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Are you running a business or the business is running you?

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Question added by Nuha Ali , writer , freelance
Date Posted: 2014/04/23

al7amdulAllah

The  grace of God  that I am driving BusinessThrough   strategic management  and goal-setting and  operational plans to achieve those goals

Abdel Fattah Ibrahim
by Abdel Fattah Ibrahim , CDT Director , Colgate Palmolive

This question is really interesting and it can open discussion on management styles, business planning and process.

Taking the lead and making sure that you are really running your business required robust plan that reflecting ambition realistic vision with clear KPI’s with time table. Review progress frequently and set immediate corrective measures

Many managers are dealing with pop up issues and managing by crises and those people are led not leading their business

 

I think at best it is a50-50 split. We do our best to run our businesses proactively but with so many unknown variables coming our way, we just have enough time to react.  

Shoukat Ali Malik
by Shoukat Ali Malik , Specialties Moderator for Bayt.com community program, , Bayt.com (Middle East # 01 Job website)

Deart Nuha Ali, The expertise of a professional man is stimulated to himself that she/he do the job or business.but your second part of question is still remained.that business is running you,in this context my answere is Yes...that any Father's business is running to son.

Amrut Desai
by Amrut Desai , former Managing Director & Country Manager India & SriLanka , Hohenstein India Pvt Ltd-fully owned by Hohenstein Institute GmbH Germany

Are you running a business or the business is running you?

If you are not running a business then soon you will be out of business. Businesses continue to survive and flourish because of their ability to adapt to the fast paced, ever evolving, globalised business environment.

If the top management  or leadership is not alert and quick in its response  to the ever changing market dynamics, they will quickly lose control over the organization and may expose the organization to hostile takeovers and attacks by the competition.

The role of the top management is to achieve the triple bottom line performance as envisaged in the sustainable development model. Top Management involves the manipulation of the human capital of an enterprise to contribute to the success of the enterprise.

Under the sustainable development model, an organization on the path of success must embrace all that can be categorized under Financial Responsibility, Social Responsibility and Environmental responsibility. Most companies are simply focused on financial aspects of the business and either the do not care or less focused on the other two objectives.

Management specialties of Finance, HR , Marketing and System as a minimum are usually adopted, implemented and continuously practiced by successful but average organizations. I am of the opinion that most companies need to align themselves with sound practices involving all the above four specialties  and much more to be able to survive let alone achieve a moderate success and ultimately excellence. To be able to make an impact on the market place, they should create a team of duly qualified personnel with Knowledge relevant to their offering, optimized skills and reliable processes. The fourth and most important aspect is the creation of this team whose “spirit within is awakened” to the needs of the organization.  Without the commitment of these awakened spirits, all the other three namely knowledge, skills and processes alone cannot contribute to the growth and success!  As such  Top Management must strive to create a positive work environment  and must consistently keep communicating the chosen goals of the organization effectively to all levels of employees in the organization so as to ensure whole hearted participation of all concerned towards excellence and growth

In an good to great organization a leader decides "who should be on the bus" and then decided where to take the bus. What i mean here is that, of all the essentials for a business Human resources is the most important one. a good team is a must. It is essential that top management must equip the organization with  duly qualified, trained and motive personnel and requisite infrastructure aimed at attaining the targeted budgetary numbers and other chosen objectives 

Top Management could achieve success if they have the right mix of :

OFFERING( Brand, Product range, solutions, services, pricing),

COMMUNICATION (Marketing, Sales and service) and 

MAREKT BASE ( Prospect base and Cutomer base)

To be able to achieve sustainable growth and continued existence decades after decades,  Top management of the companies must introspect and see where they are situated on the ladder of success.  A company’s ability to cope with the changes in the market place, national and world economic order  has a great bearing on its success or demise.

There are five levels of achievements depending on their flexibility to cope with the changes in the business environment. However difficult the task is

Creators of change (at the top)

Anticipators- Anticipate changes and proactively be ready to change

Adapters-Change but not whole heartedly

Copers- Companies know that change is inevitable but do nothing to change

Resisitors ( at the bottom of the ladder)

IF you are not running the business then you are probably at the bottom of the ladder of success and may be on the verge of being edged out of business.

It is the fundamental task of top management to create a vision for the organization and through their expertise and commitment, have the unenviable task of positioning their organization appropriately on the ladder of success as depicted above.

To conclude, I wish to reiterate that , at any given point of time top management need to be flexible lean, agile and  alert to the changing business environment and focus on all aspects of running a business including, Finance, HR, Marketing and system . In other words they must run the business

 

   

Khatim Abbas Seed
by Khatim Abbas Seed , BUSINESS CONSULTANT , Google

Nice question, Nuha!

 

A business is there to be run by people (managers), in principle. But since your question also covers "entrepreneurship", answering greatly differs from the viewpoint of appointment job to a business ownership's point of view.

 

Business can sometimes run a person, as running a business is sometimes purely reactive to how the business and its surroundings "behave" and how you will reply to that to combat threats or to utilize one in a life time opportunities. In such sense, a business (work) can run you or control your life (free & leisure time, peace of mind, family life, motivation, productivity, ideation etc.), or as Mr. Farrukh Khan, said "ruin" it. Awareness of this is important, whether an employed manager who's very loyal to a job or a business owner.  

zafar abbas minhas
by zafar abbas minhas , Freelance Writer , DAILY MASHRAQ

yes fine question,,, any business is done by pure specific planning, management, handling of issues, using right man at right time & place etc,,, PEOPLE WHO DO NOT PLAN , ARE ALSO PLANNING & THEY ARE PLANNING FOR THEIR DESTRUCTION. 

A top management executive runs a business with help of a team and when you are lower hierarchy as being part of business what is instructed to  you , you execute it so business runs you indirectly.

Mohammad Tohamy Hussein Hussein
by Mohammad Tohamy Hussein Hussein , Chief Executive Officer & ERP Architect , Egyptian Software Group

If you don't run your business, it will run you

Ahmed Gendy
by Ahmed Gendy , English Senior Inspector , Ministry of Education (MoE)

sometimes people run their business and sometimes business is running them.It's according to the market.

Abdul Samad Nadeem Malik
by Abdul Samad Nadeem Malik , Business Support Officer , Thimar Al Jazirah - 3M ESPE

Business is forcing me to run with business.

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