STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR BUSINESS

INTRODUCTION

“People in any organization are always attached to the obsolete - the things that
should have worked but did not, the things that once were productive and no
longer are.” Said by ― Peter Drucker

Hello Friends, This is Dr. Nilam Panchal welcoming you all in this session on
Strategic planning for business. Friends, we have seen that Entrepreneurship is
the economic activity of setting up a business or businesses, taking on financial
risks in the hope of better profitability of organization. For the best results and
success of organization, strategy is very important. Strategic planning is very
important process for improving soundness and performance of organization.
Most organizations can benefit from strategic management, which is based upon
integrating intuition and analysis in decision making. This session would give an
idea of concept of strategic planning in business.

Let us see what are the OBJECTIVES OF SESSION.

The objectives of the session are:

1. To explain the concept of strategic planning

2. To make you understand importance of strategic planning for enterprise.
3. To understand the stages involved in strategic planning
4. To explain the difference between Long range and strategic planning
5. To make you understand the sample format for preparing strategic plan
CONCEPT OF STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strategic planning is a continuous process for improving organizational

performance. The continuation of preparing plan as a part of process for
developing strategies to produce results. It involves looking at where the agency
wants to go, assessing the agency’s current situation, and developing and
implementing approaches for moving forward.

“Although some organizations today may survive and prosper because they have
intuitive geniuses managing them, most are not so fortunate. Most organizations
can benefit from strategic management, which is based upon integrating intuition
and analysis in decision making. Choosing an intuitive or analytic approach to
decision making is not an either–or proposition. Managers at all levels in an
organization inject their intuition and judgment into strategic-management
analyses. Analytical thinking and intuitive thinking complement each other.

IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING

According to Kilroy Oldster and Dead Toad Scrolls “Humankind’s struggle against a
hostile environment causes people throughout the ages to deploy their full
armory of logic, training, strategy, imagination, inventiveness, and creativity. We
are born with the natural ability to strategize. The most influential tool in
humankind’s intellectual tool kit is the ability to regenerate a sense of unruffled
alertness, to establish a poised stance that leads to intuitive discoveries
generated by the conscious and unconscious mind constantly filtering a plethora
of data, selecting critical facts, and producing elegant solutions to seemingly
insoluble dilemmas.”
There is broad agreement among nonprofit leaders and experts that planning is a
critical component of good management and governance. Strategic Planning
helps assure that an organization remains relevant and responsive to the needs of
its community, and contributes to organizational stability and growth.
Entrepreneur establish business and tries to see that his or her organization is
able to meet the needs of society and involves rigorous process. No organization
can succeed if no better strategy.

Strategic plan provides a basis for monitoring progress, and for assessing
results and impact.

It facilitates new program development.

It enables an organization to look into the future in an orderly and

systematic way.

From a governance perspective, it enables the Board to set policies and goals to
guide the organization, and provides a clear focus to the Executive Director and
staff for program implementation and agency management.

Most enterprises know and understand the need for annual program objectives
and a program-focused work plan and prepare strategic plan and meet the
funders. Funders require them, and they provide a basis for setting priorities,
organizing work, and assessing progress. On the basis of strategic plan only,
funders judge the performance of the firm. Most groups find it practical to define
objectives for a 12-month period, and to design strategies and programs to meet
them. Longer-range planning – planning beyond the next year or two – often
seems more difficult and less rewarding. With the external environment changing
so rapidly, Board members and senior staff ask, how can we expect to develop
plans that will remain relevant? With so little control over external events, how
can we hope to influence them in a way that benefits our community? In fact,
planning is no less important in a changing environment; it may well be more
important. If the external environment – funding, the economy in general,
government enforcement of civil rights laws, etc. – is changing or hostile, then our
organizations must be that much more effective in defining needs and marshaling
internal and external resources to meet them. The community's needs will change
over time, but the most basic ones – such as access to high quality educational
services, job training, employment opportunities, safe and affordable housing,
sufficient financial resources to meet basic needs, human services directed at
various age groups and special needs populations, and a secure environment –
remain fairly constant.

Difference between LONG-RANGE AND STRATEGIC PLANNING

The term strategic planning has become very popular in recent years. Many
organizations now talk about doing strategic planning rather than long-range
planning.

