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Develop a Business Strategy

The worksheet below can be used as the basis for a strategic plan - refer to Key Steps for an explanation of the terminology used. Note the following suggestions:

1. Relate the planning exercise to a specific company or, if diversified, to individual strategic business units.
2. Ideally the worksheet should be compiled by a multi-discipline management group, or separately by 2/3 groups and then discussed in plenary session if a large business unit is involved.
3. If working on your own, complete the worksheet and then return to it a few times over the following few days and critically review what you wrote - why, why, why etc. and ask yourself whether you have seen the "wood for trees".
4. A completed worksheet should be edited down into a 1-2 page document and reviewed by the group(s). The final form of the document need not follow the worksheet's layout provided all the matters are covered.
5. All ideas, issues etc. should be internally consistent and realistic.
6. You need a very good understanding of the market, competitors etc. in order to make a clear assessment of your SWOTs. If you haven't got this insight, suspend work on your strategic plan until you have done this basic research.
7. Allow enough time as you may find it much more difficult to write a short plan than a long one !!!!

The Worksheet

To start using the worksheet, copy the headings marked in red onto a blank sheet of paper (or page in a word processor) and enter short statements for each as per the guidelines and Key Steps.

Note that the worksheet is available as a free On-line Strategic Planner. Also, see the sample strategic plan - you may wish to print it for reference purposes.

1. Assess the business's EXISTING strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities:
(Strengths & Weaknesses are internal to the business and Opportunities and Threats are external. All SWOTs should be 'one-handed' - something is either a Strength or a Weakness but it cannot be both. Enter up to six items under each heading and then rank them in order of importance. If you are planning a new business, consider the project's and promoters' current SWOTs):

2. Vision of business in 3/4 years time:
(What will the business look like? If a visitor from Mars dropped in what would be seen and evident. Write in future tense. Maximum of 150 words)

3. Mission/purpose statement for business to cover next 3/4 years:
(What will the business really, really be doing? What activities will it perform, where, how etc.? What makes the business special/competitive? Every noun, adjective and verb in the statement is important and must be justified. Maximum of 150 words)

4. Statement of corporate values and beliefs:
(Covers employees, customers, environment etc. etc. Maximum of 150 words)

5. Set out key long-term objectives:
(These are the primary underlying reasons for being involved in the business, and are not specific goals - these come later)

6. Identify key strategies for business and major functional areas:
(Build on strengths, resolve threats, exploit opportunities and avoid threats. Add any new dimensions revealed by Vision and Mission. List and prioritize up to ten or so major strategies. See Devising Venture Strategies for further insights.)

7. Assess possible FUTURE strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities:
(Do the foregoing strategies improve the initial SWOTs? If they don't, then they should have done so)

8. Review your vision, mission, values and objectives:
(Refine and revise/restate key strategies to deal with the perceived FUTURE SWOTs)

9. Specify major goals achievable over the next 3/4 years:
(Quantify in terms of sales, market shares, finances, operations etc.)

10. Define strategic action programs:
(Indicate who, what, where, when, how etc. Set targets and prioritize)

Note: This worksheet is also available as a free On-line Strategic Planner.

Next Steps

If you have prepared a strategic plan along the lines suggested above, you have several possible pathways. These include the preparation of a full-blown business plan, compilation of financial projections, undertaking market research, product development, management team-building etc. etc.

Additional Help

If you need to produce financial projections as part of a business plan or for use on their own, take a look at our financial planner - Exl-Plan (for Excel) which can be used to prepare 3/5-year financial projections (P&Ls, cashflows, balance sheets, ratio analyses and graphs). It incorporates a Quik-Plan facility for doing quick and dirty projections.

You may also wish to refer to white papers covering business ideas, venture strategies, financial planning, cashflow forecasting, business planning and managing working capital.

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