Peter Drucker

"Since we live in an age of innovation, a practical education must prepare a man for work that does not yet exist and cannot yet be clearly defined." - Peter Drucker
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Workplace stress

Employee and management stress costs companies billions of dollars annually through increased absenteeism, lack of enthusiasm for the job, and poor performance. According to several industry surveys, the following factors cause the most stress in the workplace: unclear policies and direction, failure to show appreciation, lack of communication, and lack of control.
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U.S. national debt

The national budget of the United States has recorded only four annual surpluses in the years since 1970. The total U.S. national debt is approaching 16 trillion dollars with annual interest costs running in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Some economists see further future pressure in the face of pending government programs, increasing trade deficits, and further economic globalization.
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Tender offers

A tender offer is an unsolicited bid by one company to purchase another. The buying group usually offers a premium share price to encourage current shareholders to sell their shares. Tender offers may be friendly or unfriendly. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires any company or individual acquiring 5% of a company to disclose information to the SEC, the target company and the exchange.
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Business incubators

The first business incubator was opened in Batavia, New York in 1959. The concept of providing business assistance services to early-stage companies in shared facilities did not catch on with many communities until the late 1970s. By 1980 there were twelve business incubators operating in the U.S. Incubator development grew from about 20 openings annually in 1984 to more than 70 in 1987.
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Psychological pricing

Psychological pricing is a marketing practice based on the theory that certain prices have a psychological impact. Two common forms of psychological pricing are odd pricing and prestige pricing. Odd pricing ends prices with an odd number. Prestige pricing sets prices at an artificially high level for perceived prestige or quality.
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Patents

IBM has led all other companies in receiving patents for the past fifteen years. IBM held number one again in the latest patent rankings with a total of 3,148 patents. Big Blue was followed by Samsung, Canon, Matsushita and Intel. Microsoft made the top ten for the first time. Overall, 80% of the top 35 patent receiving organizations were down from the previous year.
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The median

In statistics, the median is a measure of central tendency for a set of values and is determined by sorting the data set from lowest to highest values and taking the data point in the middle of the sequence. The median value is useful when the distribution of values is skewed or unevenly distributed such as in the case of home values or income. Otherwise, use the mean or mode values.
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The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal was first published in 1889 when Edward Jones began printing and distributing a daily journal that featured the Jones average and stock and bond prices from the New York Stock Exchange. Today, The Wall Street Journal has more than two million daily readers and has earned over thirty Pulitzer Prizes. Visit the Wall Street Journal on the web at online.wsj.com.
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Joint ventures

A joint venture is a strategic alliance where two or more businesses form a partnership to share markets, intellectual property, assets and knowledge. They are usually formed to save money and make profit. Joint ventures are widely used by companies to gain entrance into foreign markets. Some countries require a joint venture as a way for a foreign company to gain access to its market.
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Business plans

A good business plan contains a description of your business, including details about how it will operate, a section on market research and marketing strategies, an evaluation of your main competitors, and several financial forecasts. Business plans determine feasibility, estimate start-up costs and potential profit, and reveal potential problems.
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Off-shoring

Off-shoring of business processes began in earnest during the 1970s and took of in the 1980s. Over 30-years later, off-shoring has segmented into several variations. "Near-shoring" sources work in a lower-wage country that is relatively close in distance or time zone. "In-shoring" sources foreign workers within the same country. "Right-shoring" is a combination of domestic and foreign sourcing.
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Entrepreneurs

The word entrepreneur is French in origin, meaning "to undertake". An entrepreneur is a person who starts and runs a business, develops a new product, or creates a new service. In an existing business, the idea of stimulating individual employees to act in an entrepreneurial way is referred to as "intrapreneurship."
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Disintermediation

Disintermediation generally means removing the middleman. Typical supply chain intermediaries, such as distributors, wholesalers, brokers, resellers or agents, may be removed from a channel when technical, communication or logistical factors allow. The onset of the Internet produced several attempts at disintermediation, namely book sales, electronics and PCs, and airline and travel sales.
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National Bureau of Economic Research