Following are typical definitions and explanations of the two terms:

Long-range planning: Long Range Planning is important process. The process by

which the leaders of an organization determine what the organization wants to
look like at the end of a specified period of time – usually three to five years –
then use that vision to establish multi-year goals and objectives which describe
what the organization wishes to accomplish, and develop programs, tasks, and
timelines for achieving them. Long-range planning predicts future conditions and
realities, internal and external, and plans how the organization can function
effectively within them. Because it involves multi-year projections, it cannot be as
specific as short-term or operational planning, which generates a work plan with
detailed annual objectives, tasks, methods, timelines, and responsibilities.
However, it tends to be more focused on specific objectives and timelines than
strategic planning.

Strategic planning: The process by which leaders of an organization determine

what it intends to be in the future and how it will get there. To put it another way,
they develop a vision for the organization's future and determine the necessary
priorities, procedures, and operations (strategies) to achieve that vision. Strategic
planning assumes that certain aspects of the future can be created or influenced
by the organization. Strategic planning is ongoing process. It is a process of self
examination, the confrontation of difficult choices and the establishment of
priorities.

Stages of Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is a continuous process for improving organizational

performance by developing strategies to produce results. Entrepreneurs while
doing strategic planning look at where they want to go, assessing the agency’s
current situation, and developing and implementing approaches for moving
forward.

1. Prepare - critical steps must be accomplished prior to developing a strategic

plan which includes:
• visioning
 • assessment, and
• the development and implementation of a planning process.
In each of these areas, entrepreneur need to review and build on what is
already in place—vision and mission statements, agency‐ and/or state‐wide
assessments, and input from ongoing groups of internal and external
stakeholders already engaged in planning.
2. Plan - To develop the plan, entrepreneur must establish priorities by
considering the needs, strengths, and resources of your organization.
Three key questions must be answered:
• What do I want to accomplish?
• What will i do to get there?
• How will I know if we are making progress?
Once you have a draft document, circulate it for input, revise and finalize.
3. Implement –
The steps ensure that plans are used to guide the work of the organization:
• Communicating or "marketing" the plan,
• managing the implementation of the plan,
• supervising the actual work, and
• monitoring and reporting progress on the plan.

4. Review/Revise

This stage starts the cycle over again, allowing the plan to be continuously
updated. This will keep it current and meaningful to the organization.
 • conduct assessments of its performance by gathering and analyzing
information;

• convene the planning group to review performance and reassess goals,

outcomes, strategies, and action steps and to make recommendations for
changes; and

• revise the plan.

To the extent that the plan is updated, it will stay current and meaningful to the
organization. A strong strategic planning process can be a powerful tool for
systemic change within child welfare agencies and keep agencies focused on
improving outcomes for children and families. Throughout the process, ongoing
communication is critical.

FORMAT FOR A STRATEGIC PLAN

Any entrepreneur needs to prepare strategic plan. While preparing strategic plan,
different aspects needs to be considered, which includes :

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Need for a Strategic Plan

B. How the Plan was Developed

II. THE ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN

A. Organizational History and Structure

B. The External Environment

 1. National Situation and Trends

2. Local Situation and Trends

3. Summary of Opportunities and Threats

C. The Organization

1. Scope of Activities

2. Program Operating Model

3. Management

4. Governance

5. Summary of Strengths and Weaknesses

III. ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES, VISION, AND MISSION

A . Values or Operating Principles

B. Community Vision

C. Organizational Mission

IV. GOALS, PLANNED ACCOMPLISHMENTS, AND STRATEGIES

A. Organizational Vision and Planned Accomplishments: The Organization in

X Years

B. Goals and Priorities

C. Strategies
V. MONITORING AND REVIEW

A. Monitoring Progress

B. Plans for Reviewing and Refining the Plan

VI. ANNUAL PLAN (may be prepared separately)

A. Program

B. Management/Institutional Development

C. Governance

D. Monitoring and Evaluation

CONCLUSION

Friends, let me conclude the session. In this we have seen that any
entrepreneur for the success of the firm, prepare strategic plan before
going for funding. Strategic plan gives a base for the building the
organization. Strategic planning is very important process for improving
soundness and performance of organization. It helps entrepreneur design
the plan well in advance and execute the plan accordingly. In this session
we have also understood the importance of strategic plan for entrepreneur.
We have seen the stages of strategic plan in detail and understood the
framework of preparation of strategic plan. I hope through this session you
have understood the process of preparing strategic plan for the business. I
hope in future in your business, you would prepare strategic plan well in
advance. Thank you