Strategic Planning Processes

Even though the evidence is strong that the likelihood of success for a new business increase when the members of the management team embrace some sort of formal planning process from the outset, it is still tempting for entrepreneurs to charge bravely into the fray in pursuit of their dreams of a successful new product or service that will immediately attract the interest of thousands or even millions of customers. Certainly, their examples of “instant successes” where companies seemingly appear from nowhere, create new markets and enjoy staggering levels of early growth. However, the more prudent course for successful and sustainable entrepreneurship is the time-consuming, and admittedly sometimes tedious, process of collecting information relevant to the proposed business and developing clear ideas about how the company’s product or service will be positioned, marketed and distributed in the marketplace that appears to be best suited for early acceptance of the product or service. The process has been analogized to an architect creating a blueprint for a new building before construction begins—in the case of a new business or an existing business looking to expand significant, that blueprint is the strategic business plan. While the primary goal of the strategic planning process is the end product—the tangible business planning document—the journey itself provides the participants with an invaluable opportunity to collect information and knowledge about the proposed business and grapple with and resolve the fundamental issues that need to be addressed in order to determine the best way for the company to operate and compete in its chosen markets. Key topics covered in this chapter include the importance of strategic planning and business plan preparation, collecting and analyzing information for use in the strategic planning process, processes for developing a business strategy, business plan preparation and elements of a solid business plan, implementation and monitoring of the business strategy, using the “business model canvass” method to define the business model and developing and implementing sustainability strategies and commitments