Forging Ahead In Business - free ebook by Alexander Hamilton Institute (U.S.)

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Forging Ahead In Business

Alexander Hamilton Institute (U.S.)

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THE LAW OF SUCCESS

THE LAW OF SUCCESS

During the winter of 1883 a slim, studious young man was working as assistant foreman in a greasy little machine shop at Aurora, Illinois. He was saving money with a view to spending the next year at the State University, and he was devoting every minute of his spare time to thought and reading. He was not making much of a stir in the world, and only a few of his close friends ever gave a second thought to his ambitions or prospects. One of these friends was a newspaper reporter, a recent Harvar

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The name

The name

In selecting the name, it was agreed that none could be so suitable as that of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton is perhaps chiefly remembered for his masterly statesmanship; but he was equally conspicuous as soldier, financier, author, organizer and practical economist. He was without doubt the greatest manager ever employed by the United States Government. When he became the first Secretary of the Treasury, he found a chaotic government, without money, without credit, and without organization. He s

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The plan

The plan

The Modern Business Course and Service is a systematic, time-saving method of bringing to any man's office or home that business knowledge and training which he needs, but which he cannot acquire through his own experience. It is designed for the benefit of two groups of men: It is intended, in general, for the men who are looking and moving ahead; for live, keen-witted, energetic men; for men who are not satisfied to remain in the ranks or in subordinate positions. These men may or may not have

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The organization

The organization

The Modern Business Course and Service is conducted by an organization made up of business and professional men and of university specialists in business subjects. Inasmuch as such an institution derives its strength almost wholly from the men who are identified with it, a complete list of these men, with brief biographical notes to show who they are and what they have accomplished, is given in Chapter VII, on pages 97 to 118. The Institute organization consists of four groups: Business and educ

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Subjects covered

Subjects covered

The Modern Business Course and Service brings to a subscriber the essential business knowledge that he does not acquire in his own experience. The subject matter of the Course and Service is treated under the following 24 heads:...

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Simple, elastic, workable

Simple, elastic, workable

The Modern Business Course and Service covers the essential subjects on which every business man should be well informed. When an enrolment is accepted, the Institute undertakes, 1. To supply the subscriber with the Modern Business Text—the most complete and best organized treatment of business principles and practice that has yet been produced. 2. To guide and illuminate his reading of the Text by a series of Modern Business Talks. 3. To bring him into touch with the ideas and methods of some o

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1—Text

1—Text

The basis of the Course and Service is a series of twenty-four text-books prepared under the careful supervision of its editors, assisted by well-known authorities. In some cases the latter appear as authors, in others as collaborators in the preparation of the Texts. Dean Joseph French Johnson is Editor-in-Chief of the Course. The managing editor is Dr. Roland P. Falkner. Associated with them is a large editorial staff which takes an active share in the writing and preparation of the Course. Th

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2—Talks

2—Talks

The Modern Business Talks, which are sent fortnightly, are informal discussions of the principles treated in the Text. As the name indicates, these Talks bring up many specific points and cases, and show more clearly why and how the underlying principles of scientific business should be applied. They are particularly direct, practical and stimulating. Their periodic visits serve to keep every subscriber in touch with the Institute Staff and alive to the importance of following the Course systema

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3—Lectures

3—Lectures

The written Modern Business Lectures, which are sent to subscribers monthly during the two-year Course, have been especially prepared for the Institute by eminent business executives, publicists and accountants, and reflect the experience of these men in successfully handling business problems. They are intended, first, to show how these men have actually applied the principles discussed in the Modern Business Course; second, to give further information as to large and highly developed business

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4—Problems

4—Problems

One of the strongest features of the Course is the series of twenty-four Problems—such problems as accountants, financiers, bankers and business managers meet in practice—especially prepared for the Course by members of the Institute Staff. Each Problem is a carefully worded statement of all the essential factors in some business situation; in other words, the situation is presented and described just as it might be in the report of a subordinate official to the head of a business enterprise. Th

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5—Monthly Letter on Business Conditions

5—Monthly Letter on Business Conditions

A business executive must have a knowledge of the fundamental principles relating to the internal organization and management of a business. He should also have a basis of judging those external business conditions over which no one group of men has control, but to the trend of which every line of business must be adjusted in order to gain the maximum of profit and suffer the minimum of loss. The results of these studies are presented to the business man in a clear and concise manner in the Mont

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6—Financial and Trade Reviews

