What are the 6 resources of business?

Starting a business can be daunting, but many people open successful businesses each year. Those who do succeed typically spend significant time raising capital, doing market research and developing a realistic business plan before launching their new company. Of course, careful preparation isn't an absolute guarantee of success, but it can improve your chances enormously. Take stock of your resources and be prepared to meet the challenges you'll encounter.

Tip

The resources you need to start a business can be broken into five broad categories: financial, human, educational, emotional and physical resources.

Financial Resources: Funding 

The most important element in starting a business is funding. Even the most basic home business incurs a multitude of startup costs, including registering a business name, obtaining a business telephone line and printing business cards.

Financial resources can be obtained from a variety of sources, the easiest being from the personal accounts of the company’s founder. Alternatively, loans and lines of credit may be granted from financial institutions, friends and relatives, private investors and even the United States government. In addition, many grants are offered from private and public sources to entrepreneurs of all demographics and personal situations.

Human Resources: Employees

The success of an organization is heavily reliant on the talent and strength of its employees. The hiring of experienced professionals with track records of excellence within their area of expertise ensures that the mission and goals of the company will be carried out efficiently and with competence. Strong team members can be recruited using a variety of methods. Staffing agencies and executive search firms specialize in placing talent of all levels within every industry. An alternative is to find employees through referrals from individuals whose judgment is trusted.

Educational Resources: Industry Know How

Perhaps the greatest thing an entrepreneur can do when establishing a new business is to gain as much education possible. By understanding her competition and gaining an in-depth knowledge of her industry, she will be better prepared to make smarter decisions regarding the direction of her firm. Educational resources can be found through professional trade associations that are geared toward her industry, her local chamber of commerce as well as the Small Business Administration.

Physical Resources: Premises and Equipment

Whether a small home business or a retail operation with multiple locations, every organization must have the appropriate physical resources to survive. This includes a proper work space, working telephone line, adequate information systems and effective marketing materials. This aspect of business planning can be one of the costliest. As such, it is important for an entrepreneur to realistically assess his needs before making any purchases.

Emotional Resources: Support Systems

Starting a business can be an extremely stressful endeavor for an entrepreneur to undertake. To maintain her sanity as well as stay motivated, it is important she have a support team that can give her inspirations and guidance as needed. This team may be composed of friends and family as well as a mentor or professional group.

Key Resources can be categorized as follows:

Physical

This category includes physical assets such as manufacturing facilities, buildings, vehicles, machines, systems, point-of-sales systems, and distribution networks. Retailers like Wal-Mart and Amazon.com rely heavily on physical resources, which are often capital-intensive. The former has an enormous global network of stores and related logistics infrastructure. The latter has an extensive IT, warehouse, and logistics infrastructure.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property resources such as brands, proprietary knowledge, patents and copyrights, partnerships, and customer databases are increasingly important components of a strong business model. Intellectual property resources are difficult to develop but when successfully created may offer substantial value. Consumer goods companies such as Nike and Sony rely heavily on brand as a Key Resource. Microsoft and SAP depend on software and related intellectual property developed over many years. Qualcomm, a designer and supplier of chipsets for broadband mobile devices, built its business model around patented microchip designs that earn the company substantial licensing fees.

Human

Every enterprise requires human resources, but people are particularly prominent in certain business models. For example, human resources are crucial in knowledge-intensive and creative industries. A pharmaceutical company such as Novartis, for example, relies heavily on human resources: its business model is predicated on an army of experienced scientists and a large and skilled sales force.

Financial

Some business models call for financial resources and/or financial guarantees, such as cash, lines of credit, or a stock option pool for hiring key employees. Ericsson, the telecom manufacturer, provides an example of financial resource leverage within a business model. Ericsson may opt to borrow funds from banks and capital markets, then use a portion of the proceeds to provide vendor financing to equipment customers, thus ensuring that orders are placed with Ericsson rather than competitors.

What are the resources of business?

What are the 5 resources in business?

What are the 4 types of resources in business?

What are the 3 resources of a business?