As you move into the task of preparing a tender, you will soon realise the nature and range of skills you will need to call upon – either from yourself or from your colleagues or team members. 

 This is a brief introduction:

Organisational analysis and review

• knowing and understanding your organisation’s ability, maturity, capability and willingness to fulfil or achieve the project

Planning and policy development

• positioning the project within the strategic and policy framework of your organisation

Needs assessment

• expressing and validating the nature and scope of the need, problem or opportunity to be addressed by the project

Decision-making

• following a consistent decision-making style, particularly in relation to criteria for the assessment of options and implications during the project development stage: the issues of risk avoidance, risk management and quality control are dependent on consultative yet incisive decision-making

Negotiation

• presenting and protecting the interests, integrity and credibility of your organisation and yourself

Administration

• administering the processes, procedures and systems involved in the development of the project and preparation of the tender document

Networking

• keeping in touch with what’s going on in your industry or sector, including locating opportunities to tender, monitoring the initiatives among competitors, establishing formal linkages, networks and strategic alliances with reliable collaborators

Selling your ideas

• explaining your ideas convincingly and gaining commitment to them from people who will be involved with or affected by the project in the event of winning the tender

Personnel management

• getting the best out of the people involved, both internal and external people: very often this requires motivating your team members to ‘go the extra mile’ for you and for the tender by working harder and faster as the deadline approaches

Financial management

• appreciating and protecting all components of the project budget in the interests of your organisation and in fairness to the tender caller

Evaluation and review

• fully understanding and appreciating the importance of  evaluation and review, scheduling appropriate procedures in the project implementation and including allowances in the project budget

Technical Writing

• the skill of moving from a first-draft through to a crafted, clear, concise document capable of setting before the assessors a positive, powerful and persuasive case – with at the very least every question specifically addressed, every statement or claim explained and verified, every budget line-item validated, every attachment appropriate introduced in the body of the document, addressing every assessment criteria, and meeting every compliance or conformance requirement… technical writing for sure!

If you and your team are in the business of preparing tenders on a regular basis, these basic skills should be included in the your performance appraisal – and included in the training plans for relevant members of management or staff.

Where a regular time allotment is given to writing tenders, this responsibility should appear in the position descriptions of relevant staff as a distinct area of responsibility.

It’s not uncommon to see preparation of tenders treated as an ‘extra’ - over and above a regular workload, and receiving little or no formal recognition as to competency or performance.

Preparation of tenders needs to be seen as a core competency - and this is more likely to happen if tendering itself is treated as a core business function.

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Entrepreneurship

In their book The Innovation Formula – how organisations turn change into opportunity (published in 1988 by Ballinger Publishing Company), Michael Robert and Alan Weiss state that entrepreneurs are often viewed as ‘business swashbucklers who catapult new ideas into public prominence while they storm the walls of the establishment’.

However with the benefit and wisdom of 20 years of research, these authors present a very different picture with their descriptive yet prescriptive statement that they found ‘true entrepreneurs aren’t pirates, but disciplined sailors who anticipate the winds and tides of change’.

In their book The Entrepreneur, (second edition published in 2003 by John Wiley and Son (Asia) Pte Ltd) William E Heinecke with Jonathan March present 25 Golden Rules. Here are some of them, with my own comments in italics:

• Find a vacuum and fill it – find a gap in the market, and create or adapt a product or service to fill it: if possible, be first in the market.
• Do your homework – know and understand your product or service, your market, your competition and your customers.
• Set goals (but go easy on the ‘vision’ thing) – set short-term achievable goals – which means being achievable within six months.
• Trust your intuition – but don’t overlook the facts or evidence.
• Learn to sell – identify, promote and sell both the features and benefits.
• Embrace change as a way of life – but not change for change sake – or change that is not accompanied or followed by consolidation.
• Develop your contacts – you’ll probably join anything and everything at the start of your One Man Show and then become selective as you become clearer about your product or service and busier in your business. You’ll then be able to set clear priorities for the use of your time.
• Use your time wisely – the traditional criteria for allocating time are (1) urgency, (2) importance, and (3) relevance: each criterion has a triple ranking of high, medium and low. For example, if a call – or opportunity – for your time earns a high ranking in all three criteria, it becomes a high priority. Don’t forget to allocate appropriate time for your private and personal use.
• Don’t put up with mediocrity – the best test for mediocrity is when the minimum becomes the maximum, when performance only meets the minimum requirement. For example, look for suppliers who treat you as a valued customer or client, and are able and willing to add value to your One Man Show. If mediocrity appears in your relationship with that supplier, you can invite that supplier to address the drop in performance: if this doesn’t bring the desired improvement, call for three quotes for this service and invite him/her to be one of the three. Competition is a great motivator!
• Chase quality, not dollars – but be aware that you cannot produce and ensure quality with insufficient dollars.
• Act quickly in a crisis – a crisis management strategy is featured on page 44 of One Man Show.
• You won’t be committed if you’re not having fun – enjoy and be passionate about your One Man Show – and about yourself and your whole life.

Innovation

Entrepreneurs use the principles and practices of innovation as a basis for entrepreneurial activity.

My trusty Dictionary defines innovation as ‘something newly introduced, such as a new method or device: inventing or beginning to apply methods or ideas: renewing or creating something new from what already exists’.

A common myth about innovation is that innovation is only about new ‘things’. Innovation can also be about improving, changing – or even doing away with – existing ‘things’.

Entrepreneurs are people, not organisations. Entrepreneurship is a personal characteristic or quality, not an organisational function. There is no such thing as an entrepreneurial organisation. Why? Because an organisation is an intangible entity. You cannot touch ‘an organisation’. An organisation of any kind is simply a group of individuals – and the people within that group can change, as can the level of interest in and commitment to entrepreneurship.

A One Man Show – by its very nature is an entrepreneurial business – can be adversely affected if the person loses or ceases to embrace innovation.

Businesses don’t make plans or decisions: people do. If you are attempting to influence, guide, change or control a business, your target is the people who govern, manage or operate that business.

If there are people within a business who grasp or create the opportunity for innovation, they – through their personal characteristics and qualities – confirm the entrepreneurial character of that business.

As a One Man Show, you will govern, manage and operate your business – and the entrepreneurial character of your business will depend on you.

Creativity

There is a process of creativity, and it’s possible for any person to be creative.

