the business planning process involves

The 7 Steps of the Business Planning Process: A Complete Guide

In this article, we'll provide a comprehensive guide to the seven steps of the business planning process, and discuss the role of Strikingly website builder in creating a professional business plan.

Step 1: Conducting a SWOT Analysis

The first step in the business planning process is to conduct a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This analysis will help you understand your business's internal and external environment, and it can help you identify areas of improvement and growth.

Strengths and weaknesses refer to internal factors such as the company's resources, capabilities, and culture. Opportunities and threats are external factors such as market trends, competition, and regulations.

You can conduct a SWOT analysis by gathering information from various sources such as market research, financial statements, and feedback from customers and employees. You can also use tools such as a SWOT matrix to visualize your analysis.

What is a SWOT Analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a framework for analyzing a business's internal and external environment. The acronym SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Strengths and weaknesses include internal factors such as the company's resources, capabilities, and culture. Opportunities and threats are external factors such as market trends, competition, and regulations.

A SWOT analysis can help businesses identify areas of improvement and growth, assess their competitive position, and make informed decisions. It can be used for various purposes, such as business planning, product development, marketing strategy, and risk management.

Importance of Conducting a SWOT Analysis

Conducting a SWOT analysis is crucial for businesses to develop a clear understanding of their internal and external environment. It can help businesses identify their strengths and weaknesses and uncover new opportunities and potential threats. By doing so, businesses can make informed decisions about their strategies, resource allocation, and risk management.

A SWOT analysis can also help businesses identify their competitive position in the market and compare themselves to their competitors. This can help businesses differentiate themselves from their competitors and develop a unique value proposition.

Example of a SWOT Analysis

Here is an example of a SWOT analysis for a fictional business that sells handmade jewelry:

Unique and high-quality products
Skilled and experienced craftsmen
Strong brand reputation and customer loyalty
Strategic partnerships with local boutiques
Limited production capacity
High production costs
Limited online presence
Limited product variety

Opportunities

Growing demand for handmade products
Growing interest in sustainable and eco-friendly products
Opportunities to expand online presence and reach new customers
Opportunities to expand product lines
Increasing competition from online and brick-and-mortar retailers
Fluctuating consumer trends and preferences
Economic downturns and uncertainty
Increased regulations and compliance requirements

This SWOT analysis can help the business identify areas for improvement and growth. For example, the business can invest in expanding its online presence, improving its production efficiency, and diversifying its product lines. The business can also leverage its strengths, such as its skilled craftsmen and strategic partnerships, to differentiate itself from its competitors and attract more customers.

Step 2: Defining Your Business Objectives

Once you have conducted a SWOT analysis, the next step is to define your business objectives. Business objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that align with your business's mission and vision.

Your business objectives can vary depending on your industry, target audience, and resources. Examples of business objectives include increasing sales revenue, expanding into new markets, improving customer satisfaction, and reducing costs.

You can use tools such as a goal-setting worksheet or a strategic planning framework to define your business objectives. You can also seek input from your employees and stakeholders to ensure your objectives are realistic and achievable.

What is Market Research?

Market research is an integral part of the business planning process. It gathers information about a target market or industry to make informed decisions. It involves collecting and analyzing data on consumer behavior, preferences, and buying habits, as well as competitors, industry trends, and market conditions.

Market research can help businesses identify potential customers, understand their needs and preferences, and develop effective marketing strategies. It can also help businesses identify market opportunities, assess their competitive position, and make informed product development, pricing, and distribution decisions.

Importance of Market Research in Business Planning

Market research is a crucial component of the business planning process. It can help businesses identify market trends and opportunities, assess their competitive position, and make informed decisions about their marketing strategies, product development, and business operations.

By conducting market research, businesses can gain insights into their target audience's behavior and preferences, such as their purchasing habits, brand loyalty, and decision-making process. This can help businesses develop targeted marketing campaigns and create products that meet their customers' needs.

Market research can also help businesses assess their competitive position and identify gaps in the market. Businesses can differentiate themselves by analyzing their competitors' strengths and weaknesses and developing a unique value proposition.

Different Types of Market Research Methods

Businesses can use various types of market research methods, depending on their research objectives, budget, and time frame. Here are some of the most common market research methods:

Surveys are a common market research method that involves asking questions to a sample of people about their preferences, opinions, and behaviors. Surveys can be conducted through various channels like online, phone, or in-person surveys.

Focus Groups

Focus groups are a qualitative market research method involving a small group to discuss a specific topic or product. Focus groups can provide in-depth insights into customers' attitudes and perceptions and can help businesses understand the reasoning behind their preferences and behaviors.

Interviews are a qualitative market research method that involves one-on-one conversations between a researcher and a participant. Interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone, or through video conferencing and can provide detailed insights into a participant's experiences, perceptions, and preferences.

Observation

Observation is a market research method that involves observing customers' behavior and interactions in a natural setting such as a store or a website. Observation can provide insights into customers' decision-making processes and behavior that may not be captured through surveys or interviews.

Secondary Research

Secondary research involves collecting data from existing sources, like industry reports, government publications, or academic journals. Secondary research can provide a broad overview of the market and industry trends and help businesses identify potential opportunities and threats.

By combining these market research methods, businesses can comprehensively understand their target market and industry and make informed decisions about their business strategy.

Step 3: Conducting Market Research

Market research should always be a part of your strategic business planning. This step gathers information about your target audience, competitors, and industry trends. This information can help you make informed decisions about your product or service offerings, pricing strategy, and marketing campaigns.

There are various market research methods, such as surveys, focus groups, and online analytics. You can also use tools like Google Trends and social media analytics to gather data about your audience's behavior and preferences.

Market research can be time-consuming and costly, but it's crucial for making informed decisions that can impact your business's success. Strikingly website builder offers built-in analytics and SEO optimization features that can help you track your website traffic and audience engagement.

Step 4: Identifying Your Target Audience

Identifying your target audience is essential in the business planning process. Your target audience is the group of people who are most likely to buy your product or service. Understanding their needs, preferences, and behaviors can help you create effective marketing campaigns and improve customer satisfaction.

You can identify your target audience by analyzing demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data. Demographic data include age, gender, income, and education level. Psychographic data includes personality traits, values, and lifestyle. Behavioral data includes buying patterns, brand loyalty, and online engagement.

Once you have identified your target audience, you can use tools such as buyer personas and customer journey maps to create a personalized and engaging customer experience. Strikingly website builder offers customizable templates and designs to help you create a visually appealing and user-friendly website for your target audience.

What is a Target Audience?

A target audience is a group most likely to be interested in and purchase a company's products or services. A target audience can be defined based on various factors such as age, gender, location, income, education, interests, and behavior.

Identifying and understanding your target audience is crucial for developing effective marketing strategies and improving customer engagement and satisfaction. By understanding your target audience's needs, preferences, and behavior, you can create products and services that meet their needs and develop targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with them.

Importance of Identifying Your Target Audience

Identifying your target audience is essential for the success of your business. By understanding your target audience's needs and preferences, you can create products and services that meet their needs and develop targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with them.

Here are reasons why identifying your target audience is important:

Improve customer engagement. When you understand your target audience's behavior and preferences, you can create a more personalized and engaging customer experience to improve customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Develop effective marketing strategies. Targeting your marketing efforts to your target audience creates more effective and efficient marketing campaigns that can increase brand awareness, generate leads, and drive sales.
Improve product development. By understanding your target audience's needs and preferences, you can develop products and services that meet their specific needs and preferences, improving customer satisfaction and retention.
Identify market opportunities. If you identify gaps in the market or untapped market segments, you can develop products and services to meet unmet needs and gain a competitive advantage.

Examples of Target Audience Segmentation

Here are some examples of target audience segmentation based on different demographic, geographic, and psychographic factors:

Demographic segmentation. Age, gender, income, education, occupation, and marital status.
Geographic segmentation. Location, region, climate, and population density.
Psychographic segmentation. Personality traits, values, interests, and lifestyle.

Step 5: Developing a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is a strategic roadmap that outlines your marketing objectives, strategies, tactics, and budget. Your marketing plan should align with your business objectives and target audience and include a mix of online and offline marketing channels.

Marketing strategies include content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and paid advertising. Your marketing tactics can include creating blog posts, sharing social media posts, sending newsletters, optimizing your website for search engines, and running Google Ads or Facebook Ads.

To create an effective marketing plan , research your competitors, understand your target audience's behavior, and set clear objectives and metrics. You can also seek customer and employee feedback to refine your marketing strategy.

Strikingly website builder offers a variety of marketing features such as email marketing, social media integration, and SEO optimization tools. You can also use the built-in analytics dashboard to track your website's performance and monitor your marketing campaign's effectiveness.

What is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a comprehensive document that outlines a company's marketing strategy and tactics. It typically includes an analysis of the target market, a description of the product or service, an assessment of the competition, and a detailed plan for achieving marketing objectives.

A marketing plan can help businesses identify and prioritize marketing opportunities, allocate resources effectively, and measure the success of their marketing efforts. It can also provide the marketing team with a roadmap and ensure everyone is aligned with the company's marketing goals and objectives.

Importance of a Marketing Plan in Business Planning

A marketing plan is critical to business planning. It can help businesses identify their target audience, assess their competitive position, and develop effective marketing strategies and tactics.

Here are a few reasons why a marketing plan is important in business planning:

Provides a clear direction. A marketing plan can provide a clear direction for the marketing team and ensure everyone is aligned with the company's marketing goals and objectives.
Helps prioritize marketing opportunities. By analyzing the target market and competition, a marketing plan can help businesses identify and prioritize marketing opportunities with the highest potential for success.
Ensures effective resource allocation. A marketing plan can help businesses allocate resources effectively and ensure that marketing efforts are focused on the most critical and impactful activities.
Measures success. A marketing plan can provide a framework for measuring the success of marketing efforts and making adjustments as needed.

Examples of Marketing Strategies and Tactics

Here are some examples of marketing strategies and tactics that businesses can use to achieve their marketing objectives:

Content marketing. Creating and sharing valuable and relevant content that educates and informs the target audience about the company's products or services.
Social media marketing. Leveraging social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to engage with the target audience, build brand awareness, and drive website traffic.
Search engine optimization (SEO). Optimizing the company's website and online content to rank higher in search engine results and drive organic traffic.
Email marketing. Sending personalized and targeted emails to the company's email list to nurture leads, promote products or services, and drive sales.
Influencer marketing. Partnering with influencers or industry experts to promote the company's products or services and reach a wider audience.

By using a combination of these marketing strategies and tactics, businesses can develop a comprehensive and effective marketing plan that aligns with their marketing goals and objectives.

Step 6: Creating a Financial Plan

A financial plan is a detailed document that outlines your business's financial projections, budget, and cash flow. Your financial plan should include a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement, and it should be based on realistic assumptions and market trends.

To create a financial plan, you should consider your revenue streams, expenses, assets, and liabilities. You should also analyze your industry's financial benchmarks and projections and seek input from financial experts or advisors.

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Strikingly website builder offers a variety of payment and e-commerce features, such as online payment integration and secure checkout. You can also use the built-in analytics dashboard to monitor your revenue and expenses and track your financial performance over time.

What is a Financial Plan?

A financial plan is a comprehensive document that outlines a company's financial goals and objectives and the strategies and tactics for achieving them. It typically includes a description of the company's financial situation, an analysis of revenue and expenses, and a projection of future financial performance.

A financial plan can help businesses identify potential risks and opportunities, allocate resources effectively, and measure the success of their financial efforts. It can also provide a roadmap for the finance team and ensure everyone is aligned with the company's financial goals and objectives.

Importance of Creating a Financial Plan in Business Planning

Creating a financial plan is a critical component of the business planning process. It can help businesses identify potential financial risks and opportunities, allocate resources effectively, and measure the success of their financial efforts.

Here are some reasons why creating a financial plan is important in business planning:

Provides a clear financial direction. A financial plan can provide a clear direction for the finance team and ensure everyone is in sync with the company's financial goals and objectives.
Helps prioritize financial opportunities. By analyzing revenue and expenses, a financial plan can help businesses identify and prioritize financial opportunities with the highest potential for success.
Ensures effective resource allocation. A financial plan can help businesses allocate resources effectively and ensure that financial efforts are focused on the most critical and impactful activities.
Measures success. A financial plan can provide a framework for measuring the success of financial efforts and making adjustments as needed.

Examples of Financial Statements and Projections

Here are some examples of financial statements and projections that businesses can use in their financial plan:

Income statement. A financial statement that shows the company's revenue and expenses over a period of time, typically monthly or annually.
Balance sheet. A financial statement shows the company's assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific time, typically at the end of a fiscal year.
Cash flow statement. A financial statement that shows the company's cash inflows and outflows over a period of time, typically monthly or annually.
Financial projections. Forecasts of the company's future financial performance based on assumptions and market trends. This can include revenue, expenses, profits, and cash flow projections.

Step 7: Writing Your Business Plan

The final step in the business planning process is to write your business plan. A business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines your business's mission, vision, objectives, strategies, and financial projections.

A business plan can help you clarify your business idea, assess the feasibility of your business, and secure funding from investors or lenders. It can also provide a roadmap for your business and ensure that you stay focused on your goals and objectives.

Importance of Writing a Business Plan

Writing a business plan is an essential component of the business planning process. It can help you clarify your business idea , assess the feasibility of your business, and secure funding from investors or lenders.

Here are some reasons why writing a business plan is important:

Clarifies your business idea. Writing a business plan can help you clarify your business idea and understand your business's goals, objectives, and strategies.
Assesses the feasibility of your business. A business plan can help you assess the feasibility of your business and identify potential risks and opportunities.
Secures funding. A well-written business plan can help you secure funding from investors or lenders by demonstrating the potential of your business and outlining a clear path to success.
Provides a roadmap for your business. A business plan can provide a roadmap and ensure that you stay focused on your goals and objectives.

Tips on How to Write a Successful Business Plan

Here are some tips on how to write a business plan successfully:

Start with an executive summary. The executive summary is a brief business plan overview and should include your business idea, target market, competitive analysis, and financial projections.
Describe your business and industry. Provide a detailed description of your business and industry, including your products or services, target market, and competitive landscape.
Develop a marketing strategy. Outline your marketing strategy and tactics, including your target audience, pricing strategy, promotional activities, and distribution channels.
Provide financial projections. Provide detailed financial projections, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements, as well as assumptions and risks.
Keep it concise and clear. Keep your business plan concise and clear, and avoid using jargon or technical terms that may confuse or intimidate readers.

Role of Strikingly Website Builder in Creating a Professional Business Plan

Strikingly website builder can play a significant role in creating a professional business plan. Strikingly provides an intuitive and user-friendly platform that allows you to create a professional-looking website and online store without coding or design skills.

Using Strikingly, you can create a visually appealing business plan and present it on your website with images, graphics, and videos to enhance the reader's experience. You can also use Strikingly's built-in templates and a drag-and-drop editor to create a customized and professional-looking business plan that reflects your brand and style.

Strikingly also provides various features and tools that can help you showcase your products or services, promote your business, and engage with your target audience. These features include e-commerce functionality, social media integration, and email marketing tools.

Let’s Sum Up!

In conclusion, the 7 steps of the business planning process are essential for starting and growing a successful business. By conducting a SWOT analysis, defining your business objectives, conducting market research, identifying your target audience, developing a marketing plan, creating a financial plan, and writing your business plan, you can set a solid foundation for your business's success.

Strikingly website builder can help you throughout the business planning process by offering a variety of features such as analytics, marketing, e-commerce , and business plan templates. With Strikingly, you can create a professional and engaging website and business plan that aligns with your business objectives and target audience.

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The Business Planning Process: 6 Steps To Creating a New Plan

The Business Planning Process 6 Steps to Create a New Plan

In this article, we will define and explain the basic business planning process to help your business move in the right direction.

What is Business Planning?

Business planning is the process whereby an organization’s leaders figure out the best roadmap for growth and document their plan for success.

The business planning process includes diagnosing the company’s internal strengths and weaknesses, improving its efficiency, working out how it will compete against rival firms in the future, and setting milestones for progress so they can be measured.

The process includes writing a new business plan. What is a business plan? It is a written document that provides an outline and resources needed to achieve success. Whether you are writing your plan from scratch, from a simple business plan template , or working with an experienced business plan consultant or writer, business planning for startups, small businesses, and existing companies is the same.

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The Better Business Planning Process

The business plan process includes 6 steps as follows:

Do Your Research
Calculate Your Financial Forecast
Draft Your Plan
Revise & Proofread
Nail the Business Plan Presentation

We’ve provided more detail for each of these key business plan steps below.

1. Do Your Research

Conduct detailed research into the industry, target market, existing customer base, competitors, and costs of the business begins the process. Consider each new step a new project that requires project planning and execution. You may ask yourself the following questions:

What are your business goals?
What is the current state of your business?
What are the current industry trends?
What is your competition doing?

There are a variety of resources needed, ranging from databases and articles to direct interviews with other entrepreneurs, potential customers, or industry experts. The information gathered during this process should be documented and organized carefully, including the source as there is a need to cite sources within your business plan.

You may also want to complete a SWOT Analysis for your own business to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and potential risks as this will help you develop your strategies to highlight your competitive advantage.

2. Strategize

Now, you will use the research to determine the best strategy for your business. You may choose to develop new strategies or refine existing strategies that have demonstrated success in the industry. Pulling the best practices of the industry provides a foundation, but then you should expand on the different activities that focus on your competitive advantage.

This step of the planning process may include formulating a vision for the company’s future, which can be done by conducting intensive customer interviews and understanding their motivations for purchasing goods and services of interest. Dig deeper into decisions on an appropriate marketing plan, operational processes to execute your plan, and human resources required for the first five years of the company’s life.

3. Calculate Your Financial Forecast

All of the activities you choose for your strategy come at some cost and, hopefully, lead to some revenues. Sketch out the financial situation by looking at whether you can expect revenues to cover all costs and leave room for profit in the long run.

Begin to insert your financial assumptions and startup costs into a financial model which can produce a first-year cash flow statement for you, giving you the best sense of the cash you will need on hand to fund your early operations.

A full set of financial statements provides the details about the company’s operations and performance, including its expenses and profits by accounting period (quarterly or year-to-date). Financial statements also provide a snapshot of the company’s current financial position, including its assets and liabilities.

This is one of the most valued aspects of any business plan as it provides a straightforward summary of what a company does with its money, or how it grows from initial investment to become profitable.

4. Draft Your Plan

With financials more or less settled and a strategy decided, it is time to draft through the narrative of each component of your business plan . With the background work you have completed, the drafting itself should be a relatively painless process.

If you have trouble writing convincing prose, this is a time to seek the help of an experienced business plan writer who can put together the plan from this point.

5. Revise & Proofread

Revisit the entire plan to look for any ideas or wording that may be confusing, redundant, or irrelevant to the points you are making within the plan. You may want to work with other management team members in your business who are familiar with the company’s operations or marketing plan in order to fine-tune the plan.

Finally, proofread thoroughly for spelling, grammar, and formatting, enlisting the help of others to act as additional sets of eyes. You may begin to experience burnout from working on the plan for so long and have a need to set it aside for a bit to look at it again with fresh eyes.

6. Nail the Business Plan Presentation

The presentation of the business plan should succinctly highlight the key points outlined above and include additional material that would be helpful to potential investors such as financial information, resumes of key employees, or samples of marketing materials. It can also be beneficial to provide a report on past sales or financial performance and what the business has done to bring it back into positive territory.

Business Planning Process Conclusion

Every entrepreneur dreams of the day their business becomes wildly successful.

But what does that really mean? How do you know whether your idea is worth pursuing?

And how do you stay motivated when things are not going as planned? The answers to these questions can be found in your business plan. This document helps entrepreneurs make better decisions and avoid common pitfalls along the way.

Business plans are dynamic documents that can be revised and presented to different audiences throughout the course of a company’s life. For example, a business may have one plan for its initial investment proposal, another which focuses more on milestones and objectives for the first several years in existence, and yet one more which is used specifically when raising funds.

Business plans are a critical first step for any company looking to attract investors or receive grant money, as they allow a new organization to better convey its potential and business goals to those able to provide financial resources.

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Business Planning

Written by True Tamplin, BSc, CEPF®

Reviewed by subject matter experts.

Updated on June 08, 2023

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Table of contents, what is business planning.

Business planning is a crucial process that involves creating a roadmap for an organization to achieve its long-term objectives. It is the foundation of every successful business and provides a framework for decision-making, resource allocation, and measuring progress towards goals.

Business planning involves identifying the current state of the organization, determining where it wants to go, and developing a strategy to get there.

It includes analyzing the market, identifying target customers, determining a competitive advantage, setting financial goals, and establishing operational plans.

The business plan serves as a reference point for all stakeholders , including investors, employees, and partners, and helps to ensure that everyone is aligned and working towards the same objectives.

Importance of Business Planning

Business planning plays a critical role in the success of any organization, as it helps to establish a clear direction and purpose for the business. It allows the organization to identify its goals and objectives, develop strategies and tactics to achieve them, and establish a framework of necessary resources and operational procedures to ensure success.

Additionally, a well-crafted business plan can serve as a reference point for decision-making, ensuring that all actions taken by the organization are aligned with its long-term objectives.

It can also facilitate communication and collaboration among team members, ensuring that everyone is working towards a common goal.

Furthermore, a business plan is often required when seeking funding or investment from external sources, as it demonstrates the organization's potential for growth and profitability. Overall, business planning is essential for any organization looking to succeed and thrive in a competitive market.

Business Planning Process

Step 1: defining your business purpose and goals.

Begin by clarifying your business's purpose, mission, and long-term goals. These elements should align with the organization's core values and guide every aspect of the planning process.

