Form 2016 ASC Business 2016 ASC Business 2016 ASC Business Management Practices Module

Draft of Management Module for 2015 Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs 10-08-2015 v2

1. In 2015, what best describes what happened at this business when a service or production problem arose?

Examples: Finding a quality defect in a product or piece of equipment breaking down.

• We fixed it but did not take further action

• We fixed it and took action to make sure that it did not happen again

• We fixed it and took action to make sure that it did not happen again, and had a continuous improvement process to anticipate problems liked these in advance

• No action was taken

2. In 2015, how many key performance indicators were monitored at this business?

Examples: Metrics on sales, production, cost, quality, inventory, customer satisfaction, absenteeism and deliveries on time.

• 1-2 key performance indicators

• 3-9 key performance indicators

• 10 or more key performance indicators

• No key performance indicators

3. During 2015, how frequently were the key performance indicators reviewed at this business?

• Yearly

• Quarterly

• Monthly

• Weekly

• Daily

• Hourly or more frequently

• Never

4. In 2015, what best describes the time frame of business, service, or production targets at this business?

Examples of business, service, or production targets are: number of customers, production, quality, efficiency, waste, on-time delivery.

• Main focus was on short term (less than one year) targets

• Main focus was on long term (one year or more) targets

• Combination of short-term and long-term targets

• No targets

5. If YES to any of the above in Question 4: In 2015, how easy or difficult was it for this business to achieve its service or production targets?

• Possible to achieve without much effort

• Possible to achieve with some effort

• Possible to achieve with normal amount of effort

• Possible to achieve with more than normal effort

• Possible to achieve with extraordinary effort

6. In 2015, what was the primary way employees were promoted at this business?

• Promotions were based solely on performance and ability

• Promotions were based partly on performance and ability and partly on other factors (for example, tenure or family connections)

• Promotions were based mainly on factors other than performance and ability (for example, tenure or family connections)

• Employees are not normally promoted

7. In 2015, when was an under-performing employee reassigned or dismissed?

• Within 6 months of identifying employee under-performance

• After 6 months of identifying employee under-performance

• Rarely or never

Use of alternate forms of labor

8. In 2015, which of the following types of workers were used by this business? Select all that apply.

• Full-time paid employees

• Part-time paid employees

• Paid by day laborers

• Temporary staffing obtained from a temporary help service

• Leased employees from a leasing service or a professional employer organization

• Contractors, subcontractors, independent contractors, or outside consultants

• None of the above

9. In 2015, on average how intensive was the use of {day laborers/temporary/leased/contractors} for the business?

• Less than half of workers.

• About half of workers.

• More than half of workers.

10. In 2015, how much overlap is there in the types of tasks performed by paid employees with the types of tasks performed by {day laborers/temporary/leased/contractors}?

• No overlap, the tasks are completely separate.

• Some overlap.

• Significant overlap.

• Complete overlap.

Record Keeping

11. In 2015, did your business have record-keeping for any of the following activities (Select all that apply):

• Sales

• Purchases

• Personnel

• Finance

12. If YES to any of the above in Question 9: In 2015, what was the main format of record-keeping for this business?

• Paper

• General purpose software (for example spreadsheet)

• Software designed for record-keeping

13. In 2015, did your business use data from record-keeping to make any of the following decisions (Select all that apply):

• Design of new products or services

• Forecasting demand for products or services

• Supply chain management