BUSINESS TECHNIQUES

1. Start with Strategy

Strategy will help you focus your time, energy, and resources on a path.  Strategy starts with vision.  Work backwards from the end in mind.

Gray writes:

“First figure out where you are.  Ask yourself and your team what kind of company are we, who do we serve, what differentiation makes them want to buy from us, and what are the trend we and our competition face?

Then ask, ‘What kind of company do we want to become? 

Establish a vision for three years in the future. 

Define it in a multi-faceted way, so we know what to manage toward.   Describe the platform of technology and capabilities we will have then. 

What customers and product families can we use it to serve?  How will we get the resources to do that?

Now that we know where we are going, we can consider products to get us there.  This also means we will reject products that take us elsewhere. 

Call this ‘strategic fit.’”

2. Ask, “Is My Business Worth Doing?”

Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.  You have to check if it’s worth it.  Remember to value your time and your capabilities.

Gray writes:

“‘Is my business worth doing?’ Stop and reflect, look in the mirror, and answer that difficult question. 

Maybe your spouse is asking it too, ‘Why are you doing this (to yourself)?’ 

Is following your dream a good idea financially?   Will people pay you enough for working on what you are passionate about?  How much is enough?’ 

How much are you putting into your business, and what are you getting out of it in return?  Could you get the same profit from another activity with less effort or risk?”

Think Through the Compensation and Profit

Compensation is what you earn IN your business, while profit is what you make for working ON your business.

Gray writes:

“Your business pays you wages or a salary for working IN the business.  It also earns a profit for you. 

Think of this as payback for working ON the business. 

The company profit is your ‘return’ for the risk of investing your cash and effort to build the business.”

Aim to Be Paid Your Market Value

When it comes to compensation, aim for market value.

Gray writes:

“You should be paid as much for your time as someone else would pay you, net of taxes — not the best salary you ever had, but the pay you could get today if you seriously tried to find a good job but did not hit the jackpot.  

This is the market value of your time.  For example, assume your net pay is 2/3 your gross.  If the salary is $60,000, the net is $40,000, or about $20/hour for 40 hours/week.

Don’t get caught up in counting hours spent working at your own company vs. the hours spent if you worked for someone else.

 Just figure they are both full-time jobs. 

The extra hours you put into your own business are the trade-off for the benefits of being your own boss, working close to home, avoiding office politics, etc.”

Target 20% Return

When it comes to return, aim for 20%.  This helps balance your risk with the reward.  You business should return 20% on capital.

Capital will be all the money you will invest in running your business be it from its shareholders (stock sales), banks (loans, lines of credit), customer (accruals), suppliers (payment terms), or cash at hand.

Gray writes:

“Return is shorthand for return on investment, the profit opportunity that compensates for the risk of making an investment.  Financial investments can provide returns or profits of 3 to 10% without many hours of effort.  Typical returns to little guy investors:

3-4% return on an A-rated corporate bond; hardly any risk.
9-11% return on the S&P 500 stocks since 1900 (lots less since 2000, but more since 2009); some risk, but if you diversify and do not buy/sell on dips, you have a good chance of earning this return.

6.5% return on a portfolio that is weighted 50/50 for the above two investment types.

If investing in a Fortune 500 company earns you 10% return with much less risk than running your own business, your small company should generate a higher return due to higher risk.  20% is a good target. 

This is 20% annually on the cash and debt you used to start and run the business, not 20% on revenue.”

Example of Checking Is It Worth the Effort

Gray shares a simple example of Susan who was laid off and needs to figure out if opening her own boutique would be worth it.

Gray writes:
”Susan was laid off from a $90,000/year job.  She thinks she could make $60,000 as an office manager somewhere, which is $40,000 net. 

Instead, she wants to open her own boutique in her town. 

The business plan calls for her to invest $50,000 cash, and take out a business loan (personally-guaranteed) of $150,000.  What should she earn from her business to make it worth the effort?

When the business is mature (perhaps in year three), her salary should net her $40,000 based on her own market value as an employee, and the annual business profits (after interest but before repaying principal) should be another $40,000, based on $200,000 invested  X 20% return for risk.”

3. Pull the Right Levers of the Business Growth Machine

When you want to grow your business, you need to ask which levers do you pull first.