Step 2: Conducting Market Research and Analysis

Thorough market research and analysis are crucial to understanding the industry landscape, identifying target customers, and gauging the competition. This information will inform your business strategy and help you find your niche in the market.

Step 3: Creating a Business Model and Strategy

Based on the insights from your market research, develop a business model that outlines how your organization will create, deliver, and capture value. This will inform the overall business strategy, including identifying target markets, value propositions, and competitive advantages.

Step 4: Developing a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan details how your organization will promote its products or services to target customers. This includes defining marketing objectives, tactics, channels, budgets, and performance metrics to measure success.

Step 5: Establishing Operational and Financial Plans

The operational plan outlines the day-to-day activities, resources, and processes required to run your business. The financial plan projects revenue, expenses, and cash flow, providing a basis for assessing the organization's financial health and long-term viability.

Step 6: Reviewing and Revising the Business Plan

Regularly review and update your business plan to ensure it remains relevant and reflects the organization's current situation and goals. This iterative process enables proactive adjustments to strategies and tactics in response to changing market conditions and business realities.

Components of a Business Plan

Executive summary.

The executive summary provides a high-level overview of your business plan, touching on the company's mission, objectives, strategies, and key financial projections.

It is critical to make this section concise and engaging, as it is often the first section that potential investors or partners will read.

Company Description

The company description offers a detailed overview of your organization, including its history, mission, values, and legal structure. It also outlines the company's goals and objectives and explains how the business addresses a market need or problem.

Products or Services

Describe the products or services your company offers, emphasizing their unique features, benefits, and competitive advantages. Detail the development process, lifecycle, and intellectual property rights, if applicable.

Market Analysis

The market analysis section delves into the industry, target market, and competition. It should demonstrate a thorough understanding of market trends, growth potential, customer demographics, and competitive landscape.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

Outline your organization's approach to promoting and selling its products or services. This includes marketing channels, sales tactics, pricing strategies, and customer relationship management .

Management and Organization

This section provides an overview of your company's management team, including their backgrounds, roles, and responsibilities. It also outlines the organizational structure and any advisory or support services employed by the company.

Operational Plan

The operational plan describes the day-to-day operations of your business, including facilities, equipment, technology, and personnel requirements. It also covers supply chain management, production processes, and quality control measures.

Financial Plan

The financial plan is a crucial component of your business plan, providing a comprehensive view of your organization's financial health and projections.

This section should include income statements , balance sheets , cash flow statements , and break-even analysis for at least three to five years. Be sure to provide clear assumptions and justifications for your projections.

Appendices and Supporting Documents

The appendices and supporting documents section contains any additional materials that support or complement the information provided in the main body of the business plan. This may include resumes of key team members, patents , licenses, contracts, or market research data.

Benefits of Business Planning

Helps secure funding and investment.

A well-crafted business plan demonstrates to potential investors and lenders that your organization is well-organized, has a clear vision, and is financially viable. It increases your chances of securing the funding needed for growth and expansion.

Provides a Roadmap for Growth and Success

A business plan serves as a roadmap that guides your organization's growth and development. It helps you set realistic goals, identify opportunities, and anticipate challenges, enabling you to make informed decisions and allocate resources effectively.

Enables Effective Decision-Making

Having a comprehensive business plan enables you and your management team to make well-informed decisions, based on a clear understanding of the organization's goals, strategies, and financial situation.

Facilitates Communication and Collaboration

A business plan serves as a communication tool that fosters collaboration and alignment among team members, ensuring that everyone is working towards the same objectives and understands the organization's strategic direction.

Business planning should not be a one-time activity; instead, it should be an ongoing process that is continually reviewed and updated to reflect changing market conditions, business realities, and organizational goals.

This dynamic approach to planning ensures that your organization remains agile, responsive, and primed for success.

As the business landscape continues to evolve, organizations must embrace new technologies, methodologies, and tools to stay competitive.

The future of business planning will involve leveraging data-driven insights, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics to create more accurate and adaptive plans that can quickly respond to a rapidly changing environment.

By staying ahead of the curve, businesses can not only survive but thrive in the coming years.

Business Planning FAQs

What is business planning, and why is it important.

Business planning is the process of setting goals, outlining strategies, and creating a roadmap for your company's future. It's important because it helps you identify opportunities and risks, allocate resources effectively, and stay on track to achieve your goals.

What are the key components of a business plan?

A business plan typically includes an executive summary, company description, market analysis, organization and management structure, product or service line, marketing and sales strategies, and financial projections.

How often should I update my business plan?

It is a good idea to review and update your business plan annually, or whenever there's a significant change in your industry or market conditions.

What are the benefits of business planning?

Effective business planning can help you anticipate challenges, identify opportunities for growth, improve decision-making, secure financing, and stay ahead of competitors.

Do I need a business plan if I am not seeking funding?

Yes, even if you're not seeking funding, a business plan can be a valuable tool for setting goals, developing strategies, and keeping your team aligned and focused on achieving your objectives.

About the Author

True Tamplin, BSc, CEPF®

True Tamplin is a published author, public speaker, CEO of UpDigital, and founder of Finance Strategists.

True is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF®), author of The Handy Financial Ratios Guide , a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, contributes to his financial education site, Finance Strategists, and has spoken to various financial communities such as the CFA Institute, as well as university students like his Alma mater, Biola University , where he received a bachelor of science in business and data analytics.

To learn more about True, visit his personal website or view his author profiles on Amazon , Nasdaq and Forbes .

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Business Planning Process: Everything You Need to Know

The business planning process should envision your business's immediate and long-term goals. 3 min read updated on February 01, 2023

Why Is it Important to Develop a Business Plan?

A business plan will serve as a guide for management to run the company. Planning will help avoid problems that can arise from cash shortages, inability to meet customer deadlines, or too few employees. Before planning for the future, companies need to look honestly and critically at the current state of their business by assessing where the company's strengths lie and what needs improvement.

How to Begin the Business Planning Process

To start the business planning process, ask yourself where your business is currently and where you want it to go. A clear vision is the starting point of the business planning process. From there, the process breaks down into more detailed steps.

Develop a Pitch

Start the business planning process with a pitch , which gives a simple outline of your business strategy.

Your pitch should include:

Your main proposition
A summary of the problem you are solving
Your solution to this problem
Description of who your target customer is
An overview of who your company's competitors are

Research Your Market and Products

When you have defined your vision, begin researching products and your target market to help you better understand your business and your potential customer base.

Create a Company Bio

Create a company bio to include in your business plan that highlights your company's core mission and values. Answer the question, "Why did you start your business?" Include bios of personnel underlining their experience and expertise, and how they collaborate as a team to run the business.

When you've built a strong identity, you can incorporate this same text into funding applications, materials that you distribute about your company, and your company's website.

Outline Your Business Model

The basic business model should be laid out in four to five paragraphs that clearly explain how your business operates on a daily basis.

This section should outline the following:

Your products or services
A profile of who your customer is
How your business plans to make profits

Create a Basic Marketing Plan

Include a section in your plan document outlining how your company will market itself to bring in new clients or customers. The first strategy that entrepreneurs use is typically paid advertising. However, in this day and age you should consider exploring other strategies, like referrals, word-of-mouth, mailings, and email blasts.

Prepare Your Business's Financial Projections

A section outlining your financial projects is an integral part of your business plan . Keep these projections fairly conservative, especially in your company's first fiscal year. Consider how you expect revenues to pay for company costs and allow for room for growth in the future. Base all financial projections on concrete assumptions, using data to support your projections.

Draft a Document

With your financial projections in place, it's time to actually draft your business plan. After having conducted the research, the drafting process should be fairly easy to fill in.

Set Goals, Track Progress, and Make Adjustments

Assign different tasks and responsibilities to keep track of and manage progress, and to create accountability among your staff.

A monthly review of your progress and strategy is crucial to checking in on your business's progress, tracking your goals and changing directions should things not go as planned.

Develop Your Executive Summary

Often, investors will ask for an executive summary rather than your detailed business plan to get a feel for what your company has to offer.

It's best to write your executive summary last since you'll be able to highlight the essential details of your business plan and exclude the minutiae.

Edit and Proof Your Final Document

To make sure that your plan is straightforward and easy to understand, proofread, and edit your final document. For this step, also hire a professional copy editor to check formatting, proof, and edit your document.

Keep the design of your document professional to give a good visual first impression to potential investors and employees.

Finally, refine the pitch you created at the beginning of the business planning process before presenting to investors.

If you need help with your business planning process, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.

Hire the top business lawyers and save up to 60% on legal fees

Content Approved by UpCounsel

Creating a Business Plan
Sample of a Good Business Plan
IT Company Business Plan
Business Plan Format: Everything you Need to Know
Parts of Business Plan and Definition
Startup Business Plan Presentation Template
Business Plan Contents Page
Service Business Plan
How to Make a Business Plan Format
Business Plan

What Is the Business Planning Process?

Small Business
Business Planning & Strategy
Business Planning Process
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The Role of Finance in Formulating Business Strategies

How to understand a business plan, the best practices in strategic implementation.

What Is Manufacturing Operations Management?
After Sales Service SWOT Analysis

The business planning process is designed to answer two questions: Where are we now? Where do we want to go? The result of this process is a business plan that serves as a guide for management to run the company. Describing the most critical tasks that must be completed and the time frame for completion, a business plan allows companies to allocate resources to accomplish goals.

Where Are We Now?

Companies begin the planning process by taking a critical look at the business' current state. The management team evaluates what the company is doing well and where it is falling short. Objectives could be revenue targets or ascertaining the company’s reputation for reliability in the marketplace. The planning process provides a blueprint for improvement in all areas.

What's the Competition Doing?

Keeping track of competitors is an ongoing process in business, but in the planning cycle this information is used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor. This analysis shows management how to position the company’s products or services to compete more effectively. It may be that the best way to contend with a competitor is by offering better customer service rather than lower prices.

What's the Opportunity?

Success in business is the result of providing products and services that meet customers’ needs in a significantly better way than competitors. Before launching a product or entering a new market, management must determine a strong customer need to solve a problem. Solving the customer's problem must be important and urgent. Because no company has unlimited resources, these decisions about which opportunities are best to exploit are critical to the company’s success.

How Will We Attract and Keep Customers?

The marketing plan details which customer groups will be targeted and how these customers will be convinced to make a purchase. The planning process must produce specific and detailed tactics, not vague generalities. Instead of saying the company will employ Internet marketing, the plan must detail which categories of Internet marketing will be emphasized, which websites will be used, and the cost of advertising. Also included in the plan must be reasons why these strategies are likely to result in success.

How Will We Allocate Budget?

The planning process determines how all the assets of the company will be marshaled to achieve the goals and objectives. Thorough planning allows financial resources to be used wisely, and for the human resources of the company to be as productive as possible. Planning helps avoid problems such as cash shortages, inability to deliver products on schedule, or inadequate staff levels.

What's the Financial Forecast?

A financial forecast, sometimes referred to as a company budget, is produced during the planning process. The forecast numbers are compared to actual results during the year. Discrepancies are analyzed to determine if a change of course is required, or if shifting expenses may be necessary due to a changing economic environment.

Growthink: The Business Planning Process: 5 Steps To Creating a New Plan
SME Strategy: What is the Strategic Planning Process?

Brian Hill is the author of four popular business and finance books: "The Making of a Bestseller," "Inside Secrets to Venture Capital," "Attracting Capital from Angels" and his latest book, published in 2013, "The Pocket Small Business Owner's Guide to Business Plans."

What is the meaning of corporate planning, the impact of planning on business growth, business enterprise planning, strategic marketing plan strategy evaluation, the definitions of total asset turnover and profit margin, why are major risks in the business plan, principles of marketing management, definition of a successful strategic business plan, why create a business plan, most popular.

1 What Is the Meaning of Corporate Planning?
2 The Impact of Planning on Business Growth
3 Business Enterprise Planning
4 Strategic Marketing Plan Strategy Evaluation

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17.2: The Planning Process

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Learning Objectives

Outline the planning and controlling processes.

Planning is a process. Ideally, it is future-oriented, comprehensive, systematic, integrated, and negotiated. 11 It involves an extensive search for alternatives and analyzes relevant information, is systematic in nature, and is commonly participative. 12 The planning model described in this section breaks the managerial function of planning into several steps, as shown in Figure 17.2.1. Following this step-by-step procedure helps ensure that organizational planning meets these requirements.

A flowchart shows the five steps in the planning process.

Figure $\PageIndex{1}$: The Planning Process Source: Adapted from H. Koontz and C. O’Donnell, 1972. Principles of management: An analysis of managerial functions . New York: McGraw-Hill, 113.

Step 1: Developing an Awareness of the Present State

According to management scholars Harold Koontz and Cyril O’Donnell, the first step in the planning process is awareness. 13 It is at this step that managers build the foundation on which they will develop their plans. This foundation specifies an organization’s current status, pinpoints its commitments, recognizes its strengths and weaknesses, and sets forth a vision of the future. Because the past is instrumental in determining where an organization expects to go in the future, managers at this point must understand their organization and its history. It has been said—“The further you look back, the further you can see ahead.” 14

Step 2: Establishing Outcome Statements

The second step in the planning process consists of deciding “where the organization is headed or is going to end up.” Ideally, this involves establishing goals. Just as your goal in this course might be to get a certain grade, managers at various levels in an organization’s hierarchy set goals. For example, plans established by a university’s marketing department curriculum committee must fit with and support the plans of the department, which contribute to the goals of the business school, whose plans must, in turn, support the goals of the university. Managers, therefore, develop an elaborate network of organizational plans, such as that shown in Figure 17.2.2, to achieve the overall goals of their organization.

An illustration shows an example of a network of organizations plans.

Figure $\PageIndex{2}$: Network of Organization Plans (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC-BY 4.0 license)

Goal vs. Domain Planning

Outcome statements can be constructed around specific goals or framed in terms of moving in a particular direction toward a viable set of outcomes. In goal planning , people set specific goals and then create action statements. 15 For example, freshman Kristin Rude decides that she wants a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry (the goal). She then constructs a four-year academic plan that will help her achieve this goal. Kristin is engaging in goal planning. She first identifies a goal and then develops a course of action to realize her goal.

Another approach to planning is domain/directional planning, in which managers develop a course of action that moves an organization toward one identified domain (and therefore away from other domains). 16 Within the chosen domain may lie a number of acceptable and specific goals. For example, high-school senior Neil Marquardt decides that he wants to major in a business-related discipline in college. During the next four years, he will select a variety of courses from the business school curriculum yet never select a major. After selecting courses based on availability and interest, he earns a sufficient number of credits within this chosen domain that enables him to graduate with a major in marketing. Neil never engaged in goal planning, but in the end, he will realize one of many acceptable goals within an accepted domain.

The development of the Post-it® product by the 3M Corporation demonstrates how domain planning works. In the research laboratories at 3M, efforts were being made to develop new forms and strengths of cohesive substances. One result was cohesive material with no known value because of its extremely low cohesive level. A 3M division specialist, Arthur L. Fry, frustrated by page markers falling from his hymn book in church, realized that this material, recently developed by Spencer F. Silver, would stick to paper for long periods and could be removed without destroying the paper. Fry experimented with the material as page markers and note pads—out of this came the highly popular and extremely profitable 3M product Scotch Post-it®. Geoff Nicholson, the driving force behind the Post-it® product, comments that rather than get bogged down in the planning process, innovations must be fast-tracked and decisions made whether to continue or move on early during the product development process. 17

A photo shot directly from the above shows a set of stationery items including, papers, highlighters, pens, and sticky labels.

Figure $\PageIndex{3}$: Post-it® notes, a 3M product, are often used to create and edit shared documents, such as a company strategic plan. How might technology that allows multiple people to share and edit documents such as Word or PowerPoint files affect the sales of Post-it® products? (Credit: Kevin Wen/ flickr/ Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0))

Situations in which managers are likely to engage in domain planning include (1) when there is a recognized need for flexibility, (2) when people cannot agree on goals, (3) when an organization’s external environment is unstable and highly uncertain, and (4) when an organization is starting up or is in a transitional period. In addition, domain planning is likely to prevail at upper levels in an organization, where managers are responsible for dealing with the external environment and when task uncertainty is high. Goal planning (formulating goals compatible with the chosen domain) is likely to prevail in the technical core, where there is less uncertainty.

Hybrid Planning

Occasionally, the coupling of domain and goal planning occurs, creating a third approach, called hybrid planning. In this approach, managers begin with more general domain planning and commit to moving in a particular direction. As time passes, learning occurs, uncertainty is reduced, preferences sharpen, and managers are able to make the transition to goal planning as they identify increasingly specific targets in the selected domain. Movement from domain planning to goal planning occurs as knowledge accumulates, preferences for a particular goal emerge, and action statements are created.

Consequences of Goal, Domain, and Hybrid Planning

Setting goals not only affects performance directly, but also encourages managers to plan more extensively. That is, once goals are set, people are more likely to think systematically about how they should proceed to realize the goals. 18 When people have vague goals, as in domain planning, they find it difficult to draw up detailed action plans and are therefore less likely to perform effectively. When studying the topic of motivation, you will learn about goal theory. Research suggests that goal planning results in higher levels of performance than does domain planning alone. 19

Step 3: Premising

In this step of the planning process, managers establish the premises, or assumptions, on which they will build their action statements. The quality and success of any plan depend on the quality of its underlying assumptions. Throughout the planning process, assumptions about future events must be brought to the surface, monitored, and updated. 20

Managers collect information by scanning their organization’s internal and external environments. They use this information to make assumptions about the likelihood of future events. As Kristin considers her four-year pursuit of her biochemistry major, she anticipates that in addition to her savings and funds supplied by her parents, she will need a full-time summer job for two summers in order to cover the cost of her undergraduate education. Thus, she includes finding full-time summer employment between her senior year of high school and her freshman year and between her freshman and sophomore years of college as part of her plan. The other two summers she will devote to an internship and finding postgraduate employment—much to mom and dad’s delight! Effective planning skills can be used throughout your life. The plan you develop to pay for and complete your education is an especially important one.

Step 4: Determining a Course of Action (Action Statements)

In this stage of the planning process, managers decide how to move from their current position toward their goal (or toward their domain). They develop an action statement that details what needs to be done, when, how, and by whom. The course of action determines how an organization will get from its current position to its desired future position. Choosing a course of action involves determining alternatives by drawing on research, experimentation, and experience; evaluating alternatives in light of how well each would help the organization reach its goals or approach its desired domain; and selecting a course of action after identifying and carefully considering the merits of each alternative.

Step 5: Formulating Supportive Plans

The planning process seldom stops with the adoption of a general plan. Managers often need to develop one or more supportive or derivative plans to bolster and explain their basic plan. Suppose an organization decides to switch from a 5-day, 40-hour workweek (5/40) to a 4-day, 40-hour workweek (4/40) in an attempt to reduce employee turnover. This major plan requires the creation of a number of supportive plans. Managers might need to develop personnel policies dealing with payment of daily overtime. New administrative plans will be needed for scheduling meetings, handling phone calls, and dealing with customers and suppliers.

Planning, Implementation, and Controlling

After managers have moved through the five steps of the planning process and have drawn up and implemented specific plans, they must monitor and maintain their plans. Through the controlling function (to be discussed in greater detail later in this chapter), managers observe ongoing human behavior and organizational activity, compare it to the outcome and action statements formulated during the planning process, and take corrective action if they observe unexpected and unwanted deviations. Thus, planning and controlling activities are closely interrelated (planning ➨ controlling ➨ planning...). Planning feeds controlling by establishing the standards against which behavior will be evaluated during the controlling process. Monitoring organizational behavior (the control activity) provides managers with input that helps them prepare for the upcoming planning period—it adds meaning to the awareness step of the planning process.

Influenced by total quality management (TQM) and the importance of achieving continuous improvement in the processes used, as well as the goods and services produced, organizations such as IBM-Rochester have linked their planning and controlling activities by adopting the Deming cycle (also known as the Shewhart cycle).

It has been noted on numerous occasions that many organizations that do plan fail to recognize the importance of continuous learning. Their plans are either placed on the shelf and collect dust or are created, implemented, and adhered to without a systematic review and modification process. Frequently, plans are implemented without first measuring where the organization currently stands so that future comparisons and evaluations of the plan’s effectiveness cannot be determined. The Deming cycle, shown in Figure 17.2.4, helps managers assess the effects of planned action by integrating organizational learning into the planning process. The cycle consists of four key stages: (1) Plan—create the plan using the model discussed earlier. (2) Do—implement the plan. (3) Check—monitor the results of the planned course of action; organizational learning about the effectiveness of the plan occurs at this stage. (4) Act—act on what was learned, modify the plan, and return to the first stage in the cycle, and the cycle begins again as the organization strives for continuous learning and improvement.

An illustration depicts the Deming cycle.

Figure $\PageIndex{4}$: The Deming (Shewhart) Cycle (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC-BY 4.0 license)

concept check

What are the five steps in the planning process?
What is the difference between goal, domain, and hybrid planning?
How are planning, implementation, and controlling related?

17.2 The Planning Process

Outline the planning and controlling processes.

Planning is a process. Ideally it is future oriented, comprehensive, systematic, integrated, and negotiated. 11 It involves an extensive search for alternatives and analyzes relevant information, is systematic in nature, and is commonly participative. 12 The planning model described in this section breaks the managerial function of planning into several steps, as shown in Exhibit 17.3 . Following this step-by-step procedure helps ensure that organizational planning meets these requirements.