6—Financial and Trade Reviews

The Financial and Trade Reviews are issued monthly by our Bureau of Business Conditions and are designed to cover in a timely and interesting fashion the activities in the security market by analyzing individual and group securities and by presenting statistics on prices and earnings of standard stocks and bonds. The Reviews cover the production and price trends of basic commodities and matters of interest in foreign fields. Leading articles deal with current events of note and interest to the b

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7—Modern Business Reports

7—Modern Business Reports

The Modern Business Reports are written by professional and trade experts and members of the Institute Staff, and cover both important business problems of general interest and technical subjects relating to Accounting, Sales, Office Methods, Merchandising, Production and other specialized departments. From time to time a descriptive list of these Reports is sent to each subscriber. From these lists the subscriber may choose four Reports at any time during the two-year period of his enrolment. T

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8—Service

8—Service

The reading matter of the Modern Business Course is in itself of remarkable value; subscribers have told us over and over again that one volume, or sometimes one pamphlet, or one Report, has brought them ideas worth vastly more than the fee for the Course and Service. This value is largely enhanced by the fact that back of the reading matter there is an organization of men who are anxious to cooperate in every way possible with each subscriber. This organization is equipped to render service at

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The four great activities of business

The four great activities of business

There are four fundamental activities in every business—Production, Marketing, Financing, and Accounting. On the following page you will see the whole field of business charted in such a way as to show clearly the relation of various business activities to each other. Economics, the study of business conditions and business policies, is the hub of all business activity. Radiating from it are the four grand divisions of business—Production, Marketing, Financing, Accounting. These in turn are subd

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A Survey of Modern Business Science

A Survey of Modern Business Science

All business activities may be classified under Production, Marketing, Financing and Accounting. For purposes of systematic study, each of these may be subdivided as shown above. In addition, there are two important forces which control business—Man and Government. For that reason a discussion of the relation between "Business and the Man" and "Business and the Government" naturally forms a part of the survey of modern business. The first two and the last two assignments in the Modern Business C

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Only half ready

Only half ready

Some years ago two young men of unusual promise graduated from a prominent School of Mines and went to work for a big copper company as full-fledged mining engineers. They were located at an isolated camp, remote from civilization, and were given every chance to make good the prediction made for them at the time of graduation. These men soon proved that they knew a great deal about the mining of copper. Their advancement was rapid, and within a comparatively short time one of them was appointed

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The kind of men enrolled

The kind of men enrolled

Presidents of big corporations are often enrolled for the Modern Business Course and Service along with ambitious younger men in their employ. Among the 145,000 subscribers are such men as: These men, and thousands of other Institute subscribers, know that a study of the principles which have brought unusual success to other men increases their own capacity for further achievement. Great business organizations Officers, department heads and juniors of a large number of important companies are en

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Where do you belong?

Where do you belong?

You are a member of one or the other of these two groups: (1) those who have "arrived" (2) those who are on their way toward success. There is, to be sure, a third group which unfortunately constitutes an overwhelming majority, the group made up of purposeless drifters who have no special ambitions and usually little native ability. To this group the Institute has nothing to offer. They might refuse indignantly to sign a contract to work for the next ten years at the same salary they are now rec

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Your gains

Your gains

You may ask: " What can the Institute do for me? " The answer to your question is outlined in the "Chart of the Modern Business Course and Service" which is printed on page 49 . That Chart shows how the organized knowledge about business principles and business practice which has been collected and classified by the Alexander Hamilton Institute is transmitted to subscribers through the eight features of the Course and Service—Text, Talks, Lectures, Problems, Monthly Letters, Financial and Trade

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Better understanding

Better understanding

A man cannot go far in business unless he thinks . And he must not only think, but think straight. His conclusions must be based on sound principles. Unless a man is thinking along right lines, he will have little initiative, and his judgment will be poor. The necessity for every live business man to understand the principles upon which modern business is based cannot be overstated. The Modern Business Course and Service gives that understanding. It illuminates points that were obscure and it an

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Increased confidence

Increased confidence

A great many men accomplish less than their abilities and energy entitle them to accomplish, simply because they do not feel sure of themselves. The boldest man alive becomes uncertain and timid in the face of unfamiliar difficulties. The man who follows the Modern Business Course and Service becomes acquainted at close range with business difficulties as well as with tried methods of overcoming them; he learns how to tackle such difficulties and goes forward without fear or misgivings. The seri

