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Business Fundamentals was developed by the Global Text Project, which is working to create open-content electronictextbooks that are freely available on the website http://globaltext.terry.uga.edu. Distribution is also possible viapaper, CD, DVD, and via this collaboration, through Connexions. The goal is to make textbooks available to the manywho cannot afford them. For more information on getting involved with the Global Text Project or Connexions email us atdrexel@uga.edu and dcwill@cnx.org.

Editor: John Maynard (The University of Georgia, USA)

Contributors: Suzanne Barnett, Lydia Jones, Carol McDonell, Bernie Meineke, Tammy Segura (Georgia Small Business Development Center, USA)

Reviewer: Dr Gideon Markman (The University of Georgia, USA)

This chapter discusses organizational issues owners face while operating and attempting to grow their businesses. We examine four stages of organizational growth and the choices business owners face when deciding how to manage tasks and responsibilities. Those management decisions shape an organization's structure, which in turn influences lines of communication and decision-making processes.

The end of the chapter includes a short description of business legal entities. Also, you will find exercises to help you better grasp these concepts and to determine what type of organizational structure and legal entity might best suit your venture.

Moving from a one-person band to an orchestra

Most businesses start like a one-person band. The owner plays all the instruments, some better than others, but all out of necessity.

Like any musical ensemble, a small business includes many roles. In the beginning, the owners are often the best at making or delivering the product or service. Since they have the most at stake, they often assume a wide variety of roles, including sales, accounting, and much more.

Through a combination of skill, planning, talent, and perhaps luck, some businesses manage to grow. This growth leads to new and changing roles in the business for everyone, including the owner. Of all the roles an owner has in the business, perhaps the most important one is to be the designer for the business.

In the role of chief designer, business owners have three critical duties:

  • Provide the vision and direction for the company . Owners set the direction for the values of the company, develop its product and service strategies, and set the tone for its relationships with customers.
  • Develop and refine processes and procedures. Owners design the “business model”, or the big picture formulas and processes of doing business. Then, they must fill in the details by analyzing processes and finding bottlenecks.
  • Create the organization’s human resource structure . Owners identify the positions and types of people the business needs, and then they find the people to fill those roles. In the words of Jim Collins, author of the bestseller Good to Great ,
    Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and get everyone in the right seats.

The payoff for a well-designed business is immense. With clarity of vision, expectations and processes, and with the right people pulling together, there is a strong foundation for growth. Instead of a grim “never take a day off” grind, the business owner can now enjoy the ride—and maybe take a day off from time to time. It is also now possible for the owner to think about a profitable exit, because a business that can run without the owner is worth a lot more than one that falls apart when he or she is not at the controls.

Owners of a growing business eventually have to decide how to organize employees and delegate authority. Doing so can be a frustrating task for many entrepreneurs. Most would rather concentrate on closing sales, producing product, or managing cash. However, they do so at the peril of putting off planning for the future needs of their enterprise.

Questions & Answers

A golfer on a fairway is 70 m away from the green, which sits below the level of the fairway by 20 m. If the golfer hits the ball at an angle of 40° with an initial speed of 20 m/s, how close to the green does she come?
Aislinn Reply
cm
tijani
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John Reply
what is physics
Siyaka Reply
A mouse of mass 200 g falls 100 m down a vertical mine shaft and lands at the bottom with a speed of 8.0 m/s. During its fall, how much work is done on the mouse by air resistance
Jude Reply
Can you compute that for me. Ty
Jude
what is the dimension formula of energy?
David Reply
what is viscosity?
David
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emma Reply
what is chemistry
Youesf Reply
what is inorganic
emma
Chemistry is a branch of science that deals with the study of matter,it composition,it structure and the changes it undergoes
Adjei
please, I'm a physics student and I need help in physics
Adjanou
chemistry could also be understood like the sexual attraction/repulsion of the male and female elements. the reaction varies depending on the energy differences of each given gender. + masculine -female.
Pedro
A ball is thrown straight up.it passes a 2.0m high window 7.50 m off the ground on it path up and takes 1.30 s to go past the window.what was the ball initial velocity
Krampah Reply
2. A sled plus passenger with total mass 50 kg is pulled 20 m across the snow (0.20) at constant velocity by a force directed 25° above the horizontal. Calculate (a) the work of the applied force, (b) the work of friction, and (c) the total work.
Sahid Reply
you have been hired as an espert witness in a court case involving an automobile accident. the accident involved car A of mass 1500kg which crashed into stationary car B of mass 1100kg. the driver of car A applied his brakes 15 m before he skidded and crashed into car B. after the collision, car A s
Samuel Reply
can someone explain to me, an ignorant high school student, why the trend of the graph doesn't follow the fact that the higher frequency a sound wave is, the more power it is, hence, making me think the phons output would follow this general trend?
Joseph Reply
Nevermind i just realied that the graph is the phons output for a person with normal hearing and not just the phons output of the sound waves power, I should read the entire thing next time
Joseph
Follow up question, does anyone know where I can find a graph that accuretly depicts the actual relative "power" output of sound over its frequency instead of just humans hearing
Joseph
"Generation of electrical energy from sound energy | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore" ***ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7150687?reload=true
Ryan
what's motion
Maurice Reply
what are the types of wave
Maurice
answer
Magreth
progressive wave
Magreth
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Muhammad Reply
fine, how about you?
Mohammed
hi
Mujahid
A string is 3.00 m long with a mass of 5.00 g. The string is held taut with a tension of 500.00 N applied to the string. A pulse is sent down the string. How long does it take the pulse to travel the 3.00 m of the string?
yasuo Reply
Who can show me the full solution in this problem?
Reofrir Reply
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Source:  OpenStax, Business fundamentals. OpenStax CNX. Oct 08, 2010 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11227/1.4
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