The Manager's Resource Handbook
Tools, Resources and Guides for Managers and Business Leaders. Real Advice from Real Bosses.
When to Outsource? 8 Questions To Ask Yourself if You Are Thinking About Outsourcing To many business leaders, outsourcing may seem like a great solution to just about any problem. Indeed, leveraging outside resources and expertise can certainly enable you to fix issues and to keep your business thriving. However, outsourcing and offshoring typically require a lot of up-front planning, coordination and analysis on your part to
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A little while back we posted an article about writing a reply to an RFP (Request for Proposal), which provided a basic outline for responding to potential clients. Since then, we have received a lot of questions from the MRH community asking for details on formats to use as well as what sort of sections and content to include. So, we wanted
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Navigate the Challenges of Contract Negotiations in the People’s Republic A Fortune 200 executive once told me “No CEO wants it on his or her watch that they missed out on China.” It goes without saying that the world’s largest marketplace is a force to be reckoned with. As anyone who has worked with Chinese companies knows, doing business and negotiating in
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Competitor or Partner? It’s Not Always David Vs. Goliath Note to Reader: Competitor names are changes for privacy reasons. Last month, I was asked by a client to participate in a visit to some of their customers. The client, Acme Electric, wanted to meet with some of their smaller customers with the hopes of growing their existing sales volume
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The Benefits of Outsourcing Must Outweigh The Drawbacks Whenever we hear someone mention the term outsourcing, we usually have an immediate reaction to that single word. First, we might say that outsourcing work is a modern and effective management technique that has many applications and offers countless benefits. Or, we may say that outsourcing work – either overseas or just to an outside
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Understanding the Business Benefits of Airline Alliances We often hear about partnerships in business, but what does this actually mean? How do they work? Regardless of the form they may take, be it a licensing deal, a revenue sharing arrangement, or a full blow Joint Venture, partnerships are designed to maximize the expertise and strengths of each partner and can make good business
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Why Consider a Horizontal Integration Strategy? Just about every firm continuously tweaks and looks for new ways to optimize their operation in the pursuit of growth and profits. In the early 2000s, made even more possible by a rapidly expanding internet, just about every industry seemed to jump on the outsourcing bandwagon. The thought was simple: why expend internal resources on
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Preparing to Work In a Different Culture In today’s business environment, working with international partners, customers, or suppliers is inevitable. Sometimes an international project will be brief and short-lived; in other instances your working relationship can last several years as you accrue thousands of frequent flier miles. Perhaps you will even end up on an expat assignment for a couple of years. Regardless
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How to Grow With Current Customers: A Case Example In Sales and Marketing, we spend a lot of time pursuing new customers and new channels of growth. But we frequently lose sight of the sales potential right in front of us. Our best customers are often our current customers. And for this reason, we should always treat our current buyers with
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Using Business Partnerships To Fuel Growth When it comes to new markets and expanding your small business globally, you will likely face an uphill battle. You may struggle with start-up costs, you may have distribution challenges, and you may have gaps in knowledge of the specific market you target. These issues are difficult enough by themselves, but are even further magnified when
» Read more How to Grow Your Small Business We recently worked with a small company to assist with their business development struggles. The CEO described his company’s situation as “able to perform well when we can actually get in the door.” The company employed about 20 employees and worked in the IT services industry. MRH conducted an evaluation of the business, focusing
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