As your business grows beyond its start-up phase,
you may need to bring new people on board with
varied skill sets. This is the ideal time to start
building the culture that will ensure the survival of
the firm for future generations.
Developing a participatory culture is the first step in
acting like the bigger players without losing the
flexibility and agility that have allowed you to
compete successfully thus far. At this critical stage,
companies need to develop a mission, values, and
objectives that can be clearly understood by all
team members and will guide their behavior.
These values and objectives need to become a part
of every day life at the organization, not something
that is reviewed once a year and forgotten about in
the daily life of the organization. You may want to
dust off your original business plan and bring it up-
to-date.
The mission statement should reveal the company’
s aspiration of securing a place in this world: how
would it like to be seen by others, what markets it
plans to serve and what position within this market
would be appropriate, etc.
The values, of course, should reflect the values of
the founders that have thus far made the firm
successful. However, as new people have come
into the organization you should include shared
values that already exist and make your firm what it
is today and what it should be in the future. This
may require a little introspection and brainstorming
in order to put into words those qualities that
already exist. A day or two away from distractions
seems to work best for most teams, so a location
away from the office is best.
Objectives should provide an ongoing road map to
fulfill the company’s mission. Annual goals should
be formulated to contribute to these longer term
objectives. These goals should then be reviewed
frequently individually and by the team.
As you look back at your past successes what has
been the key element? Somewhere along the line
you have obtained the agreement of someone to
give you money in exchange for your products or
services. This typical customer must have been
happy with what you have delivered and has come
back many times. If so, you must agree then that
keeping this typical customer happy should be
crucial to your mission.
Customer satisfaction is seen today as a necessary
ingredient for enterprise success.
Yet such customer satisfaction may not be totally
sufficient to guarantee customer loyalty as your
customers could derive equal satisfaction from
your competition (perhaps at a lower cost). You
must build your goals by taking into account the
customer’s needs and wants whether these are
spoken or unspoken.
Taking into account your strengths and
weaknesses against those of your competition
helps keep the process focused on the customer.
Recognize that customer wants and needs are not
static. By going beyond mere satisfaction and
delighting your customers you could create new
needs and wants that may keep you ahead of the
competition and earn your customer’s loyalty.
As you can see, this is a never ending process. As
you satisfy your customer needs, you must
continue to improve your business so that you can
continue to earn your customer’s loyalty. This is
accomplished by:
1) adopting this continuous improvement
philosophy as part of the company’s daily life,
2) applying consistency to your products and
services,
3) operating in a genuine participatory teamwork
environment,
4) training and developing every member of the
team with the purpose of making continuous
improvement part of the organization’s culture and
5) using measurements and analysis of those
operations that are critical to the delivery of quality
products and services.
GROWTH AND SURVIVAL PROCESS
Enrique Bekerman is Principal of Quality
Manufacturing Associates
Phone: 1-954-346-4474
www.webuildqualitytogether.com E-mail:
qma109@yahoo.com
you may need to bring new people on board with
varied skill sets. This is the ideal time to start
building the culture that will ensure the survival of
the firm for future generations.
Developing a participatory culture is the first step in
acting like the bigger players without losing the
flexibility and agility that have allowed you to
compete successfully thus far. At this critical stage,
companies need to develop a mission, values, and
objectives that can be clearly understood by all
team members and will guide their behavior.
These values and objectives need to become a part
of every day life at the organization, not something
that is reviewed once a year and forgotten about in
the daily life of the organization. You may want to
dust off your original business plan and bring it up-
to-date.
The mission statement should reveal the company’
s aspiration of securing a place in this world: how
would it like to be seen by others, what markets it
plans to serve and what position within this market
would be appropriate, etc.
The values, of course, should reflect the values of
the founders that have thus far made the firm
successful. However, as new people have come
into the organization you should include shared
values that already exist and make your firm what it
is today and what it should be in the future. This
may require a little introspection and brainstorming
in order to put into words those qualities that
already exist. A day or two away from distractions
seems to work best for most teams, so a location
away from the office is best.
Objectives should provide an ongoing road map to
fulfill the company’s mission. Annual goals should
be formulated to contribute to these longer term
objectives. These goals should then be reviewed
frequently individually and by the team.
As you look back at your past successes what has
been the key element? Somewhere along the line
you have obtained the agreement of someone to
give you money in exchange for your products or
services. This typical customer must have been
happy with what you have delivered and has come
back many times. If so, you must agree then that
keeping this typical customer happy should be
crucial to your mission.
Customer satisfaction is seen today as a necessary
ingredient for enterprise success.
Yet such customer satisfaction may not be totally
sufficient to guarantee customer loyalty as your
customers could derive equal satisfaction from
your competition (perhaps at a lower cost). You
must build your goals by taking into account the
customer’s needs and wants whether these are
spoken or unspoken.
Taking into account your strengths and
weaknesses against those of your competition
helps keep the process focused on the customer.
Recognize that customer wants and needs are not
static. By going beyond mere satisfaction and
delighting your customers you could create new
needs and wants that may keep you ahead of the
competition and earn your customer’s loyalty.
As you can see, this is a never ending process. As
you satisfy your customer needs, you must
continue to improve your business so that you can
continue to earn your customer’s loyalty. This is
accomplished by:
1) adopting this continuous improvement
philosophy as part of the company’s daily life,
2) applying consistency to your products and
services,
3) operating in a genuine participatory teamwork
environment,
4) training and developing every member of the
team with the purpose of making continuous
improvement part of the organization’s culture and
5) using measurements and analysis of those
operations that are critical to the delivery of quality
products and services.
GROWTH AND SURVIVAL PROCESS
- MISSION
- VALUES
- OBJECTIVES
- ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- GOALS
Enrique Bekerman is Principal of Quality
Manufacturing Associates
Phone: 1-954-346-4474
www.webuildqualitytogether.com E-mail:
qma109@yahoo.com
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Small Business: Survival and Growth
By Enrique Bekerman www.webuildqualitytogether.com
By Enrique Bekerman www.webuildqualitytogether.com
