Mastering Business Planning and Strategy , livre ebook

Thorogood Publishing - Paul Elkin

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102 pages

English

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Description

Paul Elkin provides a practical guide to developing successful business plans and strategies. Mastering Business Planning and Strategy looks at practical techniques for profiling the business and the competition, analysing the market, mastering strategic thinking, positioning for marketplace success, option appraisal and strategic decision-making, as well as implementing and managing change.

Sujets

Strategic management

Informations

Publié par	Thorogood Publishing
Date de parution	19 janvier 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781854188571
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0365€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published in eBook format 2014 Thorogood Publishing Ltd 10-12 Rivington Street London EC2A 3DU Telephone: 020 7749 4748 Email: info@thorogoodpublishing.co.uk Web: www.thorogoodpublishing.co.uk
© Paul Elkin 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser.
No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any material in this publication can be accepted by the author or publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (10) 185418329X (13) 978-185418329-3
The author
Paul M Elkin is Managing Director of TMMp group, which provides consultancy services with a particular focus on business strategic development, performance management and corporate image. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and an experienced Management Consultant. After 15 years in a range of senior management roles in both public and private sector industry with UK and US businesses plus three years with Price Waterhouse, Management Consultancy Services, he formed the TMMp group at the end of 1989.
Paul’s personal career and, in particular, recent consultancy experience have provided the opportunity to work with a wide range of UK, European and US-owned businesses. The nature of the involvement with each business has varied considerably according to their particular needs. Examples would include: Leading ‘top team’ workshops for directors/senior managers to consider strategic direction and key business issues Provision of consultancy expertise for the development of the business, its systems and its people Research and preparation of techniques and materials to support organizational change and development Development and implementation of a range of training and development initiatives including distance learning, management workshops, seminars and conferences.
He is actively involved with a number of leading corporates from a range of business sectors. Examples include AMEC Construction, BMW, Barclays Bank, Canon, Cow & Gate NUTRICIA and Xerox. Paul is the author of a series of practical ‘reference guides’ covering finance, strategy and business awareness and supports the delivery of MBA programmes in the areas of strategy and finance. He has also been involved in a range of initiatives worldwide for major corporates including ABB, Oracle, Logica CMG, Philips, International Paper and General Motors.
Icons
Throughout the Masters in Management series of books you will see references and symbols in the margins. These are designed for ease of use and quick reference directing you quickly to key features of the text. The symbols used are: Key Question Guide to Best Practice Action Checklist Key Learning Point Activity Key Management Concept
We would encourage you to use this book as a workbook, writing notes and comments in the margin as they occur. In this way we hope that you will benefit from the practical guidance and advice which this book provides.
Chapter One - Mastering Business Success
‘Either lead, follow or get out of the way.’
RAYMOND G VIAULT
Achieving business stability and growth
Many directors and managers find their time completely occupied by ‘fire-fighting’, dealing with the crises and problems that are occurring today, rather than considering what is necessary to ensure the survival and eventual success of the business. Their skill and effort is absorbed in evaluating and taking tactical operational decisions whilst the business as a whole may be failing.
We need to recognize that this short term focus on dealing with today’s issues is the natural response of many managers as: That is what they have been ‘trained’ to do It is what is ‘expected’ of them They feel ‘comfortable’ taking these short term, often low risk, decisions.
Successful businesses have rejected this type of management approach and instead developed people and an organizational culture that addresses the issues vital to success.
‘He who has neither a thorough knowledge of his own conditions, nor the enemy’s, is sure to lose in every battle.’
Sun Tzu – Chinese Warrior
Traditional review and planning systems within most organizations encourage an introverted, incremental approach to performance improvement. Leading businesses concentrate on three areas: Customers: how can we ensure that we satisfy customer needs? Competitors: how can we achieve and maintain competitive advantage? Company: how can we further develop and build on our company strengths?
Business leaders must ensure that they and their senior management teams apply the appropriate thinking processes. Traditionally managers all too often try to apply an ‘operational’ approach to problem solving and as a result are likely to constrain their thinking and limit their impact.
For example
The Production Director of a manufacturing company has been asked to examine opportunities for improving production performance. Over the last three years the production facilities have gradually improved output with the following results: Utilization of Productive Capacity Year 1 71% Year 2 75% Year 3 78%
It has been suggested that improving the workload scheduling and concentration on longer production runs could reduce idle time. This is targeted to produce 81% utilization of productive capacity.
In Operational terms this seems attractive giving a 10% improvement over four years ago.
However Strategically it is unlikely to achieve long term business success if major competitors are achieving 95% utilization.
An Operational response to a Strategic Problem.
Those businesses whose strengths are solely in their operational ability and surviving in a game where the margins are narrow – tend to be efficiency driven. In other words doing what they have always done, only trying to do it better. Strategies for success are about being more effective , in terms of identifying what it is that the business should be doing today and tomorrow in order to survive and prosper in the long run.
In the following pages we will examine the key issues related to business success and identify some initial techniques for analyzing the performance of the organization.
Business goals
Normally each corporate has specific goals it is consistently pursuing. These vary between organizations but the table below is a summary of common business goals identified by research.
Per cent Profitability 89 Growth 82 Market share 66 Employee welfare 62 Product quality and service 60 Research and development 54 Expansion outside core business 51 Efficiency 50 Financial stability 49 Management development 35
Source: McKinsey
The per cent column indicates what proportion of the corporates surveyed were explicitly pursuing this goal.
In reality the table is a mixture of goals and success factors which are important to the achievement of those goals. True goals are probably confined to the first three categories. Profitability Growth Market share
Of these three the one of primary importance to commercial businesses would be profitability – the reason why most enterprises exist! From an owner’s or corporate parent perspective this could be more specifically defined as Return. Growth and Market Share are pursued to the extent that they yield a long–term benefit in terms of Return. In simple terms the measure Return reflects the relationship between the profit generated and the money tied–up in the business represented by the assets of that business. This starts to identify a series of three linked financial criteria that provide the framework for results management in the business:

The paramount goal for most businesses is Return. However, within the business, managers are focused on achievement in the two constituent areas of margin and utilization, with specific targets relevant to their area of responsibility. Examples would include those shown on the next page: MARGIN Sales management - gross margin achievement - pricing and discounting - sales expense control Delivery management - production cost - purchase price - labour cost UTILIZATION Sales management - credit terms and debtor collection Delivery management - stock level, WIP and turnover - labour efficiency
If the business provides a framework of operational margin and utilization controls it is implicitly focusing on the key elements that drive return - the paramount goal.

Business success – the evidence
This section summarizes from research evidence a number of key drivers of business success. These should be used as a leadership checklist to ensure that the business is clearly focused on, and actively pursuing, these foundations for long term business health.
Concept
The highly competitive nature of many markets and the likely future prospect of continued economic turbulence as national and global economic fortunes vary, requires that business managers continue to look for opportunities to improve performance. This will primarily be achieved by improving effectiveness in the areas of winning/retaining customers, developing organizational competence and financial control.
It is vital not to lose sight of the fact that research reveals that...
‘... Nothing fails like success’
This is the paradox facing many businesses particularly successful ones! Research into the top performing businesses has identified a number of common ‘Success Factors’. These are briefly summarized below:

LEADE