JOIN THE BALKAN ECONOMIC FORUM’S

COMMUNITY OF EXCELLENCE

Join our community of business leaders who are building highly organized, innovative, productive, and profitable companies by

applying management best-practices recommended by the “Baldrige Excellence Program” ~ the world’s

“gold standard” of business excellence.

Dear Partner,

Thank you for your interest in joining the Balkan Economic Forum’s Community of Excellence

initiative. Our goal is to create a thriving community of sustainable, scalable, and profitable businesses that

are able to play a leading role in the economic growth of Macedonia and the Balkan region.

The mission of the Balkan Economic Forum is to develop and implement innovative strategies and creative

solutions that help solve the economic challenges facing the Balkan countries. Our goal is to stimulate

economic growth which, in turn, strengthens regional cooperation, peace and stability.

The BEF is concerned that business growth and success is becoming more difficult to achieve. Too many

businesses are failing due to a lack of management sophistication. More than ever, leaders need credible,

affordable, practical, and results-oriented solutions that will help their businesses grow, innovate, and

succeed in the long-term.

The BEF believes the best solution is to provide leaders (and their teams) with access to the same kinds of

credible management practices that are used by the largest and most successful organizations. There is no

more credible source than the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, the United States standard of

business excellence. Baldrige is used worldwide by leaders who want to create high performing

organizations. That is why the BEF is working with MangageHub, a partner of the Alliance for Performance

Excellence, the outreach arm of the Baldrige Enterprise.

By joining the BEF’s Community of Excellence you and your employees will have access to the tools,

training and support you need to begin your Baldrige Journey’s to sustainable, high growth success. You

will access the BEF’s community of industry experts, international leaders, government officials,

academicians, students and financial institutions that provide you with access to dynamic business

development, quality assurance methods, and innovative business growth approaches. Our combined

success will lead to new investment, technological adaptation, improved efficiency and economic growth

and development in the Balkans.

Please review the following pages, we hope that you will join us in creating a prosperous, thriving

Macedonian economy by making your business a great success!

Call with your questions, we are happy to help!

Prof. Sasho Kjosev, PhD President and Chairman of the Board of Directors Balkan Economic Forum Blvd. KuzmanJosifovski – Pitu no. 19/5-27 1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia E-mail: info@balkaneconomicforum.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BalkanEconomicForum/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8208391

The Problem: The “L Shaped Curve” Small Businesses are often referred to as the “backbone of the economy.” However, SBA/Government statistics reveal a

frightening decline in their contribution to GDP and employment. Most troubling, for the first time ever, the number of

business failures in the U.S. outpaced the number of new startups. Many fear that the downward trends will soon

accelerate because over 70% of U.S. based small businesses are owned by baby-boomers and are not prepared to sell their

businesses. The negative impact on employment and GDP will likely be significant. [more]

The Cause: The “Management Gap” ManageHub surveyed over 450 small businesses in a first-of-its-kind research-project studying the impact of Baldrige-

based Quality Management Practices on small business. (The survey was developed with input from Bob Fangmeyer, the

current Director of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program). Our research found that most small businesses are not

implementing even the most basic quality management practices associated with successful, long-lived companies. For

example, they are not documenting their operational procedures, or engaging their employees in continuous

improvement. This is causing their success to be random and unpredictable. [more]

The Solution: Baldrige for EVERYONE! We believe that the problem of the “L Shaped Curve” and the “Management Gap” can be solved by helping small business

leaders and their employees’ access to the same kinds of management

practices recommended by The U.S. Baldrige Performance Excellence Program.

Are you familiar with Baldrige? The U.S. Congress established the Baldrige

Program in 1987 to encourage American leaders to pursue performance

excellence.

Since its creation, the Baldrige Criteria have been adopted

by companies throughout the United States and world by

businesses, government agencies, health care organizations,

educational institutions, and non-profits wanting to create

more sustainable and efficient organizations. For example,

the Baldrige 20/20 Report, published by The National

Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST.gov),

illustrates the dramatic benefits achieved by all types of

businesses and organizations.