Some of us create conceptually: others technically. Some create easily: others with effort. Some create visually – dreaming dreams and seeing visions: others through research – digging into facts, gathering opinions or examples, examining case studies, and comparing statistics.

It’s possible – and highly desirable – to schedule creativity into your work schedule, in the same way that you schedule ‘paying accounts’ into your work schedule. To do so, requires an understanding of the process of creativity.

The one essential ingredient for creativity is emotion.

Think of the many thousands of thoughts that come into your mind each day- most of which simply pass on into your subconscious or out into the ether. Thoughts can flow from many sources, including events, observations, conversations, dreams, reading or experiences.

The thoughts that connect with your emotions are those you will keep in your conscious mind to work with in some way. The connecting emotion can be positive, negative, or somewhere in between.

The essential ingredient for creativity is the connection between thought and emotion. There is no more powerful force than this. You can become excited, angry, concerned, interested, confused, desperate, traumatised, fulfilled, exhilarated in an instant response to a thought – what you are experiencing is the triggering of a creative response.

If you simply allow your emotional response to dominate your thinking, the opportunity for creativity may pass. But if you respond intellectually to the emotional response, you are on your way to creativity. It’s then a matter of allowing your natural creative style to lead further thoughts along this tangent to develop into a concept plan, and then with more work into a project plan.

Two wonderful quotes from Victor Hugo:

• There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come
• A stand may be made against the invasion of an army; no stand can be made against invasion by an idea

• Discover One Man Show: The Smallest of Small Business

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Abstract

A ‘sole operator’ is, in the true sense of the word, a one-person business. This paper offers a proven equation “sole operator + sole operation + operational context = entrepreneurial initiative”, based on the author’s experience through twenty years as an entrepreneurial sole operator.

A ‘sole operator’ is the person in the micro business, and this person is the starting point. Next, the person must determine the business structure, methods, systems and processes that will enable her/him to operate effectively and efficiently – and successfully. Finally, the person must know and understand their operational context or business environment. These three components can be categorised as (1) person, (2) task and (3) environment, and they are the three basic components in entrepreneurial initiative. Place them at the 3 corners of an equilateral triangle, and you immediately appreciate their independence and inter-dependence. Finally, place the words ‘entrepreneurial initiative’ in the centre of the triangle to fully appreciate the equation.

This paper firstly explores the ‘person’ component in a micro business, and compares the respective contribution of practical experience, formal study, observation, action-research and evaluation in entrepreneurial initiative. This is followed by an exploration of the ‘task’ component, comparing the respective role of formal and informal structures, methods, systems and processes; and finally an exploration of the ‘environment’ component as an introduction to pro-active, re-active and crisis styles of entrepreneurial initiative.

Finally, a checklist is offered to guide entrepreneurial initiative as a sole operator.

Aim of this Paper

A ‘sole operator’ is, in the true sense of the word, a one-person business. This paper offers a proven equation “sole operator + sole operation + operational context = entrepreneurial initiative”, based on the author’s experience through twenty years as an entrepreneurial sole operator.
The informal study conducted through 19 years of self-employment as a sole operator demonstrates the equal importance and value to a sole operator in (a) gaining a genuine appreciation of their personal characteristics, experience and competencies, and (b) developing a theoretical framework to guide immediate, short-term and longer-term decision-making.

Background

My separate experiences as an SME practitioner includes:

• 10 years as partner in a family precision engineering company that employed up to four people other than the two partners, and
• 19 years (to date) as a sole operator/self-employed consultant, trainer, writer and speaker specialising in (a) tendering and outsourcing, and (b) in the governance and management of nonprofit organisations.

In both experiences, it has been necessary to create a theoretical framework whilst ‘on-the-job’ through carefully planned informal study and an inborn and sometimes compulsive need to analyse and understand why some initiatives work well and others fail badly.

The intervening 9 years between these two separate experiences were spent in a salaried community development role, responsible for assessing community needs and attracting resources to establish appropriate programs, services and activities. This position allowed a practical appreciation of the skills learned in the engineering company associated with planning, estimating, quoting, negotiation, contract management and administration. Management skills that also proved invaluable included

Method used

A ‘sole operator’ is the person in the micro business: the sole operator is the starting point. Next, the sole operator must determine the task component, ie the business structure, methods, systems and processes that will enable her/him to operate effectively and efficiently through successful entrepreneurial initiatives.

Finally, the sole operator must know and understand the operational context or business environment within which the sole operation must exist.

These three components can be categorised as (1) Person – the sole operator, (2) Task – the sole operation, and (3) Environment – the operational context, and they are the three basic components necessary to support entrepreneurial initiatives. Place them at the 3 corners of an equilateral triangle, and you immediately appreciate their independence and inter-dependence. It becomes clear that by expanding or placing too much emphasis on any one of the 3 components, the value and importance of the other two components are automatically reduced.

Finally, place the words ‘entrepreneurial initiative’ in the centre of the triangle to fully appreciate the equation. The Orientation Triangle powerfully demonstrates the fact that the three components of Person, Task, and Environment are of equal value and importance.

Business activity as a sole operator

Planning, implementing and evaluating one or a number of individual tasks or situations is an every-day occurrence for a sole operator: some are of major significance and many are routine or of relative insignificance. Yet it is predictable that each task or situation will affect or be affected by 3 major components:

1. Person Component – the sole operator

• including the experience, formal and informal study, observations, style and
• wisdom of the sole operator, together with their needs, interests and aspirations

2. Task Component – the sole operation

• what needs to be done, why, how, when, where, at what cost to create or produce
• products or services to sell at a price greater than the real cost of creation or production

3. Environment Component – the operational context
ie: the environment or context within which the sole operator will be accomplishing or achieving the ‘Task’: this includes the broad environment (eg political, cultural, industry/sector, social, economic, geographic factors) and the immediate environment (eg organisational issues, buildings, equipment, facilities, physical comfort, advisors, networks)

The Orientation Triangle presents 3 styles:

right-brain style, with a natural value for Person and ‘feeling’:

• the Orientations Inventory presents left-brain and right-brain scores that total 59: right-brain dominance is represented by a dominance of four or more of the right-brain score over the left-brain score

left-brain style, with a natural value for Task and ‘thinking’

• left-brain dominance is represented by a dominance of four or more of the left-brain score over the right-brain score

centre style, with a natural value for Environment and ‘observing’

