SBANC Newsletter
June
21, 2005
Issue
377-2005
QUOTE
"You can do so much in 10 minutes' time. Ten minutes, once gone,
are gone for good. Divide your life into 10-minute units and
sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity."
-- Ingvar
Kamprad
FEATURE
PAPER
Small
Business Imperative: Identifying & Developing Competitive Advantage
This
paper was presented by Martin S. Bressler of Houston Baptist
University at the Fall 2004 ASBE conference in San Antonio, Texas.
ABSTRACT
Perhaps one of the most critical activities for any business is to
identify and develop a sustainable competitive advantage. This
process can be difficult and time consuming, especially for small
and emerging businesses in industries where numerous competitors
already exist. Many entrepreneurs, however, do not understand the
process or the importance of developing a sustainable competitive
advantage.
All
too often new small businesses fail to stake out a position in
the market where they can succeed. Some attempt
to compete against much larger competitors on the basis of
price, while others presume that all they have to do is open
a storefront
and customers will come to buy from them.
In this paper, key
research findings will be examined and a model approach will be provided
for business owners to leverage their business resources and strengths.
Read the Entire Paper...
TIP
OF THE WEEK
Opening Your Eyes and Mind to Vast Opportunities
Where can you find a business idea that will really pay off? One that
fulfills your passions? One that will make you rich? One that will
make you famous? What are the best ventures to pursue today?
Only you can answer these questions because the best opportunity for
you is one that you will enjoy, and one that makes money. The best
business for you uses those experiences, passions, skills, and aptitudes
that are unique to you. Who are you? What are your skills? What turns
you on? What special knowledge do you have that distinguishes you from
other people?
Look around; check out the new businesses in your town or industry.
Which new firms are operating in your selected industry? What new target
markets are developing? What could you sell on the Internet? How can
you meet the needs of the aging baby boomers? What about the echo boomers?
As you seek opportunities and formulate your business, consider if
your business opportunity possesses Forbes ASAP's following six leading
success factors:
- Responsiveness to change:
How well can your company respond to market change?
- Market
opportunity: How big is the potential market for your
company's products?
- Marketing
expertise: How good will your company be at selling
and marketing into the previously mentioned opportunity?
- Human
capital: Can you build strong management, marketing,
sales, and support?
- Alliances
and partnerships: Can you build strong partnerships
and relationships?
- Prospects
for growth: How fast is the company growing, and can
it continue to ramp up quickly?
You
want to
be sure
your business
serves a
need, and
that you
will enter
the marketplace
from a
position of
strength. It's
time to
look at
your changing
world and
selected industry
to spot
trends and
opportunities. Be
a trend-spotter
and you
can ride
your way
to a
successful business.
Don't forget
to add
blood, sweat,
tears, energy,
enthusiasm, money,
passion, and
a good
idea! When
we began
working with
entrepreneurs some
25 years
ago, we
handed out
sage advice
like "Just find a
need and fill it." Now we say, "Examine the marketplace
thoroughly for flaws and opportunities, and use technology
to keep track of your
customer's needs continually." We also used to say, "If
you're doing business now the same way you did 3 years ago,
you're probably
doing many things wrong." Now we say, "If
you're doing
business today
the same
way you
did 6
months ago,
you should
think about
a new
strategic plan."
Use your marketplace radar to choose a growth segment of a growth industry--to
ride the crest of the wave. Choosing the hot growth sector is usually
the right way to begin before the trend turns down. Occasionally, however,
the trend sours quickly. Twenty years ago one could ride a trend for
5 to 10 years, but now that time is greatly compressed, and reaching
a profit sooner rather than later is essential for continuing your
business.
If
you are
already in
a small
business, or
thinking about
getting into
one, make
it easy
on yourself
by first
identifying industries
in the
growth phase
of their
life cycle.
Play "marketplace
detective."
Look around you. When you focus in on a particular business, do you
sense growth over the long term? Or is it involved with a fad that
won't last? For your business, you want a growth industry that will
generate new customers quickly, allowing you to build a repeat customer
base.
As a small-business owner, one of the things you must have going for
you is fast footwork, so you can adjust to change quickly. It's one
of your best weapons in the marketplace. But you can benefit from fast
footwork only if you operate from a position of knowledge: stay in
touch with customers and keep your ear tuned to the marketplace.
Hiduke,
Gail P., and J.D. Ryan.
Small
Business: An Entrepreneur's
Business
Plan. 7th ed. Mason:
Thompson South-Western,
2006. 22-23.
CONFERENCES
Neighborhood Networks
Neighborhood
Networks will its hold 10th Anniversary National Training Conference
in Lake Buena Vista, Florida from June 29 to July 1, 2005.
For more information, visit: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/mfh/nnw/2005conf.cfm
World Association for Case Method Research
and Application (WACRA)
The
World Association for Case Method Research and Application (WACRA)
will hold its 22nd International Conference in Brno, Czech Republic
from July 3 to July 6, 2005.
