Best Practice Articles for Growing Private Companies

This web page provides links to over 100 short articles that bring you up to speed quickly on leading edge topics such as Leveraging Competitive Intelligence, Measuring Leadership, Using Appreciative Inquiry, and Elevating the HR Function.

Budgeting and Forecasting

Financial Forecasting Using Percent of Sales | Improving the Budgeting Process | Don't Forget to Use Expected Values in Your Forecasts | Considerations for Budgeting Software |

Capital Management

What is Your Cost of Capital | Calculating Weighted Average Cost of Capital | Capital Structure Analysis Using EBIT/EPS |

Cash Flow Management

Basic Cash Flow Management | Quick Tips for Improving Cash Flow | Cash Support for Sales Growth | Basic Accounts Receivable Management |

Change

Welcome to a World of Structural Change pdf file

Competitive Intelligence

The Importance of Competitive Intelligence | Collecting Competitive Intelligence the Easy Way | Competitive Intelligence: An International Perspective | Organizing the Competitive Intelligence Effort pdf file | Leveraging Competitive Intelligence

Controlling Costs

A Better Approach to Cost Control: ABC | Why Implement Activity Based Costing?

Decision Making

Major Pitfalls in the Decision Making Process | Key Elements to Effective Decision Making | Learning to Think pdf file | How to Brainstorm | To Blink or Not Blink pdf file | The Power of Crowdsourcing pdf file | BADIR: A Simple Approach to Analytics | Getting out of the Quantitative World

Economic Value Added

What is Economic Value Added? | Four Steps to Calculating EVA | Making EVA Work | The EVA Momentum Ratio

Financing

What are Effective Interest Rates? | The Cost of Financing Inventories | What is Operating Leverage? | What is Zero Working Capital | The IPO Process | Can Wall Street Learn Something from Islamic Finance pdf file

Investment Analysis

Basic Economics for Capital Budgeting Analysis | What is Internal Rate of Return | Using Discounted Payback | Using Decision Trees | Why More Companies Should Consider OpEx over CapEx pdf file

Human Resource Management

Metrics for Human Resource Management | Cross Functional Teams | What is Matrix Management | Measuring Returns on HR Capital | The 360 Degree Evaluation Process | Reintroducing the Human Factor | Performance through People pdf file | The Smart Organization - Part 1 pdf file | The Smart Organization - Part 2 pdf file | Humanizing the Financial Mindset pdf file | Elevating the HR Function - Part 1 | Elevating the HR Function - Part 2 | What People Need are Coaches - Part 1 | What People Need are Coaches - Part 2 | Neuro Linguistic Programming - Part 1 | Neuro Linguistic Programming - Part 2 | The ABC's of Competency Models | Motivation as a Value Driver pdf file| Why Games Belong in the Workplace pdf file | Science Explains Creativity pdf file | Want a Superior Workforce? Hire Women pdf file | Three Frameworks for Higher Productivity pdf file | Why Link Pay to Performance pdf file | The Three Most Important Skillspdf file | Is this Person Right for Your Company pdf file

Intellectual Capital

Global Economics and Intellectual Capital | Recognizing Intellectual Capital pdf file | What is Intellectual Capital | Start Measuring Intellectual Capital pdf file | Putting Emphasis on Knowledge Assets

Marketing

In Pursuit of the Micro Moment pdf file | SEO: An Inconvenient Truth pdf file

Organizational Development

Turnarounds for Distressed Companies | Strategic Planning: First Step in the Balanced Scorecard | The Importance of Knowledge Management | SWOT Analysis the Baldrige Way | Let's Define Best Practices | Elements of Sustainability | The Art of Game Theory | Appreciating 'Appreciative Inquiry' - Part 1 | Appreciating 'Appreciative Inquiry' - Part 2 | Is Knowledge Really Power? pdf file| Creating Creativity - Part 1 pdf file | Creating Creativity - Part 2 pdf file | The Challenges of Becoming Customer Focused pdf file | Managing Complexity pdf file | Two is Better Than One pdf file

Performance Measurement

Basic Foundation Behind a Performance Measurement System | Design Steps in Building a Performance System | What are Critical Success Factors | Examples of Key Performance Indicators | Matching Financial Metrics with Strategies and Cycles | The Balanced Scorecard: Measuring Real Sources of Value | The Power of the Scorecard | Balanced Scorecard's for NonProfits and NGO's | Basics of Benchmarking | Integrated Performance Measurement | Balancing the Balanced Scorecard | The E2K Metric | It's Time to Start Measuring Leadership | Do You Know Your Vital Few pdf file | Everyone Should Have a Dashboard pdf file

Process Improvement

Improve Accounts Payables with P Cards | Reaching for the Six Sigma | Value through the Supply Chain | Focusing on the Process - Part 1 | Focusing on the Process - Part 2 | Avoiding Six Sigma Sickness |

Project Management

| Five Common Challenges to Managing Projects | Completing a Feasibility Study |

Ratio Analysis

Cash Flow Ratios | Accounts Receivable Ratio Analysis | Asset Ratio Analysis | Accounts Payable Ratio Analysis | Managing Return on Equity | Profitability Ratios | Operating Cost Ratios | Measuring Sustainable Growth | Using Z Score to Assess Bankruptcies

Risk Management

Step 1 in Risk Management: Take a Profile | Step 2 in Risk Management: Categorize Your Risk | Using Insurance to Manage Risk | Managing Foreign Exchange Rate Risk | Countering Black Swans pdf file

Start Ups

| Find Your Aggregation Points pdf file | Keep on Bootstrapping pdf file | Understanding Your Value Proposition pdf file | How to Use the Minimum Viable Product pdf file | How to Capture Useful Feedback pdf file | Why Customer Retention is so Important to Growth pdf file | Lessons from the Shared Economy pdf file | Hand Shakes vs. Lawyers pdf file | Embracing UX Design

Technology

What is a Data Warehouse? | eFinance Part 1: Basic Concepts | eFinance Part 2: Key Components | The XBRL Revolution | Comprehending the IT Challenge pdf file | Leveraging Knowledge Management | Is Web Services the Next Big Thing? | Start Thinking in Nano's | Welcome to the World of Complex Adaptive Systems pdf file | Cyber Security 101 pdf file | Machines of Loving Grace pdf file | Do You Know Your Algorithms pdf file

Value Based Management

Valuations of Mergers and Acquisitions | Underlying Sources of Value: Innovation and Speed | Lease Valuations | Focus on Free Cash Flow, Not EBITDA | Valuation of Customers - Part 1 | Valuation of Customers - Part 2 | Lessons from the Entrepreneur - Part 1 | Lessons from the Entrepreneur - Part 2 | Lessons from the Entrepreneur - Part 3 | Intangibles over Tangibles | The VDF Tool | From Shareholder Value to Stakeholder Value | Value through Strategy | Value through Innovation pdf file | Value through Ethical Behavior pdf file | Value through Leadership pdf file | Value through Marketing | Value through Information | How Small Companies Can Think Big | The Death of EBITDA pdf file | The Financial Argument for Great Design pdf file | A Better Way to Grow pdf file | The New Math for Pricing pdf file

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