Small Business Hawaii | Volume 24 Number 10 | October 1999
Marketing Your Business | Government Planning
By Lynn Murakami-Akatsuka, State Department Of Health The University of Hawaii at Manoa , School of Public Health's Ergonomics Initiative Project in collaboration with Small Business Hawaii (SBH) invites you to meet us at the next Share N' Tell session to continue evaluating the usefulness of the ergonomic practices in the State. We would like to pilot test our ergonomic resource training materials. The materials were developed as part of a collaborative effort. The participants included the University of Hawaii at Manoa, School of Public Health; the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR), Occupational Safety and Health Division; the Hawaii Department of Health, Health Promotion & Education Branch; and Small Business Hawaii. As part of a Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) grant the project met with groups of small businesses in 1997-98 to assess their understanding of ergonomics and its related injuries within their work settings. DLIR Workers' Compensation Data Book from 1995-97 identified 25% of all reported injuries and illnesses were linked to ergonomics. One of the goals of the project was "to create ergonomics materials that were appropriate to the uniqueness of Hawaii's small business needs." As an outcome of the project, materials were designed and tested to assist small businesses to educate their employees in the 12 principles of ergonomics. The purpose of this Handbook is to present a sampling of this new knowledge and some of the ideas behind it for those who are concerned with preventable injury and related difficulties in the workplace. Our particular focus is to provide resources for those who can facilitate the learning and change process and provide the kind of help to those who will benefit most by planned change in work environments. The Ergonomics Resource Training Handbook (ETRH) provides 5 Training Supplement Modules. These materials illustrate modifications of job tasks that would reduce cumulative trauma disorders (CTD) through a variety of methods, e.g. drama, song, self education poster board, the "Fishbone" diagnostic process, and an educational seminar. To further our understanding of the injuries and illnesses experienced in small businesses, the UH/SPH Ergonomic's Initiative Project would like to meet you at the October 20 "Share N' Tell" meeting. Please sign up for the table on " Increasing Business Productivity and Cutting Costs Utilizing Ergonomics Techniques." Our goal is to help you cut your costs and save money. If you have been experiencing increased workmen's comp claims in the last year, this session is for you!
Employee Handbook - By Helene Robin, HR2 Consulting The purpose of the Employee Handbook is to clearly communicate information that is relevant and important to employees. In addition, it should provide guidelines on how employees and management can work together. Disputes between employees and employers are more common due to employers choosing to rely on unwritten employment policies and trying to avoid having written handbooks. Charges of favoritism often leading to unlawful discrimination are more difficult to disprove without written policies to use as evidence. Some employers have even lost their right to hire and fire "at-will". Courts have increasingly come to recognize that properly drafted employee handbooks containing appropriate disclaimers or clarifications of the employers' intent, can actually help to preserve management's discretion in discipline and discharge cases. Employee handbooks more than 5 years old fail to address literally hundreds of state and federal court cases dealing with handbook related issues, and developments made in federal laws such as the American with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Act, and the Civil Rights Act Amendments of 1991. Another area where handbooks should be reviewed and updated involves the Fair Labor Standard Act. A series of recent court decisions, including a U. S. Supreme Court case have imposed liability on employers for having policies which permit improperly deducting wages from exempt employees. Handbooks serve many valuable purposes and carry certain risk and obligations. Although some employers have employee handbooks, they are not necessarily right for every employer. No employer should undertake to put a handbook in place without being prepared to make a substantial time and monetary commitment to the drafting and updating process. It should be clearly written and organized so that employees can understand them. Avoid making any commitments to which employers would not wish to be bound later. A certain amount of legal language is indispensable in the present litigious environment. Disclaimers and reservations of management rights should not be watered down or hidden to such an extent that they lose their effectiveness. Employee handbooks can have explosive effects in the workplace. If handled with the proper care, it should be a valuable employee communication tool, which can help to avoid or reduce litigation costs. If mishandled, handbooks can backfire on employers. Regular monitoring and updates are strongly recommended with a detailed legal review. Fore more information call HR2 Consulting at 526-0000.
