Most businesses will have a business plan which summarises the medium to long term attainable goals of a business and includes a plan to reach those goals. Business plans can be internally or externally focused.
Externally focused business plans will concentrate on goals
which are important to external stakeholders like investors while internally
focused business plans will contain specific goals to reach the external goals.
A business plan that suggests strategies to achieve the
organisation’s mission and goals within the next three to five years is called
a strategic plan. An operational
plan is derived from the strategic plan and focuses on the day-to-day
management of the business for the next year including specific tasks,
responsibilities and timelines to implement the strategies in the strategic plan.
If a business does not have any of the above plans, the
following is recommended:
·
Set short term, medium term and long term goals
for the business in the form of a business plan
·
Ensure that the goals are achievable and
measurable
·
Assign a time frame to each goal
·
Create a strategic plan for the next three to
five years and update this every year
·
Create an operational plan for the next year on
an annual basis
If a business has set goals or has the above plans, the
following is recommended:
·
Evaluate the relevance and achievability of the
goals on a regular basis
·
Evaluate whether the goals can still be achieved
in the specified time frame
·
Amend the goals and their time frames if
necessary in all the relevant business plans
·
Amend the strategic and operational plans if
necessary to achieve the revised goals
Business goals can be affected when the focus of the
business changes or when there are external or internal factors which impacts
on the profitability and productivity of a business. It is therefore in the
best interest of a business to reassess its goals, strategic and operational
plans on a regular basis to achieve sustainable growth.
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