MANAGING AND MAINTAINING

SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS

OPERATIONS (LEVEL IV)
Operating Micro and Small
Businesses
 What is small business:-it is defined as a
privately owned corporation, partnership, or
sole proprietorship that has fewer employees
and less annual revenue than a corporation or
regular-sized business.
The importance of micro and small enterprises
 Microenterprises not only help improve the

quality of life for business owners, they add

value to the local economy.
 They can boost purchasing power, improve

income, and create jobs.

The four major functional areas of
business enterprises
The key functional areas of a business are the
following:
 Management
 Operations
 Marketing
 Accounting
 Finance
 Management
The primary role of managers in business is to supervise other people’s
performance. Most management activities fall into the following
categories:
 Planning: Managers plan by setting long-term goals for the business,

as well short-term strategies needed to execute against those goals.

 Organizing: Managers are responsible for organizing the operations

of a business in the most efficient way, enabling the business to use

its resources effectively.
 Controlling: A large percentage of a manager’s time is spent

controlling the activities within the business to ensure that it’s on

track to achieve its goals. When people or processes stray from the
path, managers are often the first ones to notice and take corrective
action.
 Leading: Managers serve as leaders for the organization, in practical

as well as symbolic ways. The manager may lead work teams or

groups through a new process or the development of a new product.
Operations
 Operations is where inputs (factors of production)
are converted to outputs (goods and services).
 Operations is like the heart of a business,
pumping out goods and services in a quantity and
of a quality that meets the needs of the
customers.
 The operations manager is responsible for
overseeing the day-to-day business operations,
which can encompass everything from ordering
raw materials to scheduling workers to produce
tangible goods.
Marketing
 Marketing consists of all that a company does to identify
customers’ needs and design products and services that
meet those needs.
 The marketing function also includes promoting goods
and services, determining how the goods and services
will be delivered, and developing a pricing strategy to
capture market share while remaining competitive.
 In day’s technology-driven business environment,
marketing is also responsible for building
and overseeing a company’s Internet presence (e.g., the
company Web site, blogs, social media campaigns, etc.).
 Today, social media marketing is one of the fastest
growing sectors within the marketing function.
 Accounting & Finance
 This area is ultimately responsible for accurately representing
the financial transactions of a business to internal and
external parties, government agencies, and owners/investors.
 Financial Accountants are primarily responsible for the

preparation of financial statements to help entities both inside

and outside the organization assess the financial strength of
the company.
 Managerial accountants provide information regarding costs,

budgets, asset allocation, and performance appraisal for

internal use by management for the purpose of decision-
making.
Finance
 A company’s finance department answers questions

about how funds should be raised (loans vs. stocks), the long-
term cost of borrowing funds, and the implications of
financing decisions for the long-term health of the business.
 The 4 Major Business Organization
Forms
Your company’s form will affect:
 How you are taxed
 Your legal liability
 Costs of formation
 Operational costs

There are 4 main types of business organization:

 sole proprietorship
 partnership
 corporation
 Limited Liability Company, or LLC.
Sole Proprietorship
 The simplest and most common form of
business ownership, sole proprietorship is a
business owned and run by someone for their
own benefit.
 The business’ existence is entirely dependent

on the owner’s decisions, so when the owner

dies, so does the business.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of sole proprietorship:
 All profits are subject to the owner
 There is very little regulation for proprietorships
 Owners have total flexibility when running the

business
 Very few requirements for starting—often only a

business license
Disadvantages:
 Owner is 100% liable for business debts
 Equity is limited to the owner’s personal resources
 Ownership of proprietorship is difficult to transfer
Partnership
 These come in two types: general and limited.
 General partnerships, both owners invest their

money, property, labour, etc. to the business

and are both 100% liable for business debts.
 Limited partnerships require a formal

agreement between the partners.

