The Entrepreneur's Strategy Guide

Ten Keys for Achieving Marketplace Leadership and Operational Excellence

Tom Cannon

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN:
  9780275989040
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313056499
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

In an environment where the chances of failure are much greater than success, what will make your company a winner? Drawing from fifty years of experience, research, and observation in entrepreneurial strategy, Tom Cannon offers a game plan for entrepreurs. Dividing the book into two basic parts—the marketplace (external environment) and the organization (internal environment)—he outlines the ten core capabilities that every business must master in order to be successful. Illustrating each principle through examples of real companies, and engaging the reader through diagnostics, checklists, and other interactive exercises, Cannon presents an essential resource for entrepreneurs; managers of startups, spinoffs, and other entrepreneurial units; and students of strategy and business development. At the heart of the book is an emphasis on how entrepreneurs can execute ambitious visions and strategies by mastering the basics and recognizing opportunities to continuously improve and innovate.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Tables and Figures
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• PART A: CONSUMERS AND COMPETITORS—YOUR STRATEGIC FOUNDATION
• PART B: PROFIT-PRODUCING MANAGERIAL AND OPERATIONAL STRATEGIES
• Appendix A: Small Business in the United States
• Appendix B: Intellectual Property Protection
• Appendix C: Entrepreneur Magazine's Annual Software Guide
• Appendix D: Alternatives for a Manufacturers' Agency Agreement
• Appendix E: RMA Annual Statement Studies
• Appendix F: The Start-Up's Initial Operating Requirements
• Notes
• Annotated Bibliography
• Index
• TABLE A-1: Kipling's Six Journeymen
• TABLE A-2: Psychographics—Generational Consumer Characteristics
• TABLE A-3: How Customers Rate Your Competitive Standing
• TABLE A-4: Early Promises of the Internet and Information Technology, circa 2002
• TABLE 1-1: Market Niche Profiling Worksheet
• TABLE 1-2: Competitive Evaluation of Benefits and Strategies
• TABLE 2-1: Melloy & Son Construction—Cash Flow Projections: Next Calendar Year
• TABLE 3-1: Principal 21st Century Distribution Channel Strategies
• TABLE 3-2: Distribution-Selectivity Characteristics and Guidelines
• TABLE 3-3: Alternative Distribution Strategies for LMN Paper Company
• TABLE 3-4: A Self-Test of Your Company's Infotech Readiness
• TABLE 3-5: Competitive Evaluation of Distribution Channels and Supply Chains
• TABLE 4-1: Elements of the Marketing and Customer Service Functions
• TABLE 4-2: Prospecting Roadmap for InfoCom Associates
• TABLE 4-3: Marketing Budget of Phoenix Roofing, Inc.
• TABLE 4-4: Publicity and Low-Cost Promotion Options
• TABLE 5-1: Weaknesses in Your Direct Customer Services Functions
• TABLE B-1: Random Motivations for Pursuing a Start-Up
• TABLE B-2: Fitness Checklist for Start-Up Entrepreneurs
• TABLE B-3: Early Small-Business Growth Stages
• TABLE B-4: A Managerial Mainline of Strategic Decision Areas and Issues
• TABLE 6-1: Sales Assumptions for Vecchi Marketing Plan
• TABLE 6-2: Summary Financial Preview—Modern Furniture Project
• TABLE 6-3: Requirements for Success of Buckeye Furniture Venture
• TABLE 7-1: Leadership Techniques of CEOs
• TABLE 7-2: Critical Elements of a Sound Managerial and Control Plan
• TABLE 9-1: Warnings from Your Financial Performance Numbers
• TABLE 9-2: Warnings from Your Customers and Marketplace
• TABLE 9-3: Warnings from Your Internal Business Operations
• TABLE 9-4: "Do-Your-Own" Turnarounds
• TABLE 10-1: Significant Characteristics of Small Business Strategy
• TABLE 10-2: The British Clockmaker's Diversification Planning Matrix
• TABLE 10-3: Profit Planning Dynamics for an Ongoing Small Business
• TABLE 10-4: New Venture Screening Procedure—Control Sheet
• TABLE E-1: Financial Data and Ratios for Retail Gift Stores
• TABLE F-1: Five Litmus Test Questions for Start-Ups
• FIGURE I-1: The Small-Business Planning Cycle
• FIGURE A-1: A Simplified Model of Consumer Purchasing
• FIGURE A-2: Four Unruly Competitive Characteristics
• FIGURE 2-1: Outdoor Sports Breakeven Analysis—Original Strategy
• FIGURE 3-1: Vecchi Distribution Channels Planning Worksheet
• FIGURE 3-2: West Lebanon, New Hampshire Shopping Center, April 2005
• FIGURE 5-1: Customer Generating Cycle—Anatomy of a Repeating Sale
• FIGURE B-1: The CEO's Managerial Work of the 21st Century
• FIGURE 6-1: Planning Profile of Nonferrous Metals Producer
• FIGURE 6-2: Phases and Steps in the Small Enterprise's Planning Process
• FIGURE 7-1: Diversification and Empowerment Planning Wheel
• FIGURE 9-1: The Problem/Cause/Solution Track
• FIGURE 10-1: Project Screening Task Force Voting Sheet