Step 1: Developing an Awareness of the Present State

Step 2: Establishing Outcome Statements

The second step in the planning process consists of deciding “where the organization is headed, or is going to end up.” Ideally, this involves establishing goals. Just as your goal in this course might be to get a certain grade, managers at various levels in an organization’s hierarchy set goals. For example, plans established by a university’s marketing department curriculum committee must fit with and support the plans of the department, which contribute to the goals of the business school, whose plans must, in turn, support the goals of the university. Managers therefore develop an elaborate network of organizational plans, such as that shown in Exhibit 17.4 , to achieve the overall goals of their organization.

Goal vs. Domain Planning

Another approach to planning is domain/directional planning , in which managers develop a course of action that moves an organization toward one identified domain (and therefore away from other domains). 16 Within the chosen domain may lie a number of acceptable and specific goals. For example, high-school senior Neil Marquardt decides that he wants to major in a business-related discipline in college. During the next four years, he will select a variety of courses from the business school curriculum yet never select a major. After selecting courses based on availability and interest, he earns a sufficient number of credits within this chosen domain that enables him to graduate with a major in marketing. Neil never engaged in goal planning, but in the end he will realize one of many acceptable goals within an accepted domain.

Hybrid Planning

Occasionally, coupling of domain and goal planning occurs, creating a third approach, called hybrid planning . In this approach, managers begin with the more general domain planning and commit to moving in a particular direction. As time passes, learning occurs, uncertainty is reduced, preferences sharpen, and managers are able to make the transition to goal planning as they identify increasingly specific targets in the selected domain. Movement from domain planning to goal planning occurs as knowledge accumulates, preferences for a particular goal emerge, and action statements are created.

Consequences of Goal, Domain, and Hybrid Planning

Step 3: Premising

In this step of the planning process, managers establish the premises, or assumptions, on which they will build their action statements. The quality and success of any plan depends on the quality of its underlying assumptions. Throughout the planning process, assumptions about future events must be brought to the surface, monitored, and updated. 20

Step 4: Determining a Course of Action (Action Statements)

Step 5: Formulating Supportive Plans

Planning, Implementation, and Controlling

After managers have moved through the five steps of the planning process and have drawn up and implemented specific plans, they must monitor and maintain their plans. Through the controlling function (to be discussed in greater detail later in this chapter), managers observe ongoing human behavior and organizational activity, compare it to the outcome and action statements formulated during the planning process, and take corrective action if they observe unexpected and unwanted deviations. Thus, planning and controlling activities are closely interrelated (planning ➨ controlling ➨ planning . . .). Planning feeds controlling by establishing the standards against which behavior will be evaluated during the controlling process. Monitoring organizational behavior (the control activity) provides managers with input that helps them prepare for the upcoming planning period—it adds meaning to the awareness step of the planning process.

It has been noted on numerous occasions that many organizations that do plan fail to recognize the importance of continuous learning. Their plans are either placed on the shelf and collect dust or are created, implemented, and adhered to without a systematic review and modification process. Frequently, plans are implemented without first measuring where the organization currently stands so that future comparisons and evaluations of the plan’s effectiveness cannot be determined. The Deming cycle , shown in Exhibit 17.6 , helps managers assess the effects of planned action by integrating organizational learning into the planning process. The cycle consists of four key stages: (1) Plan—create the plan using the model discussed earlier. (2) Do—implement the plan. (3) Check—monitor the results of the planned course of action; organizational learning about the effectiveness of the plan occurs at this stage. (4) Act—act on what was learned, modify the plan, and return to the first stage in the cycle, and the cycle begins again as the organization strives for continuous learning and improvement.

Concept Check

What are the five steps in the planning process?
What is the difference between goal, domain, and hybrid planning?
How are planning, implementation, and controlling related?

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, how often should a business plan be updated, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

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A business plan is a document that details a company's goals and how it intends to achieve them. Business plans can be of benefit to both startups and well-established companies. For startups, a business plan can be essential for winning over potential lenders and investors. Established businesses can find one useful for staying on track and not losing sight of their goals. This article explains what an effective business plan needs to include and how to write one.

Key Takeaways

A business plan is a document describing a company's business activities and how it plans to achieve its goals.
Startup companies use business plans to get off the ground and attract outside investors.
For established companies, a business plan can help keep the executive team focused on and working toward the company's short- and long-term objectives.
There is no single format that a business plan must follow, but there are certain key elements that most companies will want to include.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place prior to beginning operations. In fact, banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before they'll consider making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a business isn't looking to raise additional money, a business plan can help it focus on its goals. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article reported that, "Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than the otherwise identical nonplanning entrepreneurs."

Ideally, a business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect any goals that have been achieved or that may have changed. An established business that has decided to move in a new direction might create an entirely new business plan for itself.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. These include being able to think through ideas before investing too much money in them and highlighting any potential obstacles to success. A company might also share its business plan with trusted outsiders to get their objective feedback. In addition, a business plan can help keep a company's executive team on the same page about strategic action items and priorities.

Business plans, even among competitors in the same industry, are rarely identical. However, they often have some of the same basic elements, as we describe below.

While it's a good idea to provide as much detail as necessary, it's also important that a business plan be concise enough to hold a reader's attention to the end.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, it's best to fit the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document. Other crucial elements that take up a lot of space—such as applications for patents—can be referenced in the main document and attached as appendices.

These are some of the most common elements in many business plans:

Executive summary: This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
Products and services: Here, the company should describe the products and services it offers or plans to introduce. That might include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other factors that could go into this section include production and manufacturing processes, any relevant patents the company may have, as well as proprietary technology . Information about research and development (R&D) can also be included here.
Market analysis: A company needs to have a good handle on the current state of its industry and the existing competition. This section should explain where the company fits in, what types of customers it plans to target, and how easy or difficult it may be to take market share from incumbents.
Marketing strategy: This section can describe how the company plans to attract and keep customers, including any anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. It should also describe the distribution channel or channels it will use to get its products or services to consumers.
Financial plans and projections: Established businesses can include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses can provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. Your plan might also include any funding requests you're making.

The best business plans aren't generic ones created from easily accessed templates. A company should aim to entice readers with a plan that demonstrates its uniqueness and potential for success.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can take many forms, but they are sometimes divided into two basic categories: traditional and lean startup. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

Traditional business plans : These plans tend to be much longer than lean startup plans and contain considerably more detail. As a result they require more work on the part of the business, but they can also be more persuasive (and reassuring) to potential investors.
Lean startup business plans : These use an abbreviated structure that highlights key elements. These business plans are short—as short as one page—and provide only the most basic detail. If a company wants to use this kind of plan, it should be prepared to provide more detail if an investor or a lender requests it.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan is not a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections to begin with. Markets and the overall economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All of this calls for building some flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on the nature of the business. A well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary. A new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is an option when a company prefers to give a quick explanation of its business. For example, a brand-new company may feel that it doesn't have a lot of information to provide yet.

Sections can include: a value proposition ; the company's major activities and advantages; resources such as staff, intellectual property, and capital; a list of partnerships; customer segments; and revenue sources.

A business plan can be useful to companies of all kinds. But as a company grows and the world around it changes, so too should its business plan. So don't think of your business plan as carved in granite but as a living document designed to evolve with your business.

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

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Business Planning Process

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Business planning is the collection of steps necessary for business success.

Your business planning uses your business plan as a reference document. A business plan helps you stay the course. A business plan also increases your chances of getting investment , funding, debts, etc.

Every business executives meeting is a part of business planning as they discuss the business’s current situation and make a plan on how to improve that situation.

Three Types of Business Planning Necessary for Long-term Business Success

6 step business planning process.

Do Research For Your Business Idea
Develop Business Strategy
Forecast Financials
Create a Business Plan
Revise Business Plan
Create a Business Plan Presentation

Business success is a moving target and your business plan will need to change as the business circumstances change. A business plan will need to change for different goals too.

Hit the moving target of business financial success with these three business planning tools.

Sales Forecasting Plan

The sales forecast gives an estimate of the good and product sales for a certain time and the estimated revenues.

Sales forecasts tend to change with industry trends, changes in the economy, and changes in customer buying preferences.

Cash Flow Analysis Plan

If we can say it in one line, ‘never run out of cash’.

Plan on how you will maintain business cash flow. Having large orders in line is not enough. If you have to spare resources for that project, you may run out of cash by the time you can invoice for that project.

Make a schedule of refreshing cash flow projections and have a contingency plan for any cash shortages with a business financing or debt.

Business Contingency Plan

A business contingency plan is how you’ll handle crises and disasters like fire, flood, or building collapse.

Your contingency plan protects you, your customers, and your employees against a disaster. It will also help you resume operations after a crisis as soon as possible

In the following sections, we provide more detail on each key step.

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Do research for your business idea .

Your research for verifying your business idea starts with the target market research .

For example, you are planning on starting a florist business. Start with doing a local survey and see how many florist shops are there in your locality.

Check how many new florist shops were opened or closed in the last year. You’ll understand some dynamics of your target market with only this data.

Do you plan to go beyond the block and create a florist shop that will attract customers from every nook and corner of the city? Look into the products your competition offers and work on creating innovation.

You can use market surveys, customer feedback, reviews, industry reports, or any credible source of information available for your industry.

Further, document your research. You can use online tools like Google Docs, Dropbox Paper, Evernote, etc. This research will help you draft your business plan and will serve as the bases of your business strategy.

Pro Tip: Here is step by step guide on how to find the right business idea .

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Develop Business Strategy

What is business strategy? Here is how Harvard Business Review defines it.

“A business strategy is a set of guiding principles that, when communicated and adopted in the organization, generates a desired pattern of decision making”.

A simpler definition of business strategy can be that this is the way you should allocate resources to achieve your business goals.

When developing a business strategy, consider your short-term goals and long-term goals. Your strategy will be different for each.

To separate business strategy from business planning, a strategy is a direction, planning is the collection of steps you will take to move in that direction. Stay the course but you can change how you walk.

Since this is your pre-launch phase, you can look into different business strategies and pick the most suitable one for your business.

Forecast Financials

Your business financial forecast includes the expected investments or expenses and expected revenues.

The crux of a financial forecast for your business plan is to give a simple, straightforward financial growth plan.

One big hallmark of your business growth is making breakeven. When your business is making a break-even, you have made progress.

Here is how you can calculate breakeven .

Put forecast numbers in your business financial model and prepare an income statement that will help you determine how much funding you’ll need in the first year to survive.

Your projected financial statements give insight into business operations and performance. You can measure business performance for a quarter, a year, or any period you want. You can also see the details of assets and liabilities and business financial position.

Create a Business Plan

You have the knowledge and data to write a business plan . You have also created projected financial statements. Now is the time to draft your business plan.

Start drafting your business plan from business overview to appendix (write an executive summary at the end). You have everything already, now you just have to put the pieces together.

Creating a business plan seems like a hard task!

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Revise Business Plan

When you have written your business plan, make sure to proofread and revise it for any grammatical or factual errors.

Also, revising a business plan gives you a chance to go over your business idea and its execution once again. You may come up with a new idea or a new way to do something.

If you can, ask someone you trust with business experience to review your business plan. Many times, their insights are valuable and can help you improve your plan.

Create a Business Plan Presentation

Half of the work in securing funding for your business idea is a killer presentation.

Simple ideas stick to our minds. Follow the K.I.S.S principle (K.I.S.S is ‘keep it simple, stupid).

One part of the business plan presentation is the graphics work. If your document or slides are designed by a professional designer, you’ll have a better shot at success.

Use these five tips for improving your business plan presentation.

Know your audience and their backgrounds and tailor your presentation to that
Keep your presentation simple, strip it to the most essential details only
Address weaknesses openly and give your contingency plan for them
Know and verify numbers
Research your competitors to show you understand the market

Recommended: If you want to design a cover page for a business plan by yourself you can follow business plan cover page . It has professional cover page examples to simply download and use. However, If you want to design it by a professional business plan designer then here is our business plan template design service. You can also hire our business plan writing services .

The business planning process is a systematic approach to developing a strategic plan for a business. It involves analyzing the current business environment, setting goals and objectives, identifying strategies, creating an action plan, and regularly reviewing and adjusting the plan as needed.

The business planning process is important because it provides a roadmap for the business’s success. It helps business owners and managers align their efforts, make informed decisions, identify potential risks and opportunities, and allocate resources effectively to achieve their goals.

The key steps in the business planning process typically include conducting a situational analysis, setting SMART goals and objectives, conducting market research, developing strategies, creating an action plan, implementing the plan, and regularly monitoring and evaluating progress.

The duration of the business planning process can vary depending on the size and complexity of the business and the scope of the plan. It can range from a few weeks for a simple plan to several months for a more comprehensive strategic plan.

Ideally, the business planning process should involve key stakeholders such as business owners, managers, department heads, and relevant employees. It can also be beneficial to seek external expertise or involve consultants, industry experts, or advisors to gain valuable insights and perspectives.

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Your Roadmap to Success: 7 Steps for a Business Plan

Most people who spend a little time searching on the Internet or in a bookstore can quickly find a guide on how to write a business plan . However, just following these templates doesn’t guarantee that the business plan produce will be successful or even good. A successful business plan needs quite a bit more to actually be useful and even more to be functional and successful. As the elements come together, if done correctly, the most important component of success will come from the business owner and leadership versus the company itself.

Your business plan needs seven specific elements that will make it stand out beyond just the basic pile of applications and home printer documents everyone regularly sees.

1. Research

If your company is going to run a viable business plan and investors are going to put their money into it, your information has to be top notch. And that includes knowing every topic involved , not just your internal operations. Research and critical analysis are key to developing and communicating a business plan properly. The information used has to be relevant, valuable, and objective. However, you’re not writing a novel, so the presentation also needs to be concise. That means choosing the right research to include versus just a brain dump of anything about the company’s situation.

2. Have a Purpose

What is your business plan being written for? A road map on how to operate? An investor or loan pitch? Both? A historical document? The purpose has to be clear and definitive. If you don’t know why you’re writing a business plan, the effort will be a waste of time. Knowing also means having a target audience you expect the plan to be ready by. With both defined, it will help dictate what information is included and how.

3. Craft a Company Snapshot

Some people call it a company profile, others a snapshot. Either way, your business plan needs a section that gives a reader a clear view of what your company is, does and provides in a few paragraphs. This should be the same information that one would find if they looked on the business’ website. It’s designed to be quick and digestible mentally because it needs to stick in a reader’s mind quickly, especially as more information is provided later in the plan. If the reader remembers nothing else, he or she will have the profile well entrenched in memory. And that matters when your plan is being considered with others.

4. Detail the Company in Total

Some folks write their business plan to only highlight what they think are the selling points and good features of their venture. That’s a mistake. Most readers have a pretty good idea where the company sits in the big picture. Detail the company’s status in full, good and bad. And where there are weaknesses, include plans on how they will be addressed given the right support. Details should also include key features like patents, licenses, copyrights and unique strengths no one else has.

5. Write the Marketing Plan Beforehand

A simple mistake made by most startups is that people think they can write a business plan without knowing first how something is going to be sold . A strategic marketing plan is essential; it shows how your product or service is going to be delivered, communicated and sold to customers. It covers where, when and how much, all the key pieces that later on feed into the financial statement projections in the business plan. No surprise, marketing has to be nailed down before planning out the rest of the business.

6. Be Willing to Change the Plan for Your Audience

Another common mistake folks often make is writing only one business plan. The document given to a lender is going to be very different than the one for internal direction. Smart startups have multiple versions, just like candidates have multiple resumes for different prospective employers. Match the plan and message to the audience you are addressing.

7. Include Your Motivation

This is the most important piece in a successful plan – your motivation and goals. Why are you going through all this effort, work, sweat and effort? Your motivation needs to be a reason that will convince people the business will succeed, through thick and thin. A business needs a mission that drives it, not just selling to make money. Your motivation defined in the business plan is that mission.

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Business Planning Process and Strategy - Steps & Plan

Starting a business is one thing, but sustaining it requires planning. Business planning strategies and processes are crucial to get ahead of the competition. A business growth plan and strategic development for sustainable growth is significant for business expansion.

Developing a business plan is essential to the strategic management planning process. It helps you to set goals, establish priorities, and develop strategies for achieving them. Business planning involves many critical steps, including market analysis, competitive research, financial forecasting, and risk assessment. With the proper business planning process and business planning strategy, you can build a roadmap for the future and take your business to the next level.

This blog will explain business planning and explore the steps involved in creating a successful business planning process, appropriate business strategy for growth, and a business growth plan. As we explain business planning, we will also discuss business strategic development and how to develop a business development plan that aligns with your goals and objectives.

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What is a Business Plan?

How to explain business planning? All businesses require a business planning strategy. A business planning strategy is the basic step while setting up a business. A business planning process is like a map of a company's success that includes the process of achieving the objectives.

An attempt to understand and explain business planning or business development plans involves systematically analyzing an organization's current state, defining its goals and objectives, and developing a business plan and strategy well-suited to the company's specific needs and circumstances.

For successful business strategic planning, it is essential to follow the steps outlined in the business plan steps. For new entrepreneurs, the business planning process in entrepreneurship is critical. It is also crucial to consider trademark registration . It helps prevent competitors from using similar marks or confusing consumers about the origin of products or services.

Objectives of a Business Plan

When it comes to the business planning process, an entrepreneur must be concerned about every aspect of the business and have clear goals. Any business planning strategy must include the following:

How to Prepare for a Business Plan?

Preliminary investigation.

Businesses must review the available business planning process and look for threats and opportunities to create a new business planning process and business planning strategy.

Business Planning Process

While working on the business planning process, determine the essential goals for your business and create a business planning strategy. Identify the company's strengths and weaknesses and lay down all necessary steps to initiate the proposed business.

Key Components of a Business Plan

Executive Summary

An executive summary is a brief business plan overview highlighting its key points and objectives. It serves as an introduction to the plan and gives a clear understanding of the business, its goals, and how it plans to achieve them. An executive summary serves as a quick snapshot of the entire business plan.

It has a critical role in the business planning process and business level strategy in strategic management. It helps business owners and managers focus on their business plan's essential elements. It helps them to articulate their objectives of business , strategies, and tactics concisely and compellingly.

Company Description

A company description in a business plan is a section that provides an overview of a business. It should include information about the nature of the business, its products or services, target market, competition, management team, and financial outlook. This section aims to give investors or potential partners a clear understanding of what the business does and what sets it apart from competitors.

Strategic management planning and business strategic development require a clear understanding of the company's objectives, which should be outlined in the company description. The objectives of the business should be aligned with the customer acquisition strategies to ensure a successful business process outsourcing.

Market Analysis

Market analysis is a crucial aspect of a business plan that involves researching and understanding the target market for a product or service. It includes identifying the needs of potential customers, analyzing competitors, and evaluating industry trends to create a strategy for market development.

Market analysis helps businesses understand their customers, their requirements, and how to reach them best. A company can develop a more effective market development and growth strategy by conducting a thorough market analysis.

Financial Plan

A financial plan is a detailed projection of a business's economic activities and outcomes over a specific period. It helps business owners plan and manage their finances effectively.

Financial planning is an essential component of strategic planning for small business growth and development. A sound financial plan is critical to overall planning and strategic management for any business.

Steps to a Successful Business Planning Process

Idea Generation

Idea generation is an important step in strategic management planning, integral to planning in business management. Generating new ideas involves several steps in the business planning process for creating a successful business development plan. Idea generation can be a powerful tool for planning in business management and can help in developing a business plan that aligns with the company's vision and mission.

Sources of New Ideas

For generating new ideas for the business planning process, businesses can obtain insights from various sources:

Market research and development
Competitors
Vendors and retailers

These sources can provide a wealth of information to be analyzed and used to develop business plan steps, new ideas, or solutions to existing problems.

Methods of Generating New Ideas

Data obtained through surveys and questionnaires
Market research
Group discussion and brainstorming activities
Social media research
Mind Mapping
Adding value to existing products and services

2. Environmental Scanning

Several internal and external factors impact the success of every business planning process. An environmental scan helps to understand the factors that affect your business directly or indirectly.

External Environment

The external environment can be competitors, customers, suppliers, demographics, socio-political situations, or economic conditions.

Internal Environment

These are factors that exist within the business:

Raw Material : Identify the availability, quality, and cost of raw materials needed for production.
Production/ Operation : Assess the production processes, machinery, equipment needed, manufacturing capacity, and production costs.
Finance : Analyze the financial resources available, including startup capital, cash flow, and potential funding sources.
Market : Understand the target market, including their demographics, preferences, and buying habits.
Human Resource : Evaluate the personnel needs, including their skills, knowledge, and experience, as well as their availability and cost.

3. Feasibility Analysis

Feasibility Analysis is one of the most important business plan steps in the business planning process. It analyzes different alternatives to achieving a successful business planning process. A feasibility analysis identifies the best and the worst scenarios in which the company can be.

The different variables included in a feasibility analysis are:

Market analysis provides data on the niche that the business wants to explore. Making the ideal business planning process and business planning strategy is critical.

Technical/ Operational Analysis

It analyzes the operational aspects required to carry on the business successfully. For instance, an idea discussed might have great potential. Still, it may not be feasible when it comes to operational costs. The primary parameters examined during the operational analysis are:

Material Availability : Evaluate the availability, quality, and cost of raw materials needed for production.
Plant Location : Assess the location's suitability, including access to raw materials, labor, transportation, and infrastructure.
Choice of Technology : Analyze the production processes, machinery, equipment needed, manufacturing capacity, and production costs.

Financial Feasibility

The financial feasibility assesses the business's financial issues, including monthly operating expenses, forecasted income statements, cash flow, balance sheet, and capital expenditure.

Functional Plans

The top executives must ensure that functional business strategic planning and process sync with the business goals in a business planning process. Once the feasibility analysis gives the go-ahead, you can draft a business plan.