The Baldrige Framework is simple and approachable. It

suggests every organization build a fully integrated management

framework. ManageHub’s Community of Excellence provides you and your

employees with the tools, training, and support you need to start building

your company’s Baldrige-based leadership framework.

ManageHub’s mission is Baldrige for EVERYONE! We believe that with easier access to Baldrige-based resources, small

businesses will naturally become more successful, more valuable, and more innovative. Owners and employees will feel

less stressed as they are able to refocus their time and resources from putting out the “same fires” to implementing their

strategies and achieving their objectives. [more]

Start Benefiting from Baldrige: Join our “Community of Excellence” to

receive the tools, training and support you need to help grow your

company’s sales, build its value, and prepare for a lucrative exit.

ManageHub’s Community of Excellence approach is non-technical, non-theoretical, and non-threatening. Most

organizational participants will not even realize they are adopting critical Baldrige-based practices. They will simply be

doing the "right things" like documenting organizational knowledge, reporting and resolving issues, sharing ideas for

improvement, etc.

Community of Excellence Members Receive Tools, Training & Support:

(1) The ManageHub Success Score

The Success Score is a comprehensive organizational assessment tool

developed in collaboration with the Alliance for Performance

Excellence (the outreach arm of the Baldrige Enterprise). The Success

Score helps you identify gaps and measures your organization’s

improvement. The Assessment generates a customized 25-page

feedback report that helps you and your employees fine-tune your

leadership approach and create a prioritized improvement plan.

[more]

(2) The ManageHub Accelerator

A valuable, 4-Part on-demand video workshop series that helps you

and your employees quickly fill the gaps identified on your Success

Score report. The four accelerator workshops guide you through a

simple, step-by-step Baldrige-based business optimization process.

[more]

(3) ManageHub Software

ManageHub software is versatile, web-based management software

that creates a ready-to-use Baldrige-based leadership framework.

ManageHub automates your organization’s management processes

like your accounting software automates your bookkeeping processes.

You can use ManageHub software as a training tool or use it as your

organization’s primary employee engagement and continuous

improvement solution. [more]

ManageHub Success Score: A Baldrige-based Organizational Assessment

The ManageHub Success Score is a first of a kind, Baldrige-based assessment that helps measure the management

maturity and sustainability of your organization. The Success Score was developed in collaboration with the Alliance for

Performance Excellence, (www.BaldrigePE.org/Alliance), the outreach arm of the Baldrige Enterprise. Use the Success

Score to help predict your organization's chances of long-term success. Also, use it to measure improvement.

[Receive your company’s Success Score here]

The ManageHub Success Score is an important leadership tool that you can use to begin your organization’s Baldrige-

based journey to excellence. Members of our Community of Excellence program can receive quarterly, 25-page Success

Score reports that suggest ways your organization can improve six Baldrige-based dimensions: Leadership, Strategy,

Customer, Workforce, Operations, and Measurement. You can also use your Success Score reports to measure your

organization’s improvement based upon 17 measures tied to ADLI (Approach, Deployment, Learning, and Integration.)

In addition to being used as an internal measurement tool, the ManageHub Success Score can be applied by supply-chain

managers to qualify vendors, and the financial services industry to measure risk. An interesting feature of the ManageHub

Success Score is that is an ongoing assessment that measures improvement (or decline) over time. You can also use the

Success Score to assess the ongoing value of any coaching or consulting engagements.

The ManageHub Success Score can be used in multiple ways including:

Measure Improvement: For the first time, you and your team will have a credible tool that you can use to

measure improvement based on 6 Baldrige-based dimensions: Leadership, Strategy, Customer, Workforce,

Operations, and Measurement.

Employee Education: The Success Score report provides you with an independent assessment of your

organizational gaps. Use it to structure a valuable employee coaching conversation and create a prioritized

improvement plan.

Recognition and Award: Use the Baldrige-based Success Score to earn recognition by an Alliance ManageHub

Award Program.

ManageHub Accelerator: A4-Part On-Demand Video Series

Part One: Creates your organization’s Business Model Map that identifies who does what work, and how well.