Time, uncertainty of results, and risk of failure increase as you move further down the chain of growth levers.

That’s why so many people focus on what’s right in front of them and try to do more with less, or try to make things better, faster, cheaper, versus growing their customer base or their product portfolio.

Gray identifies the following levers you should pull:

Operations you control

     Current customers / current products

          New customers / old channels / current products

               New customers / new channels / current products

                    Old customers / new products

                         New customers / old products

                              New customers / new products

 

4. Grow Revenue from Current Customers

Your current customer base is one of your best sources to grow revenue.

Gray writes:

“Current customers are a pretty fast growth opportunity because you know how to reach them, and you can be fairly sure they will pay attention when you communicate. 

You know what products, features, and services they like. 

You know where they like to buy, and how much they normally spend. 

More knowns means less risk, and less time required for trial and error marketing.  your relationship with these customers offers more ‘control’ than trying to reach new customers.”

Gray provides a short-list of techniques for growing revenue from current customers:

• Loyalty club: more purchases, larger buys – Name the club, define the threshold for membership, and create some offers to show the value for joining.
• Retail merchandising – If you have your own retail location, arrange the store to show high margin products near the front and staples near the back so customers see the high margin items as they move in both directions.
• Bundles of services – Package your laundry list of features and services into three tiers designed for common needs.  Price them good, better, best.
• The special combination – Apply your knowledge of how the customers use your product to create a combination of services they cannot find elsewhere in a single offer.  This sets you apart from competitors, cements customer loyalty, and brings them back again and again.
• Lower unit price for higher-volume package – Sell a larger package for a lower unit price while maintaining good margins.
• Temporary promotion – All promotions are temporary.  Create an offer that generates more revenue than the additional variable cost.  The resulting sales margin boots profit.

5. To Attract New Customers, Change Something

If you want new customers, then change something.

Gray writes:

“If they have not bought yet, whatever you are doing is not working.  Don’t expect different results from doing more of the same thing.”

Gray shares ideas on how to attract new customers by changing something:

• Is your offer different enough to make them want to start solving their problem or switch service providers?  Consider your differentiation, your benefits statement (positioning), your product offer, your pricing, your accessibility, and your communications of all these.   Remember that your benefits statement or positioning addresses the value to the customer of your solution.  Express is in customer value terms.
• One technique is to select a subset of prospects who share the same need/application of your product (“segment”), and target all the changes at them.  For example, a special offer for seniors, or families with students, or people with older homes.
• Once you have a great offer, consider your credibility.  Why should they take the risk of dealing with a new provider?  Build your credibility with a guarantee, testimonials, referrals, free or discounted samples, trials and introductory offers, and be visible helping people nearby.  Visibility tactics include press releases, participation in community associations and their events, and local sponsorships.  These build networks and relationships.  It’s just natural to feel that ‘the company I know is less risky than one I don’t know.’  Find out what media they pay attention to, and when, and be there. Make your message stand out from the clutter.  Deliver the message using a speaker they can identify with, solving a problem they share.
• Invite a response.  Your message must include a call to action.  A limited time offer is a good trigger, but it must motivate them to take some kind of action: call, reply, mail, email, website visit, free consultation, etc.
• The final step to get them to buy is there experience when they reach out to meet you, come to your shop, visit your website, or call for more information.  Take special care to design this experience especially for the new customers with that particular need.   Build in a feedback loop.

6. Make Every Hire Count

A well thought out job description can help you find better candidates.

Fit works both ways.

Gray writes:

“When you decide to hire, your first question is usually ‘where do I find someone?’ Instead, it should be ‘exactly what do I need this person to do, how well do they need to do it, what skills / experience are crucial, and what other skills are nice to have?’

In other words, you need to write a job description, define their role in your process, decide the level of performance that is acceptable, and define how to measure it. 

Thinking through these criteria will help you choose someone with the best chance of being the competent contributor you had in mind.”

7.  Develop Leaders

You can grow new leaders through immersive experiences and by creating a culture of learning and growth.

Gray writes:

“People learn effective leadership by watching other leaders, by practicing, and by reflecting on what works, what doesn’t, and why. 

