Introduction to Strategic Planning

1. Introduction to Strategic Planning Goals, Mission, and Vision Marc Compeau and Mike Wasserman Wednesday, 6/23/04

2. Welcome!Tonight’s Agenda • Brief Overview of the MSB101 Program, Introductions (5:30-6:00) • Introduction to Strategic Planning for Small Business Success: Goals, Vision, Mission, and Strategies (6:00-6:15) • Goal Setting: Be “SMART”! (6:15-6:30) • Break (6:30-6:45) • Vision Statement (6:45-7:00) • Mission Statement (7:00-7:15) • A Quick Look at Strategies and Resources (7:15-7:25) • Wrap-up and a “Next Week Peek” (7:25-7:30)

3. A question for you: Why do some small business succeed and some fail?

4. Strategic planning is one key element. What is strategic planning? Strategic Planning: These are decisions you make about investing resources TODAY in order to maximize performance in the FUTURE. Example?

5. How do small businesses undertake strategic planning? • Start with goals – what do I want out of my small business? • Create a vision of what the business needs to look like in order to accomplish your goals. • Create a mission to guide how you will serve your stakeholders along the way. • Develop strategies to get you from where you are now to where you want to be in the future. Strategies require investments – which means budgets and timelines.

6. 1. Goal Setting Life is a series of investments…you make decisions about where to spend your time and energy. Give some thought to what types of outcomes would make you happy. Setting specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) goals leads to personal and business growth.

7. ‘SMART’ GOALS Research shows that some goals are more likely to be reached than others. Effective goals have 5 characteristics: • Specific: The goals should be focused and detailed. • Measurable: The goals should have inputs and outputs that can be identified and measured. • Assignable: The goals should be able to be broken into tasks that can be given to specific people. • Realistic: The goals should be achievable given resource and time constraints. • Time-bound: The goals should have a time-frame associated with it.

8. A goal setting process Effective goals are part of a process: • Set goals. • Determine costs and benefits of goal achievement • Establish measurement tools • Periodically reassess and adjust goals as needed • Enjoy achievement of goals • Set new goals

9. Questions to ponder As an individual, do you have goals? Where do you want to be a year from now? Five years from now? Ten years from now? What types of investments do you need to make to accomplish your goals? Are you on a trajectory to accomplish your goals? If not, what changes do you need to make to accomplish your goals? (priorities, environment, etc.)

10. From goals to strategies Goals are a big part of the strategy process…once you have your goals set, here is a typical strategy process: a) Assess your current business position (honestly!) b) Assess your desired future position – this is your vision statement. c) How will you treat stakeholders? This is your mission statement d) Develop specific strategies (products, services, business processes, location, pricing, marketing, people, etc). e) Identify resources will we need to get from current to desired future position (and attain your goals)? Create a budget and timeline.

11. a) Assess your current position Where are we? • Who are we serving (customers)? • Demographics, types of customers (business, consumer, government) • What products and services are we offering? • Are we providing a good value for our customers?

12. Learning Application On a piece of paper, answer the following questions: • Who are we serving (customers)? • What products and services are we offering? • Are we providing a good value for our customers?

13. b) Your desired future position: Vision What do you believe the company should be? • How large and how broad do we need to get to accomplish these goals? • How will we need to position ourselves against rivals? Link these back to goals: In financial terms • We want to delivery 10% return on equity • We want to improve profit margins to 15% In non-financial terms • We want to provide 98% customer satisfaction • We want to be the employer of choice for women and minorities • We want to cut delivery time to 48 hours

14. Learning Application: Vision On a piece of paper, create a vision statement by answering the following question: What will my business look like in 5 years?

15. c) How will you treat your stakeholders: The Mission Statement Stakeholders: People that have an interest in the functioning and outcomes of your business: • Employees • Customers • Community • Shareholders/Owners Mission: How will you treat your stakeholders in accomplishing your goals? Example:

16. Learning Application: Mission On a piece of paper, answer the following questions: What exactly am I providing for: • Customers? • Employees? • Shareholders/Owners? • Community?

17. d) Strategies: Decisions about size, scope, and competitive position How large will we need to become? How will we grow? (Acquisitions, alliances, internal growth?) How broad will our product/service line need to be? How will we need to position ourselves against rivals?(Premium features?, Better customer service? Customization? Delivery time? Product line variety? Equal but less expensive?) How will we manage our costs?

18. e) Resources needed 1. Money • You will learn more about cash flow, the components of income, company worth, and the importance of ratio analysis in your cash flow session 2. Information • You will learn about the importance of data, information, and knowledge and both the power and limitations of IT as a communications medium in your media planning and information technology sessions 3. People • Your employees are essential in providing customer service, managing costs, building customer loyalty, facilitating growth in your people management sector

19. Wrap-up/Next Week Peek Today’s Key Points: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Next Week: 1. 2. 3.