Part Two: Engage your people to document and improve their own work.

Part Three: Creates your organizations strategic (and competitive) profile

Part Four: Learn how to engage your people in a valuable a continuous improvement (innovation) culture.

The ManageHub Accelerator starts by inventorying processes and performing a gap analysis. We found that starting by

focusing on processes provides the fastest path to engaging employees, and achieving early wins.

Part Two of the ManageHub Accelerator teaches participants how to write an effective step-by-step operating procedure.

This is a critical element for most organizations that are overly dependent on key employees performing specific work. We

also use the opportunity to optimize the processes by identifying opportunities for improvement.

Part Two: Engage process teams to document and improve their work.

Part One: Create a Business Model Map to inventory processes and perform a gap analysis.

Once your initial process teams are busy writing SOPs the Accelerator curriculum shifts to strategy and culture. Part

Three, introduces participants to the Strategy Profile which identifies their company’s mission, vision, and values. It also

identifies your organization’s strategic themes, prioritized action steps, and KPIs. The ManageHub Strategy Profile helps

you gather most of the information required when preparing a Baldrige-based Organizational Profile.

Part Four of the ManageHub Accelerator introduces you and your people to the seven non-negotiable behaviors that help

bring Baldrige-based best management practices to life. These essential behaviors are taught from both the leader’s and

the employee’s point-of-view. ManageHub Software provides an automated, systematic approach to encourage, perform,

and monitor each behavior.

Part Three: Create the organization’s “Strategy Profile”

Part Four: Engaging leaders and employees

ManageHub Software: Engage Your Employees… Spark Innovation…

Capture Your Organization’s Knowhow… Implement Your Strategies…

ManageHub Software works by organizing your people into self-managed process teams. Each team is assigned an online

ManageHub workspace to document and improve the work they perform. Every team becomes a leader of their own

work. It is a powerful tool to teach employees how to perform with Baldrige-based excellence. [video –scroll to bottom of

page]

Every department, process, and employee link creates a dedicated management workspace where participants can share knowledge, report and resolve problems, create strategies, and manage improvement projects. This allows management to monitor progress with accountability and transparency.

Benefits for Every Stage of Your Business: ManageHub’s Community of Excellence Program helps you build the scalable organizational infrastructure your business

needs to grow quickly without sacrificing quality, consistency, or customer satisfaction. It helps you build your company’s

value and helps prepare your business for a lucrative exit. Best of all, these benefits are achieved organically and simply.

You can control the speed, scope, and scale of your business improvement process.

Ways ManageHub Can Benefit Your Business:

Become very organized, focused, and effective.

Align leaders and employees to your organization’s mission and strategic imperatives.

Increase customer satisfaction and retention/.

Reduce stress.

Minimize waste and create a lean operating business.

Encourage two-way communication, the free flow of ideas, and create a culture of innovation.

Minimize knowledge silos, and knowledge hoarding.

Free employees from their “job traps” so they can be more easily promoted as the company grows.

Develop management skills of all employees by making every one a leader of their own work.

Help achieve the 3-S’s: Sustainable, Scalable, and Salable business.

Ways You Can Use ManageHub to Accelerate Your Business:

Leadership Development

Strategic planning& Implementation

Employee engagement

Process Improvement

Team Building &Collaboration

Turnaround& Sales Growth

Family Business Management

Exit Planning -Preparing a business for sale

Franchising

Intrapreneurship

Minimizing bottlenecks

Innovation

Incredible, Credible Partners ManageHub is pleased to work with the Alliance for Performance Excellence. The Alliance is the outreach arm of the

Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. It is comprised of 37 independent organizations dedicated to helping

organizations adopt Baldrige-based best practices.

