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PREPARING FOR THE NEW VENTURE LAUNCH: EARLY MANAGEMENT
DECISIONS (Continued….)

RECORD KEEPING

It is necessary to have good records for effective control and for tax purposes. The entrepreneur should be comfortable and able to understand what is going on in the business. With software packages, much of the record keeping can be maintained on a personal computer. The goals of a good record keeping system are to identify key incoming and outgoing revenues that can be effectively controlled.

Sales (Incoming Revenue)

It is useful to have knowledge about sales by customer both in terms of units and dollars. The entrepreneur of a retail store might try to identify the profile of the type of customer that patronizes the store. Retailers also like to have information on specific customers. Credit card purchases can be tracked for information on the type and amount of merchandise purchased. An Internet venture can maintain purchase history data on the types of produces purchased.
Customers’ e-mail addresses can be requested so the customer can be notified of sales. Some Internet firms have established a free membership as a means of following up. In a service venture, records would need to be maintained on when a customer paid their monthly fee. As cash flow problems are the most significant cause of new venture failure, good payment records are necessary. Record keeping of payments can either be handled by a computer software package or a simple card file system. If payments are late beyond a reasonable time, it may be necessary to hire a collection agency, but only as a last resort.

Read more: MGT602 - Entrepreneurship - Lecture Handout 38

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MEASURING ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

Learning Objectives

This topic concern with various is for measuring the performance of an organization.

Measuring organizational performance

To determine that which objectives are most important in the evaluation of strategies can be difficult. Strategy evaluation is based on both quantitative and qualitative criteria. Selecting the exact set of criteria for evaluating strategies depends on a particular organization's size, industry, strategies, and management philosophy. An organization pursuing a retrenchment strategy, for example, could have an entirely different set of evaluative criteria from an organization pursuing a market-development strategy. Quantitative criteria commonly used to evaluate strategies are financial ratios, which strategists use to make three critical comparisons: (1) comparing the firm's performance over different time periods, (2) comparing the firm's performance to competitors', and (3) comparing the firm's performance to industry averages. Some key financial ratios that are particularly useful as criteria for strategy evaluation are as follows:

1. Return on investment
2. Return on equity
3. Profit margin
4. Market share
5. Debt to equity
6. Earnings per share
7. Sales growth
8. Asset growth



Read more: MGT603 - Strategic Management - Lecture Handout 44