How to Invest in a Company

How to invest in a company is one of the most basic investment skills to master for those with funds under their management. Perhaps the easiest way for publically traded companies is to purchase their stock via the stock market where they are listed. For this, you will need to open up and fund a stock brokerage account with a broker that handles transactions onthe public exchange where the stock is listed.Furthermore, if the company you wish to invest in is based in a foreign country, you might also need to perform a foreign exchange transaction to sell your domestic currency and purchase the foreign currency in order to invest in that company. An easier alternative for U.S.based stock investors can be to purchase American Depository Receipts or ADRs for the large foreign companies that list their stock in the United States.Of course, how to invest in a company that is not publically traded is quite another matter. If the company is soon going to make an initial public offering or IPO, then it may be possible for sizeable investors to be included on a subscription list for the offering managed by the investment bank involved. Since IPO stock can often rise substantially shortly after becoming publically traded, this investment strategy might turn out to be quite lucrative for those who can participate.Some companies are so small or tightly held by the founders that, while they have taken the time to incorporate, they do not yet wish tohave their stock become publically traded or listed on a major stock exchange for some reason.To obtain funding, such companies might offer interested investors theopportunity to make private loans or participate in some other form of private investment opportunity that involves profit sharing. Such companies can be approached to see if they might accept new privateinvestors, and they could also be open to accepting financing from venture capital firms.

How to Invest in People

In an investment context, one of the primary skills of successful venture capital investors involves the ability to discern how to invest in people to produce future profits. What investing in people means to such venture capitalists is identifying a talented and motivated individual or team that has the strong potential to take their company to new heights of success. Such people are generally inwardly driven to pursue excellence, and that special quality gives them a higher chance of having a positive impact on their firm's bottom line.If this anticipated increase in profitsmaterializes, it will in turn spur growth in the value of an initial investment in their venture, thereby making the venture capitalist a handsome return on their invested funds.Of course, the challenge here involves correctly identifying such individuals at a sufficiently early stage to make the investment worthwhile.A considerably more personalmethod of how to invest inpeople involves investing your funds directly in a specific individual's future, rather than in a company they are working for. Such an investment is typically a private arrangement that might often take the form of a loan made to the individual by the investor over a given term with interest and principal payments expected.Furthermore, in recent years, someenterprising individuals have reportedly been soliciting substantial upfront payments from investors in exchange for a modest percentage of their future income.Such an investment proposal wouldoffer an investor a return more likea stock on their investment in that particular person.Alternatively, from a business or personnel manager's perspective, how to invest in people probably refers to the choices that the leadership of their company makeswhen it comes to furthering the abilities and improving the job satisfaction of its valued staff. Taken in this context, investing in people usually involves such things as employee recruitment and training, compensation, lifestyle accommodation, workplace enhancement and offering attractive perks.

Tips for Maximizing Employee Potential

As a manager, maximizing employee potential should be one of your top priorities. Disgruntled, idle workers who do the bare minimum are dead weight for your company. Each employee you hire should be considered an investment in the company. Being able to push your employees to themaximum potential (without breaking them, of course) will enhance your entire company's productivity and efficiency. Here are some ideas to help your workers be the best that they can be - and not hate you in the process.Hire the Right PeopleFirst and foremost, recruit the right people! This seems simple and silly,but more often than not employerschoose the safe choice - the middle of the pack applicant that won't stir up trouble.Applicants who are too opinionatedor have "too much personality" are often nixed from the list of potential hires due to their unpredictability. This would be a huge mistake - often these individuals possess leadership characteristics which would enhance your workforce.Identify Existing Skills and Areas for PotentialFrom your workforce, you should assess individual potential. Maybe your data entry grunt actually has skills in other areas, such as product design or technical writing. Get to know your employees, their past experiences and their interests. Often times, an unhappy employee is simply a bored one, stuck in an unchallenging and unfulfilling post.Maybe a certain employee doesn't have outside skills, but has such a mastery of their job that they can be given the responsibility of training new hires. Or maybe they have outside skills that can be pursued in their free time - for example, search giant Google used to require that its programmers setaside 20% of their time on personalpet projects, in an effort to foster creativity. You can even rotate employees between positions to insure that everyone understands the different jobs at your company, so they can substitute each others' jobs, if need be.Understand if your employees are natural leaders, followers or innovators. If there are a few cogs that are getting stuck, such as irreparably disgruntled employees, these toxic employees will have to be removed from the equation to insure smooth operations.Nurture and develop talent in house.If you followed the steps above youshould have a good idea of who your future leaders will be. Train them continuously, and have them train others. These prospective leaders should also be aware of your intentions to promote them. Let them know that you have your eye on them, to keep them competitive and vying for your attention. Reward these employees generously in the form of awards, bonuses of more flexible work hours. Give them recognition and make them feel like an integral, irreplaceable part of the company. These are the employees you want to pass along professional information and contacts to, in hopes that they will one day rise to a management position. Allow these employees to organize and lead company events in your place.Consistent Performance Reviews & FeedbackStay up to date with appraisals and feedback. Employees need to be thoroughly and continuously evaluated - not only when they are up for a raise.Set up a fair rating system - efficiency, punctuality, teamwork, attitude - and discuss the results with them after each appraisal. At each appraisal, have the employee set his or her goals for the next appraisal, which will be subsequently gauged. This keeps employees aware of their own goals, and if they stayed their original course or strayed from it. Ifthey stay with it, reward them - if they strayed off the path, remind them of their preset goals.In addition, require employees to take risks. You don't want employees who will always play it safe, or act as yes men. Reward employees who take risks and attempt to think outside the box, even if they fail, since this is a hallmark of a true leader.Now, if you have non-performing employees, even after encouragement, it may be time to part ways. Clearly warn and let go of these employees for non-performance. There's no point in subtlety here if you want to maximize your employees' overall performance. Make it clear to otheremployees that the employee was let go because they failed to improve or contribute to the workplace.These ideas should get you better in tune with maximizing employee potential, and as a result, make youa better manager!

