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During the COVID-19 global health crisis, we are forced to adapt to a new way of life. Here’s how to start thinking strategically to best navigate through these uncharted waters.
You need to understand the financial implications and to act quickly. What happens if business reduction lasts for weeks? Or longer? Consider various “what-if” scenarios. Inquire about your business interruption insurance. Do you have an existing policy with dread disease coverage? Be sure to review the following:
With companies quickly moving to remote work environments, hackers are aggressively looking to exploit any flaws. Be diligent and don’t click on links from unknown sources. It is not too late to talk to your broker about getting insurance for cyber security or social engineering policies.
This should include policies regarding:
Employees need to set their own schedules and be able to deal with different distractions (e.g. kids, phone calls, etc.). Don’t underestimate the change and potential impact. Clearly communicate who employees should call with questions or issues, during and after work hours.
In these uncertain times, you may need to be creative. This will mean different things for different companies. Consider unique ways you can make your business stronger.
How can your business adapt to offer services digitally? For example, on-line teaching classes, or offering webinars. The goal is to keep your business top of mind.
To allow for accounting data to be easily accessible, consider cloud-based accounting systems. In cloud computing, users access software applications remotely though the Internet. Remember to ensure adequate security protection.
Unless you have been asked not to work at all (e.g., some non-exempt positions), keep working, most likely from home. Utilize smart tools and practice healthy habits. Limit social engagement and leverage technology.
Password protection and current anti-virus systems are critical for remote devices, even if they are owned by the employee and not controlled by the company.
Companies need to consider whether remote users will be able to print or store any confidential information on their laptops or Home PCs. Tools are available that can prevent downloading or printing of any information from personal devices.
There are many software options to choose from; some are paid services, but several are free. Here are examples of systems that are commonly used:
About Warren Whitney
Warren Whitney is a results-oriented management consulting firm based in Richmond, Virginia who is dedicated to serving privately held and nonprofit organizations in four areas: Strategy, Finance/Accounting, HR, and IT.
Editors note: Image and content provided by Warren Whitney. This post article was originally posted here. Warren Whitney is a Sponsor of Virginia Council of CEOs.
These are unprecedented and turbulent times. COVID-19 will pass and organizations will need to have the right plans and people in place to continue to survive and thrive. Focus on these four things when navigating crisis times in business:
If social distancing is keeping candidates from touring the office or facility, make a short video. Candidates will appreciate being able to virtually connect to your working space. COVID-19 will pass and organizations will need to have the right people on board. Engage candidates even if you have to delay a final decision.
About the Author
Chip Bowman is a Managing Director responsible for developing Fahrenheit’s business in Virginia and providing clients with customized strategies for solving their challenges and growing their business. He is skilled in leading operations and finance functions across numerous public and private industries including banking, healthcare, family business, education, manufacturing, and real estate development. He has a demonstrated ability to drive growth based on strategic vision and management of daily operations through process improvement, performance management, systems building, financial initiatives, and policy design and implementation. Chip also has experience in turnaround situations for middle market clients.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Image and content provided by Fahrenheit Advisors. Fahrenheit Advisors is a Sponsor of Virginia Council of CEOs.
It seems easy. Your company sells a product or service for money, and that money needs to cover your expenses for you to be profitable. You know your income statement from top to bottom, and you can even forecast what the next few months, or years, will look like. What more could anyone ever ask of you? You submit all of your financial information to your banker, and you get to brag to them about how your business must be one of the must sought out in the banking community. Maybe the bank will even be open to an interest rate reduction on your loans!
And then your banker asks: “Can you fill me in on why your liquidity position has taken such a big step backwards since last year?” The next question is even more puzzling: “You seem to be on board with leveraging the business more each year. When did that become a strategic plan for you?” And finally the statement: “I’m concerned about the duration of receivables and how it is really straining your ability to generate cash, especially with the amount of debt that you’ve taken on.” But, Mr. Banker, have you seen the net income of my business lately? Do you even pay attention to my revenue growth?
