...Stockholders only really have diluted voting rights that don't really count for much. It's only the big shareholders that will weild any influence as they have bigger piece of the pie. Investment bankers and Wall St guru's (institutional investors) can hold powerful voice and a lot of influence and sway when it comes to looking after their clients and determining whether they keep their interest in certain companies. So if you're a small stockholder there's not much of a chance but as a collective you're more likely to be represented as the more money involved the more your interests will be protected. You are right in the sense that if its your own money on the line you're going to proactively be vigilant in making that company a sucess. I believe most companies were you have the board of directors all have large stakes in the company will be better run and managed as they are not going to want to see the company fail when their own money is on the line. Any company that has leaders that don't have large holdings in the company or frequently sell or cash in on their shares and options you know it might not be a good company to invest in when the people running it wont even invest their own money in it either. I think its about common sense and doing your research. I believe on the whole the people who have the most money invested in a company to have the biggest say in what happens and their interests are met and they do have a lot of influence. How many of us have shares...
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...Challenges of Setting up a Niche Business Robin Holland Professor William Simonpietri BUS 100 Introduction to Business July 22, 2010 Challenges of Setting up a Niche Business Identify at least three challenges when setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. One of the challenges of setting up a business is, upon setting up a business you have the vision and idea of how it’s to operate however, if the application falls short then your business may be shelved for some time. It is important to make sure that your applications are secure before anything else is set up. Business owners must have the money to fund the project and also if not an online business they would need to secure a great venue for the business. Another challenge would be having partners. Partners are good initially because they generally come with great ideas and more importantly finances. However, there is always a chance that the partner will pull out and no longer be apart of your business which leaves you less their finances, help, and ideas. Lastly, choosing what type of business you want. This could be challenging because if you’re choosing a “Niche” style business you must understand and remember that this style of business can not be served by the main stream providers therefore, you must determine where and how you plan to provide your products and what would be the best way to make it profitable. Define what a “Niche” product is. Give at least...
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...Page 63 DOES NICHE MARKETING LEAD TO BUSINESS SUCCESS? THE CASE OF M.C. TAMURA Luz T. Suplico-Jeong, De La Salle University-Manila ABSTRACT Does market niching lead to business success? Maria Cecilia G. Tamura has used this strategy in managing her businesses. These businesses are Okasaki Industrial Corporation, which is engaged in import and export, and Airily Corporation which is mainly a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company. The case discusses how a female employee, who later became the employer, use market niching and product life cycle as business strategies. In so doing, the case shows an example of how a highly motivated woman entrepreneur managed her businesses through good and bad times. THE ENTREPRENEUR Women entrepreneurship has been significant in economic development. The Philippines has compared favorably with other countries in women entrepreneurship. Based on a survey conducted by Let’s Go Foundation and GE Bank, Filipino women have a fairly equal chance of making it big as entrepreneurs (http://www.womenentrepreneurship.org). According to Tara Brannigan (2005), women entrepreneurs have formed businesses to make a better living for themselves. The sense of adventure and the thrill of challenge have motivated them to organize their businesses. The rise of women entrepreneurship has allowed women to create jobs for themselves and to create jobs for others. Female traits, such as patience and attention to details, have influenced their management styles...
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...setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. Three challenges a business owner would face when setting up a business are visualizing possible risks, low ambition, and inadequate revenue. Starting a business in itself, is a huge risk. A business owner has to take into account the rewards of a business, but more importantly potential setbacks. The fact that business owners create the mindset that things may not always go the way they plan, will aid them in bouncing back from any setbacks they may incur. If business owners plan on succeeding and not preparing for any hindrances, they will be far less likely to succeed and be able to bounce back from any stumbling blocks. With visualizing risks, you also have to take low ambition into play. If a business owner has any issues with the business, they may start to lack ambition, and it will affect anyone else that is involved with the business. Inadequate revenue stems from business owner basically setting goals based on what they are accustomed to. When you go into business for yourself, you have to realize that you may not make as much as you made before the transition into becoming a business owner. Economic conditions play a major part in this, so you need to make sure you have sufficient fall back money if you are unable to net the income you need in order to maintain your current lifestyle. Define what a “niche” product is. Give at least three examples of niche products. A niche product is merchandise...