4. Project Report Preparation

Project report preparation is a critical part of every business planning process. Experts prepare the project report. This report acts as a plan of action that describes the goals and objectives of the business.

Project reports allow the business idea to shape and become a productive venture with a clear-cut business planning strategy. It tracks the progress of the business planning process and compares it with the original plan. It also identifies any risks or challenges and to take corrective action whenever necessary.

5. Plan Your Marketing Strategy

A well-planned marketing strategy and business development plan will help the business reach its target audience.

6. Evaluation, Control, and Review

All the strategies prepared for a business are open to modifications due to internal and external factors. The critical evaluation, control, and review activities include measuring performance based on the current strategy and taking corrective action to enhance or improve the business goal.

What is Business Strategy Planning?

The business planning strategy outlines the goals, objectives, and actions needed to achieve success in a business. It involves analyzing the company's current state, identifying areas for improvement, setting targets, and developing strategies to achieve them.

As part of the business planning process, it is essential to consider the competitive landscape and market trends and the strengths and weaknesses of the business.

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When it comes to the business planning process and planning in business management, having a solid strategy for market development is critical. By identifying and targeting new markets, businesses can expand their customer base and increase revenue. Strategic planning for small businesses is essential, as these businesses often have limited resources and must make every dollar count. Small companies can overcome challenges and succeed by focusing on planning and strategic management.

What does Strategic Planning Involve?

Business planning strategy involves analyzing the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and identifying the best methods for success.

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Essentials of Strategy Planning

In planning and strategic management, it is essential to consider the unique challenges facing small businesses. Strategic planning for small businesses should prioritize flexibility and adaptability, as these businesses often operate in highly dynamic environments.

Past and Present Data Analysis

Past and present data analysis is essential for the business planning process and the business planning strategy. By examining historical data and current performance metrics, businesses can gain insights and identify opportunities for growth and development.

For example, past and present data analysis can help to make informed decisions about inventory management techniques and the purchasing process . By analyzing past sales data and inventory levels, businesses can determine which products are most popular among customers and ensure sufficient inventory to meet demand.

Insightful Analysis of Market Dynamics

Insightful analysis of market dynamics is an important component of the business planning process, particularly in the supply chain management process . By analyzing past demand and supply fluctuations, businesses can identify trends and patterns in the market and develop effective strategies for managing their supply chain.

In addition, insightful analysis of market dynamics is also essential when developing a business plan.

Following a Unique Approach to Planning

Following a unique approach to planning is critical to the business planning process, particularly in business strategic development. With a unique strategy, businesses can create a competitive advantage in the market.

Business level strategy in strategic management also plays a key role in following a unique approach to planning. Focusing on a specific market niche or target audience, businesses can tailor their strategy for market development to meet customers' needs.

Scenario Analysis Based on Relevant Inputs

Scenario analysis is an important aspect of the business planning process and is particularly relevant in business strategic development and business level strategy in strategic management. As businesses develop their strategies, they must consider a range of possible future scenarios and their potential impact on the company's value.

This process is also important in the business planning process in entrepreneurship, as entrepreneurs develop their business plans and strategies. By conducting scenario analysis, entrepreneurs can identify potential risks and opportunities and focus on developing a business plan and strategy to mitigate risk and capitalize on opportunities.

Risk Mitigation Measures to Minimize Loss

Risk mitigation measures are crucial in minimizing the losses a company may face due to unforeseen events. These measures help to identify and evaluate potential risks that could negatively impact the company.

Strategic management planning plays a crucial role in identifying potential risks and creating a risk mitigation plan in the business planning process. A risk management plan should be part of the business plan steps.

Business strategic planning should incorporate risk assessment and mitigation as a part of the overall planning process. A comprehensive understanding of potential risks is necessary for a successful business planning process in entrepreneurship.

BMGI's Approach to Strategy Planning

After working with different kinds of businesses, BMGI has developed a robust process for business strategy planning. It encompasses all the aspects required for the best business strategy planning.

For long-term goals, BMGI focuses on the following three aspects:

Defining the strategy
Establish how to implement the strategy
Implementing the strategy and managing the changes

BMGI has a process in place for businesses to define how to implement their strategy as follows:

External Assessment

BMGI recommends the analysis of-

Market and Customers
Competition
Probable Trends of the Future
PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal)

Internal Assessment

Discover your business's SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and compare them against various scenarios to determine your position.

The assessments mentioned above, along with the understanding of its impact, in the long run, enable businesses to plan their business strategy efficiently.

Impact Areas of Strategic Planning

Examples of Successful Business Planning Process and Strategy

While the impact areas of strategic planning may vary depending on the organization and industry, here are some common areas where business strategic planning can have an impact:

Organic Growth Strategy

Organic growth strategy focuses on growing the organization's existing business lines.

Business Unit Strategy

This growth route focuses on analyzing and implementing strategies for each business unit.

Corporate Strategy

Corporate strategy requires knowledge of the business level strategy in strategic management. In this strategy, the senior management steers the direction of the entire organization based on its core principles and values.

Emerging Markets Strategy

In this strategy, businesses look out for opportunities in places with the potential for promising growth. Entrepreneurs must have a solid business planning process to successfully enter and expand in new and emerging markets. A well-defined business planning process in entrepreneurship can be the difference between success and failure.

Sustainable Growth Strategy

The sustainable growth strategy is a critical component of the business planning process. This strategy involves taking meaningful steps toward the future while considering the unpredictable changes that may arise.

Measuring the Success of Your Business Plan and Strategy

Here are some key steps you can take to measure the success of your business plan and strategy:

Setting Measurable Goals and Objectives

It is essential to set measurable goals and objectives to measure the success of your business plan and strategy.

Determine your business goals: First, you need to identify your goals with your business growth plan. It could be increasing revenue, expanding market share, or improving customer satisfaction.
Define your objectives: Once you have identified your business goals, break them down into specific, measurable, and achievable objectives that are relevant and time-bound.

By setting measurable goals, you can track your progress over time and measure the success of your strategy.

Tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Here are some steps to follow to measure the success of your business plan and strategy by tracking KPIs:

Identify the relevant KPIs: Once you have defined your objectives, identify the KPIs that are relevant to each objective.
Set targets for each KPI: Once you have identified the KPIs, set targets for each one. These targets should be realistic and aligned with your business objectives.
Track and analyze the KPIs: Once you have set targets for each KPI, start tracking them regularly.

Conducting Regular Performance Reviews

Adjust your strategy: Based on your data analysis, adjust your business growth plan or planning in business management as necessary.
Implement Business Process Outsourcing: Consider implementing business process outsourcing to help you achieve your strategic planning for small businesses. What is Business Process Outsourcing? It is a business practice where a company outsources non-core business functions or processes to a third-party provider.
Review your performance against benchmarks regularly and adjust your strategy as necessary. This planning and strategic management process will help you stay on track and achieve your business goals.

Soliciting Customer Feedback

Collect customer feedback: Collect customer feedback through surveys, focus groups, or social media platforms.
Analyze the feedback: Once you have collected customer feedback, analyze it to identify areas for improvement.
Implement changes: Use your collected feedback to change your business strategy.
Measure the impact: Use the same KPIs you used to track your progress before to determine if the changes have positively or negatively impacted your business.
Adjust your strategy: Based on the impact of your changes, adjust your business strategy as needed.

Examples of Successful Business Planning Process and Strategy

Toyota's US invasion in the '70s

Cars have had an enormous impact on Americans since the good old days. The three biggest American car companies ruled over the car market in the US. However, the Japanese car manufacturer, Toyota, did a market analysis and started selling cheaper and more efficient cars during the '70s.

The US car companies did not worry about Toyota at first. They thought Toyota must lose money exporting their vehicles to the US at such low prices. However, within a few years, Toyota started production in the US.

Toyota soon became the largest car company in the US. But what was their business strategy for growth?

Of course, Toyota was using the cost leadership strategy. However, Toyota's manufacturing process was so efficient that it cost them far less to produce cars than American companies. Besides, Toyota's supply chain management was their business strategy for growth, and it made a crucial difference in Toyota's survival. It was also a part of its business planning process.

The multi-billion-dollar idea began with the founders of Airbnb renting their mattresses to strangers. It was a business space no one had explored before.

They struggled to meet ends initially but saw potential in their idea. So, the founders created a website where people could rent their mattresses to travelers and strangers.

There were some scattered online bookings, but they needed to be more to be sustainable. The founders conducted an operational analysis and discovered the problem with poorly presented listings.

They visited all the nearby locations where people were renting out their mattresses. They moved things around to make them look more pleasing and clicked photos. After adding images to their website, the bookings started pouring in.

Then, they hired professional photographers to click photos of all the listings and their owners. The online orders kept skyrocketing. The founders of Airbnb analyzed data to discover the one problem keeping them from succeeding in their revolutionary idea. Airbnb is now valued at over 100 billion Dollars!

A clear understanding of the business planning process and a well-developed plan can help set the foundation for growth and profitability.

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What questions should be asked in a business plan?

The vital questions to ask in a business plan are as follows:

What makes you different?
Who is your audience?
How will you make profits?
How will you promote your business?
How will you get started?

What is the most important part of your business plan?

The executive summary is the most important part of your business plan. It contains the overview of your entire business plan and everything it encompasses.

How many years should a business plan cover?

It is recommended to have a business plan of at least one year to 3 years to address your business goals and possible objections.

How do you overcome lack of planning?

Automate repetitive tasks such as data entry
Set up a network between all your software so that your position is constantly getting updated
Improve the communication between all the departments in your company
Deploy cloud-based technologies for effectively sharing information

What are the barriers to planning?

Here is a list of things that become barriers to planning:

Incompetent leaders
Continuous distractions
Limited resources for task completion
Impractical expectations in senior management

How to define companies Vision and Mission?

A company's vision statement lists what an organization wants to represent in society. A mission statement lists the things a company does to achieve its vision.

What financial projections should I include in my business plan?

Common financial projections that most business plans consist of are sales forecast, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, break-even analysis, and capital expenditure budget.

How do I revise and update my business plan as my business evolves?

To revise and update your business plan:

Set aside time for review
Analyze your financial performance and other key performance indicators (KPIs).
Identify new opportunities for growth and challenges that may require adjustments to your business plan.
Use the insights you have gained from your evaluation to update your business plan.
Communicate changes with stakeholders
Set new targets and milestones for your business.

How do I identify my target audience and develop a marketing strategy?

· Identify your target audience's demographics, preferences, behaviors, and needs through market research.

· Use the insights from your market research to create detailed profiles of your target audience.

· Determine your unique selling proposition (USP)

· Define your marketing goals.

· Choose your marketing channels.

· Tailor your marketing content to your target audience and communicate your USP.

· Test and refine your marketing strategy to optimize your results.

Who benefits from a good business strategy?

A good business strategy can benefit both the business and the consumers.

Product Updates

Module 3: Planning and Mission

The planning cycle, learning outcomes.

Explain the stages of the planning cycle.
Explain why the planning cycle is an essential part of running a business.

Organizations have goals they want to achieve, so they must consider the best way of reaching their goals and must decide the specific steps to be taken. However, this is not a linear, step-by-step process. It is an iterative process with each step reconsidered as more information is gathered. As organizations go through the planning, they may realize that a different approach is better and go back to start again.

Remember that planning is only one of the management functions and that the functions themselves are part of a cycle. Planning, and in fact all of the management functions, is a cycle within a cycle. For most organizations, new goals are continually being made or existing goals get changed, so planning never ends. It is a continuing, iterative process.

In the following discussion, we will look at the steps in the planning cycle as a linear process. But keep in mind that at any point in the process, the planner may go back to an earlier step and start again.

Stages in the Planning Cycle

The stages in the planning cycle

Define objectives

The first, and most crucial, step in the planning process is to determine what is to be accomplished during the planning period. The vision and mission statements provide long-term, broad guidance on where the organization is going and how it will get there. The planning process should define specific goals and show how the goals support the vision and mission. Goals should be stated in measurable terms where possible. For example, a goal should be “to increase sales by 15 percent in the next quarter” not “increase sales as much as possible.”

Develop premises

Planning requires making some assumptions about the future. We know that conditions will change as plans are implemented and managers need to make forecasts about what the changes will be. These include changes in external conditions (laws and regulations, competitors’ actions, new technology being available) and internal conditions (what the budget will be, the outcome of employee training, a new building being completed). These assumptions are called the plan premises. It is important that these premises be clearly stated at the start of the planning process. Managers need to monitor conditions as the plan is implemented. If the premises are not proven accurate, the plan will likely have to be changed.

Evaluate alternatives

There may be more than one way to achieve a goal. For example, to increase sales by 12 percent, a company could hire more salespeople, lower prices, create a new marketing plan, expand into a new area, or take over a competitor. Managers need to identify possible alternatives and evaluate how difficult it would be to implement each one and how likely each one would lead to success. It is valuable for managers to seek input from different sources when identifying alternatives. Different perspectives can provide different solutions.

Identify resources

Next, managers must determine the resources needed to implement the plan. They must examine the resources the organization currently has, what new resources will be needed, when the resources will be needed, and where they will come from. The resources could include people with particular skills and experience, equipment and machinery, technology, or money. This step needs to be done in conjunction with the previous one, because each alternative requires different resources. Part of the evaluation process is determining the cost and availability of resources.

Plan and implement tasks

Management will next create a road map that takes the organization from where it is to its goal. It will define tasks at different levels in the organizations, the sequence for completing the tasks, and the interdependence of the tasks identified. Techniques such as Gantt charts and critical path planning are often used to help establish and track schedules and priorities.

Determine tracking and evaluation methods

It is very important that managers can track the progress of the plan. The plan should determine which tasks are most critical, which tasks are most likely to encounter problems, and which could cause bottlenecks that could delay the overall plan. Managers can then determine performance and schedule milestones to track progress. Regular monitoring and adjustment as the plan is implemented should be built into the process to assure things stay on track.

Practice Question

The planning cycle: essential part of running a business.

Following the planning cycle process assures the essential aspects of running a business are completed. In addition, the planning process itself can have benefits for the organization. The essential activities include the following:

Maintaining organizational focus: Defining specific goals requires managers to consider the vision, mission, and values of the organization and how these will be operationalized. The methods and selected goals can demonstrate that the vision, mission, and values statements are working documents that are not just for show but prescribe activities.
Encouraging diverse participation: Planning activities provide an opportunity for input from different functions, departments, and people. Some organizations establish planning committees that intentionally include people from diverse backgrounds to bring new perspectives into the planning process.
Empowering and motivating employees: When people are involved in developing plans they will be more committed to the plans. Allowing diverse input into the planning cycle empowers people to contribute and motivates them to support the outcomes.

PRactice Question

There are several stages, or steps, in the planning process. It is not unusual to have to repeat steps as conditions change. This process is essential to a business to maintain focus, gather diverse opinions, and empower and motivate employees.

The Planning Cycle. Authored by : John/Lynn Bruton and Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
Image: Stages in the Planning Cycle. Authored by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

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Strategic Planning Process Definition, Steps and Examples

Published: 03 January, 2024

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Digital Strategy

Table of Contents

Organizations use Strategic Planning to gather all their stakeholders to evaluate the collection of current circumstances and decide upon their ongoing goals and benchmarks. They decide upon long-term objectives and establish a vision for the company’s future.

The efforts behind an organization’s Strategic Planning Processes are vital to its success, and yet, while many organizations acknowledge they need to do this kind of planning, they often don’t understand how to make it a reality. In this article, we explain the reasons behind Strategic Planning and how to make your Strategic Planning Process as powerful as possible.

What is a Strategic Plan

Strategic planning is a systematic process wherein the leaders of an organization articulate their vision for the future and delineate the goals and objectives that will guide the trajectory of the organization.

What is the Strategic Planning Process

Strategic planning is a process of defining an organization’s direction and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this direction . It involves creating a long-term plan that outlines the organization’s vision, mission, values, and objectives, as well as the strategies and tactics that will be used to achieve them.

Strategy is often misunderstood, which is surprising because fundamentally it’s a pretty basic concept. Strategy is a clearly expressed direction and a verified plan on how to get there. Your Strategic Planning Process formalizes the steps you’ll take to decide on your plan. The Strategic Planning Process facilitates using a Strategic Execution Framework that articulates where you’ll invest in innovation and where you can cut costs.

As far as business development planning is concerned, your Strategic Execution Framework is a vital tool for driving innovation, but first you must define the process you’ll undertake to determine how you and your team see the future of your organization. In this article, we discuss how to create your Strategic Plan and define its relationship to other concepts and documents that direct your business and its activities.

While it’s true that every business is different and must develop their own processes, we believe there are some process of strategic planning stepsthat benefit all organizations.

Below are our recommendations for the steps to take when undergoing your Strategic Planning Process, along with the questions we suggest you answer during each specific step.

Step One: Analyze your Business Environment

Who are your competitors?
What relevant market data do you have, and what do you still need?
What technology has emerged that impacts your business model?
How have customer expectations changed since your last Strategic Plan?
What advantages do you have over competitors?
Where is your company weaker compared to competitors?
What predictable complications are on the horizon?
Which unpredictable complications seem most likely or most potentially impactful?

Step Two: Set your Strategic Direction

What is your overall Business Purpose ?
How have your operations reflected your Purpose and Goals recently?
How should your operations reflect your Purpose and Goals?
Where do you see your business going in the next year?
In two years? In three years?
What are the metrics you’ll use to measure success?
What are your make-or-break necessities?

Step Three: Set and develop Strategic Goals and Strategic Objectives

Have you considered short-, mid-, and long-term business goals , and what are they?
How do your Strategic Goals reflect your Mission Statement?
How do your Strategic Goals reflect your company values and vision?
What daily operations must be completed to work toward your Strategic Objectives?
How will you communicate your Strategic Goals and Strategic Objectives?
Who is responsible for reporting on success?
How will strategic data be collected?

Related: Strategic Goals: Examples, Importance, Definitions and How to Set Them

Step Four: Drill down to Department-Level Objectives

What are specific department concerns?
How will your budget influence and be influenced by your Strategic Goals and Objectives?
Which departments have resources that could be shared to better advantage?
What roles do individual departments play in your overall Strategic Goals?
What ongoing projects become a priority because of your new Strategic Goals?
Are Departmental Objectives complementing each other and the overall Business Model?

Step Five: Manage and Analyze Performance

Who is on the Strategic Planning team?
Are tasks and job descriptions properly aligned to ensure the right work is getting completed?
What is the schedule for the meeting for Strategic Planning?
What are your metrics for measuring performance and success?
Have you clearly articulated and shared KPIs?
Who is responsible for gathering data?
How will data be collected?
How will data be reported?
What’s at stake for strategy success or failure?

Step Six: Review and develop your Strategic Plan

How should your Strategic Plan look on paper?
What is your Strategy Execution Framework —how will you guarantee the Strategic Plan Team’s decisions are respected and executed?
What is the review process?
How often do you evaluate your Strategic Plan?
How will you communicate your final Strategic Plan?

Strategic Planning Process Examples

1) apple strategic plan process.

Vision and Mission: Apple’s strategic planning begins with a clear vision and mission. Apple’s vision is to create innovative products that inspire and enrich people’s lives.
Environmental Analysis: Apple conducts thorough environmental analyses, considering technological trends, market demands, and competitive landscapes. This includes staying at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies.
SWOT Analysis: Apple evaluates its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. For example, one of Apple’s strengths is its strong brand image, while a weakness might be dependence on a limited product line.
Setting business Goals and Objectives: Apple sets specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. This could include objectives like maintaining a certain market share, launching new products, or achieving specific financial targets.
Strategies and Tactics: Apple develops strategies based on its goals. For instance, a strategic move might be expanding its ecosystem by integrating hardware, software, and services. Tactics could include aggressive marketing campaigns and product launches.
Implementation and Execution: Apple’s strategic plans are meticulously executed. The launch of iconic products like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac series demonstrates effective implementation of their strategies.
Monitoring and Adjusting: Apple constantly monitors its performance metrics, customer feedback, and market dynamics. If necessary, adjustments are made to the strategic plan to stay responsive to changing conditions.

2) Tesla Strategic Plan Process

Vision and Mission: Tesla’s strategic planning revolves around its mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. The vision includes producing electric vehicles and renewable energy solutions.
Market Analysis: Tesla analyzes global markets for electric vehicles, renewable energy, and energy storage. This involves understanding regulatory environments, consumer behaviours, and technological advancements.
Risk Assessment: Tesla conducts risk assessments related to manufacturing, supply chain, and market volatility. For instance, it considers risks associated with battery production and global economic conditions.
Setting Bold Objectives: Tesla is known for setting ambitious objectives, such as achieving mass-market electric vehicle adoption and establishing a robust network of charging stations worldwide.
Innovative Strategies: Tesla’s strategic planning involves innovation in technology and business models . For instance, the “Gigafactories” for mass production of batteries and the “Autopilot” feature in vehicles reflect innovative strategies.
Agile Adaptation: Due to the rapidly changing automotive and energy sectors, Tesla maintains an agile approach. The company adapts its plans swiftly to capitalize on emerging opportunities, as seen in the expansion of its energy products.
Continuous Improvement: Tesla places emphasis on continuous improvement. The iterative development of electric vehicle models, software updates, and advancements in battery technology showcase a commitment to refinement.

These examples demonstrate how strategic planning is a dynamic and integral part of the business processes of leading companies. They highlight the importance of a well-defined vision, rigorous analysis, adaptability, and innovation in the strategic planning process.

Tactical vs. Strategic Planning Process

An easy way to distinguish your company’s Tactical Planning from your Strategic Planning is to separate your wants from your HOWs.

In your Strategic Planning, you identify what you WANT for the company. These are big-picture dreams (achievable, but big ) that are your definition of success. In your Tactical Planning, you identify the HOW for reaching those dreams, including the smaller necessary steps.