Keeping an Eye on Your Competitors

It is said that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", but in the world of business, imitation is inevitable, and hardly flattering. Forexample, Apple's iPhone and iPad products have been imitated by a number of competitors, such as HTC and Samsung, which have incurred the legal wrath of Steve Jobs and company. Meanwhile, in the video game industry, cookie cutter genres are the norm, with each studio imitating a popular franchise - such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft or Grand Theft Auto - in an attempt to cash in on current popular trends, rather thanshoulder the inherent risks of innovation.Competitors in China have taken imitation to extreme levels, with fake iPods, iPhones and iPads freely available at any major street market. In this world which relies on low-risk and high-rewards, imitation clearly trumps innovation.However, truly learning from competitors doesn't mean flat out imitating them. While there is no fault in following the successful trend of a market leader, such as Apple, there is a flaw in slavish imitation. In Apple's case, its cheaper Android imitators have given Apple the unintended gift of free advertising. People buy Android phones because they resemble iPhones at a cheaper price, but it ultimately fails to satisfy their desire for the real iPhone, which leads to a high turnover rate which benefits Apple.You don't want to create a product that so closely resembles a competitor's higher priced model that it causes your customers to view yours as an inferior, cheaper model. However, that's only a rule of product design.First of all, be aware of your competitors. Companies often get blindsided by a company which wasn't perceived as a real competitor until it is too late. An obvious example is cell phone maker Nokia's fall at the hands of Apple, which had long been perceived as a personal computer company with no interest in mobilehandsets. Google also blindsided invincible software giant Microsoft by rapidly transforming from a search engine into a cloud-based software company. In turn, social networking site Facebook hit Google in a blind spot by outgrowing its status as a social siteand branching out into all the nooks and crannies of the web, a final frontier which Google had laid claims to.The lesson gathered here is that your competitors aren't always whoyou think they are. Besides your normal industry peers, be aware of which hidden companies are threatening to cross over industry lines to threaten your business.Find several major competitors to follow. Commit your workforce to follow their every move, and try to gauge their business strategies based on their current products, supply chain, pricing and financial condition, if the company trades publicly. For example, Google has been struggling to follow in Facebook's footsteps with its social network, Google+. You can bet that both companies are thoroughly evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the other. Facebook has "Like", therefore Google has"+1". Google is changing groups into a more user-friendly "Circles" format, so Facebook strikes back byrevamping its Groups pages into a new, simpler format.iPhone and Google Apps? Check. Instant photo sharing from smart phones? Check. This kind of rapid fire tit-for-tat is what your companyneeds to stay competitive and ahead of your competitors. Make sure your products have everythingyour competitor promises and more - hopefully at a lower price.Lastly, follow public opinion regarding your competitors. Read its product reviews, and comments posted by real users. Take note of the good reviews as well as the bad,and see how you can use this free advice to modify your own products. Keeping your finger on the pulse of the everyday consumer, who cares enough to post his or her opinions online, can help avoid disastrous product design mistakes. Setting up social networking pages - on Twitter and Facebook - and inviting public discussion regarding your products can keep you well informed about your strengths and flaws comparedto the competition.

The Advantages of an Organizational Structure

An organizational structure is the framework that helps employees achieve their goals and do their jobs, according to Lamar University. An efficient company structure can benefit the organization in several ways, including making it easier to delegate responsibility and effect change throughout the organization. To benefit from a strong framework, it is important to understand the advantages of organizational structure.Unified Marketing Message A company can present a unified front to customers, vendors and investors when a common marketing message is used throughout the organization. A unified marketing message can help theentire company better understand its marketing goals, and then work together to achieve them. When multiple departments are involved in a single endeavor, a unified marketing message can be essential to project success. Succession A strong organizational structure is better able to prepare qualified employees for management. When the company operates under a strong structure, a comprehensive management training plan is easier to create and execute to help maintain a strong managerial core. Departments can work together on a developmental plan to help encourage the training of managerial candidates within any department. Focus on Strategy Using a strong organizational structure allows a company to better focus on a single set of goals instead of each groupworking towards its own agenda, according to Family Business Experts. This is the result of the flow of communication an organizational structure offers, as well as the establishment of responsibility and respect for the company hierarchy that comes from strong structure. It helps the company to use resources wisely in the pursuit of company goals as opposed to doubling efforts or experimenting with options perhaps not in the company's best interests.Training A good organizational structure makes employee training easier to administer, and it also allows it to remain flexible based on the changes within the organization. When organizational structure regulates the flow of information, then changes within that information are easier to monitor and better adaptable for a company-wide training program.Decision MakingAn organizational structure can make decision making a more efficient process, according to Lamar University.When a defined hierarchy is in place, the company is better equipped to make important decisions and adjust practices to meet the demands of competition.