• the dominance of either right-brain or left-brain score is less then four

Behavioural tendencies in the 3 styles, based on the natural value as a starting point for each style

Left-brain style is more likely to enter the exploration of a situation, problem, opportunity or challenge via Task and ‘thinking’

• more inclined to display and value an analytical, logical, rational and structured style and approach
• can excel at defining and analysing a problem
• can excel at designing a practical and workable action plan
• initial focus is on detail
• tend to process information internally before making an objective statement or observation

Right-brain style is more likely to enter the exploration of a situation, problem, opportunity or challenge via Person and ‘feeling’

• more inclined to display and value a lateral, intuitive and flexible style and approach
• can excel at exploring possible solutions to a problem with a global and conceptual approach, focusing most easily on possibilities
  tend to be excellent people-supporters, bringing out the best in others through their warm enthusiasm and interest in the ideas and activities of others
• can excel at conceptual and strategic development of ideas
• initial focus is on the big picture
• tend to process information externally through their own and others’ conversation, before making a subjective statement or observation

Centre style is more likely to enter the exploration of a situation, problem, opportunity or challenge via Environment and ‘observing’

• centre style will be either ‘centre left’ or ‘centre right’ .. there will be a natural tendency to either left or right-brain styles – with only a slight dominance
• can excel at negotiation, mediation and peace-making
• inclined to remain neutral until they are convinced to adopt either a left-brain dominant or right-brain dominant behaviour
• initial focus is on the context or environment
• prefer to react rather than initiate
• tend to process information internally while observing

The Orientation Triangle presents an equal value and importance for person, task and environment, reminding the sole operator to explore all three components – regardless of their starting point. The Orientation Triangle does away with the idea that there is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour – there simply is behaviour. It does away with the desire or need to judge self or others. It simply shows the wisdom of accepting the fact that people behave differently.

Decision-making and problem-solving are just two of the daily activity of sole operators – no matter the nature of the business. The left-brain and right-brain styles of these two business skills are presented in Table 1 to demonstrate the different approaches. The usefulness of this information for sole operators is that the two styles together ensure a more complete approach and behaviour. The message is to make sure both left-brain and right-brain styles are used for effective, efficient decision-making and problem-solving in relation to themselves as a sole operator, their business as the sole operation, and their operational context.

Sole operations is itself an entrepreneurial initiative, and the Orientation Triangle is an extremely useful tool in managing in an entrepreneurial manner.

Decision making and problem solving

Results obtained

Orientation has provided a bank of analytical data, experiences, anecdotes and observations through the past 16 years.

Examples of the usefulness of Orientation:

1. People planning to commence a sole operation after taking retrenchment or retirement package:

• an Intender commented ‘I’ll give it three months: if it doesn’t work, I’ll find something else to do’ – thus undervaluing Task and Environment
• an Emerging sole operator commented ‘I miss the structure and discipline of my previous position in a large company’ – thus undervaluing Person and Task
• in a workshop for Intenders on business planning:
  • those with a dominant left-brain style heavily over-emphasised Task – thus under-valuing Person and Environment in their planning. Some had prepared as many as 4 business plans and were still delaying their plans to commence their entrepreneurial initiative
  • those with a dominant right-brain style heavily over-emphasised Person – thus under-valuing Task and Environment in their planning: they hoped to complete their first business plan after getting their entrepreneurial initiative under way
  • those with a centre style heavily over-emphasised Environment – thus under-valuing Task and Person in their planning: they were intending to spend preparation time observing existing businesses with the expectation that they would somehow find an appropriate business plan to adapt for themselves
• Sole operators may soon face the dilemma of deciding whether to employ a second person, and the tendency to employ a person of similar orientation rather than one of a different and complementary orientation frequently leads to expensive difficulties
• Setting priorities can be difficult for sole operators, due in part to the consistent demands on their available (and sometimes scarce) resources – including time and money – particularly in the initial stages of an entrepreneurial initiative: and the quick and easy way of setting priorities is to consider only their most natural and easily understood component and ignore the other two
• The stress of an emerging business can be overwhelming for a sole operator, particularly when their business grows at an astonishing rate due to seasonal or temporary factors: under-emphasis on the environment component can cause a sole operator to treat such factors as permanent and commit her/himself to heavy and unwise borrowings in order to cater for such growth – only to see the growth rate return to the gradual rate when the seasonal or temporary factors fade
• Sole operators in the service industry can cause stress for themselves when they have only their own time to sell, indicating an over-emphasis on the person component. A sole operator must attend to all facets of their business, including the ‘back-of-house’ functions, so it is wise to create products or publications as additional income earners. This requires analysis of both the Task and Environment in addition to Person
  • a common behaviour among sole operators is to neglect their accounts and fall behind in billing their work or paying suppliers: they can also neglect important functions such as marketing, promotion, keeping up with their industry or sector, networking, or – more worryingly – monitoring risk and quality.
• Planning ahead for personal needs and well as business demands is essential for sole operators. Many see ‘time off’ or holidays as impossible luxuries. Under-emphasis on Person can cause the sole operator to neglect their own health and well-being, which are critical success factors in a sole operation.
• The difference in the manner in which sole operators regard financial investment in their businesses can be linked to orientation, with the left-brain style being cost-conscious and the right-brain style being investment-conscious. Briefly, the left-brain style is to only invest additional funds when, after extensive analysis, they are convinced of a predictable return on that investment: the right-brain style is to invest additional funds in the hope of a return on investment rather than based on an analysis of fact and potential

Entrepreneurs are people, not organisations

Entrepreneurship is a personal characteristic or quality, and indicates a capacity to be creative, tenacious and patient. The 3 components in the Orientations Triangle are indeed independent – yet they are inter-dependent and complementary. Together, they present an excellent planning tool for entrepreneurial initiatives. The ideal, of course, is to begin with the component that offers the most natural and comfortable starting point, and then to embrace the two remaining components. Observation has shown that the starting point is not as important as embracing all three components in the planning, implementation and evaluation of entrepreneurial initiatives, opportunities or challenges.

Exploring the Person component in a sole operation

The Person component allows analysis of the characteristics of the sole operator that have the potential to lead to and support entrepreneurial initiatives. Such analysis reveals the respective contribution of practical experience, formal study, observation, action-research and evaluation in entrepreneurial initiatives, opportunities or challenges.