The National Bureau of Economic Research, or NBER, is considered the official arbiter of recessions, but it doesn't define recession by the school book measure of two or more consecutive quarters of economic contraction as measured by GDP. According to NBER, "a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months.
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Small business success rate

The success rate for small business start-ups is slim. An estimated 40% of small business start-ups fail during their first year. Of the survivors, 80% will fail within five years. In comparison to the dismal rate of ordinary small-business start-ups, about 75% of franchise businesses succeed at five years.
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Patent trolls

The information and technology age has spawned a new industry occupation best described as "patent troll". A patent troll is a person or company that looks to acquire patents with the primary purpose of making patent infringement claims against other companies. Patent trolls make money by forcing companies to license their patented technology through lawsuits or litigation.
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Business decision rule of thumb

A good rule of thumb that many successful leaders follow says when they have sixty percent of the information they need to make a decision, they go ahead and make it.
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The 90-50 project management rule of thumb

The 90-50 project management rule of thumb comes into effect when you have completed 90% of the project leaving only 50% left to complete.
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Henry J. Kaiser

Henry J. Kaiser is on the list of Forbes most influential in business. His companies helped construct America’s roads, bridges and dams. His ship-building companies helped win World War II. Kaiser’s industries included automobile manufacturing, aluminum and real estate development. His diverse group of companies and employees led him to help form the country's first HMO, Kaiser Permanente.
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The first income taxes

The first income tax in the United States was enacted in 1862. Congress passed the income tax law in order to raise revenue to pay for the Civil War effort. A typical worker during this time paid about three percent of their income in taxes. In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system.
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Rules of automation

"The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency." -- Bill Gates.
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NASA's infamous space pen

The legend of NASA's infamous space pen. NASA astronauts discovered during their first flights into space that their pens did not work in zero gravity. NASA engineers developed, at considerable cost, a pen that worked upside down, in a vacuum, in zero gravity, and even under water. Meanwhile, the Russian space program's solution was simpler: use a pencil.
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MBA degrees

The number of MBA degrees earned in the United States has grown significantly over the past several decades. About 5,000 MBAs were awarded annually during the 1960s. By the 2000s, the number of earned MBAs exploded to nearly 100,000 a year. The typical MBA costs about $30,000 to complete. An MBA is worth about $10,000 to $30,000 a year over a bachelor's degree.
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Company buy back

After selling stock to the public, companies sometimes buy some of it back. Companies buy back their stock for three reasons. One is to add to the demand of their stock. The second is to increase the company’s position as a shareholder. The third is to take advantage of the stock's bargain price.
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Labor Day

On September 5, 1882, ten thousand workers participated in America's first Labor Day parade in New York City. The first governmental recognition of Labor Day came through municipal ordinances passed in 1885. By 1894, twenty-eight states had recognized Labor Day. President Grover Cleveland signed a bill making Labor Day an official national holiday in 1894.
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The War for Talent

Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod, authors of the book "The War for Talent," suggest that the very best companies have leaders who are obsessed with talent: they recruit ceaselessly, finding and hiring as many top performers as possible. They reward top talent disproportionately and push them into ever more senior positions.
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Five characteristics

Best-selling author and business speaker Jason Jennings suggests five characteristics that the best-performing companies share: they have an "authentic" reason for existence; are willing to let go and embrace change; focus on the right customers; get everyone to think and act like owners; have leaders that put service over self-interest.
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Paying more than competitors

According to a survey of 1,400 CFOs conducted by search firm Robert Half International, paying more than competitors is still the best way to attract top talent. However, nearly one-third of the survey respondents reported non-monetary perks such as flexible hours and telecommuting options were more appealing with prospective employees, ahead of higher compensation.
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Fantasy football

During the NFL season, nearly 37 million people will spend about fifty minutes a week at work managing their fantasy football teams, according to a survey by outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. The survey estimates that companies will lose as much as $1.1 billion a week in lost productivity.


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