Formal training can supplement this process, but experience is much more important. 

As management theorist Mintzberg said, ‘Leadership, like swimming cannot be learned by reading about it.’”

Gray shares ways to develop and grow new leaders:

• You explain to them why you led the way you did, and discuss other leader’s styles (models) as well.  Learning from models is the best way to train for effective behaviors.
• You help them reflect on which leadership skills are crucial at various levels of the business: hands-on demonstration and follow-up as a foreman; hands-off coaching when you are managing foreman; collaboration across functions at more senior levels.
• You assign them work where they must exercise higher level skills, often as part of a team.  You coach them as they work on the project, and reflect with them about effective behaviors during and after the project.
• Then you assign more developmental projects.
• Soon you can assign them wider areas of responsibility, where they can ‘learn by doing’ in their own area.  Again, the techniques to ensure their development are coaching and reflection.

8.  Have Breakthrough Conversations

A simple conversation can reveal all sorts of ways to change the game, and do things better, faster, and cheaper with more impact.

Gray writes:

“To get the best from people, you need to understand their work challenges. Only then can you understand their obstacles and remove them.  How many bosses understand everything their people do?”

Gray shares a simple process for having breakthrough conversations:

1. Show me how you do that?
2. What gets in your way? What makes doing that harder than it needs to be?
3. So which of these problems seems to be the most important obstacle to doing this better and faster?
4. How does that obstacle prevent better performance?  (what could the employee do if nothing was change)
5. Why do you supposed we do it that way?  Why did we think that was good for us, at some time in the past?  (try to understand the objectives so you can achieve them in a better way)
6. What would be a better way, so you could do your job better and faster?
7. How should I measure the change in your performance, so we know that removing the obstacle is worth doing?  (If the change is quality, will I see fewer complaints or less rework or more return customers? Roughly how much or how many? Can we agree that if the change is quantity, the time you take to do this operation will change by how much?)

9.  Master the New Product Development Process

Having a process for new product development can help you cover your bases, save time, and waste less effort.  With a process, you can put more effort into the actual product, and less trying to figure out the steps of creating a new product.

Gray writes:

“Trial and error has led to a well-developed set of models for new product development, designed to balance the cost and risk of failure with the opportunity for successful growth. 

All the models have stages, separated by gates.  The gates are go/no go decision points, to decide if the idea deserves more resources for further development. “

Gray shares a well-established process for new product development:

1. Ideation: brainstorming ideas
2. Idea screening, to identify the ideas with the best potential and strategic fit.  What are your criteria to accept an idea for more development? You must be willing to use the same criteria to reject ideas.  You cannot change tangents with your limited resources! Now decide whether to drop the idea or continue.
3. Concept development and market research is next.  This stage estimates the marketing and operational requirements, and tests the idea with potential customers.  You may prefer to skip the market research, but doing so adds risk.  What if customers don’t see the value like you do?
4. Now it’s time for some numbers.  The business case stage writes it all, estimating resources needed and profits expected.  This becomes the standard for measuring success. Now, decide whether to drop the idea or continue.
5. Following a ‘go’ decision on the business case, the next stage is detailed design, prototype, and market testing.  Here is where you see if you can really do it, and whether people will buy it.  Usually this process results in a list of changes you’ll need to make! Now, decide whether to drop the idea or continue.
6. If the market test has good results, the company will spend the resources to make it happen.  This involves most of the organization’s functions, so the new product team must include a representative from each.  Functional areas include production specifications, technical or software changes, manufacturing training and test runs, field operations, procedures and training (e.g. retail, sales force, and installation/maintenance), and value chain readiness: suppliers and distributors.  Now decide if you are ready for launch.
7. Finally it’s time for the Launch stage.  Logistics, marketing, and training issues dominate here.
8. Tracking follows launch.  What worked and what didn’t? Are we meeting objectives from the business case? Why not? if you learn from your mistakes, you can improve not only the product, but the whole process as well.  This reduces risk when launching the next new product.

10.  Link Vision, Strategy, Performance, and Compensation with a Management System

With a simple management system, you can link strategy with execution, and fire on all cylinders.

Gray writes:

“A management system that links Vision, Strategy, Performance, and Compensation helps everyone knows what they need to do, and what results they need to achieve.

