Tag: strategy

Business Succession Planning

One day you will have to leave your business – whether its because you retire, you pass the business on to your family, you sell it to an interested party, or because of health circumstances.

Whatever those circumstances are, you always should have a plan to deal with what happens when that day comes. A failure to do so will likely result in your business suddenly coming to an end if something happens to you.

A succession, or exit, plan outlines who will take over your business when you leave or if something happens to you.

A good succession plan puts into place a process that will enable a smooth transition from you to your successor, that minimises disruptions to your business resulting from that transition. A good succession plan also gives potential purchasers peace of mind that the business will not fail the moment you leave. Putting a succession plan in place can maximise the value of your business and enable it to meet future needs or deal with unexpected issues.

What an appropriate plan is will depend on the nature of your business as well as the structure of your business. Some of the questions that you will have to ask are:

  • How long do I want to be in business?
  • Do I want to sell the business eventually or do I want to hand it down to my children?
  • What business structure does my business operate in?
  • What are the assets and liabilities in my business? Who owns them?
  • What is the goodwill and intellectual property in my business? Who owns them?
  • How big is my business?
  • Who can run my business if I am not around?
  • Do I have any processes or procedures for my employees to follow, so that if something happens they can act “automatically”?
  • If I were to sell my business, do I have a handover strategy?

If anything, see your business coach, accountant, or lawyer – they can certainly help you out in relation to identifying these issues and assisting you with your business succession plan.

A good succession plan enables a smooth transition with less likelihood of disruption to operations. By planning your exit well in advance you can maximise the value of your business and enable it to meet future needs.

Managing Risk through Online Terms of Use

The Web 2.0 era is characterised by the fundamental shift in how people interact with information. No longer does information flow in one direction – opportunities now exist for the consumer of information services to contribute, provide feed back, criticise, or determine if the content is newsworthy. This high level of interaction is typically considered to be positive.

However, as with anything, when engaging in such activities you should be mindful of the potential risks that come along with it – and this is doubly true for hosts of content or webmasters. In addition to considering if content is potentially defamatory, or libellous, one must also consider issues such as copyright, privacy, and control.

If you are a webmaster or a service provider or some sort, these risks can often be managed by a combination of:

  • having a clear and effective Terms of Use;
  • actively policing your user base for breaches of the terms; and
  • having policies in place on dealing with complaints.

In addition to being able to assist in managing your risks, by having clear and effective Terms of Use, you are able to manage your users more effectively. Note that just having a Terms of Use may not be sufficient to protect you – your risk management strategy should consist of both legal and non-legal measures. In addition to this, a Terms of Use has to be effective towards whatever service you are providing. There is no point in going with a standard Terms of Use if the terms contained within are not particular to the type of service that you provide.

While you can draft a Terms of Use by yourself, it is always advised that you should seek legal advice in doing so. A solicitor can identify issues that you may not have previously considered and can generally add value to the entire process.