For
more information, visit: http://www.wacra.org/CzechCallforPapers2005English.pdf
WMSCI 2005
The 9th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics
(WMSCI) will address Information Systems, Technologies and Applications,
and Communication and Network Systems.
The conference will take place in Orlando, Florida on July 10-13,
2005.
For more information, visit: http://www.iiisci.org/sci2005/website/callforpapers.pdf
Enterprise
Development Growth & Expansion (EDGE)
Enterprise Development Growth & Expansion (EDGE) will hold
its 2005 conference at Singapore Management University in Singapore
on July 11-13, 2005. The theme for the conference will be "Bridging
The Gap: Entrepreneurship in Theory And Practice." Topics include:
entrepreneurism, business creation, venture capital, SME consulting,
family business,
etc.
For
more information, visit: http://www.research.smu.edu.sg/faculty/edge/conference_2005/index.htm
IPSI-2005
PESCARA
IPSI
will hold its Symposium on Challenges in the Internet and Interdisciplinary
Research at the Hotel Castello Chiola, in Pescara, Italy from July
21-August 1, 2005.
For more information, visit: http://www.internetconferences.net/pescara2005/index.html
CALL
FOR PAPERS
Southwestern
Business Administration Teaching Conference
The
13th Annual Southwestern Business Administration Teaching
Conference will be held at the Jesse H. Jones School of Business
at Texas Southern
University in Houston, Texas from October 20-21, 2005.
Submission Deadline: June 30, 2005
For more information, visit: http://obtsweb.pitzer.edu/swtc05.htm
Journal
of Contemporary Business Issues
The
Journal of Contemporary Business Issues and the College
of Business and Technology at Western Illinois University will hold
a conference
on emerging issues in business & technology in Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina on November 3-5, 2005. Topics to be covered at
the
conference include: Management/Leadership, Marketing, Teaching, Training, & Learning,
Finance & Accounting, Supply Chain Management, Communication
in Organizations, etc.
Submission Deadline: June 30, 2005
For more information, visit: http://www.wiu.edu/CMPD/conference/
USASBE/SBI
USASBE
and SBI will hold the USASBE/SBI 2006 Joint Conference at the JW
Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa, Tucson, Arizona on January
12-15, 2006. The theme for the 2006 conference will be "The
Changing Entrepreneurial Landscape."
Submission Deadline: July
15, 2005
For more information, visit: http://www.usasbesbi2006.org
College of Business and Leadership at Fort Hays State University
The
College of Business and Leadership at Fort Hays State University
will hold its First Annual Business and Leadership Symposium in Hays,
Kansas on September 28 - 29, 2005. The best proposals in the Symposium
are eligible for publication consideration in the Journal of
Business and Leadership: Research, Practice, and Teaching.
Submission Deadline: July 15, 2005
For more information, visit: http://www.fhsu.edu/cob/
The Association for Global Business
The
Association for Global Business will hold its 17th International
Conference at the Wyndham Miami Beach Resort in Miami, Florida
on November 17-19, 2005. All topics in business disciplines (accounting,
finance,
international business, management, marketing, economics, management
information systems and computer science, political science, public
administration, global strategies, etc.) are appropriate.
Submission Deadline: July 15, 2005
For more information, visit: http://falcon.jmu.edu/~damanpfx
The SBANC Newsletter is provided as
a service to the members of our affiliates: Academy
of Collegiate Marketing Educators (ACME), Association for Small
Business& Entrepreneurship (ASBE), Decision
Sciences Institute (DSI), Federation of Business
Disciplines (FBD), International Council for Small Business Congress
(ICSBC), Institute
for Supply Management, The International Small Business Congress
(ISBC), Marketing Management Association (MMA), Small Business
Administration
(SBA), Service Corps of Retired Executives, Small Business Institute
(SBI), Society for
Marketing Advances (SMA), United States Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship
(USASBE), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Western
Decision Sciences Institute (WDSI). If you are interested in membership
or would like
further information on one of our affiliates, please see our web
site at
http://www.sbaer.uca.edu
SBANC STAFF
Main Office Phone: (501) 450-5300
Dr. Don B. Bradley III, Executive
Director of SBANC & Professor
of Marketing
Direct Phone: (501) 450-5345, E-mail: donb@uca.edu
Esther
Mead, Graduate Research, E-mail: esthermead@gmail.com
Ashley
Ford, Development Intern, E-mail: ASHatsbanc@hotmail.com
Kim Hensley, Development Intern, E-mail: hensleyanthony@hotmail.com
Brad Lawrey, Development Intern, E-mail: bradlawrey@hotmail.com
Olivia Johnson, Development Intern, E-mail: reneeatuca_2003@hotmail.com
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the SBANC
Newsletter, please E-mail SBANC at sbanc@uca.edu
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