Strategic Planning Information

Breaking the Growth Barriers in the Information Technology and Software Sector


There's nothing automatic about corporate growth, particularly in the information technology industry; build it and they will come is a myth. In the real world there is either a structured, process-driven growth cycle, or stagnation?and stagnation is automatic. Inherent to growth cycles are barriers, real-world business challenges that put some software companies out of business and spur others on to break through those barriers to higher levels of success. Overcoming those barriers is the very definition of growth; when you break through a barrier, you've achieved growth.

In Business Planning, Competition is Good


When developing the competition section of your business plan, companies must define competition correctly, select the appropriate competitors to analyze, and explain its competitive advantages.

Secrets Of Effective Brainstorming


Have you been in a "brainstorming" session where each person just defended their own ideas? Worse is when people don't suggest ideas at all, for fear they'll be attacked. That's no way to brainstorm. Brainstorming is using the power of many minds, and ideas should flow freely and trigger other ideas. How do you make that happen?

Business Plans Keep You On The Success Course


Where would your business be without a proper plan? A business plan sets the direction for the future of the business. It gives the business owner or manager a sense of guidance, listing the goals and objectives of the business from the start.

Succession Planning: Problems Getting Started


A survey released by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in the spring of 2005 illustrates a widespread problem on the lack of succession planning [deciding who will take over running the firm when the current managers die or retire]. The survey found that 60% of responding certified public accountant (CPA) firms have owners who are in the 55-to-62-year-old age bracket, and more than half (56%) have at least one partner who will retire in the next five years. However, according to the survey, 81% of these firms still do not have a written succession plan in place. Among those firms with annual revenues under $150,000, the percentage rose to 96%. If we polled small businesses in other fields, the percentages would be comparable: around 80% of small business owners have no succession plans.

Getting Started with Succession Planning: Part I


GETTING STARTED WITH SUCCESSION PLANNING: PART I

Getting Started with Succession Planning: Part II


Succession planning requires the owner of a small or medium-sized business to plan for what the company will look like and how it will operate after the transition to new owners is complete. Unless the owners have succession goals in mind, they won?t achieve them. Once these goals are in place, the owners should backtrack and identify the process that will get the firm from its current status to the targeted status after succession. Some of the people involved in the process of transforming the company should be retained as future managers. Others are best utilized just for the transition but not in a managerial or ownership role after succession.

Don?t Just Talk About the Weather, Use It to Advantage


A well known, national chain of restaurants discovered that certain weather patterns substantially impacts their business. They have studied it and found that more people go out to eat dinner when there is a series of beautiful days. So they measure the weather quality at their stores across the country. Managers report the weather quality daily. A weather predicting system is then employed to determine the quality of subsequent days. When the model predicts a higher customer count they reduce or eliminate sale items and include higher priced or higher margin specials on the changing daily menu. While they can?t control the weather, they know that their customers respond to it. Knowing that, they work to take advantage of factors that can predict changes in business activity.

Strategic Planning Fundamentals


Strategic planning is vital while starting a new business or expansion of an business or planning to boost the performance of an existing business. But it requires detailed strategic planning and controlled deployment activities. Strategic planning is used to delivers its value proposition and achieve its mission.

Nine Succession Planning Mistakes Small Businesses Should Avoid


1. Attempt Succession Planning Without Other Strategic Plans. Succession plans define a company?s business heirs, but what will they inherit? They will inherit a company with no vision, no strategy to deal with the competition, and no plans for changing the way it does business, if the current owners spend too little time planning for the future. Every firm should have strategic plans to increase its market value.

Vendor Relations Strategies Sample Outline


One of the quintessential parts to any business is your supply chain. To insure that the supplies are there when you need them; in this new day and age of ?just in time? distribution where very little sits on warehouse shelves until you order it you will need excellent vendor relations. Without the help of your vendors a small customer need turns into a astronomical problem and if you cannot solve it or serve your customer, you will indeed lose that customer to someone else who will. Someone who has constantly maintained a close relationship with their vendors in fact and can get what they need quickly with a simple phone. You say; ?you wish it was that easy!? Yes, I hear you, yet I have seen over the years that with the proper vendor team, you can do anything, build anything, create anything and move forward faster than any competitor ever dreamed of. How do I know? Well, I built a multi-state franchise company with no outside investors from the smallest of small businesses, that?s how.

Mobile Franchise Business Expansion Strategy


If you own a mobile franchise business and wish to expand you will need to have a strategy that involves your franchisor. Additionally if you are a franchisor it is important to have some sort of policy in place in advance so that there are no hurt feelings as franchisees expand.

Insurance Requirements in Franchised Companies


Franchised companies often require what some believe to be excessive insurance requirements. This is because so often if a franchise is sued for any reason that the Lawyers go after the big money of the franchisors and name them in the lawsuit. It is amazing that a lawyer can write garbage in a lawsuit and file it in court and if you do not hire another lawyer to fight them, you could lose your entire life?s work and company. But our legal system as most entrepreneurs agree is a complete joke and more closely represents the extortion tactics of the mob than any legitimate sense of fairness or truth. This is why franchisors must require huge limits of liability insurance and additional insured certificates as part of the franchise agreement.

Why 9 in 10 Businesses are Overspending on Day-to-day Expenses


Experts estimate that 90 percent of Australian businesses are overspending on day-to-day expenses, by as much as 75 percent in some cost categories!

What is Your MSP?


For many consumers and producers, MSP is an acronym for Manufacturer?s Suggested Price. Today, I would like you to consider a different definition for these commonly used letters ?Marketing, Sales and Profitability.

More Articles from Strategic Planning Information:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15


home | site map
© 2005