Summary:
Unfortunately, most new businesses fail for two main reasons: a lack of capital resources to carry the business until it becomes established and profitable; and a lack of management skills. Strategic planning that incorporates both of these elements will help ensure the business doesn’t fail. New business ventures need a lot of capital in the beginning for equipment purchases, supplies, and training new employees.
There are two forms of capital from which to choose: debt or equity financing. There are advantages and disadvantages to choosing to finance a bank loan for a new business idea. When financing with a bank, you can negotiate the terms of repayment and having a set payment plan helps stabilize expenses. However, the payment must be made whether or not there are profits to cover such payment.
Article Quote:
“Whether you are starting your business or expansion of IT financing, you will need to do strategic planning. This is particularly relevant for the new companies that have just started up.”
Link: http://www.usestock.net/business-finance-strategic-planning/.html
Strategic planning is essential whether businesses are start ups or well established corporations. Planning seeks to answer the question, “Where do we want to be and how are we going to get there?” There are several methods that can be used, such as swot analysis or scenario planning or hiring a strategic planning consultant.
Once a plan is developed, implementing it successfully is the next challenge. Strategic plans need to be translatable into daily activities that can be monitored for effectiveness. Monitoring allows for course corrections when the opportunities or threats present themselves.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
Strategic planning, whether for marketing or other business elements, add value to the business by deciding on future goals and crafting a plan on how to achieve those goals. Without it, you are like the traveler without a destination or a plan on how to get there. Most types of marketing are quite expensive so choosing where to advertise and whom to concentrate on should be handled carefully, as a wrong decision can chew up company funds quickly. If you want to learn effective PPC marketing and don’t want to lose your money, this author advises checking out Reality PPC training program.
Article Quote:
“Marketing without planning is just like visiting the place which is completely new to you and that to with no maps. Not just in advertising but it is observed everywhere that people who have concrete plans and who write down their goals are more likely to achieve their goals than people who only have no concrete plans and no definite idea about how they are going to approach.”
Link: http://www.mortgage-leads-generator.com/local-internet-marketing/do-you-think-it-is-essential-to-make-effective-strategic-marketing-planning
Developing your strategic plan requires a clear understanding of the core business values coupled with specifically laid out goals to reach for. When developing your plan, scenario planning and SWOT analysis are helpful in spotting the right opportunities and acting quickly when they present themselves. Additionally, they help to avoid threats and reduce their impact, as a plan for addressing these issues will already be in place.
Moving beyond development of the plan is executing the plan. Successful execution involves getting everyone on board with the plan, following-up on objectives, and making course corrections when needed.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
This author writes that passion and love are the two driving factors controlling your business success. When you have a passion for doing something, it’s impossible to keep it from your thoughts for very long and once you’ve found this thing, you’ve found your business. Passion is what you need to focus your motivation on. Strategic planning, however, is a bit more complicated than finding the right business for you. It you have never developed a strategic plan, educate yourself and if needed, get help from the experts.
Article Quote:
“Even the most successful people educate themselves frequently, the yearning to learn keeps driving them to a higher plain. The one most important thing to invest in is oneself.”
Link: http://prosperityextreme.com/index.php/turningpoint/strategic-planning-for-business-and-life
Writing a strategic business plan requires taking a good look at the current business and gaining a clear understanding of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT analysis. Then, look forward to where you want the business to be and what goals you would like to accomplish in the coming year or couple of years. Scenario planning will assist in navigating the what-ifs.
Management should expect some resistance to change from employees and should plan for ways to ease this resistance. Finally, management needs to get everyone on board with the strategic plan. The plan should be viewable by everyone and kept active with tasks designed to accomplish company goals.
Strategic planning software that incorporates these features of visibility on the strategic plan, tracking tasks, accountability, and follow-through will keep your plan from gathering dust on the shelf. It also allows for corrective adjustments to be made if something is not working.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
Kerry Martin asks, “What’s strategic about having a fixed plan in a year of constant change?” She points to the turbulence of economic events in 2009 and how they have rendered many strategic plans useless. Using an outdated or irrelevant strategic plan that was developed in a different economic environment is wasteful. Instead companies need to remain flexible and adjust their strategic plans accordingly.
If budgeted projections need to be pared down, preemptively adjust your tactics to find more efficient ways to accomplish your long-term objectives. By finding alternative ways to accomplish the long-term goal, companies may avoid losing entire campaigns.
Article Quote:
“For this New Year, make the resolution to be proactive with how your marketing plan or overall business model is assessed; don’t wait for 12 months to start over.”
Link:http://thestrategicfirm.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/proactive-strategic-planning/
Implementing and monitoring a strategic plan should go hand in hand. Changing business factors dictate the need for adjusting strategies. Using scenario planning while developing your strategic plan can help avoid sudden pitfalls. However, even the best strategists cannot plan for every scenario.
In order to monitor your plan, it needs to be in front of the eyes and on the minds of everyone in the organization. Getting everyone involved in executing the plan increases the chance for success. Strategic planning and execution software developed to perform these tasks allows leadership to see, in minutes, how well the strategy is performing.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
This article addresses several core principles of scenario planning as described by the author’s experiences using planning methodology. Scenario planning is about moving confidently towards tomorrow and towards the aspiration of what an organization wants to become. In the hands of a skilled facilitator this process can be a meaningful way of engaging stakeholders in a process of thoughtful change that strengthens the strategic intent of an organization.
Article Quote:
“Building scenarios is more art than science and while it engages the head, scenarios often more about passion, vision and heart. As a result, scenario planning is a useful tool that works best where there is leadership, openness to change, uncertainty future, and the time to process the uncertainty. Conversely, if the way forward is predetermined or an organization is in the midst of a crisis or otherwise does not have the capacity to absorb long-term change, scenario planning will be less helpful.”
Link: http://facilitationprocess.com/scenario-planning-as-a-facilitation-tool
When creating scenarios, one needs to build time into the process to twist and turn scenarios until there is alignment across several dimensions. When groups work together to bring a scenario into existence, they begin the work of creation.
Once created, the strategies and actions that support movement towards the realization of the scenario becomes a self-fulfilling direction. Possessing the right mind set from the very beginning will help bring the scenario into existence. A right mind set is positive to change and ‘rolls with the punches’.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
This article explores applying strategic planning to our lives. Strategic planning is done by scores of businesses, but rarely do we think of strategic planning in our personal lives. A strategic approach is simply a way of looking at multiple ways of accomplishing a goal or objective and evaluating the pro’s and con’s of each, as written by this author.
Given are four steps to follow when using strategic planning for yourself. Begin with identifying goals, then create a plan. Next, think about alternative ways to accomplish the plan, and finally, come up with a back up plan.
Article Quote:
“When there’s more than one good way to accomplish the goal that’s when it can be very beneficial to plan strategically. By planning strategically you look at both the pro’s and the con’s of each approach and your able to select the best approach based on your analysis of the two.”
Link: http://earningmoneyonline.biz/2009/12/04/the-importance-of-personal-strategic-planning/
Strategic planning can be the safeguard to the unexpected while providing a map to accomplishing goals. Thinking about possible scenarios, both positive and negative, while crafting the strategic plan will provide greater control when or if the scenario becomes reality. Scenario planning can produce better decisions because when a problem does come up we are often stressed out and decisions can easily be clouded by emotions.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/