You’ve got a great idea for a new product that will increase revenue or a new system that will cut the company’s costs. But how can you be sure that it’s a worthwhile investment? Any time you propose a capital expenditure, you can be sure senior leaders will want to know what the return on investment (ROI) is.
Behind every major resource-allocation decision a company makes lies some calculation of what that move is worth. Whether the decision is to launch a new product, enter a strategic partnership, invest in R&D, or build a new facility, how a company estimates value is a critical determinant of how it allocates resources. And the allocation of resources, in turn, is a key driver of a company’s overall performance.
Starting a new business is essentially an experiment. Implicit in the experiment are a number of hypotheses (commonly called assumptions) that can be tested only by experience. The entrepreneur launches the enterprise and works to establish it while simultaneously validating or invalidating the assumptions.
How’s this for an entrepreneurship-education outcome: The proportion of high school students saying they’d like to start a business declined over the course of a summer program, according to research from New York University.
Until a few years ago Steve Cronce’s Raphael Industries did $1 million dollars a year of specialized industrial painting for customers within driving distance of their plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One of them happened to be GE Healthcare, which sent Raphael “dead” X-Ray tube parts for re-coating and re-commissioning.
As the traditional avenues of corporate growth become less attractive, many companies find the appeal of new venture strategies harder to resist. Though difficult to implement and often slow to repay investment, these strategies do offer the promise of facilitating entry into new business areas with innovative, usually technology-based products. And for large companies with many layers of management and detailed control systems, ventures offer the special promise of recapturing some vital spark of entrepreneurial energy.
Whether, when, and how to take a family or individually owned company public are decisions that have faced a great many entrepreneurs. They have taken actions that have brought happiness and fulfillment to some and unhappiness to others. Perhaps people who are presently reflecting on such dilemmas can draw some useful thoughts from a study of one string of decisions.
The term 'private equity' ("PE") is a generic expression for investments in equity securities in companies which are not listed on any public stock exchange. Generally in the UK this means shares in limited companies, although there are exceptions (such as so-called 'vanity pics', being public limited companies which are not listed on any investment exchange, but maintain plc status in order that the term 'plc' may be used in the corporate name.
The transformation that’s needed in healthcare can be overwhelming and necessitate substantial investments in finance, technology, human capital, operations, infrastructure, substantial disinvestment of legacy resources, redesign of workflows and pathways, and enhancement of collaboration across the system.
Since its launch, the Framework has allowed companies to more successfully integrate the UNGPs into their business operations. These Principles were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 and clarify the responsibility of governments and business as regards the impacts businesses can, and do, have on people and how business should provide or enable remedy to those who have been harmed. The UNGPs are the most authoritative guidance and the blueprint for embedding human rights practices in business.
From a footnote in the annual report to an integral part of business strategy, the understanding of sustainability has changed dramatically since the 1960s. We ask: what next?
Get in touch with us or Find an office closest to you