It helps alignment and gets everyone paddling in the same direction.”

Gray maps out the components of a simple management system that links Vision, Strategy, Performance, and Compensation:

1. Vision
2. Gap Analysis
3. Strategic Projects and Strategy
4. Owners for strategic projects, processes, and perhaps vendors
5. Project Plans and Biweekly Status
6. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
7. Annual Plan and Budget
8. Individual One-Page Plans for accomplishments and measurements
9. Monthly measurements
10. Quarterly and Annual Rewards based on one-page plan targets, modified during the year

Business acumen comes with time by paying attention, asking the right questions, and experience.

Small Business Ideas with low investment

1. Personalized & Custom made Gift Store – Today we find demand of personalized  & custom made gift is increasing you may think of starting your own gift store providing this type of gifts.

2. Gym or Fitness center –In today’s world everyone is bother about fitness, so starting small gym or fitness center in good area will always rock.

3. Event Organizer – Starting small company which organize event could be good idea but here you may need special expertise and manpower for the same.

 4. Interior Designer – Everyone today want services from interior decorator, so starting interior designer business could be best deal but remember here you may need special skills.

5. Small Grocery Shop – Starting small grocery shop is another good idea here you do not require any special skill and you may start from small shop and gradually expand as per need.

6. Match Making or Wedding planner – It is said that marriages are made in haven but celebrated on earth  So in order to celebrate/enjoy marriage many people today go for wedding planner. In today’s scenario match making or wedding planner is good business option to start with.

7. Tuition Class – Education is essential today hence business of education will never stop. Starting Tuition class is good idea to start with.

8. Mobile Shop – Today everyone use mobile  and looking at need mobile demand is ever increasing hence starting small mobile shop is good Investment idea.

9. Ice-cream Parlor – Starting ice cream parlor is another good business idea to start with.

10. Xerox & Book Binding – Many college area and school area don’t have this facility and could be good potential business in that area.

11. Mobile Food Shop – Today we are living in mobile generation starting mobile food shop is very good business idea.

12. Jewelry maker – With increasing gold price demand of jewelry is ever increasing doing course of jewelry making and starting something in that line could be good option.

13. Insurance Consultant – Starting small insurance consultancy or taking insurance agency is another good business idea.

14. Freelancer – If you are good at programming there are multiple websites available which can give you freelancing work and you will be paid for the same.

15. Book Store –Book lover always purchase multiple books making idea of starting book store attractive.

16. Catering service – For marriage and party people always look for good catering service if you are good at providing good food and catering service this could be another good business idea.

17. Computer Trainer - If you are good at providing computer training this could be good business idea as knowing computer is must in today’s world.

18. Yoga Center – In today’s stressful life many people prefer to go for Yoga , so starting yoga center will be good business option.

19. Baby Sitting Services – This business idea is specifically for woman who want to start some home based business.  Many working couple may be in need to service like this.

20. Real Estate Consultant – Real estate is ever growing business so starting consultancy for providing guidance about real estate and buy, sell and rent option is good business option.

Rupee gains 4 paise against dollar in early trade

The rupee rose by 4 paise at 66.88 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on continued selling of the American currency by exporters and banks.
Besides selling of the US currency by exporters and banks, a higher opening in domestic stock markets and the dollar's weakness against some currencies overseas, supported the rupee, forex dealers said.

The rupee had staged a comeback from its over two-year lows to close 17 paise higher at 66.92 against the US dollar in Tuesday's trade amid rise in equities.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 123.04 points, or 0.48 per cent, at 25,443.48 in early trade.

All sectoral indices were trading in positive zone.

5 Perfect 'Spare-Time' Online Businesses

With all the doom and gloom news about the economy, there's never been a better time to make an extra paycheck online with a minimal amount of time and effort.

If you have an internet connection, you can get started on the road to having the internet pay for your mortgage, car payment, kids' college tuition, or even that special vacation you've wanted. Now, don't worry that you have to be a tech whiz to start a business online--I'm a complete techno-dunce.

A perfect part-time business would have to be very easy to start, require little time and money and no technical expertise, be easy to maintain with just a few hours a week and have a proven track record with a high probability of success.