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Quicker decisions

Quicker decisions

Is the ability to decide things quickly an inborn faculty? No, it is largely a habit of mind which anyone may cultivate in himself. However, we must bear in mind that it is necessary not only to decide quickly; there must be very few mistakes. This requires a mind that is trained to grasp a situation and to think accurately as well as rapidly. The secret of quick and accurate decision is knowledge of principles. If a man knows what principle applies in handling a given case, he has no difficulty

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What decision meant to this man

What decision meant to this man

A young man, whose name we are not at liberty to give, told us of a dramatic incident which illustrates the value that keen business men attach to preparedness and quick decisions. Up to about a year ago this young man was head accountant for his company. The Board of Directors had been in session about an hour one afternoon when a messenger came to his desk and told him that he was wanted in the board room. As he entered the room the president snapped at him, "Would you advise us to issue a blo

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More leisure

More leisure

The secret of leisure is not to do less work, but to organize work so that a greater volume can be handled in less time. No active man wishes to cut down his productive efforts. A great many men, however, are so tied to their business tasks by detail and routine that they have little time or energy left for constructive thought. Frequently they do not get enough recreation and physical exercise to keep them in prime condition. As a result, they are frittering away the best years of their life in

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Cutting out the details

Cutting out the details

It is necessarily true in all such cases that many of the over-busy man's duties recur day after day. They are of a semi-routine nature and could be made wholly routine by giving the proper instructions to some one else. In other words, this is a problem of organization similar to that of organizing a factory, a store, or a body of men. The principles that are discussed in the Modern Business Course and Service apply to an individual just as well as to a company. A man can organize his desk very

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Increased ability to handle men

Increased ability to handle men

There are just two factors that determine a man's competence to direct the work of other men: 1. His superior knowledge of the work in hand. 2. His ability to command respect. As a matter of fact, the second factor is almost wholly included in the first. The man who really knows what he is talking about always commands respect. The man who is largely a "bluff," no matter how "magnetic" or forceful his personality, is soon found out and retired in favor of the man of smaller pretensions, but more

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Larger income and success

Larger income and success

As the diagram on page 49 indicates, the seven direct aids which subscribers obtain from the Modern Business Course and Service are: All of these aids to personal efficiency are bound to result in increased income and greater success. Even though a man should gain only slightly in any one of the seven qualities named, he would become a far better business man. He would either advance in position or expand his business—in either case raising himself to a higher level of income and success. The ef

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For the woman in business

For the woman in business

The Modern Business Course and Service makes the same appeal to the business woman as it does to the business man. Consequently a number of women are enrolled for it. Among these women are: Mrs. E. M. Simon, President, R. &amp; H. Simon Company, Union Hill, New Jersey Miss Sara F. Jones, Mgr. Woman's Dept., Equitable Life Assurance Society, Chicago, Illinois Mrs. M. K. Alexander, Solicitor, Equitable Life Assurance Society, Chicago, Illinois Miss Mary R. Cass, Manager, F. N. Burt Company, Bu

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Make your decision

Make your decision

Certain objections may occur to you: You have other uses for your money— No doubt; yet none of them is as necessary to your successful business career as the Modern Business Course and Service. You are too busy— Everybody who amounts to anything is busy; yet never "too busy" to acquire knowledge so important as this. You have a debt to pay off, or a trip to take, or you would rather "think it over—" These arguments are unsound from every point of view. No man, in justice to himself, or to those

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Business and the Man

Business and the Man

The most important thing in business is the human element—you. Every man must have real ambition, high ideals, and a definite goal in mind before even a correct knowledge of business principles will help him to more than a half-way success. The purpose of this first section of the Course is to discuss the viewpoint of the successful business man in an inspiring way, so that you may be inspired yourself and so that you may be able to inspire others about you. "Scientific training for business" is

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Economics—the Science of Business

Economics—the Science of Business

Economics is the foundation stone upon which the science of business is built. It underlies all business just as mathematics underlies all branches of engineering. It is the basic subject of the Course, and its general principles should be thoroughly understood before taking up the subjects treated later. The book is written for the general reader, who has little or no knowledge of economic theory. It gives a clear idea of the business problems and forces with which business men deal and enables

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Business Organization

Business Organization

If you are in business for yourself, or in some way become interested in a growing business, there is nothing that is of greater interest than your rights and the rights of other men who are in the concern. The application of the correct principles of production, marketing, financing and accounting are necessary to insure success, as they determine the profits of the business as a whole. Every man goes into business to secure more income for himself, and the amount of his own income will depend,

