5 Essential Activites of Successful Business Management

Anyone can start a business but how many can make that business thrive and grow over the long term? The foundation of any successful business starts with the right mission, team and leader.  But prudent management is always ongoing.  Activities that not only fulfill the company’s mission but yield a profit and raise your level of income.

Here are five essential principles or activities as I have learned them, for operating and developing a successful business.

 1. Cash Flow Management. Making sense of financial statements is essential. This means knowing the difference between cash flow and profit. If you don’t know how to analyze business statements to extract vitally important information about a company’s strengths and weaknesses hire someone who does.  Then learn all you can to become financially literate. This is the most important principle. 

2.  Communications Management.  There are two ways that communications are important to a company’s success.   Communications that are devoted to activities outside the company.   These activities include raising capital, sales, marketing, customer service and public relations.  Speaking the language of the investors is essential if one needs to raise capital.  Good public communications or PR means good company image and creditability.  And getting feedback from your customers to find out what they like and don’t like can be critical to increasing your sales or service.  Then there are communications  that are devoted to activities within the company. These activities include, keeping in touch with your advisors, managers and employees to keep abreast of possible weakness that need to be corrected.  While the employees or managers may only communicate about their specific activity or department, the leader, employer, business entrepreneur must speak the language of all.

3.  Systems Management.  Like a pilot in the cockpit of a plane, the director of systems management must know how to read the “gauges”, making sure all of the plane’s systems are operating normally. The director of systems management oversees or supervises the various systems for the growth of the company. These systems include but are not limited to product development, office operations, order processing, billing and accounts receivables, account payable, inventory management, human resources and computer systems.

4.  Legal Management. Legal management is too often neglects.  Many businesses fail because they neglect to protect their intellectual property. Initial legal fees may seem expensive but  being locked in litigation can be even more expensive when trying to protect your  property  after the fact.  The power of patents, trademarks, names copy rights and contracts should not be underestimated.   A single legal document can launch the beginning of successful a worldwide business, like Aristotle Onassis who became a shipping mogul with a single document  A contract from a large manufacturer giving him ”exclusive rights” to  transport their goods all over the world.

5.  Product Management.  Product management is important because it embodies the company’s mission.  Success in selling the product depends on all the other management  principles operating in agreement. Take away one of the principles and the product has little value. Mc Donald’s does not make the best hamburger in the world, but their business model is one of the most successful in the world.  It doesn’t matter what your product is. It could be a widget, service or an idea. Whether you own a pretzel stand or a large corporation, if all of these elements are present, managed properly and working together your business venture will ultimately succeed.