A new way to determine whether a business strategy will lead to profitability. This book teaches readers to understand profitability in a systematic way, equipping them to provide logically coherent answers to questions about whether a new venture will be profitable, if changes in business strategy will generate an increase in profits, or if “staying the course” will result in continued profitability. Unlike books by business gurus that offer one-size-fits-all advice, this book starts from the premise that you, the reader, are in the best position to make difficult judgments about your business. It shows how to turn these judgments into coherent analysis, presenting state-of-the art theory for understanding business strategy from an economic perspective. The basic building block is the value that is created when the buyer and seller make a deal. In simple terms, if a company is to be profitable, it must make a favorable deal with each and every customer. After setting out key principles and applying them to market situations, the book teaches readers to apply the analysis to their own businesses—in other words, to create their own business game, the main ingredients of which are people and the value that they can create. It addresses how to integrate strategic moves into the book's theory of value creation and competition in order to address the sustainability of a company's profits, the effectiveness of the “invisible hand,” and restrictions to competition. Optional appendixes explain the relevant mathematics.

An extraordinarily new business slant on how companies can generate greater profits in 23 compact lessons with ongoing tutorials between two fictitious individuals. In the past, companies taught their employees about quality. In today's unstable economy, employers must stress the importance of profitability. Now with scores of examples from the global marketplace, the bestselling coauthor of The Profit Zone and Profit Patterns takes you to a higher level in the art of business. Each of the twenty-three chapters in this concise, challenging book presents a different, powerful business model...and a provocative dialogue between an extraordinary teacher called David Zhao and his young protégé. Revealed are the invisible but significant governing principles that allow businesses to survive and prosper in any economic climate. By participating in each session with the exuberant, challenging master, you too will learn how your company and your competitors generate profit...what approach best applies to your profit-making strategy...what specific actions your organization can take in the next ninety days to improve its bottom line...and more.

Why do some businesses fail while others succeed and grow at an exponential rate?Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business, and getting the fundamentals right is vital to building a business that lasts.Journey to Profitability offers you a simple and accessible guide to the best operational practices, based on a proven approach in a form of multimedia book and a platform to run your business with. Filled in with many examples and practical exercises the book walks you through the importance of organizing and planning so that everyone is aligned, aware and accountable for the growth of the company. Only when you get these basics right will your company be able to perform.Are you ready to take the luck and guesswork out of running your business and set yourself up for success? Yes?Read on...

Author of cult classics The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur offers a simple, counterintuitive cash management solution that will help small businesses break out of the doom spiral and achieve instant profitability. Conventional accounting uses the logical (albeit, flawed) formula: Sales - Expenses = Profit. The problem is, businesses are run by humans, and humans aren't always logical. Serial entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz has developed a behavioral approach to accounting to flip the formula: Sales - Profit = Expenses. Just as the most effective weight loss strategy is to limit portions by using smaller plates, Michalowicz shows that by taking profit first and apportioning only what remains for expenses, entrepreneurs will transform their businesses from cash-eating monsters to profitable cash cows. Using Michalowicz's Profit First system, readers will learn that: · Following 4 simple principles can simplify accounting and make it easier to manage a profitable business by looking at bank account balances. · A small, profitable business can be worth much more than a large business surviving on its top line. · Businesses that attain early and sustained profitability have a better shot at achieving long-term growth. With dozens of case studies, practical, step-by-step advice, and his signature sense of humor, Michalowicz has the game-changing roadmap for any entrepreneur to make money they always dreamed of.

A new way to determine whether a business strategy will lead to profitability. This book teaches readers to understand profitability in a systematic way, equipping them to provide logically coherent answers to questions about whether a new venture will be profitable, if changes in business strategy will generate an increase in profits, or if “staying the course” will result in continued profitability. Unlike books by business gurus that offer one-size-fits-all advice, this book starts from the premise that you, the reader, are in the best position to make difficult judgments about your business. It shows how to turn these judgments into coherent analysis, presenting state-of-the art theory for understanding business strategy from an economic perspective. The basic building block is the value that is created when the buyer and seller make a deal. In simple terms, if a company is to be profitable, it must make a favorable deal with each and every customer. After setting out key principles and applying them to market situations, the book teaches readers to apply the analysis to their own businesses—in other words, to create their own business game, the main ingredients of which are people and the value that they can create. It addresses how to integrate strategic moves into the book's theory of value creation and competition in order to address the sustainability of a company's profits, the effectiveness of the “invisible hand,” and restrictions to competition. Optional appendixes explain the relevant mathematics.

The practical guide to using pricing and profitability management to build a better business A comprehensive reference for any business professional looking to understand the capabilities and competencies required for effectively managing pricing and profitability, Pricing and Profitability Management explains how to determine the right approach, tools, and techniques for each of six key categories (pricing strategy, price execution, advanced analytics and optimization, organizational alignment and governance, pricing technology and data management, and tax and regulatory effectiveness). Exploring each category in detail, the book addresses how an integrated approach to pricing improvement can give a sustainable, competitive advantage to any organization. The ultimate "how to" manual for any executive or manager interested in price management, the book presents a holistic, comprehensive framework that shows how integrating these pricing categories into a cohesive program leads to impressive gains that cannot be achieved through a single-pronged approach. Presents a comprehensive framework for more effectively managing pricing and profitability Identities the six key categories of pricing and profitability management Shows you how to gain a competitive edge by managing pricing and profitability Taking a comprehensive view of pricing, companies can position themselves to tap a vast source of shareholder value—the ability to set and enforce profitable prices, not just once, but again and again in response to marketplace changes and evolving business needs—and this book will show you how.

Since the success of products significantly depends on the quality of product performance, inadequate management of the product design process can lead to improper performance of products that can result in significant long-term business losses. Design for Profitability: Guidelines to Cost Effectively Manage the Development Process of Complex Products presents a design guideline for complex product design and development that enables you to cost-effectively improve the technical performance of your products and consequently improve your competitiveness in the marketplace as well as improve profitability. The book helps you improve the competitiveness of your organization in the market and eventually improve profitability. It presents a mobile robots design guideline based on an empirical study of the mobile robots design process. This is an unprecedented guideline based on the empirical investigation of the internal aspects of the design process of complex products for cost-effectively enhancing the competitiveness in the market. The book also presents a hybrid lean-agile design paradigm for mobile robots. In addition, it points out key approaches and risks to manage the product development process efficiently. In designing complex products and integrated systems, industrial designers face a dilemma of cost-effectively striking a balance between product development time and product performance attributes. This book shows how and when value is added in product design and development through identifying statistically the most and least correlated design activities and strategies to product performance attributes. Introducing a new paradigm in the field of engineering design, the book gives you key approaches to efficiently manage the product development process.