Forging Ahead in Business Part 3

The Reviews cover the production and price trends of basic commodities and matters of interest in foreign fields. Leading articles deal with current events of note and interest to the business community.

The Financial and Trade Review is a valuable supplement to the principles brought out in the regular reading schedule.

7--Modern Business Reports

The Modern Business Reports are written by professional and trade experts and members of the Inst.i.tute Staff, and cover both important business problems of general interest and technical subjects relating to Accounting, Sales, Office Methods, Merchandising, Production and other specialized departments.

From time to time a descriptive list of these Reports is sent to each subscriber. From these lists the subscriber may choose four Reports at any time during the two-year period of his enrolment.

These Reports run from ten to fifty pages in length. Each one is prepared in reference to some specific problem and is the result of special investigation. The subjects cover a wide field, and every subscriber will find among them a number which are of particular interest to him.

The list of Reports includes such t.i.tles as:

_Preparation for the Accounting Profession_ _Profit Sharing_ _Territorial Supervision of Salesmen_ _Advertising American Goods in Foreign Markets_ _a.n.a.lysis of Bank Reports_ _Promotion and Organization of a Public Service Corporation_ _The Psychology and Strategy of Collecting_ _Desk Efficiency_ _How to Read the Financial Page of a Newspaper_ _Employes' Pension Systems_ _Evaluation of Public Utilities_.

8--Service

The reading matter of the Modern Business Course is in itself of remarkable value; subscribers have told us over and over again that one volume, or sometimes one pamphlet, or one Report, has brought them ideas worth vastly more than the fee for the Course and Service.

This value is largely enhanced by the fact that back of the reading matter there is an organization of men who are anxious to cooperate in every way possible with each subscriber. This organization is equipped to render service at every stage of the subscriber's progress.

First of all, certain members of the Staff are a.s.signed to the pleasant task of carrying on correspondence with subscribers. They make an earnest effort whenever a new enrolment is received to get into touch with the subscriber and learn under what conditions he is working, what experience and education he has had and what objects he has in view. With this information before them they can often make suggestions that are directly helpful and that mean a larger increase in the subscriber's personal benefit from his use of the Course and Service.

Furthermore, every one who thinks as he reads comes across statements and opinions which he does not fully understand or which he questions. The privilege of asking about any such statements or opinions is freely open to all subscribers. There is no limit whatever to the number of questions which may be submitted, based on the Text or other reading matter of the Course.

The four great activities of business

There are four fundamental activities in every business--Production, Marketing, Financing, and Accounting.

On the following page you will see the whole field of business charted in such a way as to show clearly the relation of various business activities to each other. Economics, the study of business conditions and business policies, is the hub of all business activity. Radiating from it are the four grand divisions of business--Production, Marketing, Financing, Accounting. These in turn are subdivided into the more detailed activities which they include.

The Modern Business Course and Service is a thorough treatment of all the divisions indicated.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

ECONOMICS

ACCOUNTING

ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS STATEMENT ACCOUNTING PRACTICE AND AUDITING

FINANCE

CORPORATION FINANCE BANKING CREDIT AND COLLECTIONS BUSINESS ORGANIZATION INSURANCE THE STOCK AND PRODUCE EXCHANGES INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE INVESTMENTS

PRODUCTION

MARKETING

COPYRIGHT 1921, BY ALEXANDER HAMILTON INSt.i.tUTE]

A Survey of Modern Business Science

All business activities may be cla.s.sified under Production, Marketing, Financing and Accounting. For purposes of systematic study, each of these may be subdivided as shown above.

In addition, there are two important forces which control business--Man and Government. For that reason a discussion of the relation between "Business and the Man" and "Business and the Government" naturally forms a part of the survey of modern business. The first two and the last two a.s.signments in the Modern Business Course and Service cover these important subjects.

The arrangement of the subjects has been carefully planned so that the maximum benefit will be derived by following the a.s.signments in their regular order. In the chart you see the logical arrangement of these subjects as related to the business world. Note that the order in which these subjects are treated in the Course is not according to their arrangement in the chart. On the contrary, the more general subjects are first considered; then come the more complex--the specializations and enlargements upon the foundation subjects. This plan permits a progressive arrangement that makes for a broad understanding of the science of business.

Just as any university or college requires a knowledge of certain subjects before others can be taken up, because this more general knowledge is essential to a proper understanding of the more advanced, so we have arranged the subjects treated in the Modern Business Course and Service in a similar manner.

Texts, Talks, Lectures, Problems, Monthly Letters, Financial and Trade Reviews, Reports and Service--these are the important features of the Modern Business Course and Service.

Chapter II

THE DANGER OF SPECIALIZING TOO EARLY

A great many young men think they have found a quick and easy road to success by concentrating their minds wholly on the jobs they happen to hold.

It is perfectly true that a business man must not underestimate the importance of details.

But it is also true that large success is always built upon a clear understanding of basic principles.

The common fallacy that it is best for a man--especially a young man--to confine his thought and studies to his own specialty has in many instances proved ruinous. It is easily possible to specialize so much as to lose all sense of the importance of a broad, well-balanced business training.

We all know the lawyer who is wrapped up in his quibbles; the accountant who sees nothing in business but a maze of figures; the advertising man who is so fascinated by "cleverness" that he forgets to try to sell goods; and the technical man who knows nothing about the commercial phases of his engineering problems.

Such men cannot take their places among the higher executives because they know little or nothing of business outside their own specialty, and they cannot know even that thoroughly while their general outlook remains so narrow.

Only half ready

Some years ago two young men of unusual promise graduated from a prominent School of Mines and went to work for a big copper company as full-fledged mining engineers. They were located at an isolated camp, remote from civilization, and were given every chance to make good the prediction made for them at the time of graduation.

These men soon proved that they knew a great deal about the mining of copper. Their advancement was rapid, and within a comparatively short time one of them was appointed General Manager and the other Chief Engineer. To all intents and purposes they were in complete charge of the company's interests in that locality.

It was not long before the problems put up to these two mining experts ceased to be confined to the technical end of the business. The handling of a large number of men, the disposition of big sums of money, the necessity of using both men and money economically, the accounting and statistics of their operations, and a hundred other problems no less "practical" demanded the exercise of judgment on their part and a knowledge of business principles that neither their technical training nor their previous experience had supplied.

Unfortunately, these two--the General Manager and the Chief Engineer--had their heads turned by their rapid advancement. They did not recognize the fact that a thorough business training would have made them well-nigh failure-proof, and they even expressed contempt for scientific study of such subjects as accounting, banking, organization, cost finding, selling and finance.