Forging Ahead in Business Part 9

_Purpose and scope of economics_ _Fundamental concepts_ _Land and capital_ _Labor and enterprise_ _Three fundamental laws_ _Consumption of wealth_ _Value and the consumer_ _Value and the producer_ _Value and the trader_ _Money_ _Credit_ _Money, credit and prices_ _Foreign trade_ _Rent_ _Interest_ _Wages_ _Profits_

Economics is the foundation stone upon which the science of business is built. It underlies all business just as mathematics underlies all branches of engineering. It is the basic subject of the Course, and its general principles should be thoroughly understood before taking up the subjects treated later.

The book is written for the general reader, who has little or no knowledge of economic theory. It gives a clear idea of the business problems and forces with which business men deal and enables the reader to form intelligent judgments of his own.

This section of the Modern Business Course makes clear the laws governing the prices of goods, the wages of employes, the profits of employers, the processes of exchange, the functions of money and credit, and the rent of buildings and land. It takes up in comprehensive manner the problems raised by trade unions, by trusts, by governmental taxation and by the growing tendency toward governmental regulation of business.

An understanding of all these live, interesting business problems is an essential part of the mental equipment of a broad-gauged business man, working under present-day conditions.

BUSINESS ORGANIZATION

_Purpose and forms of business organizations_ _Sole proprietorship_ _General partnerships_ _Limited partnerships_ _Syndicates_ _Business trusts_ _Corporations as business units_ _General aspects of corporations_ _Incorporation of companies_ _Dissolution of corporations_ _Stock and dividends_ _Stockholders_ _Meetings of stockholders_ _Directors and officers_ _Intercorporate relations_ _Consolidations, sales and leases of a.s.sets_ _Holding companies_ _Illegal combinations_

If you are in business for yourself, or in some way become interested in a growing business, there is nothing that is of greater interest than your rights and the rights of other men who are in the concern.

The application of the correct principles of production, marketing, financing and accounting are necessary to insure success, as they determine the profits of the business as a whole. Every man goes into business to secure more income for himself, and the amount of his own income will depend, not only on the amount of the profits of the whole business, but on his own proportionate share of these profits. The division of the profits into shares depend almost entirely on the form of organization.

Moreover, when men enter business they hazard not only their time and a definite amount of wealth in the enterprise, but perhaps other wealth that was intended to be kept separate. Indeed, embarking on a business venture may be but the beginning of the loss of the income of future years when all chance of profits has ceased and the business represents nothing but a lot of debts that remain to be liquidated.

Risk is an important element that is varied by the form of organization selected. This section traces briefly the rise of the corporation through the individual enterprise, the partnership and the joint stock company, and states the advantages and disadvantages of each of these forms of conducting business, as well as those of the corporation. This section of the Course const.i.tutes the first step in the study of corporate finance.

PLANT MANAGEMENT

_The basis of modern industry_ _Fundamental industrial principles_ _Characteristics of modern industry_ _Methods of organization and administration_ _Coordinative influences_ _Purchasing_ _Storing material_ _Planning and production departments_ _Insuring results--securing industrial data_ _Standards_ _The control of quality--inspection_ _Rewarding labor--older methods_ _Rewarding labor--new methods_ _Comparison of wage systems--profit sharing_ _Statistical records and reports_ _Location of industrial plants_ _Arrangement of industrial plants_ _Practical limitations in applying industrial principles_ _Problems of employment_ _Employes' service_ _Science and management_

Modern management of industrial plants is characterized by planning and system. Old processes and old methods no longer command respect because they are old. They have been subjected to searching a.n.a.lysis in the hope of finding better ways of doing things. We look today not for the history, but for the reasons of every phase of plant management.

This is our aspect of the general industrial changes which have transformed modern industry and made it a high-powered productive instrument. It is not an isolated thing, but just as significant a part of modern business methods as are improved transportation, increased credit and present-day banking.

In this part of the Course, the relation of plant management to the characteristic development of modern life is first traced, and then the changes displayed which scientific methods have made in the conduct of manufacturing processes. These affect the structural organization of business, the relations of the directing and managing organs to one another. They also affect the operations of these managing units, the purchase and storage of materials, the routing and sequence of work, the best utilization of machinery and the like.

The keynote of the volume is efficiency in productive effort and the principles which underlie it.

MARKETING AND MERCHANDISING

_Marketing: Modern distribution_ _The field of marketing_ _Study of the product_ _Study of the market_ _Trade channels_ _Selling to the jobber_ _Wholesale middlemen_ _Selling to the retailer_ _Selling through exclusive agencies_ _Influencing retail sales_ _Selling to the consumer_ _Good-will and price maintenance_ _Reaching the market and the complete campaign_ _Merchandising: The jobber_ _Modification of the jobber's service_ _Problems of the jobber_ _Retail compet.i.tion_ _Retail types_ _Chain stores_ _Mail-order selling_ _Training the sales force_ _Buying_ _Stockkeeping_ _Cooperation for service_

There are three different kinds of things that must be considered by everyone who has anything to sell. One group of considerations has to do only with personal salesmanship and sales management. Another has to do only with advertising. Still a third is concerned solely neither with personal salesmanship nor with advertising, but is common to both. Before an effective force of salesmen can be selected and trained and an advertising campaign mapped out, the plan behind the personal selling and advertising campaign must be devised--the marketing methods must be determined.

The considerations here may be grouped under three heads: the goods to be sold, the market for the goods, and the methods of reaching that market.

A number of questions must be asked and answered about the things to be sold. For example: Is there a ready demand or must one be created? Is the commodity a necessity or a luxury? Is it subject to seasonal variations?

