What is your business model in multifamily? Can you express it in a few short sentences? We all get comfortable with doing things a certain way. Successful businesses have found a niche and excel at providing a product or service that has repeat customers. Yet successful businesses continuously reinvent themselves to compete more effectively in their market niche.
Whether you are in retail, manufacturing or multifamily there are certain principles you apply to operate a successful business. So. Question. What would occur if you blew up your business model? Is there a better way to do what you are doing? Are you keeping pace with best practices? Harvard Business School teaches sound business practices and principles through case studies. See: www.hbs.edu/teaching
Case studies are utilized as a teaching tool to reflect that our actions create varying outcomes. Case studies reflect that in business there is a myriad of things that can occur to divert the time and resources of management placing a once successful company into survival mode. Case studies further reflect that we are often working with incomplete information.
Case studies can show what managers responsible for the business did to change course. Was the selected course of action bring the intended results? Were the outcomes satisfactory or a failure? Did they generate any new knowledge that can be applied to other businesses?
If your business were a case study and a class of Harvard MBA students came into the office to assess your operations with an initial SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) what would they find? Can you define each of these in a single paragraph (say yes)? After doing so, expand the paragraph to no more than a single page for each category. Let it sit for a day. Let it rest. Then come back and review the information.
Does your analysis blow up your current business model or support proceeding as before the analysis? What did you learn? What can be applied to operations to improve outcomes? What action steps can you implement from this exercise? Continuous improvement requires proactive management.
Mr. Wilhoit is the author of two books: How To Read A Rent Roll: A Guide to Understanding Rental Income and Multifamily Insight Vol 1 - How to Acquire Wealth Through Buying the Right Multifamily Assets in the Right Markets.
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Multifamily Insight is dedicated to assisting current and future multifamily property owners, operators and investors in executing specific tasks that allow multifamily assets to operate at their highest level of efficiency. We discuss real world issues in multifamily property management and acquisitions. This blog is intended to be informational only and does not provide legal, financial or accounting advice. Seek professional counsel. www.MultifamilyInsight.com