Business Plan & Strategy

What is a Business Plan & Strategy?

Any company documentation containing descriptions of the goals and objectives that the management team has set for the business, and details about how those goals and objectives intend to be achieved.

While most business owners and CEOs have at least a rough idea of where they want to take their business, having a detailed and robust business plan and strategy is far more involved. Such a plan typically includes the following features:

• An assessment of the competitive landscape
• A SWOT, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, analysis of your business
• The production of a high-level strategy document
• A list of milestone goals that need to be achieved
• A clear step-by-step plan to carry out your strategy and goals

Why is a Business Plan & Strategy important for business today?

Having a robust business plan results in a range of benefits including:

• Providing a sense of focus to your team
• Providing a framework for assessing and prioritizing projects within the company based on whether they are inside or outside the business plan
• Providing the discipline associated with goals that have been designed to see the strategy realized
• Providing a framework for continuous business improvement where the plan is frequently assessed and reviewed
• Reducing the risk of the business being impacted by foreseeable actions on the part of other market players

Why is a Business Plan & Strategy important for an event tomorrow?

Investor groups in any transaction can be divided into 2 groups:

• Those that plan to invest in the business but retain the existing management to run the business
• Those that plan on controlling the business and using their own management team

Both these groups will be interested in understanding how the existing management team plans to operate the business in the future.

For the second group, this process enables them to compare and contrast their strategy with that of the existing management team. It also provides them with insight into the quality of the existing management team and helps them assess whether some of that team should be offered a role within the new organization.

For the first group, this process is crucial as not only are they investing into the business as it currently exists but they are also buying into the strategy of the existing management team. This group will be keen to query all aspects of the plan including:

• The validity of the assumptions
• The thoroughness of the market assessments
• The alignment of the strategy to the market assessments
• The achievability of the roadmap ahead
• The robustness of the plan designed to achieve the objectives

Pros of addressing Business Plans & Strategy

• Provides focus
• Provides project discipline
• Supports continuous improvements
• Helps anticipate competitor moves

Cons of not addressing this topic

• Difficult to find clear direction
• Difficult to ensure all team members have a consistent focus
• Potentially more exposed to changes in the market place and/or competitors’ strategies