By Bob Sigall, Creative-1 Question: I'm really good at my profession but I don't know anything about marketing and my business suffers because of it. It all seems so complicated. Can you simplify it for me? Answer: Marketing overwhelms most people with its sheer complexity. There are so many pieces: Advertising, PR, market research, sales, merchandising, signage, promotional materials, distribution, packaging - you get the picture. But in simple terms, marketing has only three basic components: 1. Crafting a clear, appealing message about your business or its products and services. 2. Targeting groups to deliver that message to. 3. Designing ways to get that message to them. Some common messages include: high quality, convenience, low prices, value, service, selection, durability, friendliness, speed, healthy, professionalism or expertise. You can't be all things to all people. FedEx, for instance, is the "overnight" delivery company. DHL owns the "worldwide" position. Which of these would appeal most to your potential customers? The simplest way to find out is to ask your current customers. Potential customers often want the same thing current customers want. They just don't know about you, yet. Current customers chose you. Something about your business appealed to them. Ask them what it was. It will appeal to future customers as well. An inexpensive way to do this is to survey 100 of your customers. A one-page form with three questions and 4-5 lines underneath to write on is quick to fill out. What should you ask? Here are several questions to choose from: * Why did you choose us? * What do we do best? * What would you tell another about us? * What do you find most appealing about our business? * What's unique about our business (or product or service)? * What do our competitors do better than us? (their position) * What is the single most-important benefit our company provides? * What did you hear about us that motivated you to call (or visit)? You can also list qualities of your business (such as were mentioned above) and ask those surveyed to rank the three most important. The top one or two responses are your most appealing qualities. This is your position. Your niche. Your claim to fame. The most difficult part of the task is to figure out how to word this message. Start by reviewing the surveys. Maybe someone said it perfectly. If not, brainstorm 25 different ways of saying it. Show the best 3-5 to employees or customers for their input, and pick the favorite. This message will put some zing in all your marketing activities. Use it in the headlines for your ads and promotional materials. Craft it into a slogan. Train your sales staff to use it in presentations. Add it to your signage. Or design a PR strategy around it.
Bob Sigall is a director of SBH, teaches marketing at HPU, and through Creative-1, offers management and marketing ideas to Hawaii's small businesses. Send your marketing questions to him by email to: sigall@yahoo.com, or write c/o SBH, 6600 Kalanianaole Hwy, Suite 212, Honolulu, HI 96825.
By Tracy Ryan, Libertarian Party of Hawaii Perhaps you've heard how difficult it is for the best financial gurus to out perform the stock market average as represented by index funds. Market performances are net effects caused by thousands even millions of people following their own needs, desires, and interests. The task of out performing the stock market with its multitudinous investors is daunting. Yet there still are many areas of our market economy where government officials seem convinced they can do a better job of picking winners and losers than the market left to itself. In Hawaii the role of the government planner is well entrenched. Recently the State Administration announced the appointment of a new technology "Czar" to help promote the growth of high tech companies in Hawaii. If in fact Hawaii is a good location for high tech companies they will flourish here on their own. Any sort of special treatment or subsidy given to them by government must come at the expense of others, since government creates no wealth of its own. Some may argue that giving tax breaks to new industries to encourage them to locate here really costs us nothing since they were not paying any taxes to begin with. This is false. The tax breaks give the new company a competitive advantage in acquiring the factors of production in the labor and capital markets. This advantage raises the cost of doing business for other companies. The subsidy is still there albeit hidden. And the effects are still negative as consumers must pay either higher prices or higher taxes to subsidize the favored company. Worse this interference of government into the market replaces the power of consumers over business with the power of government. Business people need not only worry about pleasing their customers, but with securing and nourishing political contacts. Such a system must ultimately corrode the honest intentions of both the business community and the government. Sound familiar? Of course there are some things government can do to improve the economy. They are cut taxes, cut spending, cut regulations and get out of the way.
Marketing Your Business | Government Planning
Top of Page | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 Copyright 1999 Small Business Hawaii. All rights reserved. |