A balance sheet is a snapshot in time of three “categories” of your business including the assets, liabilities, and subsequent net worth. One of these categories is not impacted without the other being equally impacted, and they all must balance such that assets equal liabilities plus net worth. For instance (and very generally speaking), when you finance the purchase of a vehicle for your business, assets grow by the value of that vehicle. Debt will also grow due to the loan amount, so assets and liabilities have both increased. Most small business owners understand the importance of revenue growth and cost management to enhance profitability, but some are often stumped by, or even unaware of, their balance sheet.
So what are some things that your banker might be analyzing on your balance sheet? Below is just a small list of things that might be on their radar:
Liquidity is a measure of your company’s ability to cover its short-term debts by converting its short-term assets to cash. An example of an easily liquidated asset might be the collection of a receivable due from a customer for a service that you performed. It is most likely easier to collect the receivable than to sell a piece of equipment, vehicle, or land. Once collected, this receivable can then repay an obligation, such as an account payable, that is due within twelve months or less. Your banker is most likely paying close attention to your liquidity as it allows the bank to understand how quickly you can pay outstanding debts in the event of a downturn in operations and, of course, the bank’s financing. The easier it is to convert short-term assets to cash, the less risk of delayed payments towards debt granted by the bank.
How much debt have you used to finance the assets of your business? This is what the bank calls leverage. Most bankers understand that companies have to take on debt in order to grow, but it is important that the amount of debt and payments towards loans do not strain cash flow to a point that operations are negatively impacted. Certain industries, such as those that need heavy machinery, will often require higher leverage, but the amount of debt in your business should not be causing a lack of growth due to strained cash flow. If your banker sees that you are too highly leveraged and the amount of debt obligations is hindering profitability and cash flow, you may not be a candidate for financing at that time.
Mathematically, net worth, or shareholders equity, is the value of your assets minus your corporate liabilities. If you show a positive net worth, you own more assets than debt which may allow you to “weather the storm” of an economic downturn by initiatives such as selling fixed assets to increase cash flow when revenues decline or collection of receivables slows. When your business is profitable and income is reinvested in the company rather than distributed fully to ownership, net worth will grow over time. If, however, liabilities exceed assets or losses are incurred that do not lead to net worth enhancements allowing for further investment in business assets, a bank will be challenged to extend even more debt. Very simply, if your business cannot handle a slowdown by converting its assets when cash flow is reduced, a bank may not want to lend to your company.
As you can see, these examples may coexist. If your company is illiquid, it may often mean that leverage is high and net worth is low. Or, if you are lowly leveraged, it is possible that you have strong current and long-term assets, limited debt, and a healthy net worth position. Remember, though, just because your income statement shows that you are “making money” does not necessarily mean that your company is as healthy as you think. Don’t forget to pay close attention to your assets, liabilities, and net worth, and have a conversation with your banker to further understand your balance sheet and how they view your ability to handle corporate debt.
About the Author
Matt Paciocco is a Senior Vice President, Commercial Banker with Virginia Commonwealth Bank (VCB). Matt is passionate about working in a community bank that enables him to build strong relationships with his business customers and the surrounding communities. Matt has spent the last 15 years specializing in commercial banking and has positioned himself as a leading community banker in Richmond.
Editor’s note: Image and content provided by Virginia Commonwealth Bank (VCB). VCB is a Sponsor of VA Council of CEOs.
Life as a CEO is stressful. You feel the pressure of growing your company each year. You know your employees, their families, and even your own family depend on the company for their livelihoods. The pressure and responsibility to make the business a success can make it feel impossible to prioritize your own health. Frequently, this leads to poor sleep, inadequate exercise, and dietary choices that are about convenience and emotional support rather than fueling performance.
And if you’re in your 40s and 50s, your heart disease risk is also increasing based purely on your age – nearly one in every 100 men develops signs of heart disease by the time they are 45, and that risk doubles by the time they are 55. For women, the risk starts to increase in yours 50s.