There's actually one other important criteria--it has to be perfect for you! Experience has taught me that it's different strokes for different folks, and there is no "one size fits all" perfect business. You're much more likely to be successful if you do something you find fun and interesting.

With that in mind, here are five of the best ways to make extra cash moonlighting on the internet:

1. Information marketing: We're in the information age, and the internet provides you with the ideal medium to exchange know-how for money. Do you know the best fishing holes? How to play guitar? The secrets to a successful marriage? A recipe for moist and delicious brownies? A trick for saving gas?

Think about your career, your hobbies and your interests. Virtually anything you know can be turned into extra cash. And don't worry if you think you're not an expert--as long as you know more than the average person on the topic, that information is valuable.

However, if you don't believe you know anything that others would pay for (highly unlikely), you can take someone else's know-how and make money that way! It could be as easy as interviewing a veterinarian to help you create a dog-training product.

Ninety-two percent of people go online looking for information, and you could be one of the many people cashing in on selling it.

2. eBay: One of the largest online marketplaces makes it a piece of cake to get your own business going. You can open an account and start making money within hours on eBay!

While I dislike that whole "sell your garbage on eBay" thing, there is some validity to it as many people get their start on eBay by selling items from their garage or attic that pre-eBay would have been thrown out. This approach is fine, but where is the business once you run out of those items? If you want to create an eBay business that doesn't require tons of time and effort, you need to leverage products that can be sold over and over again.

This is one of the reasons I'm not a fan of the "eBay seller for hire" kinds of opportunities, where you sell things on eBay for other people. You get access to stuff people want to sell, but because each item is unique you have to work to list each and every one. There's no leverage there!

Take a look at some of the largest eBay PowerSellers and notice how they specialize in very specific products (iPods, cell phones, dog grooming kits, etc.). This allows them to leverage their efforts. A listing is created once, and money is collected over and over again.

Unlike information marketing, this business requires the handling of physical goods, but even that can be automated, so it shouldn't prevent you from considering this idea.

3. Affiliate marketing: This may possibly be the absolute laziest way to make money because it doesn't require you to have a product, make a sale or ever have any interaction with customers.

This is essentially a "referral" business, or as one of my book contributors likes to call it, "passionate recommendations." Basically, you can get paid a referral commission just for sending people to sites (or vendors) that are set up to pay affiliate fees once a sale is made. The vendor does all the selling, fulfills the purchase and handles any customer service issues--and you just collect your check..not bad!

Some people choose affiliates based on who or what is paying the highest commissions, and that certainly is a viable option. Most people opt to choose products or goods they are passionate about so that the process is much more fun and engaging.

Insurance and credit card companies pay high commissions for referrals that convert to customers ($40 to $150 and up), but the competition is fierce. It may pay well, but is this something you'll enjoy doing for the long haul?

Alternatively, you could take a look at your hobbies and other things you enjoy and see which affiliate programs are a good match. As always, do your research to verify the viability of your market. A good place to look for ideas (and downloadable products just waiting for an affiliate) is ClickBank.com.

4. Blogging: This business is best suited for folks who enjoy communicating about a particular subject. Think of blogs as journals of sorts. Although you can have a personal blog, writing about a particular topic will have a higher chance for financial success.

The range of topics is virtually endless--photography, sports cars, parenting, dieting, star gazing, the latest gadgets, Hollywood gossip--you name it, as there are blogs on just about everything you can imagine. Don't worry about competition. Folks who read one blog are apt to read others on a topic they're passionate about, as long as you have something interesting to say.

Once your blog starts getting traffic, you can make money passively with things like AdSense (Google's ad revenue sharing plan) or actively by doing a little bit of affiliate marketing. You can see both types of moneymaking strategies at SparkleCat.com, which is a blog about a person's cat. What makes it interesting is that it's written from the cat's perspective and often refers to her "human." At the top of the page are Google AdSense ads, and sprinkled throughout are suggestions for things like cat furniture and premium cat food, which are tied to an affiliate program. Pretty cool, no?

5. Yahoo! Store: This business is very similar to eBay in the sense that it's a monster-sized marketplace but more similar to a store in the true sense of the word. Think having your own retail outlet but without the hassles of rent, employees, utilities and all the other expenses of a traditional brick-and-mortar store.

