Faculty of Engineering, Environment, and Computing

Faculty of Computing and Information Systems

GTUA 305IAE: HIGH-TECH ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Group 2:

MEMBERS:

John Nantomah Tia 050919028

David Okyere Agyakwa 050919036

Philip Worlanyo Amevuvor 0501200008

Akpobolokemi Ziakede 0501200014

LECTURER: MR. ISAAC AMOAH-AHINFUL

NOVEMBER 2022
As a consultancy business, my team have come up with ideas to aid AMS on what to do and how
to go about it. We initially assessed the difficulties that surfaced from our first conversation with
the firm’s leaders and came up with reasons why the company needed to adopt our strategy for
their operation.

1. INABILITY TO ADAPT TO TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION IN E-COMMERCE.

Technology currently advances at dizzying pace. While employees coming into the business fresh
out of college are often up-to-date and experienced with employing the newest technology, CEOs
of all ages need to adapt, too, and here are three reasons why.

Competitive Advantage

Adopting new technologies affords corporate leaders the competitive advantage. This is true not
only on a personal and professional level, but also for their company as a whole. An CEO who can
properly comprehend and use the newest development in technology affords him or herself an
edge over other executives.

According to the Harvard Business Review, firms that establish a competitive advantage are no
longer exceptional at doing just one thing. Instead, the firms that are stepping out in front and
keeping ahead of their rivals are those that learn to adapt to new advancements as well as innovate
to stay ahead of the competition.

Avoid Possible Extinction

When a firm doesn’t adapt to change, especially in technology, it may lead to the demise of the
business. Consider Kodak and Nokia — corporations that pioneered the photographic film and
mobile phone sectors, respectively.

Formerly digital technology took over for image capturing, Kodak’s formerly powerful and
growing firm crumbled. The company was driven to petition for bankruptcy restructuring.
Similarly, when the iPhone was released, Nokia lost its foothold as the leader in the mobile phone
business.

Prevent Potential Financial Loss

Executives who do not encourage their workers and company executives to adapt to new
technology can cause the organization to decline from its existing positions. While the corporation
may not go out of business totally, it can cause a leader in an industry to suffer a loss of profits
and reputation.

Adapting to the utilization of new technology could have quite the opposite influence on a
corporation and its standing in the industry. Consider a firm like Hewlett-Packard. HP starts off in
the audio oscillator section. It wasn’t until the 1960’s and 1970’s that it started to seem like the
computer company it is today. Following significant technology improvement, it shifted again in
the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s as it migrated into the printer, storage, and services sectors of computers.
Change is inevitable. Those that keep themselves and their organizations updated on what’s
happening in the business and have procedures in place to adapt, have the greatest possibility to
develop and prosper.

2. WRONG INVESTMENT OF FUNDS

Not Understanding the Investment

One of the world's most successful investors, Warren Buffett, recommends against investing in
organizations whose business strategy you don't grasp. The simplest strategy to avoid this is to
establish a diversified portfolio of exchange traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds. If you do
purchase in individual stocks, make sure you adequately grasp each business those stocks represent
before you invest.

Lack of Patience

A modest and steady strategy to portfolio growth will yield bigger returns in the long run.
Expecting a portfolio to do anything other than what it is designed to do is a formula for calamity.
This suggests you need to keep your expectations moderate with regard to the timetable for
portfolio growth and returns.

Too Much Investment Turnover

Turnover, or jumping in and out of employment, is another return killer. Unless you're an
institutional investor with the advantage of low commission rates, the transaction charges may eat
you alive—not to mention the short-term tax rates and the opportunity cost of missing out on the
long-term advantages of alternative assets.

Attempting to Time the Market

Trying to time the market also kills returns. Successfully timing the market is exceedingly tricky.
Even institutional investors often fail to do it properly. A well-known study, "Determinants of
Portfolio Performance" (Financial Analysts Journal, 1986), done by Gary P. Brinson, L. Randolph
Hood, and Gilbert L. Beebower covered American pension fund performance. This research
indicated that, on average, nearly 94% of the volatility in returns over time was explained by the
investment policy decision.

