The 5 best books for medium-sized businesses Small businesses & SMEs: From digitization to sales {reading tip}

Small and medium-sized businesses Companys (SMEs) are often neglected in the literature. They make it big in these books.

The practice-oriented service marketing for SMEs

Digitization brings many advantages, especially for medium-sized companies and SMEs. Unfortunately, tradition-conscious families often misjudge the benefits of digitization. This book offers help with many best practice cases.

The ongoing digitization of our lives is changing all parts of the world Economy. artificial Intelligence and robotics will find their way into more and more areas in the coming years. And it will Working world change and shape significantly.

This applies above all to industry, but will also bring about changes in trade and services. Supermarkets that manage with few employees, are in China and the US only the harbinger of this change.

With optimism in the future

Overall, the prospects for the service sector are Future significantly better than, for example, in industry. But here, too, routine tasks will increasingly be taken over by intelligent technical systems. In this changing environment, service providers must find a niche that will still work in the medium term.

In the beginning there is always the Idea. Veronika Bellone and Thomas Matla provide them en masse at the beginning of their book. Of course, it's not just about copying someone else's business idea. But the short portraits of other service providers show in a fascinating way how many self-employed people and small companies have managed to find their place in the service society.

This is how change works: Disruption is part of it

And the two authors also show the changes that are already emerging today. Because the proportion of "hybrid" models will grow strongly. Customer needs change, but so do they Behavior the consumer. Anyone who buys a car these days is (almost) better informed when they enter the store than they are Seller. Services relating to mobility – manufacturers are increasingly taking matters into their own hands.

Discounts for your success (advertising)!

And not just in the auto industry. Practical examples, ideas, insights, and advice from other service providers run through the rest of the book. Just reading them justifies the purchase. Disruption and insecurity are simply a part of this time. All companies have to adjust to the imponderables in business life. All the better if the authors in the chapter devoted to strategies also deal aggressively with this topic.

Finding the right strategy

Classics are also presented there. So who a Study in business administration reads the section with a little less profit than all other readers who are first concerned with their business idea and their company, but who have to do this without the theoretical background.

But there is no scientific ballast, but the section is limited to the utility and the Implementation of strategies in practice. Everything revolves around here growth, Strategies, market coverage, but also to enter the market.

Implement service marketing

What use is the most beautiful Strategy, if this cannot be implemented? For this purpose, the authors also spread out the toolbox in the third chapter of the book. Set Set measurable, SWOT analysis, more needs-based Marketing-Mix or analysis of the quality of services. The benefits and use of the various instruments are explained in detail and in a way that is easy to understand.

Overall, a practice-oriented guide to service marketing for smaller companies is rarely offered. All the better that Campus-Verlag has now published this extremely useful work. Comprehensive and to the point. "

Digitization in the family business

With digitization and digital Transformation we often think of the large corporations that are well represented in the media when it comes to digitization. But how does it actually look in the SME and especially in family businesses?

This is exactly why this book is so important: The authors Small and medium-sized businesses and family businesses in particular are unfortunately all too often ignored when it comes to the topic of digital change. It is they who Innovation bring it forward often enough. Arnold Weissman and Stephan Wegerer describe the fundamental challenge of their work directly in the foreword. Because whoever is browsing in the bookstore or in the virtual display of the Online-Shops comes across a title with the words "Digital Transformation" may wonder whether another book on this topic is necessary.

The most important developments of the past years

The reader is at ease here: “Another book” on the subject is actually not the title from Campus Verlag. All readers who have already dealt with digitization, transformation or disruptive business models can skip the first chapter.

For there, the most important developments of recent years are briefly described, in order to underline the necessity of action, especially for the middle class.

Kodak, Quelle, Neckermann and Co - forgotten sleepyheads

The not only insiders known examples of the victims of digitization are used. Companies and brands of world renown, who just have not adjusted in time for the change.

