Putting words to the P&L

Matt Gruhn — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:09:30 +0000

Joe Cavarretta has sat through enough budget meetings to know that it can be tough to live up to numbers that were put to paper months prior. In today’s economy, “tough” can be an understatement of magnificent proportions. But Cavarretta has devised a method, along with fellow managers at Riva Motorsports, a seven-brand powersports dealer in Pompano Beach, Fla., that helps him and Riva’s three-location company unearth valuable information that aids the dealership in improving its business. Read more >>

The culture to get you through

Liz Walz — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:17:32 +0000

Ever since I visited powersports dealership West Hills Honda last month, I’ve been thinking about how vital a company’s culture is to its success, especially in today’s economy. In a recent blog on HarvardBusiness.org, Peter Bregman described a company’s culture as “a complex system with a multitude of interrelated processes and mechanisms that keep it humming along.” “Performance reviews and training programs define the firm’s expectations,” he explained. “Financial reward systems reinforce them. Memos and communications highlight what’s important. And senior leadership actions — promotions for people who toe the line and a dead end career for those who don’t — emphasize the firm’s priorities.” At most businesses, the culture develops unconsciously, says Bergman. But at West Hills Honda, those elements were purposely crafted to create a customer focused environment that would set the business apart from its peers. Read more >>

Boating-Industry Insider » Powersports

Putting words to the P&L

The culture to get you through