In short, the lifestyle habits, stress levels, and age of most CEOS forms a recipe that significantly increases the risk for heart disease, which remains the No. 1 killer of men and women globally.
So what can you do to protect yourself, your company, and your family? The key is knowledge. You can, and should, know as much as possible about your heart health and your risk factors for heart disease. And that starts with advanced cardiovascular screenings.
The American Heart Association’s recommended heart health screenings look at things like blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index, blood glucose, and lifestyle habits (smoking, exercise level, diet). But as we discussed earlier, as a CEO who feels the pressure of supporting your family and your employees’ families, you need more information to feel confident about your heart health. And that’s where advanced cardiovascular screenings come into play.
Next time you go in for a physical or cardiology exam, ask about these advanced screenings. Keep in mind, most advance cardiovascular screenings go beyond what insurance covers each year, so you pay out of pocket for some, but the trade-off in knowledge can be well worth it.
You might have noticed that a Treadmill Stress Test is not on this list — these may also be referred to as a Stress Echo Test or a Nuclear Stress Test. Whichever version you choose, these types of stress tests are diagnostic tools, not screening tools. As diagnostic tests, stress tests are helpful if you are already experience symptoms of cardiovascular disease or are at high risk for recurrent cardiovascular disease.
A well-exercised heart provides a wealth of information to the physician with regard to patients that are presenting current symptoms of heart disease. For patients without heart disease, this test only measures the fitness of your heart today. Although it feels like a significant test because you may be running and sweating and hooked up to electrodes, a stress test is not going to be able to predict the likelihood of a future heart event.
Not everyone needs every test we mentioned before. Which advanced cardiovascular screenings are right for you depends on your personal risk factors. Your doctor can help decide which tests make the most sense for you. Here are a few common considerations.
In addition to advanced heart screenings, you can do other things to improve your overall cardiovascular health:
As a CEO, you understand growth. Year over year growth means your company is growing and set up for success for the long-term. By adding advanced cardiovascular screenings to your annual physicals, you can track similar growth for the health of your heart year over year and set yourself up for success for the long-term.
About the Author
Dr. David Pong is Director of Executive Health at PartnerMD. PartnerMD’s executive physicals provide the most medically advanced screenings available. Once a baseline is set for heart health, the client’s physician can get to work on improving health, reducing risk, and monitoring progress year over year. Learn more here.
Editors Note: Content provided by PartnerMD, a Sponsor of Virginia Council of CEOs.
What an exciting time to be a CEO! On top of all the ordinary challenges associated with leading an organization, last August the Business Roundtable made a public announcement that kicked off a groundswell of debate about the purpose of a firm. The Business Roundtable membership is a bit like VACEOs, but with larger organizations. Its announcement broadened the Roundtable’s stated purpose of a firm from maximizing shareholder value to creating value for all stakeholders. This was news because for more than 20 years the Roundtable had explicitly embraced the idea that “corporations exist principally to serve shareholders.”
The term ‘stakeholders’ refers to actors who affect or are affected by the firm, including employees, customers, suppliers, communities, and shareholders. While the popular business press has dedicated gallons of ink to this debate in the last few months, the arguments for prioritizing stakeholders (not just shareholders) are already well established. Some of the foundational research in this area originated at UVA’s Darden School, and some of the more recent developments are coming out of University of Richmond’s Robins School.
Because academic writing can often be boring and overly technical for casual reading, this article translates a very brief sampling of recent stakeholder-related research topics and findings from the strategic management journals.
Stakeholder theory is broadly focused on understanding and explaining how organizations form and nurture relationships with a collection of stakeholders. This perspective is unique among strategy theories in that it explicitly acknowledges businesspeople do not and cannot make decisions independent of moral norms and values.
Said another way, business is not a distinct and separable domain from ethics. Every organization has behavioral norms that emerge and evolve in its relationships with stakeholders. This makes stakeholder theory more appropriate for focusing on relationships as the unit of analysis, whereas the dominant economic approaches to strategy research are primarily focused on transactions as the unit of analysis. This distinction adds realism to explanations of strategy in practice because the vast majority of businesspeople describe their most important interactions in the context of relationships rather than transactions.