The neat thing is that it can be as hands-on or as hands-off as you want it to be because of companies called drop-shippers, which can do most of the work for you. In fact, you don't even pay for the inventory until you make a sale. How cool is that?

Most people think the hard part of this business is creating your virtual store, but nothing could be further from the truth. Yahoo! has made the templates and wizards so easy that, dare I say, even a caveman can do it!

The best way to ensure your success is to do your homework and research what products people most want to buy. You need to find a niche. Once again, start with things you enjoy. Let's say you love fishing. What products do fishing folks want to buy most? (Or get even more specific, like, what are bass fishermen looking to buy?)

Then the task is to find the right source of those products so you can carry them in your Yahoo! Store. In most cases, you'll be able to pull pictures and product descriptions directly from your sources and plug them right into your store.

As you can see, this business requires a little bit more upfront work, but once it's done it can be maintained with very little regular input on your part.

What Is Business Technology?

Business technology encompasses a wide range of hardware, software and services that keep companies running and enhance operations. Technology plays into every aspect of a business, from accounting to customer communications to product design and development. The rapid forward movement in technology development over the last couple of decades has provided more powerful and less expensive options for companies. Business technology can help small business look bigger than they are and keep them ahead in a competitive marketplace.

Hardware

The most visible sector of small business technology is the hardware--the desktop computers, laptops, printers, monitors, cell phones, projectors, servers, digital cameras, keyboards and "mice" that keep a business going on a daily basis. Laptops, an increasingly popular computer hardware option for business users, are more mobile than ever. Budget-conscious small businesses often purchase consumer hardware rather than enterprise hardware, but many manufacturers offer products designed specifically for small business users.

Software

Software covers everything from the operating system that a computer runs on to image editing programs, accounting software and word processing applications. Most businesses run on either a Windows or Macintosh platform. Macs are particularly popular with entrepreneurs who deal with multimedia and video creation. Most businesses use an office productivity software suite such as Microsoft Office or openoffice.org that includes word processing, presentation and database programs that handle a wide array of common business tasks. Business software also includes more specialized programs such as CAD design tools for architects and recording software for audio engineers.

Related Reading: How to Run a Business Office Using Technology

Internet

The growth of the Internet has marked a sea change in small business technology. Businesses use websites to advertise, provide information, sell products and reach new customers. Software as a Service (SAAS) is software that is delivered in an ongoing fashion over the web rather than through CDs or downloads. Often it is paid for in a monthly or yearly service plan. This can be a more affordable and flexible option for small businesses compared to traditional methods of purchasing and using software.

Specialized Technology

Business technology isn't limited to uses surrounding desktop and laptop computers. Technology also makes a mark with high-tech manufacturing robots, advanced microscopes and other specialized hardware and software. Many tasks that used to be done by hand are now automated and handled by specialized technology tools. For example, an independent machine shop may use computer-aided manufacturing equipment that combines specialized software with machines to create parts to specifications. Innovative small businesses are also working in high-tech industries like nanotechnology and biotechnology and are on the cutting edge of creating new technologies.

Benefits

The smart use of business technology helps small companies stay ahead of the competition by improving communications, making employees more efficient and tapping into effective marketing channels. Small business owners are often pressed for time and wearing many different hats. The use of business tools like accounting software, email, customer relationship management applications and "smart phones" can take some of the burden off entrepreneurs and help them make the most effective use of their time. Up-and-coming generations of workers are accustomed to a world full of technology. Small businesses need to adapt and keep up with new advancements.

NHAI to launch a mobile app soon to catch traffic violators

To check traffic violations, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will soon launch a mobile application on which public can make complaints against those doing rash driving, breaching speed limit or involved in any other similar acts.

"The app will be introduced to promote road safety and proper highway management. It will be integrated with transport registration network," NHAI Chairman Raghav Chandra said today.

"It will be available for citizens by December. With this app, the citizens can even take a photograph of the vehicle which is speeding or violating any traffic rules. At the press of a button a complaint can be registered against that vehicle," he said. 

He was speaking during the inauguration of a conference on 'Road-tech: Role of new technologies' by Assocham.

