Management

Business owners should arm themselves with knowledge about how to minimize legal and financial exposure, then fully exercise their right to limit and manage liability. Before you sign a legal agreement, ask yourself: How can I minimize my financial exposure by the way I execute this agreement? Who is the actual counterparty to this agreement? To what extent do I rely on this counterparty to perform in the future —financially or operationally?

CNN (TWX) rarely covers the introduction of a new Internet router, but it did on Tuesday, March 9. I can’t remember when a radio station in my area covered the launch of a router, but it did, too — on the same day. This wasn’t just any router, but Cisco’s CRS-3 router, capable of handling 322 terabits of data per second. Still not interested? What if I told you the router is fast enough to stream every movie ever made in less than four minutes? Bet I got your attention. Cisco (CSCO) found a hook.

Another group of business buyer-scammers has been convicted. This time it was a father-son team from Farmington Hills, Michigan. In federal court in Philadelphia in November 2009 for “a scheme that allowed them to fraudulently gain control” of businesses and “deplete the assets.”

The subprime mortgage crisis led to the collapse of the United States housing bubble. Falling housing-related assets contributed to a global financial crisis, even as oil and food prices soared. The crisis led to the failure or collapse of many of the United States’ largest financial institutions: Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG, as well as a crisis in the automobile industry. The government responded with an unprecedented $700 billion bank bailout and $787 billion fiscal stimulus package. A growing number of economists believed the recession may have ended in the fall of 2009. Indeed, GDP grew robustly in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2009 but unemployment has not begun to recede.

Worldwide economic output has grown for literally thousands of years. U.S. economic output has grown since before the United States officially became a country. The long-term average annual rate of worldwide growth has been about 2 percent. U.S. average annual growth has been a bit higher, maybe 2.5 percent. The economy does not tend to grow steadily at these rates but ebbs and flows around the trend line.

While the new health care legislation signed into law on March 23 is indeed large, complex and far-reaching, we’re happy to report that the alarmist rhetoric emanating from some corners seems to be largely hyperbole. Even the highly publicized recent “one time charge to earning” announced by some large employers such as AT&T and Caterpillar appears to be extreme and politically motivated.

Owning and running a business is a task. But accurate sales forecasts can make the job a heck of a lot easier. Particularly, they can help with four crucial business management tasks: 1. Earn a profit, 2. Budget cash, 3. Schedule production (or service delivery), 4. Manage inventory.