In layperson's terms, this means that most of a portfolio's performance can be explained by the
asset allocation decisions you make, not by time or even securities selection.

Failing to Diversify

While experienced investors may be able to achieve alpha (or extra return above a benchmark) by
investing in a few concentrated positions, average individuals should not do this. It is important to
cling to the concept of variety. In constructing an exchange traded fund (ETF) or mutual fund
portfolio, it's crucial to allocate exposure to all significant spaces. In constructing an individual
stock portfolio, include all essential industries. As a general rule of thumb, do not allocate more
than 5% to 10% to any one investment.

How to Avoid These Mistakes

Below are some more strategies to prevent these typical blunders and keep a firm on track.

Develop a Plan of Action

Proactively establish where you are in the investing life cycle, what your objectives are, and how
much you need to invest to get there. If you don't feel qualified to accomplish this, locate a
trustworthy financial planner.
Also, remember why you are investing your money, and you will be encouraged to save more and
may find it simpler to decide the correct allocation for your portfolio. Temper your expectations
to past market returns. Do not expect your portfolio to make you wealthy quickly. A steady, long-
term investing plan over time is what will develop wealth.

Put Your Plan on Automatic

As your income rises, you may wish to add more. Monitor your investments. At the end of every
year, review your investments and their performance. Determine whether your equity-to-fixed-
income ratio should stay the same or change based on where you are in life.

Limit your losses to your principal (do not sell calls on stocks you don't own, for instance).

Be prepared to lose 100% of your investment.

Choose and stick to a pre-determined limit to determine when you will walk away.

The Bottom Line

Mistakes are part of the investing process. Knowing what they are, when you're committing them,
and how to prevent them can help you thrive as an investor. To avoid repeating the errors above,
make a deliberate, methodical approach, and stay with it. If you must do something risky, set aside
some fun money that you are fully prepared to lose. Follow these guidelines, and you will be well
on your way to building a portfolio that will provide many happy returns over the long term.

3. NON-PAYMENT OF TAXES

The Income Tax Act 2015 (Act 896) as modified specified what constitutes a tax offense, as well
as the penalties, fines, interest, and/or legal action that may be brought against the perpetrator.
(Application, 2022)

There are two types of sanctions.

Crimes that incur financial implications include: These infractions generally come under the
Commissioner General's administrative jurisdiction, which authorizes him to assess fines for
breaches of the tax law. The financial penalties are in addition to the original tax obligation and do
not free a person from lawful criminal prosecution. (Application, 2022)

Crimes that carry prison time, or both jail time and financial penalties: Depending on the scenario,
the taxpayer may still face a criminal prosecution. In addition to monetary fines, the court regularly
imposes this penalty as well. (Application, 2022)

The Ghanaian penalty system is primarily depending on the taxpayer's degree of accountability for
his tax commitments. The amount of accountability ranges from a purposeful commitment to
decrease tax burden to haphazardly drafting tax forms and keeping records. Therefore, when
computing their taxes and filling tax forms, individuals are advised to take prudence. (Application,
2022)

4. POOR MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Poor management tactics may provide a miserable job experience for everyone. Let's take a look
at five of these behaviors, why they're terrible for employee engagement and corporate culture,
and how you can spot them before too much damage is done.

Poor management practices, and how to correct them

Focusing on punitive measures

While punishing approaches may deliver short-term effects, they mostly inspire hostility and fear.
Over the long term, it doesn't pay off.

Teams generally aren't at fault when they don't fulfill the objectives that have been set for them.
Sometimes they're not provided the resources they need to attain their objectives; other times, the
goals are excessively ambitious.
Instead of concentrating on penalizing workers who don't behave in accordance with the standards
they've established or fail to accomplish their objectives, effective managers try to uncover where
their own performance might improve.