 Limited partnerships allow partners to limit

their own liability for business debts according

to their portion of ownership or investment.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of partnerships:
 Shared resources provides more capital for the

business
 Each partner shares the total profits of the company

 Similar flexibility and simple design of a

proprietorship
Disadvantages:
 Each partner is 100% responsible for debts and

losses
 Selling the business is difficult—requires finding new

partner
 Partnership ends when any partner decides to end it
 Corporation

 Corporations are, for tax purposes, separate

entities and are considered a legal person.
 This means, among other things, that the

profits generated by a corporation are taxed

as the “personal income” of the company.
Then, any income distributed to the
shareholders as dividends or profits are taxed
again as the personal income of the owners.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of a corporation:
 Limits liability of the owner to debts or losses

 Profits and losses belong to the corporation

 Can be transferred to new owners fairly easily

Disadvantages:
 Corporate operations are costly

 Establishing a corporation is costly

 Start a corporate business requires complex

paperwork
 With some exceptions, corporate income is taxed

twice
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
 Similar to a limited partnership, an LLC
provides owners with limited liability while
providing some of the income advantages of
a partnership.
 Essentially, the advantages of partnerships

and corporations are combined in an LLC,

mitigating some of the disadvantages of
each.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of an LLC:
 Limits liability to the company owners for debts

or losses
 The profits of the LLC are shared by the owners

without double-taxation
Disadvantages:
 Ownership is limited by certain state laws

 Agreements must be comprehensive and

complex
 Beginning an LLC has high costs due to legal

and filing fees

 LO1 Identify daily work requirements

In order to complete your work tasks effectively you need

to know what your organization’s requirements are.
Organizational requirements can include things like
ethical standards, business and performance plans as
well as goals, objectives, systems and processes.
 Complete tasks within designated time lines and in

accordance with organizational requirements and

instructions
 Use effective questioning to seek assistance from

colleagues when difficulties arise in achieving allocated

tasks
 Use business technology efficiently and effectively to

complete work tasks

 Communicate progress of task to supervisor or
colleagues as required

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4.2 Prioritizing work activities and meeting deadlines
Tips for getting more out of your time by prioritizing your work:
1. Have a strategy
An effective strategy will help to keep you focused and avoid
distractions from activities that don’t fit with what you are
ultimately trying to accomplish.
2. Recognize what makes you money
The important thing here is that you recognize the significance of
activities according to how much money they can produce for
you. Make sure that you are dedicating the majority of your time
to things that will make you successful.
3. Set goals
One way to keep yourself on track and working on the most
important activities is to set goals.
4. Schedule your time
Once you have set your goals, schedule your time accordingly so
that you will give yourself the chance to achieve those goals.
Scheduling your time for specific activities can help you to reduce
the amount of unproductive time, and it will force you to decide
what work is most important and worthy of your time.
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5. Use to-do lists
It is found that using a to-do list is one of the best things
for productivity. Each day there are so many different
things fighting for our time. But with a to-do list we
always know what is most critical and what we need to get
done first. If
6. Focus on one project at a time
Most of us have ideas for more things than we can ever
accomplish. It’s always tempting to start something new,
but many times you will just be spreading yourself thin.
Try to resist the urge to start something new until you
have achieved some success with your current project(s).

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What is Delegation?
 Delegation refers to a process where by a superior divides his /her

total work assignment between himself and subordinates manager or

operative personnel in order to achieve both operative management
specialization.
When to Delegate
Delegation is a win-win when done appropriately, however that does not
mean that you can delegate just anything.
To Whom Should You Delegate?
The factors to consider here include:
 The experience, knowledge and skills of the individual as they

apply to the delegated task.

◦ What knowledge, skills and attitude does the person already have?
◦ Do you have time and resources to provide any training needed?
 The individual's preferred work style.
◦ How independent is the person?
◦ What does he or she want from his or her job?