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...Factors Involved in Growing a Business Factors Involved In Growing a Niche Company In creating/starting a business, the biggest fear is, “will my product succeed?” No one has any idea of what the future holds, so there is always a chance for success. Where would the world as we know it be if there was no one willing to take a “risk”? There would not be the advancements in technology that is so necessary in our everyday lives. Those products we have become so dependent on began with the idea of success. With that in mind, I will discuss some of the factors that are involved with creating and growing a niche company. Identify at least three challenges when setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. One of the first challenges faced when setting up a business is developing a product that you are familiar with. I suggest you acquire some skills, or the hands on experience it would take to successfully run your business. Not having researched the information would make it challenging because it would be hard to sell a product you know nothing about. Marketing would be another challenge you will face in creating a business. There are many obstacles you will face when expanding into your products market. Understanding the target market size would be very beneficial. Find out the need for the product in that market. research and get information on some of your competitors and their pricing. Always figure out ways...
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...Article: Marco Iansiti is the David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. * More Working Knowledge from Marco Iansiti * Marco Iansiti - Faculty Research Editor's Note: The art of business today seems to be the ability to influence resources your company doesn't own—resources such as the production scheduling of manufacturing partners, the packaging requirements of distribution partners, and the development of technical standards your products must incorporate. Welcome to the age of business interdependence, say HBS professor Marco Iansiti and collaborator Roy Levien, authors of the new HBSP book The Keystone Advantage: What the New Dynamics of Business Ecosystems Mean for Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability. Think of the business environment as a series of ecosystems, they urge, with "keystone" companies such as Microsoft and Wal-Mart providing for the health of all who do business with them. What are the best strategies for companies living in these ecosystems? This excerpt focuses on strategies for niche players. The essence of a niche strategy is to achieve specialization by taking explicit advantage of the opportunities provided by the ecosystem while avoiding the kinds of traps that challenge firms in such environments. Our observation of a variety of niche strategies in action highlights a few critical components. Value creation The first driver of an effective niche...
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...challenges when setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges: Lack of Capital is probably the biggest challenge when starting a new business. Most small businesses are dependent on personal savings as they do not generally get funds from investors when starting up. And since most entrepreneurs are young and they do not have much funding to invest, their business will kick off much slower than an entrepreneur with age and savings. This lack of funds also limits business plans. Entrepreneurs will not be able to put together a substantial marketing plan or hire employees with a lack of capital, and without a marketing plan it will be extremely difficult and frustrating for the business to grow at the rate the entrepreneur might be expecting. Time management is another key challenge in starting a business. With everything and everyone depending on the entrepreneur, it is hard for most to distinguish between low-priority tasks and high-priority tasks. They can get caught up in advertising the business and forget about following up with customers or vice versa. Both ultimately being a high-priority task, but not having good time management skills, it’s hard to get customers without advertising and it is also hard to keep customers if you are not following up with them. Lack of experience in running a business is another challenge in starting a business. Most entrepreneurs have little to no experience in marketing, running a business, customer service, and financial...
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...setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. When one has the ambitious dream to start a business, ideas are constructed to meet expected challenges. Some challenges encountered when setting up a business are: source of funding, types of product produced and sold, and what type of audience the business is targeting for potential sales. Funding will always remain a top priority and challenge for any potential business owner. Without adequate funding, the business is sure to fail. Is it wise to begin a quest for success with failure determined from the beginning due to inadequate funding? In accordance with this concern, liabilities, in the form of loans or other elements, have to be established and if the business were to fail, a huge burden rests upon the ambitious character. When the attention is aimed at the business’ products and services, many factors have to be taken into consideration. Such elements like the economical stability of the nation, product brand and quality, type of hired employee, etc., are all factors which need to be considered. Should the wrong product be presented to the incorrect audience, the business is doomed because theoretically, sales will never exceed expenses. Finally, a new business owner should focus on his or her intended group. It is wise to start small and expand into new branches once the business has been acknowledged and is showing great promise. By targeting a wide range of individuals, the business owner is sure...