Characteristics of Person could be described as critical success factors in relation to entrepreneurial initiatives. These factors enable an analysis of the sole operator. Although listed in alphabetical order, they are each of equal value and importance:

1. Background – trade, business standing, industry/sector knowledge, life path, stage of life, current options
2. Experience – track record, prior achievements, lessons learned from previous activities and initiatives – whether positive or negative
3. Motivation – desperation, opportunity, trial run, gap in one’s life to fill, escape from salaried existence, desire to be one’s own boss
4. Passion – what makes one’s heart sing
5. Personal situation – family commitments and obligations, state of health, level of confidence and comfort
6. Qualification – formal study that contributes to a theoretical framework to guide decision-making and problem solving
7. Reputation – how well known and respected is the sole operator and her/his work/efforts to date: how widely known is the intended entrepreneurial initiative: how readily is the sole operator linked to this initiative: how well is the sole operator ranked and rated within the industry/sector/market
8. Resource base – intellectual capital, available assets, available or accessible finance, network of contacts, role models, mentors
9. Self-esteem – the value that the sole operator places upon her/himself: the level of self-acceptance
10. Skill base – technical, administrative, management and human resource skills and competencies
11. Values – how well does the sole operator know and understand their personal values, as they will knowingly or unknowingly guide the sole operator’s decision-making and problem –solving

Exploring the Task component in a sole operation

Analysis of this component represents the business structure, methods, systems and processes.

Characteristics of the Task Component could be described as critical success factors, with their capacity and capability to support the sole operator’s willingness and ability to undertake entrepreneurial initiatives. These factors enable an analysis of the Task Component of the ‘sole operation’.

Although listed in alphabetical order, they are each of equal value and importance:

1.Business structure – including organisational and legal structures
2.Employment factors
3.Financial factors
4.Physical factors – eg. premises, location, buildings, equipment
5.Program, product or service design
6.Technology and IT
7.Compliance requirements
8.Quality assurance and improvement

Exploring the Environment component in a sole operation

Analysis of this component represents wider context within which the sole operator will plan, implement and evaluate the sole operation. Again, these could be described as critical success factors with their capacity and capability to support the sole operator’s willingness and ability to undertake entrepreneurial initiatives. These factors enable an analysis of the Environment component of the ‘sole operation’.

Although listed in alphabetical order, they are each of equal value and importance:
1.demographic factors
2.economic factors
3.industry or sector factors .. including strategic alliances, networks and competitors
4.political factors .. including changes in government or government priorities
5.social factors
The sole operator needs to know and understand the nature and extent of control or influence s/he is able to exercise over the factors within each of the 3 components in the Orientation Triangle, and this takes time, effort and energy.

Conclusions

Through extensive and practical application of the Orientations Triangle, it has been possible to determine 3 distinct management styles among sole operators. ‘Management style’ is the term given to the manner in which a management group or person carries out the role of managing, i.e. the attitudes, values and behaviour which underlie decisions and actions associated with achieving agreed objectives with and through people.

It could be said that the management style is the ‘art’ of management.

Three broad management styles are presented – and these are not confined to sole operators:
1. crisis management
2. re‑active management
3. pro‑active management

What is Crisis Management?

This is the style of management where nothing new or different is considered unless and until a situation of crisis proportions is reached .. where the status quo reigns and problems or opportunities are ignored or bypassed until a crisis is reached, emotions are exposed and war is declared! Hardly conducive to planned entrepreneurial initiatives, and indicates little knowledge of or use of the Orientation Triangle.

What is Re‑active Management?

his is the style of management where decisions are made absolutely and only in response to problems or opportunities .. where no action is taken to prevent problems or create opportunities and very rarely is anything planned or initiated by the sole operator her/himself. Entrepreneurial initiative by accident? And indicates that the Orientation Triangle is used as a last resort.

What is Pro‑active Management?

This is the style of management where the possibility of problems or opportunities is examined .. where the sole operator thinks ahead, initiates action and therefore takes the lead in preventing problems, creating possibilities and projecting the interests and needs of her/his sole operation.
This is the style most conducive to sustained entrepreneurial initiatives, and indicates that the Orientation Triangle is a constant tool in planning, implementation and evaluation.

Comparison of these three management styles with the Orientation Triangle

• Pro‑active management is committed to a healthy business with the 3 components of the Orientation Triangle having equal value and importance
• Re‑active management is committed to ‘band‑aiding’, with token attention paid to the three components.
• Crisis management is into surgery! Every event is traumatic, affecting the whole business. Anaesthetic is applied for each crisis and the entire business can become stagnant while each crisis is handled.

Sole operators – and people involved with the training, support and study of sole operators – will be able to identify with one or more of these three management styles, for it is possible for a sole operator to be using all three at the same time. For instance, a sole operator could be re‑active in investing additional funds, pro‑active in customer relations and resorting to crisis management in ‘back-of-house’ functions.

The most desirable situation is for sole operator to be consistently pro‑active – particularly where s/he is involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of entrepreneurial initiatives.

A pro‑active sole operator is able to be consistent in her/his vision for their business and realistic in their decisions on how best to achieve that vision.
Wider implications relating to entrepreneurship and Sole Operators

Together with the critical success factors and management styles aligned to the Orientations Triangle, the following Checklist will be useful for existing and potential sole operators, and may be useful for people involved in teaching, supporting and studying sole operators.

Again, all items are of equal value and importance.

• The bottom line is job satisfaction for the sole operator
  • meeting the needs of the individual, and
  • meeting the demands of the sole operator’s role in the business
• Practice retrospective as well as forward planning
  • know what the sole operator alone can and must do
  • know what others can do for the sole operator, for example what s/he needs to buy from suppliers or advisors to allow her/him to do what s/he alone can only do
• Define, establish and monitor the business lifecycle stages of the sole operation
• Accept that there is little benefit in separating personal from business or business from personal
• The sole operator needs to know, understand and appreciate her/himself, ie products, point of difference and source of inspiration, motivation and success
  • constantly update, improve and refine products/services
  • specialize rather than be a generalist
  • protect, refine and promote the identified point of difference
  • check the source of inspiration and success regularly, as it will change as confidence and competence increase
• Know, understand and recognize all competitors and competing forces and influences
• Know the market
  • carry out regular research
  • be available for enquiries
  • create and maintain an effective marketing strategy
• Celebrate progress – don’t just focus on success
  • turn every negative into a positive
  • identify and honour identified critical success factors
  • carry out regular reality checks using factual data
• Identify, understand and project the sole operator’s uniqueness
• Develop a natural suspicion of people who appear out of nowhere with an offer to ‘add value’ to the sole operator’s business and business potentialKnow the difference between risk aversion, risk avoidance and risk management

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Leadership Project, 1992-1993 – researching and writing a manual for directors of boards of the 150+ sheltered workshops in Australia to encourage extension of employment services for people with intellectual disabilities from sheltered to supported and competitive employment in integrated commercial settings – in collaboration with the National Technical Assistance Unit, with the (then) Mt Eliza College of Management.