Why do you think employees choose your firm over others? Why do customers? What do you provide your stakeholders that they cannot get from other firms? All stakeholders have alternatives to participating in your organization, and when they do pick yours, they expect to benefit more in this association than with their next best alternative.
In a free society with open competition for stakeholders of all types (e.g., customers, employees, members, suppliers, communities, etc.), there are no fixed rules that always work for attracting, enrolling, and retaining the stakeholders your organization needs to execute its plan. Instead, the best course of action in practical situations is always conditional. My own research seeks to specify those conditions in a variety of situations.
The first thing to acknowledge is that different stakeholders expect different things. In the marketing domain, we recognize this in the concept of customer segments. Customer segments are subgroups of customers that share some common expectations. Your other stakeholder groups can be segmented this way, too.
It is common to think stakeholders primarily value financial metrics such as prices, wages, discounts, premiums, taxes, and dividends. But in many contexts, research shows stakeholders enter and leave relationships with firms based on other considerations.
One of the most powerful considerations, for example, is the extent to which they are included in the process of making decisions that affect them. They want you to ask for their opinions and to seriously consider their opinions. They want decision-making processes at your firm to be based on accurate information, to be consistent, and to be revised if they are later found to need correcting. The expectations about your decision-making processes are so critical they are referred to collectively in the research as expectations of procedural justice.
Another set of powerful expectations, collectively called interactional justice, are all about the manner in which your firm treats the stakeholder. Specifically, most people place a high value on being treated with courtesy, dignity, and respect. Stakeholders who do not believe they are getting enough of these things (enough ‘interactional justice’) from you may sever the relationship even if the material financial benefits of working with you are strictly better than their next best alternative.
These expectations for different forms of value (material, procedural, and interactional justice) play a big role in the stakeholder behaviors that create or(?) destroy value at your firm. Not only does a stakeholder decide to enter, remain, or sever her relationship with your firm based on the comparative amounts of value she gets from you, but if she remains in the relationship, these things also affect how the stakeholder behaves towards your firm. These behaviors can be more beneficial – or more costly – than many executives realize.
The simple truth here is a bit like the ‘golden rule’: when stakeholders believe they are getting more of these forms of value from your firm than they expect in this type of relationship, they are very likely to reciprocate in positive ways back towards your firm. That is, you did something extra-nice for them so they feel compelled to do something extra-nice for you. Positive reciprocity from employees, for example, can show up in doing more or better quality work than you expected. Positive reciprocity from customers might show up as recommending your firm to more prospective buyers.
On the other hand, negative reciprocity from your stakeholders who think you have delivered noticeably less value than they expected can be costly. Employees, for example, might steal from you and believe their behavior is justified if you are treating them poorly. This behavioral perspective on stakeholder relationships integrates philosophy and ethics into economic reasoning to show that when leaders in many settings allocate more benefits to their stakeholders, they initiate cycles of positive reciprocity that benefit the collective network of stakeholders, including the firm itself.
If this work piques your interest, consider these other insights from our research along similar lines:
This body of research helps explain what we see in the natural world: most successful firms are not exclusively focused on maximizing their quarterly shareholder performance or, alternatively, on ignoring their shareholders. Instead, we see firms serving the interests of many stakeholders.
Glance at the list of recent examples below, and prepare to share how you are serving your various stakeholders at your next CEO roundtable.
About Doug Bosee
Doug Bosse is The David Meade White Jr. Professor of Business and Chair of the Management Department in the Robins School of Business at University of Richmond. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate classes, Doug often facilitates strategic planning and leadership alignment activities for executive teams and boards, and he teaches the Strategic Planning session in the CEO Essentials program, the partnership program of VACEOs and the Robins School of Business Executive Education. He can be reached at dbosse@richmond.edu.
Editors note: Content provided by the Robins School of Business at University of Richmond, a Sponsor of Virginia Council of CEOs.
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