Blog from the Bridge

BUSINESS PLANNING SERIES – Part 3

Assuming the team is right, the situational analysis has been done, what next ? Any business plan has to be based on the underlying assumption that the status quo is NOT satisfactory and there is enough initiative to move from that position towards some alternative and better vision or goals. So the next step is to define that VISION. “all his life a man struggled to reach the top of the ladder and he finally does….. only to discover it’s against the wrong wall !!’ The VISION for an organization is a general statement about where they would like toRead more...

BUSINESS PLANNING SERIES – Part 2

Assuming you have got the right team around you to start the process, what is the next step? You must conduct an objective, forensic analysis on where your business is at right now. You have to get assistance to drill down into the financial and other data to assess the trends, interpret the subtle numbers, the business environment, your business model, the legal structure…..there is work to be done in looking at the core belief systems [ vision, mission, values, culture, team ethos etc] ….there are economic matters to be assessed such as your product(s) offering, financial capacity, people skills,Read more...

BUSINESS PLANNING SERIES – Part 1

The starting point for any effective business plan is to gather the right team of advisers around you. This obviously should involve the following: all relevant family members your accountant possibly your banker & solicitor your farm advisor if relevant if the plan might involve expansion through acquisition, this team could be augmented by all sorts of experts such as valuers, engineers, financial planners, real estate agents etc its not possible to prescribe the exact pool of people you will require as each project will be different, suffice to say, it should be multi disciplinary. one professional I think whoRead more...

mother nature does not do bailouts

in our highly contrived economic system we now have the concept of ‘too big to fail’ so the big banks have been saved from collapse on numerous occasions which staves off economic calamity but prevents those organizations from adaptive learning. Small business would never be protected from the blow torch of failure. There is an argument that the banking system, with its capacity to create credit, is a serious weak point in our economic structure. It relies on one single factor and that is TRUST. Banks are in a privileged position in our society and they should come out fromRead more...

“looking for Spinoza”

born in Amsterdam in 1632, Spinoza lived only 44 years and probably died from silicosis or glass dust. He was a philosopher who believed in resilience and courage and he strived to be cheerful. He worked hard at conquering feelings of fear and sorrow that nature often inspired in the 17th century. Spinoza said we are not obliged to accept our so called lot without response. We can and should adopt a combative stance to counteract what is before us. Its my view that those ideas still have great merit today. Business is one clear opportunity to intervene and improveRead more...