Concept: Management Education for Business Owners

Committed entrepreneurs are the pillars of our economy and society. Thanks to their courage and foresight, they generate prosperity for everyone. They are responsible for the sustainable success of the company and thus for satisfied customers and committed, motivated employees. At the same time as their management function, however, they are also owners: a large part of their assets are invested in the company. This means that they also bear responsibility for long-term value growth, profit distributions and family wealth.

This management program for entrepreneurs and business owners focuses on the successful management of a company from the owner's perspective. A quote from Günther Pipp, founder of the St. Gallen Group of Business Schools and President of the Board of Directors of St. Gallen Business School:

"Small, customer-oriented and lean companies are the really big ones: Well-managed SMEs and mid-sized companies have the potential to be far superior to corporations and large companies in many respects. However, being small and flexible is not enough to achieve sustainable success. Small companies can make mistakes that can quickly lead to them leaving the market. What's more, there are businesses that are ideal for SMEs and mid-sized companies. But there are also businesses for which you have to be big and keep getting bigger."

Structure of the St. Gallen Entrepreneur Seminar

Part 1:
Strategic management. With the right strategy into the future. 4 days.

Part 2:
The high-performance organization. More dynamism, more performance, more implementation power. 4 days.

Part 3:
Excellence in the leadership of an SME and mid-sized company. 4 days.

Part 4:
Best possible financial results thanks to financial leadership and financial management. 4 days.

Topics

Part 1: Strategic Management

The strategy points the way to the future: "What should the company be in a few years' time and beyond?" It must therefore be clarified,

• which of the conceivable strategic options is the best and right one for the company and owner.
• How to manage and decide from the perspective of strategic management so that this desired future can actually be achieved.

The search for the best possible strategy depends heavily on the dynamics of change to which the company is exposed. When new technologies, digitalization, disruption, new business models, new supply chains and processes, new communication and sales channels force a successful business to adapt, action must be taken.

However, a successful business operating in stable, sustainably growing and profitable markets does not have to embark on innovation adventures with an uncertain outcome.

Part 1 of the program shows how active strategic management can be used to steer the company towards a successful future.

Part 2: Managing the company successfully

Managers receive high bonuses and benefits when the company is doing well. If things go badly or something goes wrong, many leave the company. They often say that they take responsibility, but this is usually just lip service. The real damage for mismanagement and poor management is borne by the owners, shareholders and partners and, unfortunately, often also by the employees.

Entrepreneurs are in a completely different position. They are closely associated with their company; they feel responsible for their employees; they are liable with a large part of their assets. They cannot simply jump ship if the company gets into difficulties. They are on the front line in good times and bad, fully committed to the good of the company.

It goes without saying that this completely different starting position must also lead to different management. Part 2 of the program shows which principles are important for the sustainably successful management of the company by the owners or shareholders: How do you design a high-performance organization?

Part 3: Leadership and management in SMEs and mid-sized companies

The framework conditions for leadership and management in SMEs are different:

• Unlike managers, entrepreneurs are safe in their position (at least as long as they do not become dependent on banks and financiers).
• They usually exercise their function for many years, even over 1 or 2 generations. Unlike salaried CEOs, whose lifespan in companies is usually limited to a few years.
• Entrepreneurs do not need extremely high salaries or bonuses, as they benefit from the company's performance and also from dividends. This allows them to show modesty and act as a role model.
• There is no need for short-term profit orientation; there is no stock market logic that demands this with vehemence. This reduces an exaggerated, finance-driven hectic pace, saves unnecessary controlling and monitoring mechanisms and helps to make investments that do not pay off immediately with a strategic perspective.
• However, this could also result in disadvantages: Too few ambitious goals; too little pressure on excellence and market leadership. Too much comfort zone.
• Are companies with 50 to 500 employees easier to manage than those with 10,000 to 100,000 employees? Mostly yes. The contact between managers and executives is much more intensive; it is possible to communicate vision, mission and values, but also the joy of achieving results together; errors in the processes are discovered more quickly, flexibility, speed and transparency are much easier to achieve.
• However, there are also serious disadvantages in the area of leadership: important functions are only occupied by one person; no deputization; direct leadership bypassing the lines through the entrepreneurs and much more.

In Part 3, we show how leadership and management work in SMEs and mid-sized companies and what you as an entrepreneur need to pay particular attention to in order to exploit the natural advantages of relative smallness, especially in the area of leadership, and to achieve high performance with high job satisfaction.

Part 4: Excellent financial results

Only those with above-average returns can also invest above average in the future. Well-managed small and medium-sized companies have the potential to achieve well above-average profit margins: But they have to want it, plan for it and realize it. Last but not least, SMEs also need a value orientation: the value of the company should be sustainably increased.

Good financial management requires an understanding of key figures; the ability to interpret a balance sheet correctly; a feel for dangers and financial pitfalls that need to be avoided: For example, illiquidity, which often goes hand in hand with rapid growth; a lack of cost flexibility because too many fixed costs are built up; major financial risks that lead to a loss of independence or the ability to survive.

Good financial management makes both possible: to develop the company into a pearl of profitability and value and at the same time to keep it financially afloat even in difficult times.

Part 4 shows how good financial management and good financial leadership are practiced by SMEs and mid-sized companies.

1. Entrepreneurs from companies with 50 to approx. 500 employees.
2. Partners or shareholders who exert an influence on the management of the company.
3. Owners who direct and control from above.
4. Highly ranked senior managers from SMEs and mid-sized companies.