Business manager

“ Our fair client, like many another histrionic genius, had more charm than business ability and was persuaded by an unscrupulous manager to intrust to him a large sum of money for investment in his various enterprises. ”

“ In the larger organization this knowledge or skill is often supplied by a manager who has ``come up through the ranks'' and has not forgotten his journeyman's dexterity on the way or neglected to keep in touch with improved methods.
Frequently the advantage of a small industry or trading venture over its larger rivals depends on the owner's mastery of all the processes or conditions involved and his ability to deal with his employees on a personal plane in fixing wages or in establishing the standard day's work. ”

“ The manager must be a man of wide experience, familiar not only with the product and home matters, but with the language, customs, and business methods of the country in which he is located. Some corporations engage business houses in different sections as local representatives or distributors, with exclusive rights in restricted territory. ”

“ Did you ever think of the responsibility you are carrying as a manager of your company? Do you know that every move, every letter you write, every position you take means that you are portraying your company to someone?
In business a new king arises in the land every day. There’s a new retail grocer—a new jobber—or jobber’s buyer on a thousand corners. They know not Joseph—regardless of how good your product is, or how long you’ve been on the territory, IT TAKES ADVERTISING TO PUT YOU ACROSS IN A BIG WAY.
I’m going to bed, Red, hoping I haven’t bored you. ”

“ A manager of a large manufacturing and selling organization made a study of the conditions affecting the prosperity of his organization. From his observations he deduced the principle that for him it is more important to increase the loyalty of the men to the organization than to reduce the apparent labor cost. ”

“ So I had an exceptional opportunity to size up the stock business. The chief duties of the manager are to meet customers when they visit the office, tell them how the market is acting, the latest news from the news-tickers and the gossip of the Street. But the real duties are to get business for the house. Once a most peculiar man came to the office. ”

“ It is not possible to take up the arguments on this point, but it may be said in a word that the manager of business contributes a needed service to the work of society just as truly as the laborer does, and receives his earned reward in the form of profits. ”

“ And so with the department manager, and so with the general manager, whether of a store, a railroad company, or other activity; the immediate daily problem for all lies in the rendering of a service, the producing of a commodity, or the doing of the thing for which the business enterprise exists. This concentration upon output is furthermore required by competition which whips the producer into line and often makes it a matter of business life and death that one should make progress in method and quality. That his shoes wear is a matter of pride to the shoe manufacturer. ”

“ When I gave you that job I was following out a plan that has proven successful in many cases as shown by magazine articles. I thought you would make a good Sales Manager because you knew nothing about Selling, just as the best [152] organizers of Business Men’s Associations are Kendallville Professors who know nothing about Business, and the best writers of Efficiency Stuff are men who file their correspondence on a hook, and the most dazzling Shop Management Talksters those who heave a wheelbarrow over a fence and never see the gate. ”

“ The modern business man, entrepreneur or manager, and all those assisting him in the discharge of his duties, perform functions in two directions: first, in the direction of the market in the establishment of price, in the selling of his goods, and in attending to all matters which flow therefrom, and secondly toward the production plant itself ”

“ And apart from exceptional cases of a working proprietor who is both editor and manager, or of a managing-editor, or of a great manager who exercises editorial functions, or a great editor who exercises managerial functions, the ordinary course is to keep them fairly distinct. The managerial side involves the business work of a paper, including the obtaining of advertisements and all the operations directly connected with producing it and making it pay as a commercial enterprise. ”

“ And in this is illustrated the importance of creating any business organization without regard to individuals.
9. Organization of Mercantile Business. Leaving for a time the organization of a manufacturing enterprise, we will consider the application of the principles of organization to a trading business. In such a business, the administrative section remains the same: stockholders, directors, officers, executive committee, general manager. At this point the business naturally divides into the departments of buying and selling.
[21]
Fig. ”

“ He can easily get a good manager to run his lumber business until he finds a customer for it, and in the meantime we will be charging his account with our freight-bills against him and gradually pay off the loan without pinching ourselves. ”

“ We’re going to find other business-managers and we’re going to work with them to make a smooth transition. Maybe we’ll all come out of this friends later on. They want to do something different from what I want to do is all. ”

“ Of course, with the development of the market the complexity of office management increased. In modern times the business man concerns himself not only with the duties of the merchant and exchanger, but also with the organization of industry and economical procedure. ”

“ It is, of course, evident that the nature of the organizations required to manage different types of business must vary to an enormous extent, from the simple tonnage works (with its uniform product, which is best managed by a single strong man who carries all of the details in his head and who, with a few comparatively cheap assistants, pushes the enterprise through to success) to the large machine works, doing a miscellaneous business, with its intricate organization, in which the work of any one man necessarily counts for but little. ”

“ To the community at large the work of pecuniary management, it appears, is less serviceable the more there is of it. The heroic role of the captain of industry is that of a deliverer from an excess of business management. It is a casting out of business men by the chief of business men. ”

“ The first step, after deciding upon the type of organization, should be the selection of a competent man to take charge of the introduction of the new system. The manager should think himself fortunate if he can get such a man at almost any price, since the task is a difficult and thankless one and but few men can be found who possess the necessary information coupled with the knowledge of men, the nerve, and the tact required for success in this work. The manager should keep himself free as far as possible from all active part in the introduction of the new system. ”

“ As soon, however, as we approach business from the standpoint of accounting, sales management, employment, executive control, and when we find that lessons in statistics, advertising, moving materials, or executive management, learned in connection with a factory, can be carried over with but slight adaptation to the management of a store, we at once get a manageable body of material on which to work. ”

“ Fourth, the management must be entrusted to a chosen few, whose interests are chiefly in the business itself, whose character secures the confidence of all, and whose administrative ability is not too much hampered by rules. ”

“ But the managers of a joint stock concern seldom devote themselves sufficiently to the work, to enforce unremittingly, even if introduced, through every detail of the business, a really economical system. ”

“ The management must be of large perspective and broad experience, make a close study of store-keeping ways and methods, be quick to take advantage of every new idea in service and appointments, and enterprising in everything that goes to make a [Pg 11] business strong and successful. ”

“ We, however, who are primarily interested in the shop, are apt to forget that success, instead of hinging upon shop management, depends in many cases mainly upon other elements, namely,—the location of the company, its financial strength and ability, the efficiency of its business and sales departments, its engineering ability, the superiority of its plant and equipment, or the protection afforded either by patents, combination, location or other partial monopoly. ”

“ The managers have generally kept their affairs as much as possible to themselves, and would, doubtless, assure you that they had lost money by their investment, which is often the case with men who have a remunerative business of any kind. ”

“ Thus, the company is forced to create its first management team: a general manager with the right doses of respectability, connections and skills, a chief financial officer, a host of consultants and so on. ”

“ Arrived at the great, impudently advertising, roaring, trading firm that dealt with books as men deal with goods in bulk and, interviewing the manager as man to man, she had driven her bargain, and a good one, too. ”

“ And even in those cases in which the efficiency of shop management might play an important part it must be remembered that for success no company need be better organized than its competitors.
The most severe trial to which any system can be subjected is that of a business which is in keen competition over a large territory, and in which the labor cost of production forms a large element of the expense, and it is in such establishments that one would naturally expect to find the best type of management. ”

“ The better way for the farmer, the merchant, or the manufacturer, when he feels the years pressing heavily and that he can no longer attend properly to the old demands on him, is to shift by a properly drawn contract the business management of the enterprise to his children, or to those whom he wishes to place in charge. ”

“ Most strong men like to take responsibility and to be dominant in The Industrial Manager.affairs. When, owing to the advantages of combination that have been enumerated above, the prospect of a virtual monopoly seems certain, provided due skill in management is exercised, it is natural that the manager should wish to bring about the combination in order that he may himself have the satisfaction of being in substantially absolute control of the entire industry in a country, or possibly even in the world. ”

“ Taylor's "Shop Management" constitute in effect the foundations for a new science—"The Science of Industrial Management." As in the case of constructive work the ideal engineer is he who does the best work at the lowest cost, so also, in the case of industrial operations, the best manager is he who so organizes the forces under his control that each individual shall work at his best efficiency and shall be compensated accordingly. ”

“ They shall have full control and management of all the business of the Company, and may delegate to such Agent or Agents, as they deem best, such of their powers as they may find necessary and for the advantage of the Company to so delegate. ”

“ That’s your first and biggest job, old Red Top, and if you’re smart you’ll realize that although the title may carry some prestige, the most important commodity you have to sell at first is—Red. Be sure to differentiate between the class of men you have been directing and those now under your jurisdiction. Although your managers were once salesmen—they’re managers now. Big, broad, clear-thinking, hard-hitting business men. You cannot succeed without their respect and you haven’t got that to start with, because you’ve yet to demonstrate. ”

“ Any industrial venture which falls short in meeting the pecuniary exigencies of the market declines and yields ground to others that meet them with better effect. Hence shrewd business management is a requisite to success in any industry that is carried on within the scope of the market. ”

“ Those goods are yours, Red—you’ve only then started them in the channel of distribution and the REAL WORK for your think-tank has only commenced. You must think up schemes—selling plans—watch stocks and keep them moving—give advice and counsel to your managers—in a word, you must be the dynamo that generates the sell-juice and believe me, it’s your job to see there are no broken connections.
There are a lot of things about a product sales manager’s job that can be well or poorly done, but I cannot begin to comment on all of them in this letter. ”

“ Though compounded of many factors in addition to relations with customers, that element of going-concern value which is contributed by superior management may be transferable to the extent that it has a momentum likely to be felt even after a new owner and new management have succeeded to the business property. ”

“ Certain lines would be managed more efficiently than others and might make more money, just as certain departments of a big business might, because of peculiarly able management, earn an unusually large contribution to the total profits ”

“ In large businesses, however, where the volume and complexity of the commercial activities make it impossible for the executive, on whom rest the responsibilities for the successful conduct of the business, to have an intimate personal knowledge of all phases of the business, it is very necessary that some means be employed for supplying him with this vital information. ”

“ Management.—The management of the Company will be in the hands of those well known and experienced in the business, as practical furniture makers and able financiers, whose standing will bear the closest investigation for high moral and business character. ”

“ Being to a certain extent rivals in business and situated in different countries, naturally neither one had anything to do with the management of the other. In the course of his investigation, the writer found that the managers had never even taken the trouble to ascertain the exact proportion of non-producers to producers in their respective works; so that the organization of each company was an entirely independent evolution. ”