Work Book: Surviving the Early Years

Abstract

Small business owner-managers need to learn how to screen business opportunities and adopt a more strategic mindset. Most tend to be more reactive and short range in their thinking. A lack of adequate market analysis and a reliance on guess work and intuition are common problems. Common causes of failure in small businesses are a lack of capital, poor financial management, lack of industry knowledge and managerial expertise, poor planning and staffing decisions, inadequate marketing and poor use of professional advisors, and personal problems experienced by the owner-manager.