strategic business plan

Lars this is how you create a business plan. First you have to set the vision, goals, and objectives of your business. The most important driver for almost any business plan is return on investment (ROI). Commonly, when someone starts to write a business plan for the first time you need to determine what is your objective?

The essential planning elements are identifying your objectives. What you are going to sell to whom, when and how you are going to sell it, how much contribution the sales will produce, what the marketing and selling cost will be, and what will be the ROI.

Research would be your next step. Your market research should focus on the information you need, to help you to formulate a strategic plan and make business decisions. Market information potentially covers a vast range of data, from global macro-trends and statistics, to very specific and detailed local or technical information, so it’s important to decide what is actually relevant and necessary to know. However there’s no point spending time researching global statistical economic and demographic data if you are developing a strategy for a relatively small or local business. It would be far more useful to carry out your own primary research about the local target market, buying patterns and preferences, local competitors, their prices and service offerings.

First establish or confirm the aims of the business. Then state the objectives of the business unit you are planning to develop. Determine what is the business aiming to do over the next one, three, and five years?

Next define your mission statement. All businesses need a mission statement. It announces clearly to your staff, shareholders and customers what you are in business to do. You can involve staff in defining and refining the business’s mission statement, which helps develop a sense of ownership and responsibility. Producing and announcing the mission statement, is also an excellent process for focusing attention on the business’s priorities, and particularly the emphasis on customer service.

After your mission statement you must understand and define clearly what you are providing to your customers. This description should normally go beyond your products or services, and must include the way you do business, and what business benefits your customers derive from your products and services, and from doing ...

... middle of paper ...

... and self-actualization needs. Herzberg’s motivating factors are from the best to the least: sense of achievement, earned recognition, interest in the work itself, opportunity for growth, opportunity for advancement, importance of responsibility, peer and group relationships, pay, supervisor’s fairness, company policies and rules, status, job security, supervisor’s friendliness, and working conditions. McGregor’s theory X and Y is that x is when you have to assume the average person doesn’t like work and will avoid it if possible. So you have to put fear and money into the person to motivate them and these people need to be closely supervised because they are not trusted. The Y theory is the total opposite of x. It is when most people like work, so people work towards goals and personal achievement and they have responsibility and can be trusted. The Y theory causes a more relaxed managerial atmosphere in which workers are free to set objectives, be creative, be flexible, and go beyond the goals set by management.

Lars I hope I have explained everything to you in good organization and answered all questions you had and look forward to working with you on the next project.