THIS WEEKS MODULE: Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is a method of positioning an organization to take advantage of its future by
- Capitalizing on it’s opportunities
- Addressing it’s challenges
- Providing the kind of leadership that can effectively guide change
- Assumes that an organization must be responsive to a dynamic (changing ) environment
- Stresses the importance of making decisions that will enable an organization to successfully respond to these changes
- Is useful only if it supports strategic thinking and leads to strategic management (the basis for an effective organization)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

STRATEGIC PLANNNING 1: ANALYSIS TOOLS

1. SWOT ANALYSIS


STRENGTHS:

A firm’s strengths are it’s resources and capabilities that can be used as a basis for developing a competitive advantage.

Examples of such resources are:

 Strong brand awareness

 Patents

 Customer loyalty

 Cost advantages

 Exclusive access to resources

 Favorable access to distribution channels

Monday, March 8, 2010

STRATEGIC PLANNING 1

PLANNING


A robust business plan depends on careful thinking up-front around the strategic context of the company

Ultimately your business plan must answer these questions:

 Where are we now?

 Where do we want to be?

 How do we get our business there?

Monday, March 1, 2010

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

 The company description will be the foundation upon which you will build your business plan


 It is full of assumptions, ideas, and hypotheses that need to be tested through research

 Testing the feasibility of your business concept will help you bring out your company description

 Plan on revising and fine-tuning your company description as you build on your business plan