Business & Policy
In order for any company to remain viable, profitable and ultimately successful, it must develop and adopt a litany of well thought-out and relevant business practices. Failure to do so in a timely manner typically results in a immense problems which many times are completely avoidable. Small to medium companies tend to run almost as family units where everyone knows everyone else and management has immense trust and confidence in its employees. Unfortunately over time new employees are hired and without some degree of inherent established policies and procedures, bad things frequently occur and when confronted, the offending employee states that they were “never told”. Established policies and procedures (while painful to develop and adopt at times) exist to protect the company, not the individual. Furthermore, if conducting international business, the degree of knowledge and understanding are magnified many times because the US government has oversight on this activity and does not accept “I didn’t know” as an excuse for violating its rules. These “infractions” can have very dire consequences on a company, yet these issues are completely avoidable with the right instruction and guidance.
Community Stability is achieved through a series of methodical plans, actions, and efforts known as Community Interaction Operations (CIO). The end state is to facilitate the integration of a company into a community as a partner or community member. This undertaking is typically accomplished by the company engaging with a local community or a group of communities to educate, inform, and unite with them.
Read more ...
The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) has a direct and potentially catastrophic affect on any business doing business internationally. Many businesses feel that since they do not manufacture firearms or specific defense items, they are not subject to the ITAR, however this is not necessarily true and failing to understand the ITAR could easily lead to the complete destruction of a company. Training is Key to compliance with ITAR regulations.
Read more ...
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a US legal entity which addresses how US persons and companies conduct business outside of the United States. The purpose of this piece of litigation is to ensure that US companies (and individuals) are operating in an equal and fair manner. Specifically, the FCPA addresses unfair business practices such as bribes, gifts and preferential treatment.
Read more ...
International business can be confusing, tremulous and problematic. More than one US company has engaged in international business seeing it as a savior and viable revenue stream only to be destroyed due to unscrupulous international agents/brokers, unintentional violation of laws and regulations and/or agreeing to terms that are not favorable to the company.
Read more ...
Disasters come in many forms, from man made scenarios such as terrorist attacks to "acts of god" such as floods, earthquakes, fires, etc. Likewise, preparedness comes in many different forms from simple phone rosters to full blown disaster drills. The main issue is that there are so many different scenarios it is both cumbersome and time intensive to plan and train to them all. Subsequently, most companies adopt legacy procedures (those that are written by someone else, those that are left over from years ago and/or those found online), provide simple minimalistic briefings to their employees and forget about it. When an actual disaster occurs, the vast majority of companies are ill prepared to deal with the situation.
Read more ...
Active Shooter situations are a major concern in the world we live in today. The threat is very real and the “it won’t happen to me” mentality is not only dangerous but naïve. Likewise, there are a variety of incidents that could occur such as bomb threats, chemical attacks, etc. that present an equally dangerous situation.
Read more ...
