The Mañana Man Gets Serious--DeWese

6--How do I get started? What's most important for me to remember about value creation?

If you are the owner/CEO, you must begin with yourself and an objective self-analysis. Most of us, as mere mortals, have great difficulty with self-assessment and then using it to change. If management is incapable of embarking on the value creation process, then it must fired and replaced with management that can build value.

7--What adds the most value—being a one-stop shop or being a specialist?

You can be a one-stop shop and be a specialist. It is important to be a specialist in the truest sense of market segmentation.

8--Does an investment in technology always add value to business?

No. You can choose the wrong technology, not use it properly or buy it based on fallacious market information. Capital expenditure decisions should be market based (customer based) and be made using valid capital budgeting analysis. Additionally, for the short term, the debt attendant the cap expenditure usually reduces the value of equity.

9--What can be done to build value if you are in a declining market segment?

This is a broad question that must be defined by the circumstances of a declining market. Two strategies, acknowledging that they may be only short term, are diversification into other segments or the acquisition of weaker competitors in the declining segment.

Or, wait, maybe there's another way to build value? I know! Get out there and sell something!

—Harris DeWese

About the Author
Harris DeWese is the author of Now Get Out There and Sell Something! published by Nonpareil Books. He is a principal at Compass Capital Partners and is an author of the annual "Compass Report," the definitive source of information regarding printing industry merger and acquisition activity. DeWese specializes in investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, sales, marketing, planning and management services to printing companies.