Interview of a Business Manager

Introduction

People operate businesses with the aim of making profits. Entrepreneurs are business-oriented and dream of making the greatest profits from their investments. Different entrepreneurs will venture into different businesses depending on several factors: amount of capital to be invested, the location, availability of a ready market, possibility of business growth, and risk rates (Parson, 1990). Before investing, one should consider the business strengths and opportunities at disposal. This paper is a critical analysis of John and his business, after successfully interviewing him about his position has the business manager, and about his investment.

Critical analysis of John business enterprise and his role has the business manager

Before engaging in any managerial tasks, it is necessary to consider the type of organization one is set to manage. John operates and manages a small bakery as its business manager. His bakery idea was a combination of his wife’s love of baking and the continued desire to own and manage their own business. Some of the products produced in the business are muffins, pizza, Batters, Breadings and Coaters, Biscuits and Scone Mixes, Cookies, Cakes, Sweet Dough, Creme and Pound Cake, and Donuts. Fast foods such as chips and chicken are also popular in the business (Parson, 1990). The business name is Tasty Bites Bakers and he acts as the business manager of the establishment.

Tasty Bites Bakers competes primarily in the bakery and confectionery industry. This industry is one of the most contended ones with many rivals trying to replicate each others products .The scope of the business is local and operates only two branches in the local town. However, John thinks of expanding the business in the next five years.

After a very long time, John and his lovely wife had contemplated owning their own business. His wife, Ruth, also loves baking. The combination of these two interests initiated this business idea. Also, the two wanted to make a living out of it after John lost his employment following the 2008 economic crisis. For the last ten years, John had been able to save a substantial amount of money optimistic that one day he would venture into business. After being retrenched, it was the appropriate time to proceed and start his baking business. His wife’s love for baking also boosted this idea. He has been in a position to employ several employees to help in baking and distribution of the products to institutions such as schools and hospitals and homes.

After conducting the interview, John said that his business was operated as a sole proprietorship and his task became that of a business manager. This kind of business is operated by a single person without having to incorporate other stakeholders. Most of the common businesses in the United States are of this form (Parson, 1990). John also said that he might have opted for a partnership kind of business to maximize on profits and market their products widely. There are advantages common with this form of business. Some of the outstanding advantages are as follows:

The profits obtained from the business will not be shared hence making it easy to promote the business.

It takes short time to make decisions. This is because there are no business partners to be consulted. John is free to make the decisions he deems appropriate for his business.

It is very easy to begin this kind of business. This is because the person’s idea is the only needed thing plus investment capital.

Change and management are easily done by the business owner.

This form of business also has several disadvantages which can cause the business to collapse. These include:

Losses are shared individually. These can cause the business to collapse.

Bad business decisions will impact negatively on the business.

There is no sharing of ideas in the business. A bad idea will cause the business to collapse.

It is hard to raise enough capital for the business.

Management of this kind of business is commonly preferred by business people who are after starting their own investments. It can range from a small business to a big corporation but privately owned by a single individual (Parson, 1990). Should John have had opted for a partnership kind of business he would not enjoy fast decision making and taking the business credit alone. Business ideas would be shared hence increasing chances of failure and disagreements. It is also to note that a partnership form of business would have significant advantages over the sole proprietorship as discussed above.

Any business organization or company will have several weaknesses and rewards. The main goal behind any business idea is to maximize on the rewards and cutting down the threats, challenges and weaknesses. After interviewing John about his business and his role as the business manager, he explained several challenges the bakery has been facing. Competition is a major challenge for this business. With over six similar bakeries in the area, John’s business has been trying hard to come up with ways of improving its performance and making sure the greatest number of customers has been reached. The other challenge is in decision making. With this kind of business enterprise, John observed that some decisions made might not benefit the bakery. Consumer trends are also unpredictable hence making it hard to when to increase the products and when to reduce (Parson, 1990). Another major challenge is the current economic instability. This has resulted in a lesser number of customers willing to use the bakery’s products.

Despite the challenges faced in this business, there are rewards as well. As John said, he has been able to pay himself a better salary. Generally, the business has been a success and with it he has taken his two children to college. Under his able strategies as the business manger, the business has also established his expertise and experience. In future he opts to expand the business by opening new bakeries. This institution has changed his life completely.

Has a business manager, ethical behavior and responsibility are important concepts that have to be followed consistently. According to John, there is nothing more rewarding in business like being responsible and ethical when serving the customers and the environment. This is John’s top priority, as a business manager. John his served with the responsibility of ensuring that quality products meeting the needs of the customers have been produced. The products have to be healthy by making sure they have enough sugar levels, lack of cholesterol and also ensure they are properly packed. Proper handling and transportation are also observed to make sure the customer’s health is never compromised. Another ethical behavior practiced here is to make sure the customer gets value for his cash (Parson, 1990). Proper customer handling is also a top priority under John’s management concepts.

Major threats to this organization include the issue of Costly Distribution. This business has implemented improved packaging, and products supply chain processes which in future can very costly .As new regulations might take into effect for the bettering of the environment, the bakery might find themselves with decreases in their profits because of their increase in raw materials and processes. Another threat based on the macro environmental forces can be the threat of new rivals in the locality. This competition resulting from entrance of new players can cause price wars between the main rivals and as a result cause the company to lower prices. Such kind of competition can make other bakeries that have lower production costs to still enjoy profits. To John this becomes challenging to sustain a fortifying market share.