	Inspire specific actions	Identify general concerns and interests
	Short term	Long term
	Specific results to achieve	Broad but realistic goals

Each kind of planning is vital for securing the organization’s future, but they require different sorts of attention and philosophy, and teams that are good at planning one way may not necessarily be good at the other kind of planning.

Strategic Planning vs. Your Business Purpose

Your Strategic Planning Process will of course be deeply connected to your Business Purpose .

We like to think of Business Purpose in broad terms, choosing especially to think of a business’s role in massive transformation. Embedded within a Business Purpose is the Business Plan that directs operations and how a company delivers value to its customers.

What is the relationship between your Strategic Planning and your Business Purpose? One feeds into the other. Your Business Purpose must point to a larger impact you’ll have on the people who purchase your goods and services, and your Strategic Planning takes into account how you’ll grow and expand that Purpose as you reach more customers more successfully.

Strategic Planning vs Business Planning

Strategic planning and business planning are two distinct processes that are often used interchangeably, but they have some key differences.

Strategic planning is a top-level process that focuses on determining the direction of an organization over the long term. It involves setting goals, determining the key resources and actions necessary to achieve those goals, and allocating those resources in a way that best serves the organization’s future. The outcome of strategic planning is typically a long-term strategic plan that outlines the organization’s vision, mission, values, and objectives.

Business planning , on the other hand, is a more tactical process that focuses on the implementation of specific initiatives and projects to support the organization’s long-term goals. Business plans typically outline the steps necessary to launch a new product, enter a new market, or achieve a specific objective. They may also include budgets, marketing plans, and other operational details.

In short, strategic planning is about setting the direction for an organization, while business planning is about implementing specific initiatives to support that direction. Both processes are important for the success of an organization and should be used in conjunction to ensure that resources are allocated effectively and that the organization is moving in the right direction.

Why is Strategic Planning Important?

Imagine this scenario: A warehouse full of goods sits, unsold and unmoved. A collection of brilliant people languishes at desks all day. Outside, the world spins and changes. It’s ready for what these people could do, can do, and yet nothing happens. Needs remain unmet. Progress is halted. Everyday life takes several backwards steps. This is what your business will look like without proper Strategic Planning.

Strategic Planning forces you to consider your Strategic Objectives and critically compare them to the resources you have available. As you continuously evaluate the circumstances of your business and your customers, your Strategic Plan evolves to match your goals and business capabilities.

The process involved pushes decision-makers to practice Strategic Thinking . It limits wasteful spending, especially when upper-level managers are willing to forgo pet projects in favor of operations with a broader use and appeal.

Strategic Planning is important because it directs your resources to efficiently meet your overall Business Goals. Without Strategic Planning, you are likely to waste resources, make conflicting decisions, or fail to grow your business to its greatest potential.

When Do You Create a Strategic Plan?

Most businesses find value in reviewing their Strategic Plan every three years. This allows enough time to pass that you can evaluate the success of previous plans, reflect on the achievement of your Strategic Goals, consider developments outside your organization that affect your business, and begin formulating new goals that will become the next version of your plans.

When businesses first begin, they often have too many fires burning at once. They remain focused on existing today rather than planning for tomorrow. Most entrepreneurs remember those stressful early days of starting their businesses and can understand why formalities like Strategic Plans can fall by the wayside. We believe if your business lasts longer than a year it’s important to develop a plan for the future. Think of Strategic Planning as a celebration of a first anniversary—a sign that you’re poised to continue moving forward for years to come.

However, Strategic Planning is not a one-off event that is over once the cookies are all gone and the room clears. Your Strategic Planning team should meet regularly to measure how effective the plans are at helping you reach your Strategic Goals. Ad hoc subcommittees can play a role in gathering evidence to ensure that your plans remain appropriate, especially if conditions change.

For example, we recommended a close review of Strategic Plans and Strategic Goals once the COVID-19 pandemic made it clear that business was going to be affected at least short- to mid-term. We continue to recommend teams regularly revisit their Strategic Plans with global circumstances in mind to recognize opportunities and prepare for challenges.

The Benefits of Strategic Planning

As we’ve mentioned, there are many benefits of Strategic Planning . Some of those benefits include:

Shared sense of power and importance
United direction
Clear path and purpose for decision-making and operations
Boosted operational effectiveness
Responsible, efficient use of available resources
Meaningful work done on a daily basis
Tracking of progress
Ability to adjust to changing circumstances

What is a business without Strategic Planning? In most cases, it’s not much, nor is it long for the world. While it’s possible to accidentally find success without much planning, most successful businesses are a result of careful thought mixed with the urge to pounce on the opportunity.

What prepares you to pounce?

Your Strategic Planning and the processes that make it possible.

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Editable UNITE models (PowerPoint) included

Most of our models and canvases are designed to be applied!  

To help you personalize them to your exact business requirements, you can download fully editable versions of the UNITE models available (PowerPoint format)!

They are straightforward to work with, and you can directly incorporate them into your presentations as you need…thus saving countless hours of replication!

PS: did you know that you are also getting hi-res print-ready versions for your workshops?

Monthly live webinars

Each month we host our exclusive, invitation-only webinar series where one of our industry-leading experts updates our members on the latest news, progress and concepts around business strategy, innovation and digital transformation, as well as other related topics.   

You will receive the book in PDF and EPUB formats, ideal for your computer, Kindle, Tablet or other eReading device.

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These sessions are your opportunity to bring any questions or challenges you’re facing and receive expert guidance on the spot.  

Come and be a part of engaging discussions where your unique concerns are heard and addressed.

1x personal coaching session / month

If you are occasionally looking for a sparring partner or you need limited support, then this option will be ideal for you. Coaching sessions are 1-2 hours where we can discuss any challenge or opportunity you are currently facing.

If you need a few more hours outside of this provision, then these could be billed transparently.

Unlimited video call support! – it’s like always making the right decision!

We believe support shouldn’t be limited. Because we typically find that the occasional hour just doesn’t cut it – particularly if you and your team are in the midst of a large and complex project.

Your time with Stefan is therefore unlimited (fair usage applies) – in his function as coach and sparring partner. That does mean that you will still have to do the work – we cannot take that off you, unless you hire us as consultants. But you will get valuable strategic insight and direction to make sure you are always focusing your efforts where they will lead to the best results.

One personal coaching session / month  + unlimited support via e-mail & WhatsApp

We believe support shouldn’t be limited. If you generally know what you are doing but want a sparring partner to frequently raise questions to, this is the perfect choice!

In addition to your monthly 1-1 live coaching sessions with Stefan, you will also get unlimited support from him via email and WhatsApp messaging (fair usage applies). This not only allows you to get valuable strategic direction in your calls, but also gives you instant access to expert help as you work through your plans each month. 

 The fact that support is text-based means that we can speed up our responses to you while keeping the overall cost of support down.

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As a welcome gift, you will receive the both the digital and physical version of our book “How to Create Innovation”, which covers numerous relevant resources and provides additional deep dives into our UNITE models and concepts. 

The print version will be shipped out to you on sign-up. The digital version will be emailed to you, and comes in PDF and EPUB formats, ideal for your computer, Kindle, Tablet or other eReading device.

1x major workshop or 2x smaller workshops / month

1x major or 2x smaller workshops based on the UNITE models.

Topics covered: almost any challenge under the header of #strategy, #innovation or #transformation, leveraging the UNITE models.
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Collaborative approach: engage in interactive sessions that foster collaboration, idea exchange, and real-time problem-solving among peers and industry leaders.
Continuous Improvement: Regular workshops ensure ongoing development in your organization staying ahead of industry trends and customer needs.

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6x UNITE model package downloads are included per month, if you need something in addition to these however, please let us know!
Hi-res, print-ready versions you can use in your workshops
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Planning Process

Planning is the first primary function of management that precedes all other functions . The planning function involves the decision of what to do and how it is to be done? So managers focus a lot of their attention on planning and the planning process . Let us take a look at the eight important steps of the planning process.

1] Recognizing Need for Action

An important part of the planning process is to be aware of the business opportunities in the firm’s external environment as well as within the firm. Once such opportunities get recognized the managers can recognize the actions that need to be taken to realize them. A realistic look must be taken at the prospect of these new opportunities and SWOT analysis should be done.

Say for example the government plans on promoting cottage industries in semi-urban areas. A firm can look to explore this opportunity.

What are the Types of Plan?

2] Setting Objectives

This is the second and perhaps the most important step of the planning process. Here we establish the objectives for the whole organization and also individual departments . Organizational objectives provide a general direction, objectives of departments will be more planned and detailed.

Objectives can be long term and short term as well. They indicate the end result the company wishes to achieve. So objectives will percolate down from the managers and will also guide and push the employees in the correct direction.

Importance, Features, and Limitation of Planning here in detail .

3] Developing Premises

Planning is always done keeping the future in mind, however, the future is always uncertain. So in the function of management certain assumptions will have to be made. These assumptions are the premises. Such assumptions are made in the form of forecasts, existing plans, past policies, etc.

These planning premises are also of two types – internal and external. External assumptions deal with factors such as political environment, social environment , the advancement of technology , competition, government policies , etc. Internal assumptions deal with policies, availability of resources, quality of management , etc.

These assumptions being made should be uniform across the organization. All managers should be aware of these premises and should agree with them.

4] Identifying Alternatives

The fourth step of the planning process is to identify the alternatives available to the managers. There is no one way to achieve the objectives of the firm, there is a multitude of choices. All of these alternative courses should be identified. There must be options available to the manager.

Maybe he chooses an innovative alternative hoping for more efficient results. If he does not want to experiment he will stick to the more routine course of action. The problem with this step is not finding the alternatives but narrowing them down to a reasonable amount of choices so all of them can be thoroughly evaluated.

5] Examining Alternate Course of Action

The next step of the planning process is to evaluate and closely examine each of the alternative plans. Every option will go through an examination where all there pros and cons will be weighed. The alternative plans need to be evaluated in light of the organizational objectives.

For example, if it is a financial plan. Then it that case its risk-return evaluation will be done. Detailed calculation and analysis are done to ensure that the plan is capable of achieving the objectives in the best and most efficient manner possible.

6] Selecting the Alternative

Finally, we reach the decision making stage of the planning process. Now the best and most feasible plan will be chosen to be implemented. The ideal plan is the most profitable one with the least amount of negative consequences and is also adaptable to dynamic situations.

The choice is obviously based on scientific analysis and mathematical equations. But a managers intuition and experience should also play a big part in this decision. Sometimes a few different aspects of different plans are combined to come up with the one ideal plan.

7] Formulating Supporting Plan

Once you have chosen the plan to be implemented, managers will have to come up with one or more supporting plans. These secondary plans help with the implementation of the main plan. For example plans to hire more people, train personnel, expand the office etc are supporting plans for the main plan of launching a new product. So all these secondary plans are in fact part of the main plan.

8] Implementation of the Plan

And finally, we come to the last step of the planning process, implementation of the plan. This is when all the other functions of management come into play and the plan is put into action to achieve the objectives of the organization. The tools required for such implementation involve the types of plans- procedures, policies, budgets, rules, standards etc.

Solved Question for You

Q: _______ involves scientific analysis of the decision process

Linear Programming
Risk Analysis
Operations Research
None of the above

Ans: The correct option is C. Operation research is the application of scientific and mathematical methods to study and analyse problems involving complex systems. It is a powerful tool for decision making.

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Types of Plan
Introduction, Meaning, Importance, Features and Limitations of Planning

One response to “Introduction, Meaning, Importance, Features and Limitations of Planning”

You made a good point that I should be wary of dynamic situations when dealing with business planning. Nevertheless, I still think that having a good business plan is essential for the game development company that I’m planning to start in the future. Perhaps hiring a business planning consultant would be a good way to have a good footing from the very beginning of the venture.

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Strategic Planning Process: Why Is Strategic Planning Important for Organizations in 2024?

a transparent grid illustration connecting a circle and square representing the strategic planning process

Strategic planning frameworks

Best practices supporting the strategic planning process

By the end of this article, you’ll have the knowledge needed to perfect the key elements of strategic planning. Ready? Let’s begin.

What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning charts your business's course toward success. Using your organization’s vision, mission statement , and values — with internal and external information — each step of the strategic planning process helps you craft long-term objectives and attain your goals with strategic management.

The key elements of strategic planning includes a SWOT analysis, goal setting , stakeholder involvement, plus developing actionable strategies, approaches, and tactics aligned with primary objectives.

In short, the strategic planning process bridges the gap between your organization’s current and desired state, providing a clear and actionable framework that answers: Where are you now? Where do you want to be? How will you get there?

7 key elements of strategic planning

The following strategic planning components work together to create cohesive strategic plans for your business goals. Let’s take a close look at each of these:

Vision : What your organization wants to achieve in the future, the long-term goal
Mission : The driving force behind why your company exists, who it serves, and how it creates value
Values : Fundamental beliefs guiding your company’s decision-making process
Goals : Measurable objectives in alignment with your business mission, vision, and values
Strategy : A long-term strategy map for achieving your objectives based on both internal and external factors
Approach : How you execute strategy and achieve objectives using actions and initiatives
Tactics : Granular short-term actions, programs, and activities

Why is the strategic planning process important?

Just as a chess player needs a gameplan to reach checkmate, a company needs a solid strategic plan to achieve its goals.

Without a strategic plan, your business will waste precious time, energy, and resources on endeavors that won’t get your company closer to where it needs to be.

Your ideal plan should cover all key strategic planning areas, while allowing you to stay present by measuring success and course-correcting or redefining the strategic direction when necessary. Ultimately, enabling your company to stay future-proof through the creation of an always-on strategy that reflects your company's mission and vision.

An always-on strategy involves continuous environmental scanning even after the strategic plan has been devised, ensuring readiness to adapt in response to quick, drastic changes in the environment.

Let’s dive deeper into the steps of the strategic planning process.

What are the 7 stages of the strategic planning process?

You understand the overall value of implementing a strategic planning process — now let’s put it in practice. Here's our 7-step approach to strategic planning that ensures everyone is on the same page:

Clarify your vision, mission, and values
Conduct an environmental scan
Define strategic priorities
Develop goals and metrics
Derive a strategic plan
Write and communicate your strategic plan
Implement, monitor, and revise

1. Clarify your vision, mission, and values

The first step of the strategic planning process is understanding your organization’s core elements: vision, mission, and values. Clarifying these will align your strategic plan with your company’s definition of success. Once established, these are the foundation for the rest of the strategic planning process.

Questions to ask:

What do we aspire to achieve in the long term?
What is our purpose or ultimate goal?
What do we do to fulfill our vision?
What key activities or services do we provide?
What are our organization's ethics?
What qualities or behaviors do we expect from employees?

2. Conduct an environmental scan

Once everyone on the same page about vision, mission, and values, it's time to scan your internal and external environment. This involves a long-term SWOT analysis, evaluating your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Internal factors

Internal strengths and weaknesses help you understand where your organization excels and what it could improve. Strengths and weaknesses awareness helps make more informed decisions with your capabilities and resource allocation in mind.

External factors

Externally, opportunities and threats in the market help you understand the power of your industry’s customers, suppliers, and competitors. Additionally, consider how broader forces like technology, culture, politics, and regulation may impact your organization.

What are our organization's key strengths or competitive advantages?
What areas or functions within our organization need improvement?
What emerging trends or opportunities can we leverage?
How do changes in technology, regulations, or consumer behavior impact us?

3. Define strategic priorities

Prioritization puts the “strategic” in strategic planning process. Your organization’s mission, vision, values, and environmental scan serve as a lens to identify top priorities. Limiting priorities ensures your organization intentionally allocates resources.

These categories can help you rank your strategic priorities:

Critical : Urgent tasks whose failure to complete will have severe consequences — financial losses, reputation damage, or legal consequences
Important : Significant tasks which support organizational achievements and require timely completion
Desirable : Valuable tasks not essential in the short-term, but can contribute to long-term success and growth
How do these priorities align with our mission, vision, and values?
Which tasks need to be completed quickly to ensure effective progress towards our desired outcomes?
What resources and capabilities do we need to pursue these priorities effectively?

4. Develop goals and metrics

Next, you establish goals and metrics to reflect your strategic priorities. Purpose-driven, long-term, actionable strategic planning goals should flow down through the organization, with lower-level goals contributing to higher-level ones.

One approach that can help you set and measure your aligned goals is objectives and key results (OKRs). OKRs consist of objectives, qualitative statements of what you want to achieve, and key results, 3-5 supporting metrics that track progress toward your objective.

OKRs ensure alignment at every level of the organization, with tracking and accountability built into the framework to keep everyone engaged. With ambitious, intentional goals, OKRs can help you drive the strategic plan forward.

What metrics can we use to track progress toward each objective?
How can we ensure that lower-level goals and metrics support and contribute to higher-level ones?
How will we track and measure progress towards key results?
How will we ensure accountability?

Get an in-depth look at OKRs with our Ultimate OKR Playbook

an illustration of a circle in a shifting square to represent an okr playbook

5. Derive a strategic plan

The next step of the strategic planning process gets down to the nitty-gritty “how” — developing a clear, practical strategic plan for bridging the gap between now and the future.

To do this, you’ll need to brainstorm short- and long-term approaches to achieving the goals you’ve set, answering a couple of key questions along the way. You must evaluate ideas based on factors like:

Feasibility : How realistic and achievable is it?
Impact : How conducive is it to goal attainment?
Cost : Can we fund this approach, and is it worth the investment?
Alignment : Does it support our mission, vision, and values?

From your approaches, you can devise a detailed action plan, which covers things like:

Timelines : When will we take each step, and what are the deadlines?
Milestones : What key achievements will ensure consistent progress?
Resource requirements : What’s needed to achieve each step?
Responsibilities : Who's accountable in each step?
Risks and challenges : What can affect our ability to execute our plan? How will we address these?

With a detailed action plan like this, you can move from abstract goals to concrete steps, bringing you closer to achieving your strategic objectives.

6. Write and communicate your strategic plan

Writing and communicating your strategic plan involves everyone, ensuring each team is on the same page. Here’s a clear, concise structure you can use to cover the most important strategic planning components:

Executive summary : Highlights and priorities in your strategic overview
Introduction : Background on your strategic plan
Connection : How your strategic plan aligns with your organization’s mission, vision, and values
Environmental scan : An overview of your SWOT analysis findings
Strategic priorities and goals : Informed short and long-term organizational goals
Strategic approach : An overview of your tactical plan
Resource needs : How you'll deploy technology, funding, and employees
Risk and challenges : How you’ll mitigate the unknowns if and when they arise
Implementation plan : A step-by-step resource deployment plan for achieving your strategy
Monitoring and evaluation : How you’ll keep your plan heading in the right direction
Conclusion : A summary of the strategic plan and everything it entails
What information or context do stakeholders need to understand the strategic plan?
How can we emphasize the connection between the strategic plan and the overall purpose and direction of the organization?
What initiatives or strategies will we implement to drive progress?
How will we mitigate or address risks?
What are the specific steps and actions we need to take to implement the strategic plan?
Any additional information or next steps we need to communicate?

7. Implement, monitor, and revise performance

Finally, it’s time to implement your strategic plan, making sure it's up to date, creating a persistent, always-on strategy that doesn't lag behind. As you get the ball rolling, keep a close eye on your timelines, milestones, and performance targets, and whether these align with your internal and external environment.

Internally, indicators like completions, issues, and delays provide visibility into your process. If any bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or misalignment arises, take corrective action promptly — adjust the plan, reallocate resources, or provide additional training to employees.

Externally, you should monitor changes such as customer preferences, competitive pressures, economic shifts , and regulatory changes. These impact the success of your strategic action plan and may require tweaks along the way.

Remember, implementing a strategic plan isn’t a one-time task — continual evaluation is essential for an always-on strategy. It involves extending beyond planning stages and contextualizing the strategy in real-time, allowing for swift adaptations to changing circumstances to ensure your plan remains relevant.

Are there any bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or misalignments we need to address?
Are we monitoring and analyzing external factors?
Are we prepared to make necessary tweaks or adaptations along the way?
Are we agile enough to promptly correct deviations from our strategic plan while maintaining an "always-on" strategy for continual adjustments?

You can use several frameworks to guide you through the strategic planning process. Some of the most influential ones include:

Balanced scorecard (BSC) : Takes an overarching approach to strategic planning, covering financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth, aligning short-term operational tasks with long-term strategic goals.
SWOT analysis : Highlights your business's internal strengths and weaknesses alongside external opportunities and threats to enable informed decisions about your strategic direction.
OKRs : Structures goals as a set of measurable objectives and key results. They cascade down from top-level organizational objectives to lower-level team goals, ensuring alignment across the entire organization. Get an in-depth look at OKRs here .
Scenario planning : Involves envisioning and planning for various possible future scenarios, allowing you to prepare for a range of potential outcomes. It's particularly useful in volatile environments rife with uncertainties.
Porter's five forces : Evaluates the competitive forces within your industry — rivalry among existing competitors, bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, threat of new entrants, and threat of substitutes — to shape strategies that position the organization for success.

Common problems with strategic planning and how to overcome them

While strategic planning provides a roadmap for business success, it's not immune to challenges. Recognizing and addressing these is crucial for effective strategy implementation. Let's explore common issues encountered in strategic planning and strategies to overcome them.

Want a quick recap? Watch our summary below

Static nature

Traditional strategic planning models often follow a linear, annual, and inflexible process that doesn't accommodate quick changes in the business landscape. Strategies formulated this way may quickly become outdated in today's fast-paced environment.

