Preface
Robert Craven is one of Warwick Business School's most highly regarded presenters. His animated, action-packed style demands participation. Robert does not give his audience the option of sitting back and merely reflecting.
I wondered how this presentation style would translate into words on pages and was delighted to find that the reader of this volume is as bullied and cajoled into participation as is the listener. The business owner, at whom this book is directed, is forced to estimate scores out of ten in the key areas of their own business. It is these scores that Robert Craven uses to focus discussion on what he regards as the key areas of finance, marketing and operations.
Equally, in examining the potential of the business for future development the reader is forced to score their business in areas such as resources, experience, controls and assistance, ideas and innovation and leadership. The reader is constantly challenged to provide reasons why one score is higher or lower than another, or even to ask others in the business to undertaken the same exercise to see if scores tally. The scores help both to stimulate dialogue and to focus Robert Craven's attention to the key issues.
If the first key characteristic of the book is its emphasis upon participation, the second is on simplicity. Robert Craven emphasises that running a business is not rocket science, but neither should the thought needed to run a successful business underestimated. The scores, which he makes the reader estimate for themselves, are only the basis for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the business. What he correctly stresses is that owners have to make clear-minded decisions in the context of good information. Such clear mindedness comes only by stripping away the inevitable day-to-day concerns and answering the questions raised by Robert Craven.
The third characteristic Robert Craven emphasises is that responsibility for the business, both its success and also its lack of success is down to those who run it. If the plaudits are laid at the door of the business owner when it is successful then so are the failings when it does not succeed.
Finally I hope the readers also like the consistent structure of the chapters in this book. I found concluding with 'Frequently asked questions' particularly valuable.
So, if you want a book that makes you think about your own business and which provides genuine real life examples derived almost entirely from businesses with which Robert Craven has personally come in contact, then this book is for you.
What the book will not do is to tell you what to do. Instead it will force you to ask yourself questions about your own business, enabling you then to either find out what you don't know or make the best possible decisions on the limited information available. That must be of value.
Professor
David Storey
Director, Centre for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
Warwick Business School, University of Warwick