Simplified Strategic Planning

Future success? or future shock? Only companies that plan ahead will survive the changes in business today--and tomorrow.

Strategic planning outlines the path between the current status of the business and the desired status. It requires the business to identify its objectives and goals, and then make the correct decisions to achieve these objectives and goals. This book provides a complete set of practical strategic planning techniques and tools. It explains how and

Developing future strategies for a company is an important and complex task, and forms the core issue in this book. A company’s strategy defines its future direction, specifying its desired market position and key competitive advantages both at the level of market offers and of resources. This book provides clear, straightforward advice for professionals: after a brief introduction to strategic planning, a heuristic process for determining future strategies is presented. It shows how to analyze a company’s current situation, develop and assess options for the future, and define implementation projects. Throughout the book, detailed recommendations are illustrated with the help of numerous concrete examples. As a result of studying applications of the book in practice, the second edition benefits from a simplified, hands-on analysis and planning process at the business level.

If you’re starting a new business or planning your business’s future, there are plenty of things you should take into account. Strategic Planning For Dummies covers everything you need to know to develop a plan for building and maintaining a competitive advantage — no matter what business you’re in. Written by Erica Olsen, founder and President of a business development firm that helps entrepreneurial-minded businesses plan for a successful future, this handy guide covers all the basics, including: How a strategic plan is different than a business plan Establishing a step-based planning process Planning for and encouraging growth Taking a long-view of your organization Evaluating past performance Defining and refining your mission, values, and vision Sizing up your current situation Examining your industry landscape Setting your strategic priorities Planning for unknown contingencies If you’re in business, you have to plan for everything — especially if you intend your business to grow. Whether you’re planning for a small business, large conglomerate, nonprofit, or even a government agency, this book has the planning specifics you need for your organization. Step-by-step, you’ll learn how to lay the foundations for a plan, understand how your plan will affect your business, form planning teams, discover what your strengths are, see where you are, and, finally, plan where you’re going. And there’s much more: Learn to analyze business trends that will determine your business’s future Set measurable, realistic goals that you can plan for and achieve Make strategic planning a habitual part of the organization Prioritize multiple strategies that you can implement simultaneously Set a defining vision for the organization that guides all your planning and strategy This friendly, simple guide puts the power of strategic planning in the palm of your hand. For small businesses that can’t afford to hire strategic planning consultants, it’s even more imperative. Careful, constant planning is the only way to handle an uncertain business future. With this book, you’ll have all the step-by-step guidance you need to ensure you’re ready for anything that comes.

"I have gone to school on his research and have found his model to be a malleable process that is readily shaped to incorporate new concepts and ideas. This durability is testament to the value of Sids work." Don Bowers, Former CEO, Makino, Inc. Strategic Management Simplified is a handbook that is designed to help the reader achieve a critical balance so rare in business keeping your actions tied to your strategy, making decisions with a reasonable amount of assessment, and doing both in a real time way which allows you to adjust to changing business conditions. The author uses the term strategic management versus strategic planning because the term plan implies a static (or point in time) exercise, while the term management suggests interaction and responsiveness to dynamic context. All kinds of plans can be developed to lead action, but they should be based on a strategy for the organization. The challenge is to actually manage the organizations strategy over time and to think strategically as you are doing it. This book provides an overview of the management policies and culture necessary for sound strategic planning to flourish in any organization and goes on to offer practical steps on how to create and implement: A strategic statement which can guide your organizations resource allocation decisions. A strategic management system which allows you and your staff to change your strategic statement over time as you challenge the assumptions upon which it is based.