Business

Archive for the ‘Strategic Planning’ Category

A strategic planning process is a structured process that organizes and coordinates the activities of the managers who do the planning.

The sound of it seems to suggest a long boring session in the boardroom, with managers presenting plans which probably half the room are falling asleep to. A strategic planning process is an exciting exercise, and gets the adrenaline of all going! The process is a visionary travel, both conceptual and directional. That said, it should also be be realistic and attainable too.

The value of a strategic planning process is that there would be explicit and in-depth analysis of business issues and strategic alternatives. It provides a sense of direction and calls for organisational committments. Setting goals and focusing on them during the planning process makes these goals subconscious drivers that guide the organisation’s actions. Doing this in terms of a structured strategic planning process, means that you will tend to steer your business in the right direction all the time, and you will do this without consciously thinking about it.

The result of the strategic planning process is a comprehensive strategic plan, which serves several purposes. Firstly, it acts as a framework for making decisions. Secondly, it provides a basis for more detailed planning. Thirdly, it explains the business to others in order to inform, involve and motivate. Fourthly, it assists in performance monitoring or benchmarking as required. Lastly, it stimulates change, and become a foundation for the next plan.

A strategic plan is NOT a business plan. A business plan is a much detailed plan, that has micro details of operational issues and implementation reviews as well.

Find more thoughts at http://360strategyleadership.blogspot.com/

As people have the need to fulfill their necessity, they will to work hard. It is because all those necessities need money to be fulfilled. And, the only way to earn money is working. People have options for working. The first one is by being employees of companies and the second option is by being the employers of the companies.

To become the employers, people will need to have huge amount of money to run the companies. This huge amount of money is called capital and it cannot be mixed with people’s private properties. As the amount of the capital is huge, some people may have no ability to fulfill the amount by themselves. They will need small business loans as these loans are the only ones to help them established the business smoothly. There are also options to apply for business loan. The first one is by applying the loan from secured loan lender which means collateral is needed. And, the second is by applying unsecured business loans which need no collateral with flat rate for about 6%. To apply for unsecured business finance is simple since people only need to visit Ezunsecured.com.

The website also offers unsecured personal loans which can be approved within 1 to 3 days and the personal loans can be transferred to people’s saving account within 7 to 10 days.

Do it now or do it over – with strategic planning, mission and vision statements come first. Proper building blocks for strategic planning, whether for-profit or non-profit organizations, begins with well crafted mission and vision statements.

“There aren’t short cuts for such important actions,” states Don Midgett, business consultant and author of Mission and Vision Statements: Your Path to a Successful Business Future. “Laying the right foundation provides the accurate guide for strategic and long-range planning as well as day-to-day operations.” In short, do it from the start or do it over later. Some real-world examples of non-profit and for-profit organizations using a vision driven approach to strategic planning are given below.

“I had been through other planning processes and inevitably they would only take you so far” said Tim Logerquist, Association Director for the non-profit Gold Coast Baptist Association in southern California. “As we continued the mission and vision process I was able to align my mission and vision statements with strategies and actions that would yield results. This investment in time and effort up front proved successful to the strategic planning process as we now have initiated strategies with real impact.”

“Visionary businesses excel because they set goals that relate directly to their vision. They communicate the vision and vision-based goals to their customers and employees” continues Midgett. “They come up with strategies and actions to reach their goals and achieve their vision. It is in this way that a for-profit or non-profit organization or business can control its destiny in the marketplace rather than let outside forces determine a business direction.”

An early pioneer in internet consulting, Novo Solutions, Inc. in Virginia Beach, Va. began with the initial mission and vision statements providing affordable, innovative business solutions to small and mid size companies. Now in its sixth year, Novo has begun a process of realignment of its business focus centering on newly revised mission and vision statements which called for changes in their strategic planning.

“Using the model of mission and vision statements as a foundation made it easier to frame our mission, define our market products and understand the benefits of having a visionary, market driven company” said Anne Sych, Novo’s Marketing Manager.

Both time and effort can be used successfully when organizations and businesses see the value in doing “their homework” from the beginning and building on solid plans and actions.

So remember! Don’t do it over – do it now! Create your mission and vision statement today. Begin to lay the solid foundation for your organization’s strategic plan and strategic planning process. To learn more on a vision driven approach to strategic planning, go to http://www.missionvisionstatement.com/.