Before entering into a strategic alliance, it's a good idea to decide what you hope to see happen as a result of the relationship. Most strategic alliances have one central mission: to increase sales in such a way that both companies benefit. There are many ways to approach a strategic alliance, but there are a few things to consider before you rush headlong into the relationship.

Focus is a huge problem for any CEO in the business world today. With so many demands on their time and their energy, how does a business owner determine what are the right things to focus on at the right time?

As a business grows, the rules begin to change. The business owner can't grow the company any longer by simply doing more of the same thing.

When we improve our business processes, we are reducing the number of defects in our products and services for our customers. If there is a high level of complexity in our processes and products and services, there are more opportunities for defect. Therefore, to achieve a high Sigma capability, our goal is to reduce the total number of opportunities for defect, and concurrently increase the capability of the remaining opportunities.

By definition, a business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable and the plan for reaching those goals. They are used in both primary and secondary programs to teach economic principles. A business plan having changes in perception and branding as its primary goals is called a marketing plan.

There are many individuals and groups associated with schools and many of these people are likely to have valuable ideas to contribute to schools. Because they are close to your school they also have a vested interest in its success. The more you involve these people in contributing to the strategic direction you wish the school to take, the more ownership they will have of the final product and the more loyalty for the brand.

A mission statement should very quickly and succinctly define your business, your ideals, goals and history in a brief paragraph. Sounds simple, huh? It can be far more difficult than it seems to write a mission statement, so where do you start?

Firstly look at writing your mission statement as a chance to gain some extra insight into your organization.

The term business intelligence (BI), although sounding mysterious, is simply the act of tracking and analyzing company data. Most companies have business intelligence tools in place, but may not realize how focusing on this data and using technology to track business events can greatly improve the operations and bottom line of any company.

Business intelligence is actually an umbrella term used to describe a set of concepts and methods to improve business decision-making by using specific tools to provide facts to support decisions.

From the One Minute Manager concept, Total Quality Management, and Six Sigma Certification programs, business have spent large sums of money in an attempt to train their management and working staff to perform within the guidelines of these models. Believing that this training would unite management and all levels of employees to work together toward company goals has been the motivating factor behind institution of these programs.

I recently met with my friend Neil to discuss several business building strategies. I shared with him a tool that I use in my own business on a daily basis.

You can create this tool on your own, it's super easy to use, and I guarantee it will help you grow your business exponentially.

The tool is a simple text document (I created mine in Microsoft Word) that you use to measure your daily KPIs.

To take advantage of the opportunities that exist now and will develop over the next two years, it is crucial for you to know where you and your business really stand today. How can you build on opportunities you find or develop new opportunities when you do not really understand the strengths and benefits you have?

Jack and Suzy Welch said to plan as if the downturn will be longer and harsher than you think, in the October 13th Business Week.