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How Should You Delegate?
Use the following principles to delegate successfully
◦ Clearly articulate the desired outcome
◦ Where possible, include people in the delegation process
◦ Delegate to the lowest possible organizational level
◦ Provide adequate support, and be available to answer
questions
◦ Focus on results. Concern yourself with what is
accomplished, rather than detailing how the work should
be done
◦ Build motivation and commitment
◦ Discuss timelines and deadlines.
◦ Agree on a schedule of checkpoints at which you'll review
project progress.
◦ Take time to review all submitted work.

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Rule of delegation
A simple delegation rule is the SMART acronym, or better
still, SMARTER. It's a quick checklist for proper delegation.
Delegated tasks must be:
 Specific
 Measurable
 Agreed
 Realistic
 Time-bounded
 Ethical
 Recorded
The steps of successful delegation
 1 Define the task
 2 Select the individual or team
 3 Assess ability and training needs
 4 Explain the reasons
 5 State required results
 6 Consider resources required
 7 Agree deadlines
 8 Support and communicate
 9 Feedback on results

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 LO2 Monitor and manage work (18 Hrs)
Identifying methods for monitoring performance and implementing
improvements
 Every project or intervention should have a monitoring and
evaluation (M&E) plan. This is the fundamental document that details
a program's objectives,
Quality Assurance
 Quality Assurance is used to provide adequate confidence

that an entity will fulfill requirements for quality.

 Quality assurance (QA) refers to the planned and systematic

activities implemented in a quality system so that quality

requirements for a product or service will be fulfilled.
 It is the systematic measurement, comparison with a

standard, monitoring of processes and an associated

feedback loop that confers error prevention.
 This can be contrasted with Quality "Control". which is

focused on process outputs.

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Definition of 'Quality Management'
 The act of overseeing all activities and tasks needed to maintain a

desired level of excellence. This includes creating and implementing

quality planning and assurance, as well as quality control and quality
improvement.
 It is also referred to as total quality management (TQM).

The Quality Management Principles

 With growing global competition, Quality Management is becoming

increasingly important to the leadership and management of all

organizations.
 Quality Management Principles provide understanding of and
guidance on the application of Quality Management. The standard
could be found at ISO.
Identifying business goals
Typical business goals include
◦ Improving customer service and satisfaction;
◦ Forming relationships;
◦ Facilitating business to business interaction;
◦ Improve awareness of IT capabilities within the business;
◦ Marketing;
◦ Reduce costs; 24
 Defining and applying problem solving and decision making
techniques and processes
Every organization needs to make decisions at one point or other as part
of managerial process. Decisions are made in the best interest of the
organization. Decisions are taken to support organizational growth.
Define the problem
This is often where people struggle. They react to what they think the
problem is. Instead, seek to understand more about why you think
there's a problem.
 Define the problem: (with input from yourself and others). Ask
yourself and others, the following questions:
 What can you see that causes you to think there's a problem?
 Where is it happening?
 How is it happening?
 When is it happening?
 With whom is it happening? (HINT: Don't jump to "Who is causing
the problem?" When we're stressed, blaming is often one of our
first reactions. To be an effective manager, you need to address
issues more than people.)
 Why is it happening?
 Write down description of the problem
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 LO3 Develop effective work habits (10 Hrs)

Identifying work and personal priorities

 This concentrates on three areas – clarifying what you enjoy,

understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are, and

working out both what your job is and what constitutes
excellent performance.
 Doing what you enjoy

It is important for your own quality of life that you enjoy your
job. If you know broadly what you like and dislike. This is
important as you are much more likely to do your job
effectively if you love it than if you loathe it.
 Concentrating on your strengths

◦ It is also important to know what your talents and weaknesses

are. A good way of doing this is to carry out a SWOT analysis.
 Understanding how to be excellent at your job

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 You should ask the following questions:
 What is the purpose of the job?
 What are the measures of success?
 What is exceptional performance?
 What are the priorities and deadlines?
 What resources are available?
 What costs are acceptable?
 How does this relate to other people?

