Strategy Planning

Planning has long been integral part of business growth. As a business to grows, the manager needs to regroup and update long-term plans. An agressive plan of action to approach the market involves a strategy and, like most endeavours, it requires ongoing planing.
To think more creatively, first a manager should look at the overall, big picture of his business. Where is he now and where does he want to be? He’ll be undertaking a discovery process that will give him guidelines, which lead turn to his goals.

The discovery process would involve a review and/or evaluation of the existing situation. If the manager has not got it yet, he may need to survey his customers and public to find out if his product or service has benefied them, if the customers feel it can be improved in some ways, and what suggestions or comments they have about it.

From there, he’ll be armed with information to help him deliver what his public wants and plot a plan of attack. He might then take a look as some other ways to enter the market, and also find out other target markets to reach out. He should see if his product or service can be used somewhere else to a different niche. He should also check if he could package his product or service differently.

His growth strategy should also include setting profitability objectives. Profitability is measured by the executive’s perspective. Since an executive’s most valuable resource is time, it is necessary to determine how much, in dollars, that time is worth (establishing the value of an hour). Time way well be an executive’s most important asset and, using it wisely, will improve quality of life by helping to find time to spend on other things (without sacrificing income).
In the process of change, he should also anticipate the staffing needed for growth. If he finds himself trying to do too much, he’s probably noticed that he is not doing all of it well, or efficiently. So, he should take a look at if he is really saving money by not adding perssonnel.

COMPREHENSION EXERCISES
1. Is the necessary for a company te regroup and update long term plans when its business grows?
2. How is discovery process conducted?
3. Are consumers’ comments involved in discovery process?
4. Should an executive measure profitability?
5. What things are necessary to do when a business grows?
6. Should we know costumers’ comments about our products?
7. Which one is the most important for executives “Time or Income”? why is it so?
8. Why is it necessary for an executive to determine the value of this time?