Learn more about Baldrige and the Alliance here: at http://www.baldrigepe.org/alliance/

September 2015: Alliance for Performance Excellence to Partner with ManageHub to reach Small Businesses

The Alliance for Performance Excellence announced that its Board of Directors unanimously approved a collaborative relationship with the ManageHub Accelerator to use a turnkey outreach program that helps small businesses incorporate Baldrige-based practices by documenting processes for systematization and standardization, initiating an ongoing continuous improvement (innovation) cycle, and, managing through collaboration. The approval from the Alliance Board comes after over a year of discussions with Alliance directors who reviewed the ManageHub software tool and ManageHub Accelerator curriculum for alignment with the framework of the Baldrige-based principles and to make recommendations

Members of the Alliance for Performance Excellence help organizations of all sizes, sectors, and industries to systematically improve their performance using the Baldrige Excellence Framework. Alliance members include includes state, regional, and sector-specific programs that provide services such as education, training, coaching, assessment, recognition.

ManageHub is viewed as providing an easier onramp to adopting Baldrige-based practices. It is also viewed as a path to fulfilling Congress's intent of using Baldrige Criteria to help small businesses become more innovative, lean operating, customer focused, and prepared to grow in the long-term.

The Alliance relationship with ManageHub opens the door to developing new and innovative tools to help small businesses learn how to implement Baldrige-based management principles in early stages so they can grow into bigger more successful companies. A primary aspect that the team will be working on is a sustainability score that could be used by banks to evaluate and expand small business's access to capital, and by supply-chain managers to assess and improve the quality and consistency of small business suppliers.

Discover how ManageHub can help your company grow, innovate and succeed!

WHAT

CASE STUDIES: Read Our Success Stories

A Family Owned Business Prepares For Another

40-Years of Success

L&R Lawn Equipment and Repair, located in Lannon,

Wisconsin was founded in 1967 by owner Randy Seder.

L&R has a long history of serving customers successfully.

However, the last ten years have been tough. In addition to

an unpredictable economy, Randy faced new

competitors… [Read More]

Sales Up From $750,000 to

$12,000,000.Employees Up from 20 to 200.

Locations Up From 3 to 8 Centers

Excellence has always been the priority for North Shore

Pediatric Therapy, the first and only fully integrated health

and wellness center serving children and young adults.

Founded in 1999 by Deborah Michael, an occupational

therapist, NSPT invented the concept of… [Read More]

A Quick Turn-Around Powered By ManageHub

Efficiency and Employee Engagement

Prince Bros, Inc. is a 45-year-old trucking company. They

employ fifteen people and have a fleet of nine semi-trailers

that are all nearly continuously on the road delivering

freight all over the continental United States. In June 2015,

Prince began… [Read More]

A Solo-Entrepreneur Learns That Creating a

Systematic Business Benefits Every Sized

Company

I met Joel about 10 year ago, before the great recession,

and before the real estate bubble burst. At that time he was

a solo-entrepreneur who was just a few years in business.

He was bright-eyed, super-intelligent, and full of all of the

hope, excitement, and worries… [Read More]

More Testimonials & Feedback:

President, Business Accelerator: Wow. Great presentation and great system. We are very grateful for your support, Bravo!!

Executive Director, Business Accelerator: All I can say is, you knocked it out of the park. It was obvious from everyone's

engagement. I believe that the resources that ManageHub brings will provide the perfect structure for managing our curriculum.

Consultant/Professor: I have used many of the skills you shared with me when teaching about entrepreneurship. Thank you for

your help in developing my career. I am now a full time professor of business. I still consult part time and have traveled quite

extensively. I was even invited to Japan to do a session on change management. One of my presentations for a client is now a

continuing education credit for their national organization. That was quite an honor and surprise. In January, I will become the

department chair.

Owner, Pre-launch Startup: ManageHub has been a godsend to our business. I am a nurse turned entrepreneur. Having no

previous experience in business, my partners and I were in much need of information, guidance and mentoring. ManageHub’s

Accelerator program is helping us to build a solid management system. This system is providing us the framework that we so

desperately needed. This is a one-stop shop system for management that was offered to us at the perfect time in our start-up!

Owner, Music Store: "This is awesome stuff. Still learning but moving fast.... We have had ‘processes’ as a result of Emyth

forever. We operate under the 7 principals, and under our amoeba type organization, person A is person B’s supervisor in some

cases and B is A’s supervisor in others. We did it , but never felt that it was “OK”. ManageHub organizes the amoeba finally."

