The Business Book - Ian Marcousé, et al.

People have probably been thinking about business since they first started communicating. Changing what we want for what we already have is an ancestral business such as the idea of ownership. In "The Business Book" Ian Marcousé et al gives the guidelines to be a good entrepreneur and grow in the business world.

At its origin is the civilizing impulse: knowing how to bargain led our ancestors to give up the strength they used to take from others the things they needed to live. It was an achievement of civilization over-aggressiveness, intellectual elegance over physical cruelty

Now, looking at the present day, opening a business is not the main challenge. To survive, entrepreneurs must have the determination to show their idea to the market, intelligence to turn their thoughts into a profitable enterprise, and financial responsibility to maintain their success.

Got interested to change your career through these business teachings? Stay with us in this summary and discover all the business secrets!.

About the book "The Business Book"

"The Business Book", written in 2014, was written by several authors: Ian Marcousé (editorial consultant), Philippa Anderson, Alexandra Black, Denry Machin, and Nigel Watson.

This work is composed of 352 pages and is divided into 6 parts: "Start small, think big", "Lightning the fire", "Making money work", "Working with a vision", "Successful selling", and "Delivering the goods".

The book joins subtlety and didacticism in a cross-cutting approach to the myriad of business-related themes: from converting an idea into a profitable activity into leadership skills and human resources; from financial management to business strategies; marketing to production and post-production.

About the author Ian Marcousé and collaborators

The work was written by a team of experts:

Ian Marcousé teaches business and economics education at the Institute of Education, London;

Philippa Anderson is a communications and business consultant and has worked with multinationals such as Coca-Cola, Anglo American, and 3M;

Alexandra Black has worked on the financial journal of Bank J. P. Morgan and the Nikkei Inc group, worked for a direct marketing publisher in Sydney, and writes on subjects such as business, history, and fashion;

Denry Machin is the author of several business books and works as a project manager at Harrow International Management Services;

Nigel Watson is a Professor of Economics and Management at International Baccalaureate.

To whom is this book indicated?

This work is suitable for entrepreneurs who are looking for new ideas, for people starting a business and also for someone interested in the subject and who wants to know more about the market.

In this work, you will get knowledge and come across great ideas.

Main ideas of the book "The Business Book"

• "If you can dream, you can do";
• "There is a gap in the market, but is there a market in the gap?";
• "Play according to the rules";
• "Making money from money";
• "Manufacturing is more than simply putting the parts together. It's about having ideas, testing principles and perfecting the engineering, as well as final assembly";
• "Costs are not meant to be calculated. The costs are there to be reduced".

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Overview: The only thing worse than starting something and failing is not getting started

Entrepreneurship comes up with an idea, then comes the first hurdle, which is financial. Well, some businesses need less initial capital compared to others, which they sometimes do not even need.

Therefore, an entrepreneur must have the ability to attract potential investors to turn the original idea into a profitable business. Here, you can see a key point: the idea, to be attractive, must be profitable.

But how to determine if an idea will be profitable or at least economically viable? To say that an idea has potential requires a study of competition and the market. Some useful questions raised by the authors are:

• "Who is running for the client's time and money?"
• "Are these competitors selling products that compete directly with yours, or are there possible replacements?"
• "How are competitors seen on the market?"
• "How big is the market?"

It is crucial to keep in mind that with globalization, markets are increasingly competitive and saturated. Companies that can find a profitable niche are exceptions.

A strategy adopted by many companies is differentiation, that is, to show customers that the products or services offered are not available in the competition.

Overview: Discovering a Profitable Niche

"The Business Book" stated earlier that several markets are saturated, with many manufacturers struggling for the same customers. For them, competition reduces profitability. Then, market gaps (an innovative product or sector in the market) present a more profitable meaning.

But does this gap ensures enough markets to make a profit? "There is a gap in the market, but is there a market in the gap?"

The authors show some examples of this idea:

"In 2006, Twitter's founder, Jack Dorsey, combined a fast-paced media with social media, offering a service no one else had ever seen. Free for most users, revenue comes from companies that pay for promotional tweets and profiles: Twitter had an advertising revenue of $582 million in 2013."

However, not all gaps are enough to make a profit.

"The Amphicar was an amphibious car produced in the 1960s for American consumers who wanted to ride it on roads and rivers. It was an eccentric novelty, but the market was too small to make a profit."

Unexplored business areas are immensely appealing, but the difficulty lies in knowing which gaps are really profitable and which are pitfalls.

Overview: Making Money Work

Changing the focus of this analysis a bit, we will now talk about financial management in business. According to the authors:

"Finances have always been seen as having two distinct functions: recording what happened (financial accounting) and helping companies to take action on the future (managerial accounting). Today there is a third function: financial strategy, which incorporates judgments about risk, which some companies (especially banks) have perceived to play an important role in financial decision-making."

Concerning managerial accounting, two aspects are particularly important: costs and cash.

Those in charge of managerial accounting try to ensure definite data on product costs so that managers can analyze pricing decisions, outsourcing, and what the products should be targeted by the marketing team.

Now, when sales decline, those in charge of managerial accounting pay attention, no longer to costs, but to cash flow. Why does it happen? Well, the lower sales are, the greater the company's tendency to keep the funds it has.

Looking at financial accounting, the usual course of action is to "play by the rules".

According to "The Business Book", a new mentality emerged: "making money with money".

"Lending the company's cash reserves to other companies at high-interest rates or speculating with future trends in the foreign exchange or commodity markets."

In fact, a sensible question would be:

"In a world where you make more money, and more easily, from money instead of manufacturing, playing by the rules is a good choice?"

Overview: Delivering the Goods

With the internationalization of processes and technological innovations has come the rise of buyers' expectations, and depending on the company's skills - delivery, price, and distribution channels - failure and success are a possibility that can be expensive.

"Every part of the production process must be evaluated at all times to see where it can be most efficient without perceiving a drop in quality or sales."

Currently, several companies adopt the "low cost, good quality" strategy. This strategy became famous due to Henry Ford, who decided to make improvements in their automobiles, as well as reduce their costs.

Thus, taking measures to reduce costs and waste is essential. This strategy is called "lean production", which is a production focused on having as little waste as possible, delivering to the customers what they want, at the time they want, and done right the first time.

Later Toyota would give rise to another production approach called "just-in-time".

What do other authors say about it?

José Dornelas, in his book "Entrepreneurship", says that being an entrepreneur is not an option for life, but a life-mission. Entrepreneurs don't put just their future at risk, but also those who are around them, who work for their success and depend on their attitudes and decisions.

For the author of "Innovative Entrepreneurship", Nei Grando, entrepreneurs learn even more by experiencing and testing the possibilities of their ideas, about what needs to change and what works. However, some principles can leverage the chances of an entrepreneur achieving success.

Now, if you want to know how to open an enterprise, the Brazilian bestseller "Sonho Grande" shows how to transform the level of an organization according to the visions of the richest entrepreneurs in Brazil.

Okay, but how can I apply this to my life?

Except for the financial reward that the enterprise generates to entrepreneurs, working in a business can be helpful. Continuous changes, policies, and contingencies make the enterprise filled with energy, ideas, and determination.

"Starting a business requires an unlimited source of energy, an inexhaustible commitment, and the resilience of dealing with risk."

But as Kevin Rose said:

"You have to believe in yourself and know that, in the worst-case scenario, if it does not work, you still managed to do something cool."

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