Small Business Strategic Plan

In this article, OnPoint Advisory Gold Coast Business Accountants discuss what a Small Business Strategic Plan is and how it is used within a business.

A strategic plan can provide a map to help your business achieve specific goals and will increase your chances of success in meeting you objectives on time and budget.

WHAT IS A STRATEGIC PLAN?

A Strategic Plan for a business is the process of defining a strategy so the business can achieve specific goals and objectives.

A Strategic Plan can be utilised for large scale ideas, such as planning for business growth over several years.

A Strategic Plan can also be used on a more micro level, such as developing a marketing plan or strategies for a specific department within the business.

Strategy is different from planning. Strategy looks at why certain steps should be taken, whereas a plan outlines how to enact those steps.

Strategic planning brings these ideas together to determine the best possible course of action.

The purpose of strategic planning is to provide a thoughtful approach to obtaining the objectives based on an analysis of both internal and external factors affecting an business.

Benefits of Strategic Planning

There are benefits of strategic planning, which including the following:

• Bring into line the goals of a department with the larger business goals;
• Provide clear communication to team members, stakeholders, and / or clients;
• Clearly state the vision and mission of the business;
• Provide clarity on how to deal with internal or environmental variations.

Parts of a Strategic Plan

The best way to see a strategic plan is that it helps outline how you get from where you are now to where you want to be in the future.

Numerous factors are taken into account in order to devise an effective plan.

Here are some of the elements often included in a strategic plan.

 – Introduction: The introduction should briefly describe why the strategic plan was developed and for what time period.

 – Background: This section may provide information about the business or you could use this for a brief business statement to describe your business.

 – Structure:Include this information if it’s relevant to evaluate how your business operates and it is structured.

 – Vision: A vision statement should briefly describe what a company wants to achieve or become.

 – Values:These are the principles that an business stands for.

– Mission Statement: A mission statement describes the purpose of a business. This is different from a vision statement because it is not a projected goal for the future.

 – Problem Statement: Some plans include a problem statement, which is used to outline key issues that need to be addressed.

 – SWOT Analysis: A SWOT analysis provides the foundation for developing a strategy plan by examining the strengths and weaknesses within and outside the business.

 – Goals: Goals should be liked to KPI’s and broken down into steps, and the action plan for each goal should indicate who is responsible for implementing the strategy, a timeline for starting and ending the action, and how the outcome will be evaluated.

 – Evaluation: Methods for evaluation should be spelled out in the strategic plan.

 – Executive Summary: The final summary helps end users of the plan quickly understand your thoughts.

We have provided here a Strategic Plan Template for you to use.

If you would like to discuss your businesses Strategic Plan, or need assistance in developing one, please contact us today.