Though the business is sole owned, John employs few people who aid in other organization operations. Has the business manager, John’s duties include management of business operations in Day-to-Day basis, monitoring of daily cash supervision and execution of measures and controls when required or necessary. His Supervisory responsibilities comprise of managing transport and distribution of bakery products to various clients. In consultation with his wife, John is also responsible for preparing, implementing and analyzing accounts and budgets for the company. Also he responds to various inquiries and resolves issues related to transactions and operations handled by the bakery.

Caring for the environment is another important responsibility greatly observed by John (Tasty Bites Bakers business manager) .Some of other major responsibilities observed by John involves the use of biodegradable packaging materials to protect the environment .He also ensure that the products have been packaged in recyclable materials. Disposal of water and waste materials are done ethically with the aim of protecting the environment. Dirty water is filtered and treated before it is released. Hot water is cooled to conserve the ecology (Dale, 2003).

Has the business manager, John outlines his strengths to be building blocks of his success. He views himself as a focused and an attentive person who considers each and every detail of the responsibility and task that he his in control of. Through this, John as managed to reduce regrettable mistakes which sometimes are usually very costly. This has created confidence and trust to people that he serve, and the value they get from his work is reliable.

He also describes himself as a dynamic as well as a charismatic person, who accept changes and willing to embraces the change process itself. This sense of dynamism has equipped him to fit in a range of prevailing conditions or situation. Has a business manager he embraces that nothing is static and things keeps on changing, and evolution of items is realizable. Another personal strength that makes him an outstanding business manager is the element of honesty and trustworthiness (Blanchard, 1982).This trait has strengthened his focus on various business and managerial tasks, as well as being a person who people can rely on. Notwithstanding his varied strengths, John also posses some weaknesses. Some of them include fear of failure to succeed, inadequate time management and the tendency to perform large number of tasks at the same time.

Has a business manager, Johns outlines that there are five major environmental factors that come into play during the course of his managerial functions in the business organization. These include economic situation, competition, technological development, legal aspects and global factors. For instance, there are economic situations that have to be overcome by any business. All legal aspects will impact on the business negatively such as tax and business permits (Parson, 1990). Competition is also common in this business. Business operations are all about competition so that the best wins and makes the greatest profits. In order for this business to succeed amidst these environmental impacts, John makes sure that every aspect has been carefully considered and evaluated to place the business on the safe side. All these aspects should be carefully evaluated if the business is to survive in this competition entrepreneurial world (Charan, Drotter & Noel, 2001).

As the business manager of Tasty Bites Bakers, John has analyzed his overall business strategy to focus on product and service quality with process innovation of product development. The business strategy is supported by bakery current production focusing on slower expansion. Tasty Bites Bakers strategy is facilitated through changes in the production chain process that ensure product availability and lower production and distribution costs.

Has the bakery business manager, John has been applying several approaches to gain and maintain new business opportunities. These include exploration of new markets, modification of products and improving their quality. Whenever a new opportunity and business strength presents itself, John makes sure he has utilized it for the welfare of the business. He has also been using business savings to improve the operations of the business and create a competitive advantage by using modern baking equipment (Parson, 1990). These approaches have played a major role towards the improvement of his work has a business manager. John thinks that he made a mistake and should have started a big business where his role as the business manager would be diverse and more challenging.

After interviewing John, he argued that the only key to success of becoming an effective business manager is to have a personal business philosophy. In this philosophy, one has to state the business goals, mission and vision. This becomes the business blueprint. He therefore believes such a philosophy has made the business he owns and manages grow. As well, he proposed that an investor should make sure he considers all ethical behaviors and responsibilities in the organization he manages. If he were to start all over again, John said that he would invest all his savings at once and see his position and role has the business manager start to grow immediately. It was after one year when he began to expand his business. He was uncertain about the future and therefore scared to invest all his savings. Still John thinks that he made a huge mistake and should have operated and managed a bigger business right from the start (Blanchard, 1982).

Conclusion

Business management is a very important approach which has to be keenly considered by all businesses so as to improve their performance by engaging all the individuals in the organization in acting and working in a manner which shall guarantee better performance with the organization. This process is hence what holds the key towards the future performance of the business or organization and making it possible for it to achieve its goals within the stated time period. In that case, while adopting management patterns in a business, business managers should be aware of the functions and the tasks which have to done and achieved during the management process. In conclusion, the interview proved that John’s position has a business manager in his business is his life.

References

Blanchard, K. (1982). The One Minute Manager. New York: William Morrow.

Charan, R., Drotter, S., and Noel, J.L. (2001).The leadership pipeline: how to build the leadership-powered company. California: John Wiley and Sons.

Dale, E. (2003) .Management: theory and practice.Quezon City: Rex Bookstore, Inc.

Parson, J.M. (1990). Managing the one-person business. New York: New Press.

Daft, R. (2007) .Management. New York: Cengage Learning.