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Plant Management

Plant Management

Modern management of industrial plants is characterized by planning and system. Old processes and old methods no longer command respect because they are old. They have been subjected to searching analysis in the hope of finding better ways of doing things. We look today not for the history, but for the reasons of every phase of plant management. This is our aspect of the general industrial changes which have transformed modern industry and made it a high-powered productive instrument. It is not

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Marketing and Merchandising

Marketing and Merchandising

There are three different kinds of things that must be considered by everyone who has anything to sell. One group of considerations has to do only with personal salesmanship and sales management. Another has to do only with advertising. Still a third is concerned solely neither with personal salesmanship nor with advertising, but is common to both. Before an effective force of salesmen can be selected and trained and an advertising campaign mapped out, the plan behind the personal selling and ad

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Salesmanship and Sales Management

Salesmanship and Sales Management

There is no subject which is more universally interesting to everyone in business than selling. Salesmanship in its broadest sense is essentially the selling of one's point of view, the ability to start with the other fellow's point of view and lead his mind to accept yours. When an individual endeavors to influence another, he is practising salesmanship. In this broad sense, everyone will profit by a knowledge of the principles of salesmanship and selling methods. In this portion of the Modern

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Advertising Principles

Advertising Principles

Considering the large number of progressive concerns entering the field of advertising each year, and profiting thereby, the average business man's lack of knowledge concerning advertising principles is lamentable. Few have any ability either to write or to judge copy, and almost all are at a loss to deal intelligently with the printer. This section of the Course discusses the various classes of copy divided according to the results each is designed to accomplish. The value of word tone in writi

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Office Administration

Office Administration

It is only in recent years that individual business enterprises outside of the manufacturing field have grown to such importance as to bring a large number of employes under one management. Today the problems of the office are no less urgent than those of the shop. Office administration is in some respects like, in other respects unlike, plant management. It is alike in that it pursues the same ideals of efficiency. It is unlike in that machines and equipment fall into the background and the hum

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Accounting Principles

Accounting Principles

As business becomes more complex we are more and more dependent upon accounting methods to show us the trend of the individual business in which we are interested. Hence a knowledge of accounting principles is indispensable. Yet, even among experienced bookkeepers, comparatively few have a clear understanding of the principles which underlie all correct methods of keeping financial records. This section of the Course, therefore, starts with a clear explanation of the fundamental principles of bo

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Credit and Collections

Credit and Collections

When a bill of goods is sold, the transaction is by no means complete—that is, if the sale is on credit. The purchaser must pay the bill. But some purchasers cannot pay, others will not; therefore caution must be exercised in granting credit, and pressure brought to bear in obtaining payment. Often seekers after credit are foolishly offended at the questions they must answer. They do not realize how personal is the favor they are asking, nor do they usually understand the combination of factors

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Business Correspondence

Business Correspondence

Nearly all of us are constantly receiving and sending letters, and we know in our experience the common types—the nasty letter, the sloppy letter, the cold-as-an-iceberg letter, and, on the other hand, the direct yet cordial letter which makes us feel as if we had gripped a friendly hand. The profit-making influence of good correspondence can hardly be overestimated. A good sales letter may be the means of getting thousands of dollars' worth of business; a poor adjustment letter may be the cause

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Cost Finding

Cost Finding

Of late years, and as a direct result of growing competition in all branches of industrial enterprise, the subject of cost is receiving increased attention. Every year sees hundreds of progressive concerns adopting methods designed to ascertain the real cost of producing and selling goods and of managing a business enterprise. Manufacturers are no longer satisfied with merely making a profit. They want to know what lines are paying and what lines are not—not in a general way, but specifically in

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Advertising Campaigns

Advertising Campaigns

In the Modern Business Course and Service the study of advertising is divided into three parts. First, in Marketing Methods there is a complete presentation of the plan behind the campaign—of the things that have to be considered by anyone who has anything to sell, before he sends out salesmen or prepares advertising. The section of Advertising Principles shows what advertising can do for business, guides one in choosing the right advertising appeal, and treats of the technique of advertising, w

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Corporation Finance

Corporation Finance

The advantages of the corporation have made it the most popular form of financial organization, and nearly all business men are now interested in one way or another in the formation or management of corporations, or in the buying and selling of the stock and securities of corporations. The stability of practically every business concern depends in a very large measure upon the keenness of judgment used in its financial management. This section of the Course enables one to think along financial l

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Transportation

Transportation

Business as it is conducted today would not be possible without the railroad. The corner grocery store as well as the big manufacturing company is directly affected by traffic, rates and methods. The prosperity of many a business and community is largely dependent upon relations with transportation companies. Yet many business men are unfamiliar with even the elements of rate making and traffic handling. The war made great changes in railroad organization and when the railroads were returned at

