The Ohio Employee Ownership Center, a non-profit outreach center of Kent State University, supports the development of business across Ohio and around the world by its efforts that are proven to save jobs, create wealth, and grow the economy. The OEOC's work rests on a simple philosophy: broader ownership of productive assets is a good thing for employees, communities, and our country.
The OEOC provides technical assistance, training, & outreach to the business community in 4 major areas:
1) To business owners looking to exit their business;
2) To owners interested in selling their business to their employees;
3) To employee groups, local governments, and community groups seeking to avoid business shutdowns and job loss in their communities; and
4) To existing employee-owned companies, designed to help them be better employee-owned companies.
Our website can be found at http://www.oeockent.org
Questions? Contact the OEOC at oeoc@kent.edu
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article on the continuing debate over their succession strategy for CEO Steve Jobs. The gist of it is, more institutional (i.e. BIG) investors are looking for answers.
It will be interesting to see what occurs...
(posted by Jay Simecek, exit planning professional with the Succession Planning Program at the OEOC)
A recent conversation with a small business owner thinking of retirement reminded me of interesting reality checks for those considering the sale of their business. The big question is always “how much can I get?” Seems like an easy question, right?
Well not so fast.
Three thoughts:
First, the price you receive is strictly up to the proverbial “willing buyer.” It makes no difference what your accountant, attorney, wife, or brother-in-law think. Find a buyer.
Second, that buyer will normally only pay based on past performance, not potential. That is, your past performance, and not his potential. Find a qualified business valuator for a start.
Third, what you sell for and what you keep are two different things. And guess what, Uncle Sam wants a lot. Find a good tax planner.
So … what will “you” get?
Came across an interesting article about the succession plan at Apple. An institutional Apple shareholder wants to know what the plan is, and Apple replies that they've got it handled. The back and forth brings up some important issues when thinking about succession planning, namely the tradeoffs between openness and shareholder right-to-know vs. confidentiality and strategic planning.
The Economist's Which MBA? blog has an interesting post on the business sense of letting your customer name their price for your product or service. The piece builds off some research done at the Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego:
The authors [of the study] set up their pricing experiment at the exit of a roller-coaster ride at a large amusement park. Riders were offered a photograph of themselves, snapped mid-coast. The usual price was $12.95, but on one day riders were told they could pay what they wished, including taking the photo for free. A second group was charged the full price but told that half the money would go to a well-regarded health charity. Yet a third group could set the price and see half of their chosen amount donated.
The study found that letting customers pick their price increased number of pictures sold and revenue...
Allowing customers to set the price dramatically increased the percentage of buyers—from less than 1% to 8%. Even accounting for those who took a free photo, the amusement park collected more revenue on the pay-what-you-want day than when selling for the usual fixed price.