List of good work habits

 Think positive
 It is a good work habit to give importance to good attendance
and punctuality
 Value your time, plan your activities and concentrate on one key
task at a time
 Apply neatness, orderliness and speed by cleaning up and getting
organized.
 Plan your day ahead of time
 Work smarter, not harder
 Become self-employed psychologically

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Customer complaint
 Although prevention is better than cure. Don't assume that a
customer complaint is a negative experience because, if handled
well, it can be a valuable asset.
 A customer complaint is one of the best opportunities you have for
turning an unhappy customer into a loyal customer. \
 Even the most dissatisfied customer can become an ambassador,
winning new customers for your business by word-of-mouth
advertising.
Try putting the following points into practice:
train your staff to handle complaints well
make it easy for customers to complain
welcome customer complaints
deal with complaints promptly.
Benefits of an efficient complaints handling system
◦ fewer mistakes and less time spent fixing them
◦ improved product quality
◦ better understanding of customers' needs
◦ happier customers
◦ greater customer loyalty
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3.5 Presenting information in appropriate format to the industry and
audience
Presentation can be defined as a formal event characterized by teamwork
and use of audio-visual aids. The main purpose of presentation is to give
information, to persuade the audience to act and to create goodwill.
Characteristics of a Good/Effective Presentation
 The presentation ideas should be well adapted to your audience
 A good presentation should be concise and should be focused on the topic. It
should not move off-track.
 A good presentation should have the potential to convey the required
information.
 The fear should be transformed into positive energy during the presentation.
Be calm and relaxed while giving a presentation
 To communicate the desired information, the speaker should use more of
visual aids such as transparencies, diagrams, pictures, charts, etc.
 Rehearse and practice the presentation
 The speaker should encourage more questions from the audience.
 Summarize the presentation at the end
 The speaker must have a presentable appearance while giving a presentation.
 Try to gain and maintain audience interest by using positive quotes, humour,
or remarkable fact.
 The speaker must be affirmative and optimistic before giving presentation.
 The speaker must state the objectives of the presentation at beginning of the
presentation. 29
Effective Presentation Techniques
Here are the Top 10 effective presentation techniques.
1. Use visual aids
2. Keep it short and sweet
3. Use the rule of three
◦ Use a maximum of three points on a slide.
4. Rehearse
◦ Practice makes for perfect performance. Many experts say that
rehearsal is the biggest single thing that you can do to improve your
performance.
5. Tell stories
◦ All presentations are a type of theatre. Tell stories and anecdotes to
help illustrate points. It all helps to make your presentation more
effective and memorable.
6. Lose the bullet points – don’t put your speaker notes up on the
screen
◦ Bullet points are the kiss of death for most presentations. Most
people use bullet points as a form of speaker notes. To make your
presentation more effective put your speaker notes in your notes
and not up on the screen.

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7. Video yourself
◦ Set up a video camera and video yourself presenting. You will see all
sorts of mistakes that you are making, from how you are standing, if
you are jangling keys, to how well your presentation is structured.
8. Know what slide is coming next
◦ You should always know when presenting which slide is coming up
next. It sounds very powerful when you say “On the next slide [Click]
you will see…”, rather than a period of confusion when the next slide
appears.
9. Have a back-up plan
◦ Technology not working, power cuts, projector blowing a bulb,
spilling coffee on your front, not enough power leads, no
loudspeakers, presentation displays strangely on the laptop – all of
these are things that have happened in presentations that I have given.
10. Check out the presentation room
◦ Arrive early and check out the presentation room. If you can make
sure that you see your slides loaded onto the PC and working on the
screen. Work out where you will need to stand.

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 Assignment
 What is production plan
 Write detail information about Micro and

Small Businesses
What is Data gathering, tabulation and analysis
-------------------------------------------
 What is Marketing plan
 Write Modification and improvement of

products
 List and explain Tools that used for product

modification and improvement