To overcome the rigidity of traditional strategic planning, your organization should integrate continuous environmental scanning processes. This includes monitoring market changes, competitor actions, and technological advancements, ensuring real-time insights inform strategic decision-making. Additionally, adopting agile methodologies allows for iterative planning, breaking down strategies into smaller, manageable components reviewed and adjusted regularly, ensuring adaptability in today's fast-paced landscape.

Disconnect between strategic plan and execution

There's often a significant gap between the strategic objectives and their actual implementation, leading to misalignment, confusion, and inefficiency within the organization.

To bridge the gap, ensure accountability, alignment, and feedback-driven processes across the business. Linking team roles and responsibilities to lower-level objectives can fosters alignment and accountability, whereas aligning these with overarching strategic objectives ensure coherence in execution. To ensure goals are optimized on an ongoing basis, implement a feedback mechanism that continuously evaluates progress against goals, enabling regular adjustments based on market feedback and internal insights.

Lack of real-time insights

Traditional planning models rely on historical data and periodic reviews, which might not capture real-time changes or emerging trends accurately. This can result in misaligned strategies unsuitable for the current business landscape.

Leverage advanced analytics tools and AI-driven technologies. Invest in technologies that offer real-time tracking and reporting of key performance indicators, with dashboards and monitoring systems that provide up-to-date insights. These allow you to gather, process, and interpret real-time data for proactive decision-making that aligns with the current business landscape.

Failure to close the feedback loop

The absence of a feedback loop between strategy formulation, execution, and evaluation can impact learning and improvement. Companies might therefore struggle to refine their strategies based on real-time performance insights.

Establish a structured feedback loop encompassing strategy formulation, execution, and evaluation stages. Encourage employees to actively contribute insights on strategy execution, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and adaptation.

Best practices during the strategic planning process

Navigating strategic planning goes beyond overcoming challenges. A successful strategic plan requires you to embrace a set of guiding best practices, helping you navigate the development and implementation of your strategic planning process.

1. Keep the planning process flexible

With ever-changing business environments, a one-and-done approach to strategic planning is insufficient. Your strategic plan needs to be adaptable to ensure its relevancy and its ability to weather the effects of changing circumstances.

2. Pull together a diverse group of stakeholders

By including voices from across the organization, you can account for varying thoughts, perspectives, and experiences at each step of the strategic planning process, ensuring cross-functional alignment .

3. Document the process

Continuous documentation of the strategic management process is crucial in capturing and communicating the key elements of strategic planning. This keeps everyone on the same page and your strategic plan up-to-date and relevant.

4. Make data-driven decisions

Root your decisions in evidence and facts rather than assumptions or opinions. This cultivates accurate insights, improves prioritization, and reduces biased (flawed) decisions.

5. Align your company culture with the strategic plan

Your strategic plan can only be successful if everyone is on board with it — company culture supports what you’re trying to achieve. Behaviors, rules, and attitudes optimize the execution of your strategic plan.

6. Leverage AI

Using AI in strategic planning supports the development of an always-on strategy — amplifying strategic agility, conducting comprehensive environmental scans, and expediting planning phases. It can streamline operations, facilitate data-driven decision-making, and provide transparent insights into progress to drive accountability, engagement, and alignment with the strategic plan.

The strategic planning process in a nutshell

Careful strategy mapping is crucial for any organization looking to achieve its long-term goals while staying true to its mission, vision, and values. The seven steps in the strategic planning process outlined in this article provide a solid framework your organization can follow — from clarifying your organization’s purpose and developing a strategic plan, to implementing, monitoring, and revising performance. These steps will help your company meet goal measurements and create an always-on strategy that's rooted in the present.

It’s important to remember that strategic planning is not a one-time event. To stay effective and relevant, you must continuously monitor and adapt your strategy in response to changing circumstances. This ongoing process of improvement keeps your organization competitive and demonstrates your commitment to achieving your goals.

Quantive empowers modern organizations to turn their ambitions into reality through strategic agility. It's where strategy, teams, and data come together to drive effective decision-making, streamline execution, and maximize performance.

As your company navigates today’s competitive landscape, you need an Always-On Strategy to continuously bridge the gap between current and desired business outcomes. Quantive brings together the technology, expertise, and passion to transform your strategy from a static plan to a feedback-driven engine for growth.

Whether you’re a visionary start-up, a mid-market business looking to conquer, or a large enterprise facing disruption, Quantive keeps you ahead — every step of the way. For more information, visit www.quantive.com .

Additional resources

How top companies are closing the strategy execution gap, strategy execution in 4 steps: keys to successful strategy, 7 best practices for strategy execution, why your business needs strategy execution software, subscribe for our newsletter.

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How To Start A Business In 11 Steps (2024 Guide)

Updated: Apr 7, 2024, 1:44pm

How To Start A Business In 11 Steps (2024 Guide)

Before you begin: get in the right mindset, 1. determine your business concept, 2. research your competitors and market, 3. create your business plan, 4. choose your business structure, 5. register your business and get licenses, 6. get your finances in order, 7. fund your business, 8. apply for business insurance, 9. get the right business tools, 10. market your business, 11. scale your business, what are the best states to start a business, bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Starting a business is one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences you can have. But where do you begin? There are several ways to approach creating a business, along with many important considerations. To help take the guesswork out of the process and improve your chances of success, follow our comprehensive guide on how to start a business. We’ll walk you through each step of the process, from defining your business idea to registering, launching and growing your business .

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The public often hears about overnight successes because they make for a great headline. However, it’s rarely that simple—they don’t see the years of dreaming, building and positioning before a big public launch. For this reason, remember to focus on your business journey and don’t measure your success against someone else’s.

Consistency Is Key

New business owners tend to feed off their motivation initially but get frustrated when that motivation wanes. This is why it’s essential to create habits and follow routines that power you through when motivation goes away.

Take the Next Step

Some business owners dive in headfirst without looking and make things up as they go along. Then, there are business owners who stay stuck in analysis paralysis and never start. Perhaps you’re a mixture of the two—and that’s right where you need to be. The best way to accomplish any business or personal goal is to write out every possible step it takes to achieve the goal. Then, order those steps by what needs to happen first. Some steps may take minutes while others take a long time. The point is to always take the next step.

Most business advice tells you to monetize what you love, but it misses two other very important elements: it needs to be profitable and something you’re good at. For example, you may love music, but how viable is your business idea if you’re not a great singer or songwriter? Maybe you love making soap and want to open a soap shop in your small town that already has three close by—it won’t be easy to corner the market when you’re creating the same product as other nearby stores.

If you don’t have a firm idea of what your business will entail, ask yourself the following questions:

What do you love to do?
What do you hate to do?
Can you think of something that would make those things easier?
What are you good at?
What do others come to you for advice about?
If you were given ten minutes to give a five-minute speech on any topic, what would it be?
What’s something you’ve always wanted to do, but lacked resources for?

These questions can lead you to an idea for your business. If you already have an idea, they might help you expand it. Once you have your idea, measure it against whether you’re good at it and if it’s profitable.

Your business idea also doesn’t have to be the next Scrub Daddy or Squatty Potty. Instead, you can take an existing product and improve upon it. You can also sell a digital product so there’s little overhead.

What Kind of Business Should You Start?

Before you choose the type of business to start, there are some key things to consider:

What type of funding do you have?
How much time do you have to invest in your business?
Do you prefer to work from home or at an office or workshop?
What interests and passions do you have?
Can you sell information (such as a course), rather than a product?
What skills or expertise do you have?
How fast do you need to scale your business?
What kind of support do you have to start your business?
Are you partnering with someone else?
Does the franchise model make more sense to you?

Consider Popular Business Ideas

Not sure what business to start? Consider one of these popular business ideas:

Start a Franchise
Start a Blog
Start an Online Store
Start a Dropshipping Business
Start a Cleaning Business
Start a Bookkeeping Business
Start a Clothing Business
Start a Landscaping Business
Start a Consulting Business
Start a Photography Business
Start a Vending Machine Business

Most entrepreneurs spend more time on their products than they do getting to know the competition. If you ever apply for outside funding, the potential lender or partner wants to know: what sets you (or your business idea) apart? If market analysis indicates your product or service is saturated in your area, see if you can think of a different approach. Take housekeeping, for example—rather than general cleaning services, you might specialize in homes with pets or focus on garage cleanups.

Primary Research

The first stage of any competition study is primary research, which entails obtaining data directly from potential customers rather than basing your conclusions on past data. You can use questionnaires, surveys and interviews to learn what consumers want. Surveying friends and family isn’t recommended unless they’re your target market. People who say they’d buy something and people who do are very different. The last thing you want is to take so much stock in what they say, create the product and flop when you try to sell it because all of the people who said they’d buy it don’t because the product isn’t something they’d buy.

Secondary Research

Utilize existing sources of information, such as census data, to gather information when you do secondary research. The current data may be studied, compiled and analyzed in various ways that are appropriate for your needs but it may not be as detailed as primary research.

Conduct a SWOT Analysis

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Conducting a SWOT analysis allows you to look at the facts about how your product or idea might perform if taken to market, and it can also help you make decisions about the direction of your idea. Your business idea might have some weaknesses that you hadn’t considered or there may be some opportunities to improve on a competitor’s product.

Asking pertinent questions during a SWOT analysis can help you identify and address weaknesses before they tank your new business.

A business plan is a dynamic document that serves as a roadmap for establishing a new business. This document makes it simple for potential investors, financial institutions and company management to understand and absorb. Even if you intend to self-finance, a business plan can help you flesh out your idea and spot potential problems. When writing a well-rounded business plan, include the following sections:

Executive summary: The executive summary should be the first item in the business plan, but it should be written last. It describes the proposed new business and highlights the goals of the company and the methods to achieve them.
Company description: The company description covers what problems your product or service solves and why your business or idea is best. For example, maybe your background is in molecular engineering, and you’ve used that background to create a new type of athletic wear—you have the proper credentials to make the best material.
Market analysis: This section of the business plan analyzes how well a company is positioned against its competitors. The market analysis should include target market, segmentation analysis, market size, growth rate, trends and a competitive environment assessment.
Organization and structure: Write about the type of business organization you expect, what risk management strategies you propose and who will staff the management team. What are their qualifications? Will your business be a single-member limited liability company (LLC) or a corporation ?
Mission and goals: This section should contain a brief mission statement and detail what the business wishes to accomplish and the steps to get there. These goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, action-orientated, realistic and time-bound).
Products or services: This section describes how your business will operate. It includes what products you’ll offer to consumers at the beginning of the business, how they compare to existing competitors, how much your products cost, who will be responsible for creating the products, how you’ll source materials and how much they cost to make.
Background summary: This portion of the business plan is the most time-consuming to write. Compile and summarize any data, articles and research studies on trends that could positively and negatively affect your business or industry.
Marketing plan: The marketing plan identifies the characteristics of your product or service, summarizes the SWOT analysis and analyzes competitors. It also discusses how you’ll promote your business, how much money will be spent on marketing and how long the campaign is expected to last.
Financial plan: The financial plan is perhaps the core of the business plan because, without money, the business will not move forward. Include a proposed budget in your financial plan along with projected financial statements, such as an income statement, a balance sheet and a statement of cash flows. Usually, five years of projected financial statements are acceptable. This section is also where you should include your funding request if you’re looking for outside funding.

Learn more: Download our free simple business plan template .

Come Up With an Exit Strategy

An exit strategy is important for any business that is seeking funding because it outlines how you’ll sell the company or transfer ownership if you decide to retire or move on to other projects. An exit strategy also allows you to get the most value out of your business when it’s time to sell. There are a few different options for exiting a business, and the best option for you depends on your goals and circumstances.

The most common exit strategies are:

Selling the business to another party
Passing the business down to family members
Liquidating the business assets
Closing the doors and walking away

Develop a Scalable Business Model

As your small business grows, it’s important to have a scalable business model so that you can accommodate additional customers without incurring additional costs. A scalable business model is one that can be replicated easily to serve more customers without a significant increase in expenses.

Some common scalable business models are:

Subscription-based businesses
Businesses that sell digital products
Franchise businesses
Network marketing businesses

Start Planning for Taxes

One of the most important things to do when starting a small business is to start planning for taxes. Taxes can be complex, and there are several different types of taxes you may be liable for, including income tax, self-employment tax, sales tax and property tax. Depending on the type of business you’re operating, you may also be required to pay other taxes, such as payroll tax or unemployment tax.

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When structuring your business, it’s essential to consider how each structure impacts the amount of taxes you owe, daily operations and whether your personal assets are at risk.

An LLC limits your personal liability for business debts. LLCs can be owned by one or more people or companies and must include a registered agent . These owners are referred to as members.

LLCs offer liability protection for the owners
They’re one of the easiest business entities to set up
You can have a single-member LLC
You may be required to file additional paperwork with your state on a regular basis
LLCs can’t issue stock
You’ll need to pay annual filing fees to your state

Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)

An LLP is similar to an LLC but is typically used for licensed business professionals such as an attorney or accountant. These arrangements require a partnership agreement.

Partners have limited liability for the debts and actions of the LLP
LLPs are easy to form and don’t require much paperwork
There’s no limit to the number of partners in an LLP
Partners are required to actively take part in the business
LLPs can’t issue stock
All partners are personally liable for any malpractice claims against the business

Sole Proprietorship

If you start a solo business, you might consider a sole proprietorship . The company and the owner, for legal and tax purposes, are considered the same. The business owner assumes liability for the business. So, if the business fails, the owner is personally and financially responsible for all business debts.

Sole proprietorships are easy to form
There’s no need to file additional paperwork with your state
You’re in complete control of the business
You’re personally liable for all business debts
It can be difficult to raise money for a sole proprietorship
The business may have a limited lifespan

Corporation

A corporation limits your personal liability for business debts just as an LLC does. A corporation can be taxed as a C corporation (C-corp) or an S corporation (S-corp). S-corp status offers pass-through taxation to small corporations that meet certain IRS requirements. Larger companies and startups hoping to attract venture capital are usually taxed as C-corps.

Corporations offer liability protection for the owners
The life span of a corporation is not limited
A corporation can have an unlimited number of shareholders
Corporations are subject to double taxation
They’re more expensive and complicated to set up than other business structures
The shareholders may have limited liability

Before you decide on a business structure, discuss your situation with a small business accountant and possibly an attorney, as each business type has different tax treatments that could affect your bottom line.

Helpful Resources

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There are several legal issues to address when starting a business after choosing the business structure. The following is a good checklist of items to consider when establishing your business:

Choose Your Business Name

Make it memorable but not too difficult. Choose the same domain name, if available, to establish your internet presence. A business name cannot be the same as another registered company in your state, nor can it infringe on another trademark or service mark that is already registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Business Name vs. DBA

There are business names, and then there are fictitious business names known as “Doing Business As” or DBA. You may need to file a DBA if you’re operating under a name that’s different from the legal name of your business. For example, “Mike’s Bike Shop” is doing business as “Mike’s Bikes.” The legal name of the business is “Mike’s Bike Shop,” and “Mike’s Bikes” is the DBA.

You may need to file a DBA with your state, county or city government offices. The benefits of a DBA include:

It can help you open a business bank account under your business name
A DBA can be used as a “trade name” to brand your products or services
A DBA can be used to get a business license

Register Your Business and Obtain an EIN

You’ll officially create a corporation, LLC or other business entity by filing forms with your state’s business agency―usually the Secretary of State. As part of this process, you’ll need to choose a registered agent to accept legal documents on behalf of your business. You’ll also pay a filing fee. The state will send you a certificate that you can use to apply for licenses, a tax identification number (TIN) and business bank accounts.

Next, apply for an employer identification number (EIN) . All businesses, other than sole proprietorships with no employees, must have a federal employer identification number. Submit your application to the IRS and you’ll typically receive your number in minutes.

Get Appropriate Licenses and Permits

Legal requirements are determined by your industry and jurisdiction. Most businesses need a mixture of local, state and federal licenses to operate. Check with your local government office (and even an attorney) for licensing information tailored to your area.

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Open a Business Bank Account

Keep your business and personal finances separate. Here’s how to choose a business checking account —and why separate business accounts are essential. When you open a business bank account, you’ll need to provide your business name and your business tax identification number (EIN). This business bank account can be used for your business transactions, such as paying suppliers or invoicing customers. Most times, a bank will require a separate business bank account to issue a business loan or line of credit.

Hire a Bookkeeper or Get Accounting Software

If you sell a product, you need an inventory function in your accounting software to manage and track inventory. The software should have ledger and journal entries and the ability to generate financial statements.

Some software programs double as bookkeeping tools. These often include features such as check writing and managing receivables and payables. You can also use this software to track your income and expenses, generate invoices, run reports and calculate taxes.

There are many bookkeeping services available that can do all of this for you, and more. These services can be accessed online from any computer or mobile device and often include features such as bank reconciliation and invoicing. Check out the best accounting software for small business, or see if you want to handle the bookkeeping yourself.

Determine Your Break-Even Point

Before you fund your business, you must get an idea of your startup costs. To determine these, make a list of all the physical supplies you need, estimate the cost of any professional services you will require, determine the price of any licenses or permits required to operate and calculate the cost of office space or other real estate. Add in the costs of payroll and benefits, if applicable.

Businesses can take years to turn a profit, so it’s better to overestimate the startup costs and have too much money than too little. Many experts recommend having enough cash on hand to cover six months of operating expenses.

When you know how much you need to get started with your business, you need to know the point at which your business makes money. This figure is your break-even point.

In contrast, the contribution margin = total sales revenue – cost to make product

For example, let’s say you’re starting a small business that sells miniature birdhouses for fairy gardens. You have determined that it will cost you $500 in startup costs. Your variable costs are $0.40 per birdhouse produced, and you sell them for $1.50 each.

Let’s write these out so it’s easy to follow:

This means that you need to sell at least 456 units just to cover your costs. If you can sell more than 456 units in your first month, you will make a profit.

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There are many different ways to fund your business—some require considerable effort, while others are easier to obtain. Two categories of funding exist: internal and external.

Internal funding includes:

Personal savings
Credit cards
Funds from friends and family

If you finance the business with your own funds or with credit cards, you have to pay the debt on the credit cards and you’ve lost a chunk of your wealth if the business fails. By allowing your family members or friends to invest in your business, you are risking hard feelings and strained relationships if the company goes under. Business owners who want to minimize these risks may consider external funding.

External funding includes:

Small business loans
Small business grants
Angel investors
Venture capital
Crowdfunding

Small businesses may have to use a combination of several sources of capital. Consider how much money is needed, how long it will take before the company can repay it and how risk-tolerant you are. No matter which source you use, plan for profit. It’s far better to take home six figures than make seven figures and only keep $80,000 of it.

Funding ideas include:

Invoice factoring: With invoice factoring , you can sell your unpaid invoices to a third party at a discount.
Business lines of credit: Apply for a business line of credit , which is similar to a personal line of credit. The credit limit and interest rate will be based on your business’s revenue, credit score and financial history.
Equipment financing: If you need to purchase expensive equipment for your business, you can finance it with a loan or lease.
Small Business Administration (SBA) microloans: Microloans are up to $50,000 loans that can be used for working capital, inventory or supplies and machinery or equipment.
Grants: The federal government offers grants for businesses that promote innovation, export growth or are located in historically disadvantaged areas. You can also find grants through local and regional organizations.
Crowdfunding: With crowdfunding , you can raise money from a large group of people by soliciting donations or selling equity in your company.

Choose the right funding source for your business by considering the amount of money you need, the time frame for repayment and your tolerance for risk.

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You need to have insurance for your business , even if it’s a home-based business or you don’t have any employees. The type of insurance you need depends on your business model and what risks you face. You might need more than one type of policy, and you might need additional coverage as your business grows. In most states, workers’ compensation insurance is required by law if you have employees.

Work With an Agent To Get Insured

An insurance agent can help determine what coverages are appropriate for your business and find policies from insurers that offer the best rates. An independent insurance agent represents several different insurers, so they can shop around for the best rates and coverage options.

Basic Types of Business Insurance Coverage

Liability insurance protects your business against third-party claims of bodily injury, property damage and personal injury such as defamation or false advertising.
Property insurance covers the physical assets of your business, including your office space, equipment and inventory.
Business interruption insurance pays for the loss of income if your business is forced to close temporarily due to a covered event such as a natural disaster.
Product liability insurance protects against claims that your products caused bodily injury or property damage.
Employee practices liability insurance covers claims from employees alleging discrimination, sexual harassment or other wrongful termination.
Workers’ compensation insurance covers medical expenses and income replacement for employees who are injured on the job.
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Business tools can help make your life easier and make your business run more smoothly. The right tools can help you save time, automate tasks and make better decisions.

Consider the following tools in your arsenal:

Accounting software : Track your business income and expenses, prepare financial statements and file taxes. Examples include QuickBooks and FreshBooks.
Customer relationship management (CRM) software : This will help you manage your customer relationships, track sales and marketing data and automate tasks like customer service and follow-ups. Examples include Zoho CRM and monday.com.
Project management software : Plan, execute and track projects. It can also be used to manage employee tasks and allocate resources. Examples include Airtable and ClickUp.
Credit card processor : This will allow you to accept credit card payments from customers. Examples include Stripe and PayPal.
Point of sale (POS) : A system that allows you to process customer payments. Some accounting software and CRM software have POS features built-in. Examples include Clover and Lightspeed.
Virtual private network (VPN) : Provides a secure, private connection between your computer and the internet. This is important for businesses that handle sensitive data. Examples include NordVPN and ExpressVPN.
Merchant services : When customers make a purchase, the money is deposited into your business account. You can also use merchant services to set up recurring billing or subscription payments. Examples include Square and Stripe.
Email hosting : This allows you to create a professional email address with your own domain name. Examples include G Suite and Microsoft Office 365.

