Entrepreneurial Management

Entrepreneurial Management, Entrepreneurial Marketing, Entrepreneurial Accounting, Entrepreneurial Finance, Entrepreneurial Strategy and Entrepreneurial Leadership, constitute the Catching the American Dream(r) series authored by JoAnn and Jim Carland, which provides comprehensive coverage of entrepreneurship from visioning to harvesting. These books embody a pragmatic and practical exploration of idea commercialization, venture creation, market penetration, organizational management, venture growth, strategic positioning, and leadership.Entrepreneurial Management is an in-depth exploration of the skills required to effectively manage an entrepreneurial venture. It opens with the issues involved in buying a business, including the value of hidden assets, the dangers of hidden liabilities, problems in the transferability of goodwill, and business valuation. Finally, the process of a going concern purchase is minutely compared to an asset only purchase.Next, the book dives into franchising, the most rapidly growing business concept. It exposes the fiction of lower failure rates, lays bare the realities for start up franchisees, and explores the power of franchising to support rapid growth.Management of an ongoing operation and human resources, recruiting, training, supervision and evaluation occupy the next two chapters. There is special emphasis on the need for personal time management, and the text presents practical measures which can build compensation programs to attract and retain good personnel even in a cash poor entrepreneurial venture.Management of operational risks, property risks, customer centered risks, and employee centered risks, takes center stage in the next chapter, with an exploration of strategies for mitigation, including insurance and contingency plans. The next chapter features a deep dive into fraud, which the authors believe is the number one cause of failure. The perception of need, fraud opportunities, rationalization, perception of detection, and the role of an ethical climate are explored, and practical fraud prevention strategies close the treatment.Effective inventory management, accounting, controls, and purchasing are explored in the next chapter. Wholesale or retail entrepreneurial ventures will find these issues to be critical to success. Following is a dive into effective management of receivables. Retailers may avoid receivables through credit cards, but many entrepreneurial ventures sell to corporate customers who demand credit. Success mandates understanding credit decisions, credit policy, monitoring, bad debts, and collections.The following chapter explores financial management. Types and sources of financing are presented, from limited partnerships or limited liability companies, to stock in closely held corporations, to permanent financing, trade credit and going public. Loans, from lines of credit, to term loans, to bonds, take their position on the stage, and the role of debt in the risk exposure of the firm is featured, as are retained earnings, maintaining bank relationships, the impact of growth, and financial planning.Production management is critical to the success of a venture involved in fabrication, assembly or manufacturing. Contrary to popular belief, entrepreneurial ventures are prevalent in the fabrication industry and occupy many profitable niches. This chapter dives into design planning, production scheduling, just in time inventory, production control and quality control.The text closes with an exploration of international operations. Misconceptions in foreign trade, finding an export market, finding an import market, e-commerce, and outsourcing are explored in-depth, and the chapter closes with details of finance involved in international trade. The chapter presents practical advice for expansion into international trade for entrepreneurs from any country.