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...Study: Creating a Business Introduction to Business Prof. Maria Gambuzza Urban Outfitters Continuing Case Study: Creating a Business 1. Identify at least three challenges when setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. One of the challenges when setting up a business is about finance. First and foremost, business needs to determine the startup cost. To be able to do that, they must identify all the expenses their business will encounter during their startup phase. The expenses will be either one-time cost, such as business license fee or going costs, such as leasing cost, supplies, etc… After that phase, business needs to find their capital sources. If they don’t have their own savings or can’t borrow money from friends or family, their option will be getting loan from banks. In the early state of the business, their inexperience “in financial matters often prompts banks to deny loan requests”. (1) Business owner needs to well prepare and organize to prove to their lender that they are the bank’s good investment. The other challenge is experience and skills. Many people are first time business owners who are inexperience and lack of skills. Some start a business because they see people doing successfully and think they can do the same. However, running a business smoothly and successfully requires owners to have skills and experience in all perspective of the business, including accounting, marketing, etc. The third challenge new business owners will face...
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...Urban Outfitters Continuing Case Study Part 2 1. Setting up a new business can be a tumultuous task. Order, timing and planning is key when trying to execute a successful business. Even though you might have an excellent idea without proper execution a business can fail. It is imperative to understand that starting a business is not easy and conducting your own research, heeding the advice of experienced business owners and seeking other organizations and resources that help small business owners are key steps in addressing these challenges. - Financing. Does the owner have sufficient cash to fund the opening of the business as well as its ongoing operations? Many times the owner has enough financing to open their doors but they run into cash flow troubles and end up losing their business because they have failed to consider that the business has ongoing cash flow requirements. Excess growth can be a factor, and financing limitations can hinder growth, or growth can outstrip financing and cause a liquidity crisis. - Securing an Appropriate Location. In retail, location can be a deal maker or a deal breaker of the success of the firm. The type of product can have a big impact on the appropriateness of a given location. For example, in the Urban Outfitters case, the owners decided at first to focus their store openings near college campuses where young people looking for trendy fashions would tend to be in close proximity. - Legal Issues: Patents and trademarks must be...
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...Creating a Business Sherine Ghabour Professor Ivy Business 100 January 26, 2011 Identify at least three challenges when setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. Many individuals face countless obstacles and challenges when setting up a new business. These individuals are better known as entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are people who risk their time, money, and other resources to start and manage a business (Kelly & McGowen, 2010). When starting a new business, entrepreneurs usually start out small. One of the numerous reasons for this small startup is their uncertainty regarding the challenges they might have to face in the initial stages. One of main challenges when setting up a new business is lack of knowledge and experience. People often think that if they have in depth knowledge in a spcific area, they are experts in running a business which is not true for all. The reason it is not true is that successful business owners must lead others by example and know every detail from finance to marketing. Finance is another main challenge many also face when setting up any kind of business. Understanding the real cost associated with delivering a product is extremely imperative. Many businesses fail due to insufficient operating funds because business owners also known as entrepreneurs often underestimate how much money is needed, which results in closing down the business before having a fair chance to succeed. They also may have an unrealistic...