Many business owners spend so much money creating their products that there isn’t a marketing budget by the time they’ve launched. Alternatively, they’ve spent so much time developing the product that marketing is an afterthought.

Create a Website

Even if you’re a brick-and-mortar business, a web presence is essential. Creating a website doesn’t take long, either—you can have one done in as little as a weekend. You can make a standard informational website or an e-commerce site where you sell products online. If you sell products or services offline, include a page on your site where customers can find your locations and hours. Other pages to add include an “About Us” page, product or service pages, frequently asked questions (FAQs), a blog and contact information.

Optimize Your Site for SEO

After getting a website or e-commerce store, focus on optimizing it for search engines (SEO). This way, when a potential customer searches for specific keywords for your products, the search engine can point them to your site. SEO is a long-term strategy, so don’t expect a ton of traffic from search engines initially—even if you’re using all the right keywords.

Create Relevant Content

Provide quality digital content on your site that makes it easy for customers to find the correct answers to their questions. Content marketing ideas include videos, customer testimonials, blog posts and demos. Consider content marketing one of the most critical tasks on your daily to-do list. This is used in conjunction with posting on social media.

Get Listed in Online Directories

Customers use online directories like Yelp, Google My Business and Facebook to find local businesses. Some city halls and chambers of commerce have business directories too. Include your business in as many relevant directories as possible. You can also create listings for your business on specific directories that focus on your industry.

Develop a Social Media Strategy

Your potential customers are using social media every day—you need to be there too. Post content that’s interesting and relevant to your audience. Use social media to drive traffic back to your website where customers can learn more about what you do and buy your products or services.

You don’t necessarily need to be on every social media platform available. However, you should have a presence on Facebook and Instagram because they offer e-commerce features that allow you to sell directly from your social media accounts. Both of these platforms have free ad training to help you market your business.

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To scale your business, you need to grow your customer base and revenue. This can be done by expanding your marketing efforts, improving your product or service, collaborating with other creators or adding new products or services that complement what you already offer.

Think about ways you can automate or outsource certain tasks so you can focus on scaling the business. For example, if social media marketing is taking up too much of your time, consider using a platform such as Hootsuite to help you manage your accounts more efficiently. You can also consider outsourcing the time-consumer completely.

You can also use technology to automate certain business processes, including accounting, email marketing and lead generation. Doing this will give you more time to focus on other aspects of your business.

When scaling your business, it’s important to keep an eye on your finances and make sure you’re still profitable. If you’re not making enough money to cover your costs, you need to either reduce your expenses or find ways to increase your revenue.

Build a Team

As your business grows, you’ll need to delegate tasks and put together a team of people who can help you run the day-to-day operations. This might include hiring additional staff, contractors or freelancers.

Resources for building a team include:

Hiring platforms: To find the right candidates, hiring platforms, such as Indeed and Glassdoor, can help you post job descriptions, screen résumés and conduct video interviews.
Job boards: Job boards such as Craigslist and Indeed allow you to post open positions for free.
Social media: You can also use social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook to find potential employees.
Freelance platforms: Using Upwork, Freelancer and Fiverr can help you find talented freelancers for one-time or short-term projects. You can also outsource certain tasks, such as customer service, social media marketing or bookkeeping.

You might also consider partnering with other businesses in your industry. For example, if you’re a wedding planner, you could partner with a florist, photographer, catering company or venue. This way, you can offer your customers a one-stop shop for all their wedding needs. Another example is an e-commerce store that partners with a fulfillment center. This type of partnership can help you save money on shipping and storage costs, and it can also help you get your products to your customers faster.

To find potential partnerships, search for businesses in your industry that complement what you do. For example, if you’re a web designer, you could partner with a digital marketing agency.

You can also search for businesses that serve the same target market as you but offer different products or services. For example, if you sell women’s clothing, you could partner with a jewelry store or a hair salon.

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To rank the best states to start a business in 2024, Forbes Advisor analyzed 18 key metrics across five categories to determine which states are the best and worst to start a business in. Our ranking takes into consideration factors that impact businesses and their ability to succeed, such as business costs, business climate, economy, workforce and financial accessibility in each state. Check out the full report .

Starting a small business takes time, effort and perseverance. But if you’re willing to put in the work, it can be a great way to achieve your dreams and goals. Be sure to do your research, create a solid business plan and pivot along the way. Once you’re operational, don’t forget to stay focused and organized so you can continue to grow your business.

How do I start a small business with no money?

There are several funding sources for brand-new businesses and most require a business plan to secure it. These include the SBA , private grants, angel investors, crowdfunding and venture capital.

What is the best business structure?

The best business structure for your business will depend entirely on what kind of company you form, your industry and what you want to accomplish. But any successful business structure will be one that will help your company set realistic goals and follow through on set tasks.

Do I need a business credit card?

You don’t need one, but a business credit card can be helpful for new small businesses. It allows you to start building business credit, which can help you down the road when you need to take out a loan or line of credit. Additionally, business credit cards often come with rewards and perks that can save you money on business expenses.

Do I need a special license or permit to start a small business?

The answer to this question will depend on the type of business you want to start and where you’re located. Some businesses, such as restaurants, will require a special permit or license to operate. Others, such as home daycare providers, may need to register with the state.

How much does it cost to create a business?

The cost of starting a business will vary depending on the size and type of company you want to create. For example, a home-based business will be less expensive to start than a brick-and-mortar store. Additionally, the cost of starting a business will increase if you need to rent or buy commercial space, hire employees or purchase inventory. You could potentially get started for free by dropshipping or selling digital goods.

How do I get a loan for a new business?

The best way to get a loan for a new business is to approach banks or other financial institutions and provide them with a business plan and your financial history. You can also look into government-backed loans, such as those offered by the SBA. Startups may also be able to get loans from alternative lenders, including online platforms such as Kiva.

Do I need a business degree to start a business?

No, you don’t need a business degree to start a business. However, acquiring a degree in business or a related field can provide you with the understanding and ability to run an effective company. Additionally, you may want to consider taking some business courses if you don’t have a degree to learn more about starting and running a business. You can find these online and at your local Small Business Administration office.

What are some easy businesses to start?

One of the easiest businesses to start also has the lowest overhead: selling digital goods. This can include items such as e-books, online courses, audio files or software. If you have expertise in a particular area or niche, this is a great option for you. Dropshipping is also a great option because you don’t have to keep inventory. You could also buy wholesale products or create your own. Once you create your product, you can sell it through your own website or third-party platforms such as Amazon or Etsy.

What is the most profitable type of business?

There is no one answer to this question because the most profitable type of business will vary depending on a number of factors, such as your industry, location, target market and business model. However, some businesses tend to be more profitable than others, such as luxury goods, high-end services, business-to-business companies and subscription-based businesses. If you’re not sure what type of business to start, consider your strengths and interests, as well as the needs of your target market, to help you choose a profitable business idea.

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Katherine Haan is a small business owner with nearly two decades of experience helping other business owners increase their incomes.

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How to master organizational planning in 5 simple steps

Organizational planning is the process of defining a company's overarching goals and mapping out the steps necessary to achieve them. Discover how to master it in 5 steps.

Every organization is a complex puzzle, with different projects, tasks, and goals scattered across teams and departments. Individually these pieces might seem disjointed, but when put together they form a picture of success.

Organizational planning is crucial to aligning these elements by mapping out your company’s high-level goals and connecting them to individual tasks. The process empowers you to see where each piece of work fits—so you can understand its contribution to high-level organizational goals and ensure all efforts are moving in the same direction. Let’s take a look at how it’s done.

What is organizational planning?

Organizational planning is the process of defining a company's overarching goals and mapping out the strategic and tactical steps necessary to achieve them, aligning daily activities with the company’s long-term vision.

The organizational planning process involves defining a company’s purpose, establishing clear objectives, and developing a plan to translate these objectives into reality. The result of organizational planning is an organizational plan, which is a structured action plan that outlines the specific tasks the organization and its employees will undertake to reach the set goals.

How to build an organizational strategy

Get our free ebook and learn how to bridge the gap between mission, strategic goals, and work at your organization.

What are the phases of organizational planning?

Organizational planning is a multi-step process divided into four distinct phases, with each phase focusing on different aspects of the organization’s strategy and operations.

The four phases of organizational planning are:

Strategic planning: Outline the organization’s long-term goals and objectives. This phase involves big-picture thinking about the company’s strategic aims, mission, vision, and purpose, ensuring goals align with the organization’s overarching direction.

Tactical planning: Develop a specific strategy to achieve the company’s goals. Typically, this involves outlining short-term goals that align with larger company objectives.

Operational planning: Shift focus to the day-to-day operations that support the tactical plans. This phase involves detailing the specific tasks, workflows, and assignments that ensure everyday activities connect to strategic objectives.

Contingency planning: Plan and prepare for unforeseen circumstances and events that may disrupt your progress. During this phase, you should develop backup plans and response strategies for potential disruptions, like supply chain interruptions or sudden changes in market conditions.

Creating an organizational plan: The five-step process

Developing an effective organizational plan involves breaking down the first three phases of the organizational planning process—strategic, tactical, and operational planning—into actionable steps.

Here’s how you can go about it:

1. Develop a strategic plan

Reviewing your organization’s mission and vision statements, conducting a SWOT analysis, and measuring the performance of key areas are all techniques you can use to understand your company’s opportunities and set these business goals. Remember, your strategic plan should outline big-picture SMART goals that are time-bound, achievable, and align with your company’s mission and values.

2. Translate your plan into tactical steps

Once you’ve developed your strategic plan, it’s time to break down your long-term objectives into more manageable, short-term goals. This typically involves looping in middle managers and setting departmental goals that ladder up to your higher-level objectives. This step should include developing clear timelines, milestones, and performance metrics so you can effectively track progress and make adjustments as needed.

This step often involves launching new initiatives aligned with your strategic goals. Let’s say the high-level objective you set forth in your strategic plan is to “increase overall market share by 15% in the next three years.” You might break down that objective to short-term goals like “launch a new product line in the next 12 months” or “increase customer engagement by 20% over the next quarter.” By translating your plan into actionable steps that support your larger objective, you create a clear roadmap for your org to follow—and ensure everyone is working toward the common goal.

3. Plan your daily operations

After breaking down your strategic plan into tactical steps, your next move is to get even more granular by translating those steps into day-to-day actions. This might involve setting up high-level projects aligned with your short-term goals, establishing work schedules for various teams and departments, and sending out task assignments to individual employees.

Let’s go back to our previous example. If your short-term goal is to "increase customer engagement by 20% over the next quarter," your daily operations might include scheduling regular training sessions for the sales team, developing marketing strategies to enhance customer interaction, and assigning specific team members to develop engagement strategies. This detailed planning ensures that your daily activities align with achieving your short-term goals—which ultimately means fulfilling your strategic objectives.

4. Communicate and implement your plan

Once you have your entire plan mapped out—from your high-level, strategic objectives down to the daily activities that support them—the next step is communicating the plan to your organization.

Start by holding an all-hands meeting that introduces your vision and strategic plan to your org, and then follow up with a company-wide message that clearly outlines your high-level goals and details the short-term goals you need to achieve to accomplish them. During this step, your managers should communicate the individual tasks their team members are responsible for and explain how their team’s work connects to company objectives.

5. Monitor and adjust your plan as necessary

Your work isn’t done just because you’ve developed and implemented your plan. It’s important to monitor your progress in real-time so you can address any blockers that may arise. You should regularly review your short-term benchmarks to see if you’re successfully tracking toward your overarching objectives and adjust if necessary.

Let’s return to our previous example. In this scenario, your high-level objective is to “increase overall market share by 15% in the next three years.” To contribute to this, you set a short-term goal to “increase customer engagement by 20% over the next quarter.” After review, maybe you find that you’re not tracking toward this goal due to lower-than-expected customer interaction on new digital platforms .

In order to realign with your objectives, you need to adjust your plan. This could mean setting new short-term goals around improving the user experience on your digital platforms or offering more engaging online content. Adjusting your strategy in response to real-time challenges keeps you on track to achieve your long-term goals.

Organizational planning best practices

Feeling overwhelmed? Here’s the TL;DR to ensure a smooth and successful organizational planning process:

Align your objectives with your company’s vision and mission

Kick-off your planning process with a strategic planning template to cut down on upfront work

Create actionable and time-bound plans

Break down long-term objectives into achievable, short-term goals

Map individual tasks to short-term goals

Adapt your plan to challenges in real-time

Leverage technology to streamline the planning and progress tracking processes

Clearly communicate your plan to stakeholders

Regularly review and refine your plan

Master organizational planning with Asana

Say goodbye to disjointed planning processes. By leveraging a work management platform like Asana, you can easily connect your team’s individual work to your organization’s goals, ensure that every project is aligned with organizational objectives, and track goal progress in real-time. The end result is a perfectly completed puzzle with every piece in its place.

Organizational planning FAQs

Still have organizational planning questions? We have answers.

Why is organizational planning important?

Organizational planning provides a roadmap for your company, outlining your overarching objectives and the tactical steps you’ll take to achieve them. By aligning the efforts of departments, teams, and individuals toward common goals, organizational planning creates alignment, drives clarity, and empowers companies to hit their goals.

What is the role of technology in organizational planning?

Organizational planning involves mapping out strategic, high-level organizational objectives and connecting them to short-term goals and individual, day-to-day tasks. Leveraging technology, like a work management platform, enables organizations to take advantage of features that connect daily tasks to strategic objectives and provide real-time progress tracking . These capabilities simplify organizational planning and make it more efficient.

What are common examples of organizational planning?

While organizational planning typically refers to the strategy behind overarching organizational goals, it can also refer to planning within specific subsets of a company. Common types of organizational planning include:

Workforce development planning, which addresses employee training and career growth, as well as long-term staffing and human resource goals.

Financial and budget planning, which focuses on day-to-day fiscal management as well as long-term financial planning.

Expansion planning, which involves strategies for business growth and market expansion.

Products and services planning, which concentrates on the development and management of a company’s products and services.

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14 Reasons Why You Need a Business Plan

Female entrepreneur holding a pen and pointing to multiple sticky notes on the wall. Presenting the many ways having a business plan will benefit you as a business owner.

10 min. read

Updated May 10, 2024

There’s no question that starting and running a business is hard work. But it’s also incredibly rewarding. And, one of the most important things you can do to increase your chances of success is to have a business plan.

A business plan is a foundational document that is essential for any company, no matter the size or age. From attracting potential investors to keeping your business on track—a business plan helps you achieve important milestones and grow in the right direction.

A business plan isn’t just a document you put together once when starting your business. It’s a living, breathing guide for existing businesses – one that business owners should revisit and update regularly.

Unfortunately, writing a business plan is often a daunting task for potential entrepreneurs. So, do you really need a business plan? Is it really worth the investment of time and resources? Can’t you just wing it and skip the whole planning process?

Good questions. Here’s every reason why you need a business plan.

1. Business planning is proven to help you grow 30 percent faster

Writing a business plan isn’t about producing a document that accurately predicts the future of your company. The process of writing your plan is what’s important. Writing your plan and reviewing it regularly gives you a better window into what you need to do to achieve your goals and succeed.

You don’t have to just take our word for it. Studies have proven that companies that plan and review their results regularly grow 30 percent faster. Beyond faster growth, research also shows that companies that plan actually perform better. They’re less likely to become one of those woeful failure statistics, or experience cash flow crises that threaten to close them down.

2. Planning is a necessary part of the fundraising process

One of the top reasons to have a business plan is to make it easier to raise money for your business. Without a business plan, it’s difficult to know how much money you need to raise, how you will spend the money once you raise it, and what your budget should be.

Investors want to know that you have a solid plan in place – that your business is headed in the right direction and that there is long-term potential in your venture.

A business plan shows that your business is serious and that there are clearly defined steps on how it aims to become successful. It also demonstrates that you have the necessary competence to make that vision a reality.

Investors, partners, and creditors will want to see detailed financial forecasts for your business that shows how you plan to grow and how you plan on spending their money.

3. Having a business plan minimizes your risk

When you’re just starting out, there’s so much you don’t know—about your customers, your competition, and even about operations.

As a business owner, you signed up for some of that uncertainty when you started your business, but there’s a lot you can do to reduce your risk . Creating and reviewing your business plan regularly is a great way to uncover your weak spots—the flaws, gaps, and assumptions you’ve made—and develop contingency plans.

Your business plan will also help you define budgets and revenue goals. And, if you’re not meeting your goals, you can quickly adjust spending plans and create more realistic budgets to keep your business healthy.

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4. Crafts a roadmap to achieve important milestones

A business plan is like a roadmap for your business. It helps you set, track and reach business milestones.

For your plan to function in this way, your business plan should first outline your company’s short- and long-term goals. You can then fill in the specific steps necessary to reach those goals. This ensures that you measure your progress (or lack thereof) and make necessary adjustments along the way to stay on track while avoiding costly detours.

In fact, one of the top reasons why new businesses fail is due to bad business planning. Combine this with inflexibility and you have a recipe for disaster.

And planning is not just for startups. Established businesses benefit greatly from revisiting their business plan. It keeps them on track, even when the global market rapidly shifts as we’ve seen in recent years.

5. A plan helps you figure out if your idea can become a business

To turn your idea into reality, you need to accurately assess the feasibility of your business idea.

You need to verify:

If there is a market for your product or service
Who your target audience is
How you will gain an edge over the current competition
If your business can run profitably

A business plan forces you to take a step back and look at your business objectively, which makes it far easier to make tough decisions down the road. Additionally, a business plan helps you to identify risks and opportunities early on, providing you with the necessary time to come up with strategies to address them properly.

Finally, a business plan helps you work through the nuts and bolts of how your business will work financially and if it can become sustainable over time.

6. You’ll make big spending decisions with confidence

As your business grows, you’ll have to figure out when to hire new employees, when to expand to a new location, or whether you can afford a major purchase.

These are always major spending decisions, and if you’re regularly reviewing the forecasts you mapped out in your business plan, you’re going to have better information to use to make your decisions.

7. You’re more likely to catch critical cash flow challenges early

The other side of those major spending decisions is understanding and monitoring your business’s cash flow. Your cash flow statement is one of the three key financial statements you’ll put together for your business plan. (The other two are your balance sheet and your income statement (P&L).

Reviewing your cash flow statement regularly as part of your regular business plan review will help you see potential cash flow challenges earlier so you can take action to avoid a cash crisis where you can’t pay your bills.

8. Position your brand against the competition

Competitors are one of the factors that you need to take into account when starting a business. Luckily, competitive research is an integral part of writing a business plan. It encourages you to ask questions like:

What is your competition doing well? What are they doing poorly?
What can you do to set yourself apart?
What can you learn from them?
How can you make your business stand out?
What key business areas can you outcompete?
How can you identify your target market?

Finding answers to these questions helps you solidify a strategic market position and identify ways to differentiate yourself. It also proves to potential investors that you’ve done your homework and understand how to compete.

9. Determines financial needs and revenue models

A vital part of starting a business is understanding what your expenses will be and how you will generate revenue to cover those expenses. Creating a business plan helps you do just that while also defining ongoing financial needs to keep in mind.

Without a business model, it’s difficult to know whether your business idea will generate revenue. By detailing how you plan to make money, you can effectively assess the viability and scalability of your business.

Understanding this early on can help you avoid unnecessary risks and start with the confidence that your business is set up to succeed.

10. Helps you think through your marketing strategy

A business plan is a great way to document your marketing plan. This will ensure that all of your marketing activities are aligned with your overall goals. After all, a business can’t grow without customers and you’ll need a strategy for acquiring those customers.

Your business plan should include information about your target market, your marketing strategy, and your marketing budget. Detail things like how you plan to attract and retain customers, acquire new leads, how the digital marketing funnel will work, etc.

Having a documented marketing plan will help you to automate business operations, stay on track and ensure that you’re making the most of your marketing dollars.

11. Clarifies your vision and ensures everyone is on the same page

In order to create a successful business, you need a clear vision and a plan for how you’re going to achieve it. This is all detailed with your mission statement, which defines the purpose of your business, and your personnel plan, which outlines the roles and responsibilities of current and future employees. Together, they establish the long-term vision you have in mind and who will need to be involved to get there.

Additionally, your business plan is a great tool for getting your team in sync. Through consistent plan reviews, you can easily get everyone in your company on the same page and direct your workforce toward tasks that truly move the needle.

12. Future-proof your business

A business plan helps you to evaluate your current situation and make realistic projections for the future.

This is an essential step in growing your business, and it’s one that’s often overlooked. When you have a business plan in place, it’s easier to identify opportunities and make informed decisions based on data.

Therefore, it requires you to outline goals, strategies, and tactics to help the organization stay focused on what’s important.

By regularly revisiting your business plan, especially when the global market changes, you’ll be better equipped to handle whatever challenges come your way, and pivot faster.

You’ll also be in a better position to seize opportunities as they arise.

Further Reading: 5 fundamental principles of business planning

13. Tracks your progress and measures success

An often overlooked purpose of a business plan is as a tool to define success metrics. A key part of writing your plan involves pulling together a viable financial plan. This includes financial statements such as your profit and loss, cash flow, balance sheet, and sales forecast.

By housing these financial metrics within your business plan, you suddenly have an easy way to relate your strategy to actual performance. You can track progress, measure results, and follow up on how the company is progressing. Without a plan, it’s almost impossible to gauge whether you’re on track or not.

Additionally, by evaluating your successes and failures, you learn what works and what doesn’t and you can make necessary changes to your plan. In short, having a business plan gives you a framework for measuring your success. It also helps with building up a “lessons learned” knowledge database to avoid costly mistakes in the future.

