The Nine-Week Business Diet: How Any Company Can Become Fit and Trim in Hard Times

Marc Portelance is a graduate business student and researcher at
Laurentian University.

This book’s purpose is to “guide companies back to total health and
full strength through practical strategies.” The author, a business
reporter, likens a business to the average individual. At some point,
the precepts of a healthy lifestyle are left behind, only to resurface
to the conscious level upon a visit to the bathroom scale or when
passing a full-length mirror. An honest look at oneself may reveal a
flabby midriff, the result of years of excess. We are encouraged to
assess a business in the same manner.

The author does not advocate a crash diet for businesses. Rather, he
proposes a diet that shows “the potential for sleekness and vigor that
exists within [the] operation and helps [the] company achieve true
fitness.” The way to achieve this is to establish a fitness/business
plan, examining every facet of the business’s life to gain a better
understanding of the present state of affairs.

The next step examines the quality imperative—finding new ways to
incorporate quality in the business’s lifestyle. Then, the environment
becomes the focus point—the need for good support, internally by the
choice of personnel, and externally by finding a good accountant,
banker, and consultants; by joining industry groups or trade
associations; and by using the resources that the government has put at
our disposal.

Any evolution in the marketplace must also be considered. Price and
added value become important in retaining the company’s share of the
market. In ensuring corporate long-term health, it may be necessary to
take drastic measures—herein called “corporate liposuction” and
often called “downsizing” elsewhere—but such measures should be
entertained only after a proper evaluation of the company. Finally,
there should be no increase in size unless the market conditions so
dictate. A case study encourages the reader to put the “diet” into
practice.

Rowan’s manner of presenting the subject is engaging, and readers may
well be encouraged to apply the regimen to their personal as well as
corporate physiques.