Reference Manual Project, 1994-1995 – researching and writing a manual setting out the roles and responsibilities of voluntary committees and boards of organisations providing disability employment services ranging from open employment to enclaves – in collaboration with the Commonwealth Department of (then) Health and Family Services, Disability Services Program.

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The Conference theme: International Entrepreneurship – promoting excellence in education, research and practice.

Conference Tracks:
Papers were presented in nine parallel tracks over two days:

• Advancing entrepreneurship and enterprise education
• Business creation and development – stimulating start-ups
• Community ethnic, minority and social enterprises
• Entrepreneurship, e-business and e-learning
• Innovation, incubation, networks and knowledge transfer
• Management, skills development and growth issues
• Supporting small business development world-wide
• Venture capital, finance, taxation and regulation
• Women’s enterprise and family business development

Details of the Plenary sessions are given at conclusion of My Highlights.

My highlights – each is of equal importance and value for me, and I hope of interest for you:

Highlight No. 1:
My decision to spend the evening prior to Conference Day One reading through the 3-5 line ‘Objectives’ that introduced each of the 189 Track papers in the Conference Handbook. Although this was my sixth annual conference on Entrepreneurship in SMEs, it was the first time I had done this and it proved to be a clever thing to do:

• Two common themes appeared through the 189 papers – one was to do with ‘entrepreneurship education’, and the other with ‘evaluating entrepreneurship research’,
• a short list of interesting papers was developed to guide my activity through the next three days, and
• another list was made of papers to be followed up on my return home.

Preparing for attendance at an international conference such as this is quite a challenge – how to select Tracks and individual papers that are likely to prove of greatest personal and professional value? The investment of time, money and energy is substantial, particularly when travelling from the other side of the world to attend.

Highlight No. 2:
Finding that my own assessment at previous conferences was obvious in many of the papers – that the research theory or model followed in each paper is of equal importance and value to their research subject:

• observing that the practical benefit of specific research can vary among ‘practitioners’, who can be research students, university researchers, university lecturers, small business advisors, or people investing their own resources at various stages of entrepreneurial activity as a small business owner/manager,
• increased confidence in separating the research model from the research subject in any paper, and
• objectively selecting Tracks, papers and presenters on the basis of usefulness to me as (a) a small business owner/manager, and (b) as a consultant working with people and organisations with a specific area of interest or activity.

Highlight No. 3:
Anyone who attends annual conferences knows that informal networking can be as beneficial as the formal sessions, and my informal networking at Belfast was indeed a highlight for me:

• each presenter in the Track sessions had 15 minutes to introduce their paper, with 10 minutes for questions,
• during these question times, I was able to select individual people – either presenters or people in the audience – who I later tracked down for conversation in the breaks, and
• in the question times, I readily recognized those whose interest was the research methodology, and those whose interest was the research subject.

Highlight No. 4:
Learning about new and different research methodologies, and the emerging language that accompanies these innovations:

• accepting that particular words can have different meanings in different countries and cultures – and more interestingly, in different university settings,
• there are established ‘gurus’ in the field of entrepreneurship research, but there are also emerging authors making their mark and influencing this field of study – although there is still, for me, an issue of the relevance of research to practice.

Highlight No. 5:
Only a small number of presenters were from Australian Universities – so much so that being from Australia was almost a novelty:

• perhaps the distance – and subsequent cost – are hurdles for Australians to be actively involved with international research?
• over the years, I can recall Australian papers that have presented a less than enthusiastic view of the Australian small business sector – and certainly the nonprofit sector in Australia is rarely featured, or featured in a positive light.
• In 2009, I will be encouraging small business owner/managers as well as nonprofit Boards and CEOs to:
  • consider ways and means to offer their considerable efforts as subjects for entrepreneurship research projects, and
  • take advantage of the considerable body of entrepreneurship research contacts that are easily accessible and ready to share their knowledge.

Plenary Sessions:
The Conference opened with two Joint Plenary Sessions with the International Small Business Congress.

Joint Plenary 1 topic: SME Policy and Practice – what have we learnt?

Four papers were presented in this Session:

• Assessing the impact of enterprise and SME Policy – OECD framework for policy evaluation Prof David Storey, SME Centre, University of Warwick, UK
• Taiwan SME policy formulation and development strategies Dr. Robert S Q Lai, Director General, Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Taipei, Taiwan
• What policy is important to small business and what policy is not? Mr William J. Dennis, Jr., Senior Research Fellow, NFIB Research Foundation, Washington, USA
• The evolution of SME policy and its practice in different contexts Prof Lois Stevenson, Research Fellow, International Development Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

Joint Plenary 2 topic: SME Development Policy – why do some businesses grow and others do not?

Four papers were presented in this Session:

• The growth phenomenon – lessons from USA Prof Zoltan Acs, School of Public Policy, George Mason University, Washington, USA; Editor Small Business Economics
• SME alliances and collaboration Prof Koichi Ito, Department of Commerce & Economics, Chiba University of Commerce, Japan
• Entrepreneurial aspirations, motivations and their drivers Prof Roy Thurik, Professor of Economics & Entrepreneurship, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• New venture creation, firm growth and enterprise policy – making sense of the research evidence Prof Mark Hart, Professor of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Aston Business School, Birmingham, UK

Leave your comments to discuss the issues raised at this conference.

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• Author (0)

This paper briefly introduces 3 basic models that have significantly contributed to this decade of work – CIPPO Model of Community Needs Assessment and Evaluation, Daniel Stufflebeam: RMC Organisational Framework, Jean Roberts: and Quality Maturity Grid, Philip Crosby & Associates.

The paper finishes with the outline of a proven process for replicating a proven service model and organisational framework into other contexts.