Financial Planner: "Thanks so much for your efforts to help small businesses thrive! I am overwhelmed in a positive way with all

the information that we’ve gone over...... the clarity I gained for the benefit of my clients was invaluable."

Chief Operating Officer, Medical Practice: "I LOVE ManageHub and its clean user interface, simplicity, intuitive navigation and

notification flexibility. I don't know if I told you before or not ... I'm a collaboration portal "devotee and buff."

You have one enthusiastic user!"

Restaurant Owner/Chef: "Thank you! The Accelerator assignment, also the video.. made me think a lot on how my processes

are now, and how they can improve."

Health Club Owner: "The ManageHub Accelerator assignments definitely helps us to start developing a plan for our business

operation by laying out all the processes/tasks we operate.

Thank you so much and we are looking forward to learn more and do more to make our business grow!"

Owner, Construction Company: "Thank you very much for creating this wonderful accelerator program. I haven't been this

excited about business development since, well, I don't know when. This is just what I need to take me to the next

level. Attached is my application and Model Map. I look forward to working together and learning everything you have to offer."

Owner, Christmas Tree Delivery and Setup: "Thanks …. I’m excited to work on this as it was something I was planning to do

anyway as I really needed to streamline some of the processes."

Owner, Event Planning Business: "The Business Model Map Accelerator homework was IMMENSELY helpful :) I have notes

all over the place and it was almost overwhelming to see all the details I have to manage as a solopreneur start coming together

in the document. I love systems so I am excited about the process. The reward will be the freedom from carrying around

disorganized information in my head. I need room for ideas to flow.

The homework and program as a whole are giving me the jumpstart I need. At the perfect time too which is awesome. Thanks!"

Wedding Dress Designer: "Oh, thank you! I'm so excited! I liked the (BMM) Accelerator assignment a lot - it was very sobering to

realize I am the "bottleneck" in a lot of instances. Looking forward to hearing more about the accelerator.."

What are the minimum requirements to participate?

Micro, small or medium enterprise or non-profit organization with annual sales of $100,000 or more

Have between 1 and 100 employees

Desire to achieve performance excellence and all its related benefits including increased quality, customer

satisfaction, employee engagement, innovation, efficiency, sales growth, profitability, reduced stress, etc.

Agree to pursue performance excellence by applying the essential management principles required by the

U.S. Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework and its Criteria.

What Does My Organization Receive?

Access to ManageHub’s 4-part Baldrige-based Accelerator video series for you and your employees

Downloadable ManageHub book and tools for you and your employees

Quarterly Baldrige-based Success Score Assessments and Reports (to measure your progress)

A free starter-version ManageHub software account

Non-consultative guidance and accountability support by your Community of Excellence Organizer

Access to Community of Excellence live events and workshops

What is Our Organization’s Time Commitment?

ManageHub’s Community of Excellence Program is sensitive to the fact that you and your employees are already

very busy. The last thing you need is additional responsibilities. However, we also recognize that by investing

some time in adopting Baldrige-based management practices your organization will likely experience significant

operating efficiencies, reduction in the number of recurring issues/fires, cost savings, ability to grow, and

improved employee culture. (See NIST’s Baldrige 20/20 report). ManageHub’s Baldrige-based approach gives

you the ability start slowly. You control the scope, scale, and pace of your business improvement efforts. We

believe that as you and your employees begin to experience the profound benefits and ROI of adopting Baldrige-

based practices you will want to accelerate your deployment schedule.

What is the Cost?

Community of Excellence membership dues is based upon business size:

Bronze Membership: (1 to 20 employees): $583 US Funds per month ($7000 per year)

Silver Membership: (21 to 75 employees): $650 US Funds per month ($7,800 per year)

Gold Membership: (more than 75 employees): $750 US Funds per month ($9,000 per year)

Please Remit Dues to the Balkan Economic Forum transaction account:

Number: 200003069742987

Bank: Stopanska Banka, AD Skopje

For assistance please email: E-mail: info@balkaneconomicforum.org

Membership FAQs