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...Niche Market Defined According to Phillip Kotler, a niche is a narrowly defined customer group. Niche markets primarily consist of market segments within the larger market place who have similar demographic, psychographic, buying behavior and/or lifestyle characterics. The Fenix Group started with two entrepreneurs, Anthony Keung (Chinese) and Masaaki Ogino (Japanese) who shared the same business philosophy, which is aiming at niche markets, that most times are left untouched or under-served. How did Fenix identify and tap into different niche markets? Knitwear Manufacturing Niche Market The Group first niche was knitwear manufacturing after which they diversified into fashion and general merchandise retailing. Fenix identified every new niche market out of experience and knowledge gained from previous business opportunites. For instance, knowledge gained from working at a yarn manufacturing supplier enabled them them to move from trading imported Japanese yarn to Hong Kong knitted factories to expanding into knitwear manfacturing and setting up their own manufacturing company in Hong Kong. This venture was successful in the Japanese market due to increasing demand for high quality knitwear due to increased labor cost of local production. Fenix opened knitwear factories in South and Central China to minimize cost and improve their competitiveness by concentrating only on high quality knitwear due to increased price competition. This strategic move to China laid...
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...Montrez Fox Lawanda Robertson Introduction To Business 10/26/2010 1. Identify at least three challenges when setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. The first challenge I see with setting up a business is deciding what type of business to start. Choosing the wrong business can ultimately cause your business to fail. The second challenge I see with setting up a business is targeting potential customers. You have to figure out who your going to sell your product to and how to reach these individuals. The third challenge I see with setting up a business is coming up with the capital to start the business. It takes money to make money. Unless you have a nice savings account, you will probably have to get a business loan or find people who are willing to invest in your company. 2. Define what a “niche” product is. Give at least three examples of niche products. A niche product is something designed to appeal to specialized interests. Not for everyone, but a specific customer. Examples; speakers at the Bose store, Starbucks Coffee, a restaurant that sells Chinese food. 3. Explain why a niche company might have an advantage in a market. Would price necessarily be an advantage? Explain why or why not. A niche company has an advantage in the market because the customers are coming to the store specifically for a product that the company sells. If a woman walks into Victoria’s Secret, she’s shopping for women’s underclothes...
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...Urban Outfitters Professor Lizzie Lewis Business 100 Alfreda Leonard February 7, 2011 Identify at least three challenges when setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. Three challenges when setting up a business are finding the right location, finding the right employees and developing a mission or vision statement. Location can cause a business to flourish or to fail if a business is not easily accessible or visible it makes it hard for customers to locate or find it. Your employees will be your representatives to your customers and the outside world, if your employee is rude or inconsiderate it will be a direct reflection of your business. A vision or mission statement is very important because it lets customers know the intent of your business. Define what a niche product is. Give at least three examples of niche products. A niche product is a made and marketed for use in a small and specialized but profitable market. Three examples of a niche products Coogi clothing line, a thrift store and neighborhood convenience store. Explain why a niche company might have an advantage in a market. Would price necessarily be an advantage? Explain why or why not? A niche market company might have an advantage in a market because of its location. Price would not necessarily be an advantage because in a convenience store the price is usually higher, but customers frequently visit these places to buy items they forget at the local grocery store. Identify...
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...when setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. One challenge when setting up a business is the obstacle of arranging for financing. In business you’re going to have slow times when revenue is not steady or increasing. Ethically, businesses would like to retain their employees when times get rough. Being able to obtain a loan or establish a line credit is crucial to keeping the flow of the business going. You need capital and equipment to get your business up and running. Another challenge businesses face is finding the right employees for the job. Some people are lucky enough to have friends or family that are self motivated and are willing to put forth the effort to assist in establishing the business plan, practices, and model. Finding employees that have good work ethics: are punctual in their attendance, put in a full day’s work, and their personal integrity is held to a high standard, can be time consuming and difficult to find. Another challenge is getting your name out to a potential customer base. If people are unfamiliar and/or unaware of your company and services that you are offering to provide, they can’t contribute to the growth of your business. Creating an attractive, user friendly website is a great way to gain exposure and attract a new customer base. But most of the time, a company needs a sales force to reach out to its customer base so that the customers feel that there is personal interaction and that their business is valued and...
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