Is the trade-mark well known? And so on.

The first part of the Text, Marketing, concerns the problems of the manufacturer; the second part, Merchandising, treats of the problems of the dealer, both wholesaler and retailer. Between them they present a complete picture of the processes by which goods reach the consumer, and reveal the tendencies in modern distribution.

SALESMANSHIP AND SALES MANAGEMENT

_Salesmanship: The power of personal salesmanship_ _Staples, branded staples and specialties_ _Selling process--preliminary to the interview_ _Selling process--the interview_ _Selling process--the agreement_ _Selling process--miscellaneous_ _Human appeals that sell_ _Development of character and caliber_ _The salesman's duties and responsibilities_ _Cooperation, influence and friendship_ _Sales management: The sales manager--his qualifications and duties_ _Building an organization--selecting men_ _Building an organization--training salesmen_ _Selling methods and the selling equipment_ _Compensation and territory_ _Sales records_ _Cooperation with salesmen_ _Sales contests_ _Sales conventions_

There is no subject which is more universally interesting to everyone in business than selling.

Salesmanship in its broadest sense is essentially the selling of one's point of view, the ability to start with the other fellow's point of view and lead his mind to accept yours. When an individual endeavors to influence another, he is practising salesmanship. In this broad sense, everyone will profit by a knowledge of the principles of salesmanship and selling methods.

In this portion of the Modern Business Course, the salesman is shown the necessity of learning something of his prospect previous to the interview.

Suggestions are also made for getting to see the buyer. The developments in a sale are discussed in such a way as to enable the salesman to build an effective, man-to-man transaction, and the human appeals that sell are outlined.

After discussing the qualifications and duties of the sales manager, methods to be employed in the selecting, training and handling of men are detailed. The training of retail sales people is discussed. The planning of the salesman's equipment, the building of a sales manual, the apportionment of territory are gone into. Methods of keeping sales records and statistics are outlined; directions given for the handling of sales contests and conventions, the editing of a house organ, and the apportioning of quotas.

ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES

_Advertising--a constructive force in business_ _Fundamentals of advertising_ _Getting the advertis.e.m.e.nt seen_ _Getting the advertis.e.m.e.nt read_ _Making the advertis.e.m.e.nt understood_ _Making the advertis.e.m.e.nt produce action_ _Human appeals in advertising_ _Word values in advertising_ _"Getting the order" copy_ _"Getting the inquiry" copy_ _"Directing the reader" copy_ _"Molding public opinion" copy_ _Preparing the advertis.e.m.e.nt_ _Layout of advertis.e.m.e.nts_ _Booklets, catalogs and folders_ _Drawings and reproductions_ _Printing art in advertising_ _Trade-marks, slogans and catch phrases_ _Legal limits and restrictions on advertising_

Considering the large number of progressive concerns entering the field of advertising each year, and profiting thereby, the average business man's lack of knowledge concerning advertising principles is lamentable.

Few have any ability either to write or to judge copy, and almost all are at a loss to deal intelligently with the printer.

This section of the Course discusses the various cla.s.ses of copy divided according to the results each is designed to accomplish. The value of word tone in writing and how to secure it are indicated. Instructions for preparing and laying out the advertis.e.m.e.nt are given.

The technique of the printing art--type faces, paper, printing processes, half-tones and line-cut ill.u.s.trations--is discussed.

The advertising slogan, the package design and the various considerations in connection with the trade-mark are treated.

The business man is prepared to correlate the principles of advertising with those of marketing methods, and to bring an understanding of both to his study of advertising problems of wholesale and retail merchandising.

OFFICE ADMINISTRATION

_The office in modern business_ _Location, planning and layout of the office_ _Office equipment and supplies_ _Office appliances_ _Selection of employes_ _Employment tests and records_ _Training_ _Stimulation of employes_ _Filing_ _Interdepartmental communications_ _Office manuals_ _The worker's compensation_ _Welfare_ _Office organization_ _Planning_ _Office control_ _Work reports and their use_ _The art of management_

It is only in recent years that individual business enterprises outside of the manufacturing field have grown to such importance as to bring a large number of employes under one management. Today the problems of the office are no less urgent than those of the shop.

Office administration is in some respects like, in other respects unlike, plant management. It is alike in that it pursues the same ideals of efficiency. It is unlike in that machines and equipment fall into the background and the human element looms large in the foreground of office work.

Methods of conducting clerical work have, since the advent of the various office machines, of which the typewriter was the pioneer, undergone rapid transformation. Underlying these changes there have been principles, more or less clearly recognized, which it is the aim of the Text to discover and present in an orderly and systematic fashion.

In few departments of office work have standardized processes based upon scientific principles made such headway as in the employment field. Hiring employes for office work, training them for their duties, stimulating them to their best effort, adjusting wages to work performed, and providing for deserved promotions, are no longer casual occupations of some general offices, but the work and special concern of the trained office manager.

Here, as elsewhere, concentration and specialization are beginning to reveal the principles underlying successful effort. Such principles concern not only the operations, but the organization of the office and its various parts.

ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES

_Development and scope of accountancy_ _Accounts and their purpose_ _Cla.s.sification of accounts_ _Double entry bookkeeping_ _Books of account_ _Applying accounting principles--the original entries_ _Applying accounting principles--the ledger records_ _Applying accounting principles--summarizing results_ _Columnar books_ _Opening, operating and closing the books_ _The trial balance_ _Economic summary_ _The balance sheet_ _Single entry bookkeeping_ _Continental system of bookkeeping_ _Depreciation_ _Methods of computing depreciation_ _Labor-saving devices_ _Internal checks_