The Missouri Women's Business Center hosts a bimonthly Business Book Forum on the first Wednesday of every other month. Business books with special appeal to the entrepreneur are featured. Recent subjects have included strategic planning for small business, the advantage of small businesses over big businesses, and thinking entrepreneurially. Reading the book is not necessary, as the facilitator goes over the main points. To learn more, go to www.missouriwbc.com.

Review by Jean Zimmerman

Title: Strategic Decisions for Small Business: It's Just Noodles, This Ain't No Trattoria
Author:  R. Blake Hendrix
Year Published: 2006
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Number of Pages: 183
Description: Strategic Decisions for Small Business adapts the principles of strategic planning to fit the needs of small business. The book explains how the financial community evaluates a business, what to expect to hear from lenders, and when to bring in a consultant or business coach. The book provides a strong collection of simple examples highlighting many important keys to understanding business. Business theory along with practical examples brings the information in a useful and understandable format for small business.

In Strategic Decisions for Small Business: It's Just Noodles, This Ain't No Trattoria, R. Blake Hendrix set out to boil down the academic concepts of strategic theory to actionable steps the small business owner can take. The first half of the book explains economic and game theory, while the second half illustrates how to put those theories into practice.

As Hendrix moves through the various theories and examples, he ties together the concepts in what he has dubbed his "SaLT Concept." SaLT stands for strategy, logistics and tactics. While acknowledging that they are three separate things and defining those differences, the book ultimately states that the three are so intertwined that they must be viewed as a continuum.

It is common to talk about the many hats that an entrepreneur must wear. Hendrix put an interesting spin on this concept, and the group agreed that it helped solidify how to view the many roles the entrepreneur must play. Instead of changing hats, the book asserts that even the smallest of companies (run by only one person) has at least 10 employees. It's just that the same person holds all 10 positions:  accountant, accounts receivable specialist, inventory specialist, administrative specialist, human resources director, finance director, sales director, marketing director, president and chairman of the board.

You don't have to be an economic wizard to understand the way the book explains game theory or the simple charts that are used to illustrate concepts. Most concepts also are followed with a series of questions business owners can answer to begin coming up with a SaLT plan.

Owners are urged to remember seven basic SaLT Concepts to help them strive for simplicity as they analyze their options and execute plans:

1. Ceteris Paribus (all things being equal) - Most assumptions behind business plans are based on certain market forces remaining the same, but they hardly ever do.
2. Be aware of the assumptions - Keep in mind what parameters the plan is built on. As those parameters change, so must the plan.
3. Avoid loss of perspective - It is easy to put blinders on and forge straight ahead, ignoring events and facts that don't fit the plan.
4. Have a simple plan - Complicated plans are really hard to pull off.
5. Too much information can lead to inaction - At some point decisions must be reached, and it is impossible to ever know everything.
6. Ignorance doesn't lead to an optimal outcome - While you can't know everything, you can't ignore the facts either.
7. Framing matters - Know your context or niche.

Taking business school concepts and research that is geared toward Fortune 500 companies and simplifying them to apply to small business made for an interesting read. We agreed that most business owners probably aren't going to sit down and work through a decision tree every time there is a strategic decision to be made, but exposure to new ways of approaching old problems never hurts.

Jean Zimmerman is the executive director of the Missouri Women's Business Center. You can reach her at (816) 235-6141.