14. Your business plan is an asset if you ever want to sell

Down the road, you might decide that you want to sell your business or position yourself for acquisition. Having a solid business plan is going to help you make the case for a higher valuation. Your business is likely to be worth more to a buyer if it’s easy for them to understand your business model, your target market, and your overall potential to grow and scale.

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Writing your business plan

By taking the time to create a business plan, you ensure that your business is heading in the right direction and that you have a roadmap to get there. We hope that this post has shown you just how important and valuable a business plan can be. While it may still seem daunting, the benefits far outweigh the time investment and learning curve for writing one.

Luckily, you can write a plan in as little as 30 minutes. And there are plenty of excellent planning tools and business plan templates out there if you’re looking for more step-by-step guidance. Whatever it takes, write your plan and you’ll quickly see how useful it can be.

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software , a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching and evangelizing for business planning.

Table of Contents

6. You’ll make big spending decisions with confidence
7. You’re more likely to catch critical cash flow challenges early

5 Consequences of Skipping a Business Plan

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To help companies large and small get more out of their business processes, this comprehensive guide to BPM explains what it is, its benefits, the challenges it poses and best practices for using it effectively. You'll also find examples of business process automation and process improvement projects, an overview of the latest BPM tools and insight on what the future of BPM might look like. Throughout the guide, there are hyperlinks to related articles that cover these topics in more depth, so be sure to click on them for additional expert advice. The links also connect readers to detailed definitions of important concepts in BPM, such as business process mapping, Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and workflow management.

How to develop a business process in 8 steps, well-designed business processes help organizations achieve their goals faster, but they require planning and effort. follow these steps to develop processes that deliver value..

Ronald Schmelzer, Cognilytica
Kathleen Walch, Cognilytica

Business processes are core to organizations. They represent the tasks, activities and overall flow of work that achieves the business's core mission and objectives.

Well-defined and documented business processes help organizations achieve their goals faster, lower costs, reduce errors and free up more time for employees to focus on higher-value tasks. Implementing defined business processes not only helps streamline and optimize an organization's operations but also sets the foundation for continuous process improvement and efficiency.

Developing a business process requires planning

Creating a high-quality, valuable business process takes time and effort to plan, develop and implement. Setting the structured sequences of activities, tasks, actions and steps performed by team members of successful business processes can be challenging.

The steps are generally followed in a specific order to achieve consistent and desired outcomes. Each task in a business process is then broken down into smaller subprocesses and tasks, defined for their operation and flow, and documented.

This article is part of

What is business process management? A guide to BPM

Which also includes:
How AI is radically changing business process management
10 trends shaping the future of BPM in 2024
12 top business process management tools for 2024

Business processes also vary in duration, complexity and number of steps depending on the nature of the task. Fundamentally, a business process is supposed to represent a core operation for the business to accomplish a specific outcome. There are two ways to determine the steps in a business process. You can start from how the process currently works ("as is") or how you want the process to work ("should be"). For an as-is process, the steps focus on identifying how the process works currently as well as the tasks and steps currently employed. For a should-be process, the steps focus on identifying what the tasks need to be in the process and how they will be coordinated to achieve an outcome.

To have an effective business process, organizations need to identify which tasks are the most important for the desired outcome, ensuring accountability, streamlining communication channels and setting standards for how the business performs its activities.

In addition, business processes are never a "set it and forget it" project, so it's important for managers involved in process management to understand that iteration of the process is also very important. Core business processes that add value to the organization require continuous process improvement , documentation, testing and evaluation.

Here are eight basic steps to developing a business process.

The eight steps to develop a business process.

1. Review the current business process

It's helpful to start by reviewing what you are currently doing in your business process. Look for redundancies and low-value activities. Bring in stakeholders and other key people running the day to day of the process to evaluate what is working and what can be improved. Make sure to also factor in what work and tasks stakeholders actually enjoy doing and what they would like to see automated, changed or eliminated.

2. Start by defining the goals of the business process

When creating business processes, it's important to do so with the end in mind. Organizations need to figure out what the goals are for a specific business process , and then work their way from the goals to the subprocesses and tasks. It's important to focus on efficiency, ROI, performance improvement and timesaving measures at this stage. Set clear, measurable goals for the process. You'll want to include the specific and time-sensitive goals your stakeholders want to see come out of the process, such as "double sales in two years."

3. List activities and look for inefficiencies and places to automate

The tasks in a process can be performed in a variety of ways: by internal workers; by external, outsourced workers ; by machines; or by a combination of workflow automation and human effort. Organizations that map their processes have an opportunity to identify where and how to automate, optimize and improve current processes.

Start by listing out all current and potential activities of a process. Listing out each activity's tasks will help with future task prioritization of process steps. Consider relationships between activities, causes and effects of activities, and points where each activity fits into the process. Then figure out which activities can be automated, optimized, streamlined or eliminated. Business process automation technologies provide a way to increase efficiency in processes with repetitive tasks.

Examples of business process automation tools.

4. Develop a process map

After figuring out all the required activities in a process, you'll next want to map out your process in a sequential, easy-to-understand manner. Start with the first step needed in your process and plan out how best to arrive at your desired result. Determine where handoffs between departments occur, which processes need to happen sequentially and which can run in parallel. Come up with a timeline, and determine the costs for each task and the process as a whole.

Business process modeling approaches provide a useful method to help stakeholders see the process in a visual manner, which can further help you spot redundancies, bottlenecks and other issues you might have missed when defining the process. Approaches such as using a flow chart or other visual methods can provide an easy way to understand the progression of necessary actions to reach a specific outcome.

5. Assign process tasks and management

Once a process has been defined and mapped, you'll want to assign each team member or department to specific activities and tasks. Some of these assignments will be obvious and easy to do. But other tasks might require more thought to determine the most optimal person or department responsible.

Assign managers for these tasks for supervision and ownership, including supervision over any tasks determined to be automated. Just because it's not being done by a human doesn't mean it can run on its own without any human in the loop. Make sure to clearly state expectations and timelines for tasks, get involvement and input from managers in this process, and continue to track and measure goals.

6. Test and implement the process

Process definition and operation requires an interactive process that needs to be measured constantly. As a result, to ensure continuous success, make sure to test the process before fully implementing the process or subprocesses and tasks. Proper testing will help you spot bugs, identify discrepancies and mistakes, and find any issues or oversights in your process definition.

Testing each step in the process before deploying at scale is critically important to give managers and stakeholders a chance to practice the new process in full. Once you have done thorough quality assurance testing and fixed any issues or problems, you are ready to widely implement your defined business process.

7. Measure business value

A good business process delivers value. Creating and testing the tasks and activities of a process are important. But without creating ways to measure success, you can quickly find yourself involved in inefficient, ineffective, or unnecessary tasks and processes.

Use the process goals you set out in planning and measure how well your new business process is meeting them. The use of process management tools and solutions can help you and your managers track process performance, process mapping and execution progress; assist with future iterations; and determine if your goals are being met.

8. Gather feedback for continuous process improvement

The key to continuously well-performing processes goes beyond simply measuring and testing to getting end-user feedback and finding opportunities for continued improvement. Gather feedback from your stakeholders on how the new process is working for them. Check on those value measures set at the beginning to see if your new process is an improvement and driving success. By continuously monitoring your process performance, you can continually improve, optimize and streamline your process .

Be successful by taking a multistep approach to business processes

Mapping out your business processes from start to finish, with business goals uppermost in mind, and monitoring them after they are implemented takes effort and time. Fortunately, there are well-established methods to identify the key steps to ensure business processes function effectively and return the desired returns. There are also an increasing number of business process management tools, some powered by AI, that can identify and optimize business processes. Using the steps above as a guide can ensure your organization's product or service continues delivering high-quality value to customers and stakeholders.

Top business process management challenges and how to fix them

Business process management benefits, advantages

Top trends shaping the future of BPM

Business process management certifications

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Career Planning

Career planning is the process of deciding what industry you want to work in and what job you want to hold, and how you want to progress in both. This involves assessing your skills, experience, and career goals. A career plan can change and evolve over time, so it’s important to be flexible and to take time to reevaluate it every now and then.

Succeeding at Work
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A Guide To Planning and Navigating Your Career

Career planning is important because it allows you to set goals and create a strategy that will help you achieve them. Without career planning, you may not have a path to follow and it may be difficult to navigate your education, industries, and jobs. A career plan will also help you understand what skills you need and how to go about learning them.

The first step in planning your career is setting goals. What do you want to achieve in the future? This can be a job title, a salary, a skill, a degree, and more. Long-term goals are usually two to 10 years long. In order to achieve long-term goals, you’ll need to set short-term goals that will help you along the way.

The basic steps in the career planning process include setting career goals, conducting research, determining jobs you want, building your skills and growing your experience, preparing your resume, and finally applying for jobs. After that, it’s all about continuing to develop and navigate your career through advancement, networking, and more.

Career planning should begin before you graduate school, whether that’s in high school or college, or even earlier. Students can explore skills and industries by joining clubs, reading books, watching movies, and more. Once a student identifies an industry or job that sparks their interest, they can begin the career planning process to map out how they can get there.

The career planning process involves taking the time to decide what your career goals are and how you'll get there. You might engage in this process on your own or with a guidance or career counselor.

A career path is a sequence of jobs that leads to your short- and long-term career goals. Some follow a linear career path within one field, while others change fields periodically to achieve career or personal goals.

Soft skills are non-technical skills that relate to how you work. They include how you interact with colleagues, how you solve problems, and how you manage your work.

Career development is the process of choosing a career, improving your skills, and advancing along a career path. It's a lifelong process of learning and decision-making that brings you closer to your ideal job, skillset, and lifestyle.

Hard skills are part of the skill set that is required for a job. They include the technical skills required to accomplish specific tasks, and the expertise necessary for an individual to successfully do a job. They are job-specific and are typically listed in job postings and job descriptions.

Collaboration skills enable you to successfully work toward a common goal with others. They include communicating clearly, actively listening to others, taking responsibility for mistakes, and respecting the diversity of your colleagues.

Job placement tests help determine what careers are best for people based on their personality, skills, interests, and other factors. They offer potentially actionable information that will help you as a job applicant.

Transferable skills are talents and abilities that can be used in many different jobs and career paths. They can be acquired through employment, school, internships, hobbies, and volunteer experiences.

Problem-solving skills help you solve issues quickly and effectively. It's one of the key skills that employers seek in job applicants, as employees with these skills tend to be self-reliant. Problem-solving skills require quickly identifying the underlying issue and implementing a solution.

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Would Republicans support Trump in 2024 if he's convicted of crimes? They're split

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans are at odds about whether to support their party’s presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, next year if he’s convicted of federal crimes.

While some GOP lawmakers say they couldn’t support a convicted felon for the White House, others are reluctant to close the door. The divisions scramble ideological lines, with some of the most right-leaning Republicans expressing unease with backing Trump after a still-hypothetical conviction after he became the first former president to be indicted federally , while various center-right GOP members say their responses would depend on circumstances.

Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, one of the most conservative House Republicans, said he would not be OK having a convicted felon as the GOP’s 2024 nominee.

“No. Honestly, on the surface, I wouldn’t. It doesn’t look good,” Burchett said. “But let’s see what the conviction says. Let’s see if he is convicted.”

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., who has criticized GOP leaders from the right, said a felony conviction would be a deal breaker.

“I certainly won’t support a convicted felon for the White House,” Buck said Tuesday on CNN.

Under the U.S. legal system, Trump is presumed innocent until proven guilty. He has pleaded not guilty to all 37 c ounts involving mishandling of classified documents.

Most of the 18 House Republicans who represent competitive districts that President Joe Biden won in 2020 have remained silent or avoided discussing the charges . Democrats are seeking to use the issue against them politically by casting the Trump-supporting GOP as a party that stands against law enforcement.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., is the exception in that group, saying "there’s no way to defend" Trump's alleged conduct as laid out in the indictment.

Other Republicans in prominent positions are keeping their options open, for now, when they are asked whether a criminal conviction would cost Trump their support in the 2024 general election.

“I’ll cross that bridge when it comes,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who chairs the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee.

Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., a close ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who helped negotiate the debt ceiling law with the White House, said a potential felony conviction “would impact” his ability to support a presidential candidate, as long as that person “went through a legitimate due process.”

Graves added: “I’m going to say that again: a legitimate due process.”

Behind the scenes, in the quiet corridors on Capitol Hill, there is more consternation about the possibility that a convicted criminal could be their party's presidential nominee.

“I do think there are a fair number of my colleagues who would think that, if the charges are true, that would be a major, major problem,” said a House Republican lawmaker who is still reading through the indictment and requested anonymity to speak frankly about the party's thorny dynamics involving Trump.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., who regularly has access to reams of classified information, also is trying to avoid the issue.

“We’ll let the courts play out, and I’ll figure out what to do after that. I’m not getting involved in this,” Rogers said in an interview. Asked whether he has concerns about the underlying allegations in the indictment, he replied: “I don’t have a position.”

Most Republicans, including McCarthy and many of his top deputies, are attacking the indictment and indicating that the outcome of the case would have little impact on their thinking.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who has endorsed Trump for president, said he’ll have to wait and “watch what happens” before he decides whether a conviction would cause him to pull his support.

“It all depends on what actually happens. I’m not committed to that, because I’ve seen it in other instances where courts do something and they are wrong,” Donalds said.

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., a member of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, said he has endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president “because I think he gives us our best chance to win in ’24.” But he said Trump “was an outstanding president; I would enthusiastically support him again,” regardless of a potential conviction, and he called the charges a political attack.

“I will support whomever our nominee is. And this is a ridiculous, politically motivated attack on President Trump that is relentless and has been relentless for the last seven or eight years,” Good said.

The charges don't appear to have affected Trump's strong support within the GOP base, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in the immediate aftermath of Trump's indictment and released Wednesday, which found Trump leading DeSantis, his nearest rival, by 53% to 23% among Republican voters.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who traveled to New Jersey on Tuesday to attend Trump's post-arraignment speech , is standing by his support for Trump in 2024 and downplaying the indictment. “It’s all politics. He understands that. It’s not his first rodeo,” said Tuberville, who added that he had dinner with Trump on Tuesday.

“He’s disappointed he got indicted,” said Tuberville, who insisted Trump is being targeted “for something everybody else has done” in terms of mishandling classified information.

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, was reluctant to criticize Trump. Instead, Gonzales, who worked 20 years as a Navy cryptologist with top-secret clearance, said he took issue with the way service members have been prosecuted for mishandling classified material while several politicians have been let off the hook.

“I lump them all together. I lump Trump, Clinton, Biden, Pence, anybody who’s mishandled classified material,” Gonzales said. “It seems that it’s OK if you’re a political figure, but if you’re an everyday, average American protecting our nation, which I was for 20 years, it’s a different set of rules.”

Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who knows what it’s like to be indicted by federal prosecutors , remains a vocal Trump defender. He was charged last month with 13 counts, including wire fraud, money laundering and making numerous false statements to win election to Congress and enrich himself. But he declined to entertain hypotheticals if Trump gets convicted.

“We’re just gonna do hyperboles now? Woulda, coulda, shoulda? Ask me a question with facts,” Santos said in a brief interview off the House floor. “I don’t know the future. Do you know the future? I support the president."

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who has said Trump "brought these charges upon himself" and is the only Republican senator who voted twice to convict Trump on impeachment charges, said it would be bad if a major political party nominated a convicted felon for president.

“Obviously, that would be an alarming thing for the world. I think that it makes it much more difficult for former President Trump to get re-elected. Winning the primary should not be hard for him. Winning the general would be a tall lift, depending, of course, on other circumstances that may develop,” Romney said. “But there will be people in the center, if you will — Republicans who voted for Donald Trump in the past but who are simply too concerned about the conduct to have to look the other way and vote again for him.”

Sahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.

Scott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News.

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The 7 Steps of the Business Planning Process: A Complete Guide
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The Business Planning Process: Steps To Creating Your Plan
The Better Business Planning Process. The business plan process includes 6 steps as follows: Do Your Research. Strategize. Calculate Your Financial Forecast. Draft Your Plan. Revise & Proofread. Nail the Business Plan Presentation. We've provided more detail for each of these key business plan steps below.
Business Planning
Business planning is a crucial process that involves creating a roadmap for an organization to achieve its long-term objectives. It is the foundation of every successful business and provides a framework for decision-making, resource allocation, and measuring progress towards goals. Business planning involves identifying the current state of ...
Business Planning Process: Everything You Need to Know
Start the business planning process with a pitch, which gives a simple outline of your business strategy. Your pitch should include: Your main proposition. A summary of the problem you are solving. Your solution to this problem. Description of who your target customer is. An overview of who your company's competitors are.
Business Planning Process: 6 Steps to a Winning Business Plan
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What Is the Business Planning Process?
The planning process determines how all the assets of the company will be marshaled to achieve the goals and objectives. Thorough planning allows financial resources to be used wisely, and for the ...
17.2: The Planning Process
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5 Fundamental Principles of Business Planning
Secure funding. Validate ideas. Build a strategy. 3. It assumes constant change. One of the strongest and most pervasive myths about planning is dead wrong: planning doesn't reduce flexibility. It builds flexibility. Growth planning manages change. It is not threatened by change.
The business planning process: how to write a business plan
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17.2 The Planning Process
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What is a Business Plan? Definition + Resources
The planning process is what uncovers those insights. Related Reading: 10 prompts to help you write a business plan with AI. How long should your business plan be? Thinking about a business plan strictly in terms of page length can risk overlooking more important factors, like the level of detail or clarity in the plan.
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The business planning process is a systematic approach to developing a strategic plan for a business. It involves analyzing the current business environment, setting goals and objectives, identifying strategies, creating an action plan, and regularly reviewing and adjusting the plan as needed.
Creating a Winning Business Plan: 7 Essential Steps
With both defined, it will help dictate what information is included and how. 3. Craft a Company Snapshot. Some people call it a company profile, others a snapshot. Either way, your business plan needs a section that gives a reader a clear view of what your company is, does and provides in a few paragraphs.
Strategic Planning: 5 Planning Steps, Process Guide [2024] • Asana
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Business Planning Process and Strategy
Developing a business plan is essential to the strategic management planning process. It helps you to set goals, establish priorities, and develop strategies for achieving them. Business planning involves many critical steps, including market analysis, competitive research, financial forecasting, and risk assessment.
The Planning Cycle
The Planning Cycle: Essential Part of Running a Business. Following the planning cycle process assures the essential aspects of running a business are completed. In addition, the planning process itself can have benefits for the organization. ... When people are involved in developing plans they will be more committed to the plans. Allowing ...
Strategic Planning Process Definition, Steps and Examples
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Conduct an environmental scan. Define strategic priorities. Develop goals and metrics. Derive a strategic plan. Write and communicate your strategic plan. Implement, monitor, and revise. 1. Clarify your vision, mission, and values. The first step of the strategic planning process is understanding your organization's core elements: vision ...
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Here's every reason why you need a business plan. 1. Business planning is proven to help you grow 30 percent faster. Writing a business plan isn't about producing a document that accurately predicts the future of your company. The process of writing your plan is what's important. Writing your plan and reviewing it regularly gives you a ...
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Career Planning
Career planning is the process of deciding what industry you want to work in and what job you want to hold, and how you want to progress in both. This involves assessing your skills, experience, and career goals. A career plan can change and evolve over time, so it's important to be flexible and to take time to reevaluate it every now and then.
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1. Conduct a time audit. Start by assessing where you actually spend your time. Create a visual map of the approximate hours you spend on work, school, housework and chores, commuting, social media, and leisure activities. Then, you can drill in on school or work, dividing your previous week into days, then hours.
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Would Republicans support Trump in 2024 if he's convicted of crimes
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans are at odds about whether to support their party's presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, next year if he's convicted of federal crimes. While some ...


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The 7 Steps of the Business Planning Process: A Complete Guide

Step 1: Conducting a SWOT Analysis

What is a SWOT Analysis?

Importance of Conducting a SWOT Analysis

Example of a SWOT Analysis

Opportunities

Step 2: Defining Your Business Objectives

What is Market Research?

Importance of Market Research in Business Planning

Different Types of Market Research Methods

Step 3: Conducting Market Research

Step 4: Identifying Your Target Audience

What is a Target Audience?

Importance of Identifying Your Target Audience

Examples of Target Audience Segmentation

Step 5: Developing a Marketing Plan

What is a Marketing Plan?

Importance of a Marketing Plan in Business Planning

Examples of Marketing Strategies and Tactics

Step 6: Creating a Financial Plan

What is a Financial Plan?

Importance of Creating a Financial Plan in Business Planning

Examples of Financial Statements and Projections

Step 7: Writing Your Business Plan

Importance of Writing a Business Plan

Tips on How to Write a Successful Business Plan

Role of Strikingly Website Builder in Creating a Professional Business Plan

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The Business Planning Process: 6 Steps To Creating a New Plan

What is Business Planning?

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The Better Business Planning Process

1. Do Your Research

2. Strategize

3. Calculate Your Financial Forecast

4. Draft Your Plan

5. Revise & Proofread

6. Nail the Business Plan Presentation

Business Planning Process Conclusion

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Written by True Tamplin, BSc, CEPF®

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Importance of Business Planning

Business Planning Process

Step 2: Conducting Market Research and Analysis

Step 3: Creating a Business Model and Strategy

Step 4: Developing a Marketing Plan

Step 5: Establishing Operational and Financial Plans

Step 6: Reviewing and Revising the Business Plan

Components of a Business Plan

Company Description

Products or Services

Market Analysis

Marketing and Sales Strategy

Management and Organization

Operational Plan

Financial Plan

Appendices and Supporting Documents

Benefits of Business Planning

Provides a Roadmap for Growth and Success

Enables Effective Decision-Making

Facilitates Communication and Collaboration

Business Planning FAQs

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