Author:
Ms Jean Roberts
Director, Roberts Management Concepts Pty Ltd

Background
The experiences that led to my decade of action-research from 1989 to 1999 include employment from 1976 to 1985 as a community education officer. My role was to link over 30 schools and their local communities in identifying and addressing local needs and, on the basis of such community needs assessment, to design and introduce community-based and school-based programs and initiatives to address or remedy the identified needs.

Since 1985, I have worked as an independent, self-employed consultant in all 6 states and 2 territories of Australia with a wide range of nonprofit organisations in organisational reviews, committee/board development and assessment, management reviews, strategic and business planning, marketing, amalgamation, strategic alliances, measurable consumer outcomes, needs-based planning and competitive tendering. I have written and published a number of books and papers offering practical strategies and tools to assist nonprofit organisations in providing services that improve the lives or lifestyles of the people who use their services.

Major action-research projects
Three major action-research projects contributed to the design, development and publishing of my own organisational framework, which has become the template for all of my work and writing.

These three major action-research projects, funded by the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments, focused on organisations providing services for people with disabilities.

1. Governance Project, 1989-1996 – identifying the training and support needs of voluntary committees in Victorian organisations providing services for people with an intellectual disability, and writing a committee training manual. This project was carried out in collaboration with the Council of Intellectual Disability Agencies Incorporated, Victoria (CIDA) and funded by the Victorian Department of Community Services. CIDA at that time had a membership base of over 130 organisations. Throughout the project, I worked closely with the Human Resources Sub-committee of the CIDA Board.

This project consisted of 4 stages:

Stage 1

• on-site visits to 21 CIDA member-agencies in all regions of Victoria, spending at least 2 days with each agency to identify issues and concerns of committee members and their managers relating to their roles, responsibilities and relationships.
• writing a series of checklists offering strategies and tools to address the identified issues and concerns, and circulating these for trial in 52 CIDA member-agencies across Victoria.

Stage 2

• organising and facilitating a state-wide seminar (attended by 80 people from participating organisations) to determine the most appropriate structure, format and language for the training manual. The objective of the manual was to inform and develop governance and management confidence, ability and skill among committee members and their managers in CIDA member agencies.
• organising and hosting 9 regional seminars on the legal obligations and financial responsibilities of committee members, and clarifying the relationship between committee and manager.

Stage 3

• writing the Craft of Management, a 300-page training manual for voluntary committees in CIDA member-agencies, reflecting the issues and concerns identified in Stages 1 and 2. The training manual comprised of 7 modules, 35 units and 23 training activities, with the first module being a train-the-trainer segment to assist committee members to facilitate their own training sessions: the manual introduces processes (how to do things) and procedures (what should be done) in governance and management.
• the first edition was launched by the Victorian Minister for Community Services at the CIDA State Conference in 1992, and copies were distributed to all CIDA member-agencies and all Departmental offices in Victoria.

Stage 4

• conducting a survey among CIDA member-agencies on the use and application of the training manual.
• writing a generic edition of the training manual, published by CIDA in 1996, and expanding the contents to apply to any nonprofit organisation in Australia.

2. Leadership Project, 1992-1993 - researching and writing a manual for directors of boards of the 150+ sheltered workshops in Australia to encourage extension of employment services for people with intellectual disabilities from sheltered to supported and competitive employment in integrated commercial settings. This project was a program of the National Technical Assistance Unit (NTAU) attached to the Mt Eliza Australian Management College and funded by the Disability Services Division of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Human Services. Throughout the project, I worked closely with the Chief Executive of NTAU.

This project consisted of 3 stages:

Stage 1

• identifying and examining existing documents and publications designed to assist nonprofit boards and board directors in their governance role and responsibilities: this search and analysis included in-house documents and publications as well as those prepared by large consulting firms

Stage 2

• discussions with disability employment service board directors and their CEOs, departmental officers, NTAU personnel and a unit within Coopers & Lybrand, Melbourne.

Stage 3

• writing the Leadership for Transition Manual which was then distributed to all disability employment organisation providing sheltered workshop employment and support to people with disabilities throughout Australia.
• together with clarification of the role and responsibilities of board directors, the manual included an outline of compliance requirements under the Commonwealth Disability Service Act 1986; Commonwealth Corporations Law; transition from sheltered to open/competitive employment environments and the National Disability Services Standards
• a feature of the Manual was a Directors’ Checklist to be used as a self-assessment tool by individual board directors to check aspects of their duties and obligations items about which they felt confident and items about which they needed to know more

the manual was then distributed to all sheltered workshops in Australia.

3.Reference Manual Project, 1994-1995 – researching and writing a manual setting out the roles and responsibilities of voluntary committees of organisations providing disability employment services ranging from open employment to enclaves. This project was carried out in collaboration with (and funded by) the Commonwealth Department of Health and Human Services, Disability Services Division. Throughout the project, I worked closely with the Commonwealth Disability Service Division’s Senior Management.

This project consisted of 3 stages:

Stage 1

• identifying the responsibilities and obligations associated with the funding and service agreement (FASA) between individual disability employment services and the Disability Services Division: the FASA sets out the terms and conditions of funding, in particular the measurable outcomes to be achieved
• facilitating workshops with voluntary committees and managers of disability employment services (2 in Victoria, 1 in New South Wales and 1 in Western Australia) and with departmental officers in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia

Stage 2

• writing the Reference Manual, which included a pull-out flow-chart of the process of negotiating and implementing a funding and service agreement from the perspectives of the Disability Services Division and the funded organisation: the flowchart demonstrated both positive and negative paths
• the manual comprises 13 sections covering the role, responsibilities and relationships of the committee and manager, and includes 4 best practice checklists on (a) participative decision-making, (b) committee member recruiting and orientation, (c) community outreach and (d) introducing business principles and practices

Stage 3

• presenting a national seminar program (covering the 6 states and 2 territories of Australia) to introduce and distribute the Reference Manual to disability service providers and departmental officers
• in all, 24 seminars were held during 1995, with a total attendance of 565 people from approximately 200 disability service providers, with one seminar specifically designed for committee members with intellectual disabilities and another for committee members with psychiatric disorders.

Ongoing action-research

Action-research activity has been a feature of my consultancy and training work with a wide variety of organisations providing services to people living with or affected by difficulty, disadvantage or disability. These are organisations providing ‘needs-based’ services, which involves the process of identifying the needs, interests or aspirations of the client or target group, and the design of services based on such needs analysis that will enhance or improve the life or lifestyle of clients.

