Business Management - Operations

At the University of Chicago Booth School of Business’ Management Conference last week, I had the pleasure of attending one more lecture by James Schrager, clinical professor of entrepreneurship and strategic management. In his lecture, Schrager presented a very simple tool to analyze our business success.

KPS announced in April it was acquiring Thilmany Papers, which has mills in Kaukauna (WI) and De Pere (WI), from Packaging Dynamics. It announced previously it was buying Wausau Paper’s specialty paper business.

KPS now has definitive agreements to buy both operations it said in a statement Monday. The deal is expected to close by summer. “We are very excited to create Expera,” said Raquel Palmer, a representative with KPS, a New York-based private equity firm.

She said the combined operations of Wausau Paper and Thilmany will make Expera a leading manufacturer of specialty paper.

Huge customers are great when you have them, but what happens if and when you lose them? It can be a disaster, and even put your firm at risk. We see this more and more in today’s market. The most successful and growing firms often have one or more very large customers that grow to dominate their sales and influence how they do business.

It's not easy to humble yourself and admit to other business owners that you need help. I know about that! We ALL need help and direction at some point.

The National Geographic Society uses one paper supplier for both gravure and offset printing, which is one way the group has been able to manage costs.

“We only have one supplier, one make of sheet that we use, which allows us to partner with our paper supplier for strategic buys,” says Phil Schlosser, National Geographic Society Production Services SVP. “We can take advantage of their slower times versus their peak times.”

There are three major components the National Geographic Society looks to when trying to manage costs for their photo-heavy publications: Quality, costs and environmental impact.

Whether you keep a very strong current ratio with large cash reserves in the business or you choose to keep it in liquid personal assets, do one or the other. You will sleep better and will be better prepared for emergencies. Equally important is to be in a position to capitalize on the great opportunities that are still out there in our industry.

If employees are happy, they will enjoy working there, and the end result is that customers see the benefits as well. Don’t be afraid to hear what your employees have to say. Most companies fear the worst, but these fears are unfounded. If done right it can be a very positive experience.

In this current economy it may not be possible to give someone a raise to entice them to stay with your company. In some industries turnover is a fact of life, but you CAN avoid being a revolving door and slow down your turnover rate.

Understanding others’ decisions often starts with empathy—understanding their goals, priorities, and the internal mechanism for evaluating how likely options are to achieve those goals. You also need to look at their range of choices, consider what happens in the absence of a decision, and think about whether they’re looking for the perfect solution or simply one that will suffice.

It would be so easy to reduce the number of phone calls to medical providers, if a simple system—such as an online Corrective Action/System Buster system—was implemented that would empower medical personnel to record, track and FIX every misunderstanding a patient might have with any printed instructions they are given.