Not accepting diversity

The lack of diversity in modern industry is particularly common among IT enterprises and startups.
As much as it is an important social issue, diversity is also a commercial concern

When managers chose to hire and train homogenous teams, they're missing out on a big strategic
advantage. A business with team members who all look, think, and act alike are at heightened risk
of failing. The greater skill set and viewpoint of a diverse group of smart folks is a huge value
whether pushed with difficulty, or supplied with opportunity. You may widen the viewpoint and
the skills of your company by actively seeking out and embracing diversity.

Keeping a distance

Dr. Andre A. de Waal, MBA, Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the Maastricht
School of Management, and Academic Director of the HPO Center explains how bad managers
are perpetually "busy" and "involved in many, many projects; in fact, they're so busy that there
isn't enough time to work on regular tasks!"

Managers have a duty to their staff to be available and helpful. This doesn't imply they should
remain on-call perpetually (managers are similarly subject to imbalance), but it is vital to create
those chances for engagement with the team. When managers are too busy to deliver that, they're
doing their companies a disservice.

Freezing with hesitation

Although it's necessary to offer workers the liberty they need in order to perform their best job, it's
as important for them to have a feeling that someone is driving the bus, and that person is excellent
at what they do.

Part of a manager’s duty is to make choices; this is one of the reasons why they earn more money
than other personnel. Managers who are either unwilling to assume responsibility or are fearful of
the repercussions of decision making are perceived as useless by staff.
The takeaway

Management is an enormously demanding career, yet it can be tremendously rewarding. By

avoiding some of these fundamental errors and continually trying to improve, anybody can be a
great manager.

5. REDUCTION IN WORKING CAPITAL

Many firms that narrowly escaped the Great Recession now have the unenviable duty of supporting
the recovery. Early in a recession, the poorest prospects frequently fall, but many marginal
enterprises survive because a bank declined to step in. The smaller enterprises may find it hard to
acquire the required finance now that the recovery has begun. 2011 (SDykstra) (SDykstra)
(SDykstra)

The greatest and frequently cheapest source of cash for your firm already exists on your balance
sheet in the form of delayed working capital. The difference between inventories and accounts
receivable minus payables is referred to as working capital. 2011 (SDykstra) (SDykstra)
(SDykstra)

Following are 6 strategies for decreasing your working capital:

Measured results are attained. Make sure to monitor your company's operating capital and take
action when it is reduced.

A sale is paid for up until the money is collected. Pay attention to the conditions of your clients'
payments and keep a watch out for late payments. Accept the role of the bank for your consumers.

Certain consumers are not worth it. An unproductive customer that makes late payments may not
be worth keeping around.

Become a decent person. Ask your suppliers for longer payment arrangements.
Reduce your inventory. Implement a more effective inventory management system to minimize
overproduction.

Increase the amount of times you invoice. Reduce the amount of continuous work, especially for
firms that supply professional services. Consider sending out more frequent invoices to your
consumers, or "charge early and bill frequently."

Business leaders need to focus immediately to make sure they are running successfully, giving
value to consumers, and making the most of their limited financial base. At least just as crucial as
sales growth is profit growth.

The moment has come for corporate leaders to focus their efforts on operating their businesses
effectively, delivering consumers value, and making the most out of their limited financial
resources. Put at least as much attention on profit growth as you do on sales growth.

References
Authority, G. R., 2022. Tax Offences and Penalties.

Chaluvadi, S., 2022. 4 Tips to Avoid Bad Investments. Scripbox.

Lavoie, A., 2016. Here Are 4 Problems That Occur With Poor Management Skills.

Patel, V., 2022. 4 Startup Funding Challenges and How to Overcome Them.

SDykstra, 2011. 6 TIPS FOR REDUCING WORKING CAPITAL IN YOUR BUSINESS.