This decade of action-research has resulted in the development and refinement of a large number of techniques, tools, checklists and proformas to guide replicability of proven organisation and service models into a variety of consumer groups and cultures.

3 basic models that have significantly contributed to my decade of action- research

My commitment is to a process of empowering individuals and groups by directly involving them in identifying their own needs and choosing the most appropriate and acceptable manner of either addressing or remedying their identified needs. Replicability is a major factor in all of my work.

1.Needs analysis

The first requirement in any action-research project is to identify suitable theoretical models and frameworks which can reliably provide templates against which ‘actual’ as well as ‘hypothetical’ situations can be compared and improvement planned.

In my work as community education officer, I had frequently used Daniel Stufflebeam’s CIPPO Model of Community Needs Assessment and Evaluation which separates and connects the components of context, input, process, product and outcome.

As I moved into my decade of action-research, continuing emphasis was being placed by governments and other funding sources on ‘outcomes’: the language included ‘outcome-based funding’. The message was that the focus had moved from ‘inputs’ to ‘outcomes’. In other words, don’t tell us what you need: rather tell us what benefits you will create in the lives and lifestyles of people in need (ie outcomes) as a result of the way in which you use or apply your inputs.

Then, as the 90′s progressed, we heard more and more about ‘measurable consumer outcomes’. This meant that service providers needed to begin their planning sequence by identifying the nature and extent of improvement or benefit in the life or lifestyle of the consumer that could be achieved by or through a suitably designed program, process or service.

Therefore, while being loyal to Stufflebeam’s CIPPO model, I added an extra ‘O’ by inserting ‘outputs’ into the sequence:

• the context is the state of an organisation at a particular time with a quantifiable resource base. Inputs are additional resources added to the existing resource base. Inputs are then processed into a range of product or service components. Outputs or services, programs, publications, etc., are then provided and offered to consumers. Outcomes are finally the effect of outputs on the life or lifestyle of individual consumers.
• inputs and processes are the means by which products and outputs are created. Products and outputs are the end result of processing inputs within the context of the organisation’s available resources.

By beginning the planning sequence at the outcome stage, an organisation must determine, together with the consumer, the need or gap that is to be addressed or remedied. The organisation can then determine the nature and range of products that need to be processed with existing resources or the nature and range of inputs that need to be obtained to supplement the existing resource base.

By examining the need or gap, a measurable consumer outcome can be agreed between the organisation and the consumer.

2.Organisational Framework

An early requirement in my decade of action-research was an appropriate organisational framework that could be used and offered as a template or ‘knitting pattern’ against which both I and the organisations I was working with could compare existing structures and processes.

My search through available organisational frameworks proved the need for a framework designed particularly for the nonprofit sector, one that included a voluntary committee or board, external funding sources with attached terms and conditions, and the need to design services that would achieve measurable outcomes for service-users.

In the absence of such a model, I designed the RMC Organisational Framework to:

1.emphasise the separation and relationship between, and therefore provide clarity on, the organisation and service within an incorporated organisation

2.demonstrate that one organisation is able to provide a number of services .. which may include revenue-raising activities or commercial enterprises

3.demonstrate the importance of critical success factors in an incorporated nonprofit organisation.

4.demonstrate the relationship between critical success factors and performance indicators in ensuring internal quality management and continuous improvement.

Major components are:

1.Organisational or operating structure
an organisational structure is a formal pattern of relationships within the legal structure, showing how people in all positions of authority within an organisation relate to each other. The formal organisation structure should support and strengthen the organisation’s objects as they are listed in the statement of purposes, ie the purpose for which the organisation has been incorporated, and should demonstrate:

• the nature and extent of authority delegated throughout the organisation
• who is accountable to whom and for what
• how decisions are made, communicated, implemented and evaluated
• how information moves through the organisation.

2.Association or company members – individuals or organisations who are committed to the Statement of purpose and who are fulfilling the requirements for membership as set out in the rules.

3.Committee members or board directors – association or company members elected or appointed to the committee of management or board of directors in accordance with the rules.

The legal duties and obligations of committee members or board directors include:

• fiduciary duties – exercising their powers in the best interests of the association or company and acting in good faith.
• duties of skill and care – exercising their powers with reasonable skill and care
• incorporation regulatory requirements – acting in accordance with the requirements set out in incorporation legislation and the organisation’s rules
• general regulatory requirements – acting in accordance with all other relevant laws, eg industrial relations, occupational health and safety, equal employment opportunity, the environment, taxation, workers’ compensation, superannuation and any legislation pertinent to the purpose for which the association has been incorporated.

4.Committee of Management or Board of Directors – as the governing body, has responsibility to govern the affairs of the legal entity on behalf of all association or company members and in accordance with the rules. The Committee or Board is legally accountable to the body of association or company members for its decisions, actions and obligations on their behalf and in their interest.

The governing body is required to govern according to:

• the laws relat­ing to the organisation as a legal entity and laws relating to the purpose for which the organisation has been established
• he philosophy, objects, rules and by-laws set out in the constitution
• terms, conditions and obligations of legislative, contractual and service agreements
• committee/board-endorsed strategies, policies, procedures, practices and code of ethics

The challenge for the governing body is to ensure the best possible practices in governance, management and operation that ensure the best possible experience and outcomes for consumers.

5.Annual general meeting (AGM)
The annual general meeting is the formal occasion at which the Committee or Board is required to present its annual report on management and operational activities, including an audited, accurate and up-to-date account of the financial performance of the association for the immediate past financial year.

The annual report, a feature of an annual general meeting, is a document of accountability from the governing body to its membership on the year preceding the annual general meeting, and is a statutory requirements under incorporation legislation.

6.Senior staff position. The governing body delegates authority to the CEO/senior staff member to manage the day-to-day operation of the purpose for which the organisation exists (ie the service) within the committee/board-endorsed strategic and policy framework. Together, the committee/board and CEO determine the strategic direction and destiny of the organisation. The CEO is directly accountable to the governing body.

7.Best possible experience for service-users. The committee/board is accountable to the organisation’s members to adopt the ‘best possible practices’ of governance, management and operation in order to ensure and provide the ‘best possible experience’ for clients or consumers of services.

8.Separation of organisation and service. Within this organisational framework, the term ‘organisation’ refers to the legal entity, membership, elected governing body, committee/board structure and process, and the CEO.

