use our intuition and skills to find the best candidate for the job. Sometimes we use consultants or recruiters; often we use internal talent to fill most positions. A science to hiring? And over the years, we students of business success have learned that there is a science to the hiring process that continues through the life of an employee’s tenure with

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A personal story about quality control

Berkonomics

So, I tell personal stories to show that we all should look for lessons learned by others. Here’s one that is “on me.” As my enterprise computer software company which produced innovative lodging systems for hotels and resorts grew quickly, we found ourselves straining to keep up with the hiring and training of good customer support representatives, a critical part of the equation then and still so today in the 24-hour environment of hotel front desk operations.

Training 156
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A heartbreaking story about time and money.

Berkonomics

First, think about your time as money! We’ll get to my heartbreak in a minute. But first… There is a relationship between time and money that is more complex than most managers think. Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues.