Behind the Facade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success

THINGS ARENT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEMSome small businesses fail not from the lack of customers but from far too many. In their attempt to attract an influx of customers via smart branding they erect whether intentionally or not a façade. This façade becomes a problem when their inability to align capability with capacity becomes the norm and not the exception. Is it possible to save these fast-growing businesses from implosion?THE FAST GROWTH PREDICAMENTThe author Alicia Butler Pierre draws on her 13 years of experience as both a consultant and an entrepreneur to answer this very question. She describes this type of hyper-growth as a predicament suggesting that there is hope. Behind the Façade is a guide on how to prepare for (and recover from) the fast growth predicament. ROOT CAUSESThe desire to hide the painful realities of fast-growth finds business owners at the mercy of their customers and other stakeholders as they struggle to fulfill orders and meet deadlines without compromising quality. Alicia argues this is the result of an imbalance in one or more of three laws: Supply & Demand Conservation and Polarity. Unfortunately when these owners proactively seek resolution they often find that manufacturing and larger enterprises have access to the lions share of operations management resources. The solution these small businesses require lies in a business infrastructure that defines the people processes and tools necessary to match customer perception to operational reality.THE METHODOLOGY AS A SOLUTIONAlicia presents the Kasennu methodology as a cohesive framework to build business infrastructure. Specifically it offers a way to link people processes and tools together so a company can effectively clone itself and repeat success profitably. BEYOND CASE STUDIESBehind the Façade uses unconventional storytelling rather than traditional case studies to demonstrate Kasennus application and maintenance. Through the businesses profiled in these stories you will follow along in the footsteps of the owners as they learn: Why task department and role identification is critical to establishing a foundation;How disaster recovery and business continuity considerations impact records management;Why the layout of your workspace affects productivity and efficiency; andHow to identify and document business processes for consistent results.REVIEWThe book strips away the façade of competent management operational command to discuss how many companies literally use proverbial duct tape to patch together client fulfillment while struggling to keep up with the opportunitys most basic requirements. The true genius of this book is how Ms. Pierre explains these potential problems with precision and illustrates in some instances dilemmas with succinct diagrams that can illuminate the problem for even a too-busy-to-read CEO who needs to be rescued. I highly recommend reading this book as both a solution for stumbling business managers grappling to catch their breath and survive or as preventive medicine for those managers that recognize the need for some real-world tactical lessons that didnt come with their MBAs. --Charles H. Green small business financier; author Get Financing Now (McGraw-Hill 2012)