Small Business Management Evaluation - Essay Example

Journal of small business management evaluation Abstract Prosperity of small-scale business depends on the management and operation style of the entrepreneur. Various entrepreneurs start small businesses daily, but due to inadequate knowledge, these businesses end up collapsing. Therefore, it is imperative that entrepreneurs consider how to manage and run small businesses. Business owners must have precise comprehension if their business plan and management style that should entail their operational decisions in a bid to attain their purposes and goals. The discussion aims to investigate various skills and requirements for local business operation. Discussion Problem of the statement Business management is a critical skill that every entrepreneur needs. To operate a small enterprise, a manager requires various forms of skills such as marketing skills. When one starts a small business, his responsibility tends to entail sales and marketing, accounting, resource management and technology. Therefore, effective management and marketing strategy of a small business determines its success, prosperity, and productivity. Research objectives To establish various skills require in small business management To establish what small business management entails To identify various challenges involved in small business managements Research questions What is small business management? What skills are required in managing small businesses? What challenges does a small business manager face? Literature review Small business management entails precise analysis of how an entrepreneur provides the goods and services of his business in the market. It involves identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the business to be able to handle them in the production stage and ensure competitive advantage. An efficient management of a small enterprise requires an efficient marketing plan strategy that indicates the approach of the venture operation. The owner should establish the structures of the business that can effectively define the qualified professionals for the job. Operation of the small enterprise entails control of marketing strategies, sales, and advertising of the enterprise (Zimmerer & Scarborough, 2005, p. 12). Experts agree that marketing and sales represents the cornerstones of the starting business. Therefore, management of marketing sales is increasingly crucial for development and stability of the venture. In addition, operation of a small enterprise requires various operation skills, for instance, strong communication skills. Strong verbal and listening abilities are increasingly crucial in small enterprise. A sales manager must utilize proper words in appropriate manner to pass the message accurately and clearly so as not to offend the clients. He must ensure effective customer care service to maintain customers for the productivity of the business. An employee motivation skill is crucial – the manager must device workers motivation strategies to ensure that workers operate towards attaining crucial successes. Time management skills enable the manager to operate under strict time schedules and ensure fixed deadlines are met in time (Pickle & Abrahamson, 2006). Conflict management skills – entrepreneurs should be wise and diplomatic to be able to mediate local disputes that occur regularly in the business. Mitigating the challenges as they appear enables the manager to prevent future challenges that may slow down or interrupt business operations. Negotiation skills on the other hand, allow entrepreneurs to negotiate with clients and workers. Managing a small business need a market target analysis because each enterprise has a target percentage of clients. Customer identification and target market identification is increasingly imperative to ensure a critical product campaign. In other words, promotion cost and market campaign will be interrupted and expensive without customer and market identification, (Longenecker, Moore, & Petty, 2003, p. 23). Market identification eases the role of promotional plans creation. Quick financial investment is critical – economists agree that small business operators should keep a well-managed planned budget for marketplace campaign and adhered to that budget. Quick financial investment ensures various market mechanisms such as Television adverts and Banner adverts for the success of the venture. Marketing promotional strategies or mechanisms are crucial for the stability of the venture. Entrepreneurs should utilize unique, innovative, and cheap marketing tools to promote their businesses. Marking promotional tools may be brochures, cards, and gifts, which needs light investment. Information technology utilization allows entrepreneurs to develop in a rapid speed than other programs. Internet is a strategy utilized by various entrepreneurs daily. Therefore, promoting a local venture through web pages gives the venture an increased advantage over others, (Hodgetts, 2002, p. 85). Electronic marketing improves client relationships and enhances sales. Business management requires effective human resource to manage and monitor the business staff. Additionally, the key aim of the venture is to realize profit; therefore, effective management of finance is crucial to attain the mission. The initial step entails comprehending the financial status that are essential in business transaction. Running a small enterprise may be dominated with various legal issues such as industry policies, tax needs, business linkages, enterprise organization lease of economic tenancy negotiations and business agreements with vendors (Zimmerer & Scarborough, 2005, p. 45).Various legal issues exist in business operation; therefore, small business managers should consult their lawyers on these issues. Logistics entails procurement management, product supply, maintenance, and operational products. The primary concern of business managers it to control stock and various strategies and mechanisms to management of stock apply, (Broom & Longenecker, 2005, p. 89). Therefore, small business management entails devising right strategies of stock control and effective stock management. This makes sure the business stock is restricted and secures business production in case of supply chain challenges. There are various constraints in managing local business ventures; therefore, entrepreneurs must resolve these challenges for the success of the business. The main problem in local enterprise organization and operation is the financial factor. In various occasions, this is main challenges that make small ventures fail. Lack of funding can lead to collapse of minor enterprises. An entrepreneur requires excellent management skills to manage a low capital venture. Another constraint occurs in marketing (Zimmerer & Scarborough, 2000, p. 12). Entrepreneurs should be keen of marketing because irrespective of the quality of the business products, a business cannot sell more if marketing tools and mechanisms are inadequate. Therefore, sales representative always experience challenges in identifying, devising and implementing effective marketing strategies and hiring right sales representatives capable of implementing such strategies. Conclusion Managing a small business is a difficult task, therefore, business managers need to develop, create, and implement strong business marketing techniques that will help them manage and operate easily. Effective customer relationship and group work is a paramount aspect of enterprise management. References Broom, H. N., & Longenecker, J. G. (2005). Small business management. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western Pub. Co. Hodgetts, R. M. (2002). Effective small business management. New York, NY: Academic Press. Longenecker, J. G., Moore, C. W., & Petty, J. W. (2003). Small business management: An entrepreneurial emphasis. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western. National Council for Small Business Management Development (U.S.), West Virginia University, International Council for Small Business, & Small Business Institute Directors’ Association (U.S.). (1963). Journal of small business management. Morgantown, W. Va: National Council for Small Business Management Development. Pickle, H. B., & Abrahamson, R. L. (2006). Small business management. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Scarborough, N. M., & Zimmerer, T. (1993). Effective small business management. New York, NY: Macmillan. Scarborough, N. M., & Zimmerer, T. (2000). Effective small business management: an entrepreneurial approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Zimmerer, T., & Scarborough, N. M. (2005). Essentials of entrepreneurship and small business management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Read More