But to be fair, one would have to throw in the fact that at this time even Microsoft Significance of the internet underestimated. Something Bill Gates is still happy to admit today.

Understand drivers of change

In the second chapter, the authors present the most important Basics and drivers for digitization. The uninitiated reader will find a nice and concise summary of current trends there.

Noteworthy are these introductory words, not least because of many examples from the (recent) past that tell of missed opportunities.

Digitization affects customers, business models and people

Who knows today that the MP3 format, which made digitization of the music industry possible, is actually a German invention. With the other companies and foreign suppliers turned the big wheel and got rich?

Digital transformation affects the relationship between companies and customers. And that applies not only to the B2C sector, but also to B2B. Classic retail is particularly affected by the changes. Because the Customer of today naturally uses their smartphone for and when shopping.

Challenge Customer Journey

He is well informed and would like to have goods that appeal to him at the same time at home. The so-called Customer Journey is becoming more diverse and significantly more complex. The individualization of supply and the growing dominance of marketplaces are just two more important aspects of change.

Today, start-ups are developing business models around the world that have disruptive potential and can threaten traditional companies. But how does a company find its digital business model?

Brainstorming is necessary

In practice, it is not possible to temporarily shut down business operations, gather for an intensive brainstorming session and with a completely new approach the Company to reopen. Such questions are dealt with in a separate chapter, as is the case throughout the book with many examples.

After that, the authors turn to two aspects that are often neglected in the literature on digital transformation.

Understand efficiency and processes

On the one hand, it's about efficiency and processes: networking of systems, of companies with each other, the quality of the data and information used. Digitization cannot be managed without operational excellence. But that also applies to them People, the Employees Organization. The chapter on this topic can probably best be described as the end of silo thinking.

It is in the nature of things that there can be no simple step-by-step guide for digital change. The subtitle “The Handbook” is a bit misleading here. However, the successful book offers its readers, especially those from medium-sized businesses, a comprehensive and instructive presentation of the transformation processes. And with it a series of impulses for daily action.

Project Management: solve problems in the middle class

Project management is an important topic, especially in the middle class. While many strategies tend to appeal to large corporations, a new book shows how project management can work for SMEs too.

There is a myriad of tools and software products to promote project management professionally. The Problem: Project management strategies are almost exclusively aimed at large companies and corporations. But what if the capacities are not endless and smaller projects should be managed just as well? Patrick Schmid offers the solution for successful and efficient project management in medium-sized companies.

7 tips - solutions directly from the project practice

In his practical guide "Successful Project Management" he identifies the most common problems in project management and gives planners seven Solutions of these typical difficulties. Schmid benefits from more than 25 years of experience as a project manager. In this activity and that Coaching From project managers he has developed a good feeling for what causes projects in small and medium-sized companies to fail. He summarizes his experiences in the practical manual and thus offers clear approaches for immediate implementation.

Schmid offers clear solutions to typical problems in project management, which can be translated into a good Costs-benefit ratio stand. This makes the practical guide an indispensable asset, especially for medium-sized companies. On top of that, there are ten optimization tips for project management and insights into the values ​​and approaches of agile management.”

“There is currently no other topic that is discussed as hotly in companies as digitization. Medium-sized companies are often ridiculed and it is often more about tools than about people. This book shows that there is another way.

Digital change in practice: are small and medium-sized businesses sleeping through change?

The fact that the digital transformation has to do with human beings is only gradually getting into the minds of digital changers, because all too often it's all about tools.

You have to ask yourself: Digital transformation - what exactly does that mean in practice for companies, Executives and your employees, when all over the country you hear the call for technical and digital changes almost like a mantra?

Especially what the German medium-sized companies with at least a lot of world market leaders in their Industry concerns is the Anxiety large. Many believe: SMEs are missing out on digitization and will inevitably fall behind international competitors across all sectors.

Why does transformation fail?

But that does not apply to all medium-sized companies in Germany. This book proves that just as impressively as it reveals to its readers why many transformation processes fail. And it just shows that business along the way successfully will be that put the employee at the center of their actions.

