Dr. TL Hill, Associate Professor of Strategic Management and Managing Director of Fox Management Consulting at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, presented “Build, Buy, or Sell: Applying Strategic Thinking to the Next Step of Wealth Creation” to minority business owners and entrepreneurs. During the session, Hill presented a strategic framework to guide business owners through an evaluation process. By proactively researching, analyzing and monitoring specific industry and market factors, business leaders can make informed decisions about the best next step, whether it’s investing towards organic growth, acquiring another business or selling to a firm better positioned to address market realities.

The presentation highlights three options for using profit to meet goals:

• Build: Reinvest in sales and operations – organic growth
• Buy:   New opportunities or capabilities – inorganic growth
• Sell:   Take out as dividends – whether to spend, save, give away or invest outside of the business

It also provides a framework for business owners to evaluate numerous aspects of their business and industry, including but not limited to:

• the type of wealth they are creating, such as human capital or financial capital, for example
• underlying business challenges they are facing
• where in the chain of commerce their business operates
• aggressiveness and strength of competitors