Case professor's small business solutions offer new, established entrepreneurs ways to avoid main mistakes
In new book, Robert Hisrich identifies the 13 biggest problems and how to fix, prevent them
For immediate release: March 4, 2004
 Learning by trial and error can be costly in starting a business. In "Small Business Solutions: How to Fix & Prevent the 13 Biggest Problems that Derail Business," the new book's author, Robert Hisrich from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management, offers a blueprint for success by outlining the 13 prevalent pitfalls followed by solutions for the new entrepreneur.
"Approximately 2 million new businesses will be launched this year and by the fifth year more than 80 percent will belly up," according to Hisrich, the A. Malachi
Mixon III Chaired Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at the Case management school.
In his research for the book, the author and professor discovered that common problems began to cluster around three topics:
- Management: staying focused, establishing the best organizational form, giving up control, attracting and retaining employees, choosing the right partner, being creative and flexible and building a strong company
- Marketing: focusing on a marketing niche and customer, going international and growing the business
- Finance: raising capital, managing the cash, and valuing a business
Hisrich knows about starting businesses. He is president of H&B Associates, an international marketing and management consulting firm that he founded to assist businesses in the United States, Ireland, Slovenia, China, Austria and Australia.
And, for Case's Executive MBA Program, Hisrich accompanies students on international trips where they consult with entrepreneurs in developing and developed economies.
The entrepreneurship program at Case's Weatherhead School of Management is ranked eighth in the world by The Financial Times. Hisrich helps Case students launch new businesses from entrepreneurship programs in the sciences, engineering and management where starting a company is a goal for many students.
Informally surveying people in business as background information for his Case classes and programs, Hisrich found,
"It was amazing that regardless of whether you were a Fortune 500 or start up company, all share similar kinds of problems."
The similarities in answers extended to entrepreneurs with differing genders, race, education levels or countries in which they were establishing a business.
"New entrepreneurs-as well as those with growing companies-need to understand the complexities and difficulties of keeping a business running. They also need to have an idea and appreciation for the importance of the marketing niche, financing and managing the cash flow in the business situation. The book gives them that information," Hisrich says.
"If you know the inherent 13 problems from the start, then you can put in the safeguards before those problems become a nightmare," explains Hisrich.
He continues that while the entrepreneur may still face a particular problem, his book can help reduce the effect from 10-fold to one-fold. "Having the solution helps you get around the problem or minimize the extent of it," says Hisrich.
"The key to success is managing and hiring good people," says HisrichIn addition to Small Business Solutions, Hisrich is author, co-author or editor of 23 books, including the leading textbook on establishing new businesses, Entrepreneurship: Starting, Developing, and Managing a New Enterprise, now in six languages and near the publication of its sixth edition by McGraw-Hill Irwin, and The Women Entrepreneur.
"The phenomenon of starting small businesses is really the heartbeat of the United States. What we see in this country is now happening around the world. People need a blueprint to get them going," says the Small Business Solutions author.
About Case Western Reserve University
Case is among the nation's leading research institutions. Founded in 1826
and shaped by the unique merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western
Reserve University, Case is distinguished by its strengths in education, research,
service, and experiential learning. Located in Cleveland, Case offers nationally
recognized programs in the Arts and Sciences, Dental Medicine, Engineering,
Law, Management, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Work. http://www.case.edu.
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