University of La Verne SBDC Small Biz Blog

Leah Skinner is the Executive Director of the La Verne Chamber of Commerce in La Verne, Ca. Today she is going to explain what the Chamber of Commerce is, what the benefits of the local chamber are, and how to reach your local chamber to get help with your small business.  What is a Chamber of Commerce The chamber provides support and services for a specific community, in La Verne, it is the geographical community. There are chambers based around heritage and nationality, regional chambers, state chambers, and a World Chamber of Commerce.  We are not a government agency. We are not in any way affiliated with the government. We are our own tax-exempt nonprofit organization. We are a membership organization and our members are the businesses They do pay a membership investment every year. Chambers are tax-exempt but are not charitable organizations like a 501(C)3. your member investment does not count as a charitable donation but is a qualifying business expense. What are the be...

Mark Hicks is an adjunct professor of management at the University of La Verne School of Business and Public Management. Professor Hicks also teaches a class as part of practicum where the students form a business, sell a product and donate the profits at the end of the term.  Mark is also a business consultant at the University of La Verne SBDC, where he helps clients looking to start a business with business planning, licensing, permitting, and small business loans. What is Company Culture? Company culture is the environment that is created within a business or organization. Culture affects how you think, what you do, and how you feel at work. When you look at organizations like Apple, you would understand that Apple is a culture of innovation and technology. Along with that culture, the employees enjoy perks and benefits from the company.  Culture is driven by the leadership at the top or the business owner, just as Steve Jobs or Tim Cook drives the Culture at Apple. C...

Operating a business is difficult territory for many business owners in this day and age. My guest today will help you navigate more treacherous territory: business law. My guest today is Robert Barrett, a lawyer and a professor of business law and cyber law for business students in the College of Business and Public Management. He is also a law professor at the University of La Verne College of Law. Professor Barrett will help you understand contracts, working with lawyers, along with all the pitfalls and perils of the modern legal environment of business.  So tell me, what is a contract? Let me start with a new business person who is not sophisticated and from the very basics and go from there. Contracts in law school is a full-year course…and business people don’t need to know what the lawyers know. After a full year of contracts as a law student, you still don’t really know anything. Of course like anything in school you need to get out there in the world and the first c...

Starting a small business with a family is a natural first for entrepreneurs because of the accessibility and trust with relatives. However, family-owned businesses have their own set of challenges that we will explore today. My guest is Dr. Giacomo Laffranchini , an associate professor of management, here at the University of La Verne College of Business and Public Management. Dr. Laffranchini’s expertise is in the strategy and management of family-owned businesses here in the U.S. and abroad.    The challenges of managing a family-owned small business with relatives The main challenge of a family business whether it be a small business or a professional organization is the coexistence of 3 subsystems: the family, the shareholder, and the management. Those systems overlap so you have family members who are also shareholders and are also involved in the management of the firm. The challenge is to instill in the organization some kind of discipline. So how can we keep the...

Many Small businesses struggle with their finances whether they are first starting out or if they have been in business a while. Having a firm understanding of your business finances is the key to a successful business, how do you keep track of that? Professor Rick Hasse is a professor in finance and accounting here at the University of La Verne, College of Business and Public Management. In this interview, you'll find out how finances affect your business and how to perform a financial check-up.  How important are finances to the health of the business? Well, I think it could be a very simple answer or it could be very complicated. I'll give you a simple answer. Naturally, finance is the blood of a company. You can have the best idea, the best product, the best service, but if you don't have the necessary capital to get that off the ground and get it to your customers, you ain’t got nothing. So having capital, having access and understanding of capital is key. I like to th...

by Joshua Botello One of the hardest things about starting a new business is: How do you price your products? Today my guest will answer that question. Dr. Frank Steven Fialho is a Marketing professor at the University of La Verne College of Business and Public management. Let’s get into the interview.  How Important Is It For a Business to Get The Pricing Right? Dr. Fialho: Most people look at marketing as promotion and sales. Very few people understand that marketing is tied to the product, price, and distribution (Place). Price is so important. I am also wanting to price before a product because it’s so important. You need to decide on the price, it’s a huge piece of the 4 Ps. It comes from a lot of market research that you have to do for your product, so it’s very critical. When you said you wanted to talk about price, I could see how businesses struggle with Price. There’s no doubt in my mind. Our students in the Integrated Business Program, I tell them when they startup “On...