He further said that all the complaints will get registered in the ledger pertaining to the particular vehicle whereupon the police or transport department can take further action about it.

Highlighting that human interface pertaining to roads requires collection of data and policing, Chandra also said that thehighways body will soon introduce such reforms for better highway network management.

"In the days to come, I hope to be able to introduce reforms to bring about better management, control, policing of our highways network. I feel with more physical intermediation we should be able to bring about something like patrolling to improve the physical management on roads and I think that we will have a significant improvement on road safety," he said.

He said that the NHAI was working towards building up a complete information of data bank of all the highways, known as the Road Asset Management System (RAMS). He added that this system has already been commissioned for 3,000 kilometres (kms) of roads.

"Within the next one year we should have information regarding the entire 1,00,000 kms of highway network on every aspect including the encroachment on both sides, quality of the road, width of the road, width of the right of way, issues concerning with junctions and so on," he added.

The information collected would help to perk up condition of roads, deal with citizens' problems, give alerts, guidance and route traffic and do the entire technological management of all the highways, he further noted.

He also said that the NHAI would strengthen its various institutions that are connected with road safety like the Institute of Highway Engineers, Indian Roads Congress which does the essential standardisation and planning of roads.

"Overall, with these initiatives I think in next one-two years you will be able to see a substantial and significant institutional difference in the management of roads and for bringing in an era of greater safety and citizen comfort on our roads," he stressed.

Partnership 

Definition: A legal form of business operation between two or more individuals who share management and profits. The federal government recognizes several types of partnerships. The two most common are general and limited partnerships. .

If your business will be owned and operated by several individuals, you'll want to take a look at structuring your business as a partnership. Partnerships come in two varieties: general partnerships and limited partnerships. In a general partnership, the partners manage the company and assume responsibility for the partnership's debts and other obligations. A limited partnership has both general and limited partners. The general partners own and operate the business and assume liability for the partnership, while the limited partners serve as investors only; they have no control over the company and are not subject to the same liabilities as the general partners.

Unless you expect to have many passive investors, limited partnerships are generally not the best choice for a new business because of all the required filings and administrative complexities. If you have two or more partners who want to be actively involved, a general partnership would be much easier to form.

One of the major advantages of a partnership is the tax treatment it enjoys. A partnership doesn't pay tax on its income but "passes through" any profits or losses to the individual partners. At tax time, the partnership must file a tax return (Form 1065) that reports its income and loss to the IRS. In addition, each partner reports his or her share of income and loss on Schedule K-1 of Form 1065.

Personal liability is a major concern if you use a general partnership to structure your business. Like sole proprietors, general partners are personally liable for the partnership's obligations and debts. Each general partner can act on behalf of the partnership, take out loans and make decisions that will affect and be binding on all the partners (if the partnership agreement permits). Keep in mind that partnerships are also more expensive to establish than sole proprietorships because they require more legal and accounting services.

If you decide to organize your business as a partnership, be sure you draft a partnership agreement that details how business decisions are made, how disputes are resolved and how to handle a buyout. You'll be glad you have this agreement if for some reason you run into difficulties with one of the partners or if someone wants out of the arrangement.

The agreement should address the purpose of the business and the authority and responsibility of each partner. It's a good idea to consult an attorney experienced with small businesses for help in drafting the agreement. Here are some other issues you'll want the agreement to address:

• How will the ownership interest be shared? It's not necessary, for example, for two owners to equally share ownership and authority. However, if you decide to do it, make sure the proportion is stated clearly in the agreement.
• How will decisions be made? It's a good idea to establish voting rights in case a major disagreement arises. When just two partners own the business 50-50, there's the possibility of a deadlock. To avoid this, some businesses provide in advance for a third partner, a trusted associate who may own only 1 percent of the business but whose vote can break a tie.
• When one partner withdraws, how will the purchase price be determined? One possibility is to agree on a neutral third party, such as your banker or accountant, to find an appraiser to determine the price of the partnership interest.
• If a partner withdraws from the partnership, when will the money be paid? Depending on the partnership agreement, you can agree that the money be paid over three, five or 10 years, with interest. You don't want to be hit with a cash-flow crisis if the entire price has to be paid on the spot on one lump sum.