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Foreign Trade and Shipping

Foreign Trade and Shipping

The events of recent years have turned the attention of business men of America once more to the problems of foreign trade. This section of the Course describes the development of our trade with foreign countries. It describes various changes which are at work in this field and the methods by which foreign trade is conducted. Intimately associated with this subject is that of shipping; the transportation problems involved in foreign trade, questions of routes, rates, registry and the like are gi

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Banking

Banking

Business concerns deal in bank credit every day. They have on deposit large amounts of their capital. They rely upon their banks' stability. And yet how few can read a bank statement with real insight and judgment. The fundamental principles underlying all banking operations are presented under this heading. The nature of money and its relation to credit and capital are described, and the conditions which lead to a general rise or fall of prices are set forth. The important banking and monetary

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International Exchange

International Exchange

The early part of this section of the Course deals with inland exchange and describes the method by which settlements are made between different parts of the same country. When this is fully understood the problem of foreign exchange becomes very simple. It is the application of the same principles complicated only by the difference in money units between different countries. The "Foreign Exchange" department of banking is of such great importance and presents so many difficult questions that it

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Insurance

Insurance

Insurance constitutes a form of investment in which we are all interested, as purchasers of life insurance, fire insurance, casualty insurance, marine insurance, or of any other of the various forms which have come into existence. To buy insurance properly, one should know the principles that underlie rates and insurance operations, and should be able to judge the policy which covers these various essentials. Partnership and business insurance is much more used now than it has been heretofore an

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The Stock and Produce Exchanges

The Stock and Produce Exchanges

Almost every man in business comes into contact with some one of the exchanges. Therefore, a detailed description of the organization, operation and management of the principal security and raw material markets of the world is of inestimable value. This is the aim of this section of the Modern Business Course and Service. Speculation in goods and in stocks exists because it performs an economic service. It saves the manufacturer of cotton goods or flour, for example, from gambling by an operatio

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Accounting Practice and Auditing

Accounting Practice and Auditing

This section deals with the application of the principles of accounting to the complicated problems that arise in practice. The correct method of treating the proprietary accounts under the different legal types of organization are considered. The management of surplus, the treatment of reserves, the relation between funds and reserves and the method of handling sinking funds are discussed at length. The differentiation between capital and revenue charges is perhaps the most difficult problem wh

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Financial and Business Statements

Financial and Business Statements

The business man must understand accounting as far as he uses accounting knowledge in interpreting the progress of his business. He wants not so much the details of accounting technique as the information necessary to enable him to use his accounting records properly. No one can expect to succeed in a big way without the ability to read financial and business statements—both on the lines and between the lines. In every business the executive deals with a great variety of reports, statements, sta

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Investments

Investments

Every successful business man at some time in his career has occasion to seek gilt-edge investments—either for his own surplus funds or for those of his company. The daily losses of investors' capital are evidence of the need for a volume which aims to qualify you to make the critical analysis of securities which is necessary to an intelligent estimate of their value. Such topics as farm mortgages and urban real estate are thoroughly discussed and the opportunities in this new field for the inve

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Business and the Government

Business and the Government

The Course opens with the personal relations of a man to a business and continues with an analysis of the various activities which constitute modern business. In this section it closes with the manifold relations of business to government. Business is, as it were, in partnership with the government. In this partnership the government is active, as there are government departments aiming to promote business in manufactures and in trading. Business, of course, cannot exist without government, and

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SPECIAL LECTURERS

SPECIAL LECTURERS

Isn't it true that many of the interests in your life are centered on your business progress? So much depends on your success or failure in business. Your daily bread, your social position, your ambition, the welfare of your family, everything you expect to be and have may be decided for or against you by your accomplishments in business. Do you consider as seriously your plans of how you are to succeed as you do your plans of what success you hope to attain? Surely, since so much depends on it,

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ADVERTISEMENTS

ADVERTISEMENTS

The twenty-four volumes of Modern Business Texts are printed on dull finished paper and bound in Flexible Fabrikoid. Each volume is 5 1 ⁄ 8 x 7 1 ⁄ 2 inches in size and contains about 350 pages. They are adapted for constant use, can be slipped into the pocket and carried without any trouble. The volumes in themselves constitute a complete business library. This shows the cover of one of the Talks in the Modern Business Series. You receive one of these Talks every two weeks with either a Modern

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