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Number 7: This is the second in a series of eight posts concerning the top causes of small business failure. We will work our way up to the number one cause; however each one is an important issue for any small business to consider. This week’s post is on personal use of business funds being a cause of failure. While this seems like a no brainer and implies something criminal, it really gets at the issue of… Continue

In light of Scott Malone's report earlier today that manufacturing profits continue to plunge, businesses must be aware that they are more connected than ever and the health of one business can have a ripple effect on the others. We have seen this in the auto industry but how about your business, are you vaccinated from potential deadly viruses from your customers and suppliers? Every business is interconnected… Continue

According to Microsoft, the most popular supply chain management methodologies are

- Continuous Improvement (70.5% of companies),
- Lean Thinking (41.4% of companies),
- Lean Manufacturing (38.8% of companies).

The concept of Lean arose in the late 1950s/early 1960s, when Shigeo Shingo, was consulting to a variety of companies regarding their inability to eliminate bottlenecks th… Continue

Ilya Leybovich of Thomas Net Industrial Market Trends recently wrote "Good customer service can mean the difference between a solid client base and losing market share".

Customer service is an important strategy for increasing sales and improving customer loyalty since it is less expensive and easier to keep existing customers than to acquire new ones.

One importa… Continue

Since the U.S. Small Business Administration is working to stimulate the creation of new small businesses by increasing the percentage of the gaurantee to 90% and to reducing the fees, it is a good time to reevaluate the high failure rate of small businesses. According to SCORE, , using data from the SBA:

There were 637,100 new businesses, 560,300 business closures and 28,322 bankruptcies in 2007. Of these businesses:
- Two-thirds of new e… Continue