Monday, September 13, 2010

Stakeholder job

Stakeholders are as important to the success of a business as the directors, and sometimes even more so.

A third generation family business in the midlands that is still successful in manufacturing components for the auto industry has the usual array of external support.

There is an accountant who has been a friend of the family for twenty years; in fact she is Godmother to the daughter of one of the directors. The web designer went to school with the son of the Managing Director who works in sales; the two ‘boys’ continue to be good friends and still socialize together. Transport is outsourced and the chap that organizes all the logistics side of the business is the brother in law of one of the girls in credit control.

Well this is all very cozy, but none of the three stakeholders is up to speed with what the company needs now. The world is changing so fast that what may have worked five years ago or even two years ago, may not work today.

Successful business today demands more than relationships that are primarily based upon family or friendship ties.

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posted by Tim @ 10:59 PM 0 Comments

Drifting apart

It is absolutely no surprise that relationships between people at the top of organizations are sometimes under almost intolerable pressure. But it doesn’t have to be like that.

You don’t need Tony Blair’s memoirs to tell you how he and Gordon Brown got on, or didn’t, for so many years. It was all so apparent to anyone who saw them together. But politics is played by different rules to many successful business organizations. I know two female entrepreneurs that set up a fashion business together some years ago. It was all excitement and buzz and money making to begin with, but as the company grew, much more prosaic aspects had to be addressed.

If the business was to continue to grow, the owners had to factor in more regular and effective planning, monthly management accounts and appraisals. This is the antithesis of the flair and charisma that started the business.

Probably the most important thing of all is for the two drivers of the business to meet, discuss and resolve both short and long term issues on a regular basis.

And it is my job to make sure this happens.

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posted by Tim @ 10:41 PM 0 Comments