Strategic Planning

Strategic planning refers to the long range plan used to define the objectives of an organization and how to achieve them. The formal strategic planning process entails the following:

Formulating the business goals

Make sure you have clearly formulated the goals for your business. People may think that small businesses do not require a formal plan. This is not true; every business regardless of its size needs a proper business plan.

Identify current goals strategies

You must identify current goals and see how they fit to your small business. Decide whether to change the goals.

Environmental analysis

You must evaluate the environment in which your business is operating in terms of technology, competition, customers and suppliers. Here, you only pay attention to those which have influence of your business.

Resource analysis

Identify the competitive advantage your business has over other businesses. Your business weaknesses must also be taken into consideration.

Identify strategic opportunities and threats

Analyze each opportunity in line with the threats facing your business. Threats can be competition, diminishing customer demands, diminishing supplies etc.

Determine the extent of strategic change

Your working environment keeps on changing. You must therefore determine to what extent a strategic plan should be changed to pace environmental changes.

Strategic decision making

It involves identifying, evaluating and selection of strategic approaches for accomplishing business goals.

Strategic implementation

This is a step at which, the strategy identified is adopted and put into use for daily operations

Measurement and control

You need to monitor the progress of the strategy implemented and site whether changes are required.