The CEO is accountable to the governing body for the management and operation of the agreed service or services through a suitably qualified, experienced and competent body of staff.

9.External funding of the organisation for provision of services
The organisation receives all or part of its revenue from external sources to fund or part-fund the provision of services to a particular consumer group. Where external grants or subsidies are received or contracts negotiated, they are frequently made on the basis of a negotiated funding, service or contractual agreement which sets out the terms, conditions and requirements of the organisation, and the nature and scope of support available from, the funding source.

There may be a requirement of the organisation to ensure that particular service standards are met and maintained in the provision of the funded service/s.

10.The CEO is the critical link between the organisation and the service
The governing body is dependent upon information provided to it by the CEO in making decisions on behalf of the total organisation – decisions for which committee/board members are directly and legally accountable. It is critical therefore that committee/board members ensure that the CEO provides adequate, accurate and up-to-date information regarding the operational activity and financial viability of the organisation and the service.

It is only through the proper utilisation of this critical link that the services provided by the organisation can be maintained to a level that provides a best possible experience for the consumers of the organisation’s services.

In assessing the performance of the CEO, it is crucial that the governing body (together with the CEO) determine critical success factors and performance indicators.

11.Critical success factors
A critical success factor is a key factor which, if not functioning or operating to the desired level of quality, effectiveness and performance, may place the organisation at risk.

When formally identified and positioned, critical success factors can be monitored to ensure successful processes, procedures and outcomes: and form the basis for quality management and continuous improvement of the organisation’s affairs and activities.

12.Comparison with best practices
In the process of introducing total quality control, each critical success factor should be analysed for comparison with best practices in identical or similar organisations or environments. Continuous improvement to strengthen or ensure the satisfactory achievement of each critical success factor is a basic character­istic of total quality management.

In order to review and introduce best possible practices, benchmarking can be adopted after recognising the nature or extent of change needed to ensure continuous improvement.

13.Performance indicators
As well as adopting a set of critical success factors, the governing body and CEO should adopt an appropriate set of internal performance indicators to measure and ensure the quality of functions and service-provision within the total organisation.

A performance indicator is an agreed standard against which success can be measured. Performance indicators should be established, introduced into the internal reporting procedures and used to ensure and maintain continuous improvement.

Performance indicators should facilitate the governing body’s judgement on the extent to which the organisation’s objectives are being achieved. Progress against the internal performance indicators should be registered monthly and included in the CEO’s reports to the governing body.

3.Quality maturity

Towards the end of my decade of action-research, I recognised the need to address the issue of job satisfaction for committee members and board directors. A key factor in job satisfaction is effectiveness. A committee member of board director may well ask this question – “Am I making an effective contribution to this organisation through my efforts and performance as a committee member or board director?”

On this matter, I turned to Quality Maturity Grid (Philip Crosby & Associates) a 5-stage Quality Management Maturity Grid, with language that relates specifically to the manufacturing industry. Philip Crosby details this Grid in his highly regarded book Quality is Free – the art of making quality certain (Author, Philip B Crosby: Publisher, McGraw Hill, 1979).

Philip Crosby’s 5-Stage Quality Maturity Grid

Stage 5: Certainty
Stage 4: Wisdom
Stage 3: Enlightenment
Stage 2: Awakening
Stage 1: Uncertainty

In choosing to work with this Grid, individual companies do not assume that they are at Stage 1: they carefully identify the stage that demonstrates their operational performance – and then commence a planned progression to or toward Stage 5.

On achieving Stage 5, the challenge is to ensure continuous improvement in their processes and products that consistently attain and reflect the Stage 5 attributes.

In looking for a model to use in developing a Committee/Board performance tool, I have adapted Philip Crosby’s 5-Stage Quality Maturity Management Grid in developing the 5 Levels of Quality Maturity in Nonprofit Committee of Management Performance.

5 Levels of Quality Maturity in Committee of Management Performance

Level 5: Entrepreneurial activity
Level 4: Quality definitions and methods
Level 3: Risk management, risk avoidance
Level 2: Performance improvement
Level 1: Role, Responsibilities, Relationships

Level 1 is the entry point for committee members and board directors to discuss among themselves and agree which level of quality maturity demonstrates their current level of performance as the governing body in their legal entity. Obviously, without confidence and competence in Level 1 attributes, it is extremely difficult for a committee or board to plan improvement in the quality of their own performance.

Each Level through to Level 5 indicates an increasing maturity and consistency in:

1. quality of committee performance, and
2. levels of committee member confidence and competence.

As with companies choosing to work with Philip Crosby’s model, the challenge for a committee or board, on reaching Level 5, is to ensure continuous improvement in the performance of their governance duties and obligations to ensure the planning and delivery of services that are consistent with Level 5 quality attributes.

Continuous improvement of service provision is in line with the RMC Organisational Framework’s emphasis on ensuring the best possible practices to ensure the best possible experience and outcomes for consumers – and with outcome-based planning based on Stufflebeam’s CIPPO (with the extra O) model.

Philip Crosby’s language can be translated into nonprofit terms:

Philip Crosby’s terms
Management understanding and attitude =Attitude and behaviour of governance and management
Quality organisation status = How quality and quality improvement are regarded within the organisation
Problem handling = The manner and extent to which problems or risks are anticipated and therefore either (1) avoided or (2) managed if and when they do occur
Cost of quality as % of sales = Cost effectiveness and cost efficiencies in terms of the real cost of service planning and service delivery
Quality improvement actions = Planned and resourced activity toward quality improvement within the organisation
Summation of company quality posture = One sentence to sum up the overall attitude within the organisation to the relevance and importance of quality

Reviewing the experience with and benefits of action-research

The CIPPOO and RMC Organisational Framework models have been trialed and refined by more than 100 nonprofit organisations in Australia: in fact I am often surprised to find them quoted back to me as being both useful and appropriate. More lately, the Quality Maturity Model is being introduced and trialed in a number of nonprofit organisations in Tasmania.

In brief, the CIPPOO model ensures that planning starts with the consumer: the Organisational Framework provides a template to design a new organisation or to compare an existing one: and the Quality Maturity Grid provides a continuous quality improvement model based on committee or board effectiveness in its governance duties and responsibilities.

Collectively, they provide a proven structure and process to ensure that an entrepreneurial initiative will improve the lives and lifestyles of people living under difficult circumstances in practical terms.

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