Because the fact is: the transformation inevitably turns companies upside down. For many companies, transformation and digitization are the most far-reaching changes in their company history. Traditional business models, values ​​and structures are being radically questioned. And from the point of view of the employees, that can change fast after a Revolution and feel less like an orderly transition process.

What can executives learn from successful companies?

What can leaders, managers and owners of companies who have already made the change or are already well on the way to learning?

This is what the authors Henrik Kehren and Sebastian Purps-Pardigol want to know. Both experienced entrepreneurs and experts in digitization. And how can this be other than through discussions?

30 companies, 150 interviews, 12 samples

30 companies analyzed the authors for their book and conducted more than 150 interviews until they had their 12 prime examples together. That is digitization and pure change across all industries. And these examples form a fascinating cross-section through the economy.

The spectrum ranges from manufacturer Viessmann, known for its heating technology, to BSH, whose appliances are available in many households, to examples from the publishing industry or the success story of Tolino, which successfully asserts itself against Amazon's Kindle.

It can not be done without people

However, the authors are not simply interested in retelling an exciting chapter of current economic history. Above all, they work out an aspect in their text and the background discussions.

It doesn't work without the people. And the notorious “we have to take the employees with us along the way” becomes tangible and understandable. Because people need a why and wherefore to make their Energy involved in change, but also want to be recognized for their work.

Focus on change

However, the digital transformation also does not work without a clear focus on the change and the (new) opportunities that arise. This applies to the company as a whole, but also to each individual employee.

And that tells you how to achieve it optimistic right book. For the reader in a hurry, the authors have always put together a brief essence of each chapter. It would be a pity to only read these summaries.

Impulses for reflection

Because this would escape the reader a quick written and understandable book that offers many impulses and thought provoking.

Digitizing with a brain ”is not only a fascinating kaleidoscope of a transforming economy, but also a source of inspiration and stimulus for everyone who wants to deal with the transformation professionally.

Emotional aspects in medium-sized businesses

135000 companies - mainly SMEs - are looking for a successor in the next few years. But for the owners, the handover is anything but light. The technical and legal is missing Background for such a transfer. Lawyer Hartmut Schneider explains what needs to be done in his book.

Especially for medium-sized companies, the emotional aspect is especially important when transferring a company. Delivery is difficult and many people are much too late to deal with the upcoming transfer.

Hartmut Schneider, who holds a doctorate in law, has been involved in company transfers for years and knows the problems. With his book “Successors wanted” he has written a helpful guide for the upcoming process.

Typical errors and how to avoid them

Since 15, Schneider has been managing corporate successions in small and medium-sized companies and has repeatedly found that corporate salespeople and buyers make the same mistakes or approach them completely unprepared and sometimes even with naive eyes.

This can be, for example, a completely exaggerated idea of ​​the seller with regard to the sales proceeds to be achieved. Or the entrepreneur, in his case, believes in eternal life and pushes the subject of succession planning further and further back and thus misses the optimal window of time when the company would still have been good merchandise permit. Often times, the decline of the company and personal tragedy are the consequences.

Many examples from the corporate reality

With his highly recommended book “Successor wanted. How do you actively shape your company succession? ” On 265 pages, Schneider first gives a general insight into company succession in medium-sized companies and describes the professional process of a company sale.

For this purpose, he provides a “toolbox” with implementable dos and don'ts, checklists and a practical example for a family-internal succession. The book ends with an excursus about the foundation as a successor solution. In particular, the numerous examples from corporate reality show how hard it is when family entrepreneurs in particular have to give their “baby” or their life's work into other hands.

Every entrepreneur (and of course every entrepreneur as well) who is faced with the challenge of finding a successor for his company should get hold of and read Hartmut Schneider's book "Nachfolger sucht" (Successor Wanted). well-founded and competently in the matter, clear and understandable in tone. An excellent book!

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