Electronics Assembly

Strategic planning continues to find application in an 
ever-increasing number of organizations. Once the tool 
of largest companies exclusively, it has since proven 
invaluable to medium and smaller-sized firms as well. 

More and more, managers in organizations of every size 
are discovering the advantages of developing and 
utilizing strategic planning to improve the execution 
of their business plan. 

Like most business processes, the key to success is in 
the effective implementation of the plan. Companies that 
do a good job of developing and executing their strategies 
can create a competitive edge that provides increased 
market share and higher gross profit margins. 

Organizations that turn their plan into a "dust 
collector" sitting on an executive bookshelf, will 
never achieve their full growth and profit potential. 

To that end, today’s writing is about Strategic 
Planning. If your company is serious about exceeding 
growth and profit expectations, don’t miss out on 
reading today’s 
bulletin. 

Have a nice day, keep the faith, and stay connected.

Bill Gaw
bg@bbasicsllc.com
760-945-5596

=============================================
BUSINESS BASICS & BEST PRACTICES BULLETIN

Now serving 6254 subscribers

Competitive Knowledge for Manufacturing People 
=============================================

1. STRATEGIC PLANNING AND TACTICAL EXECUTION

Strategic planning is a business process that many 
companies employ to identify critical success factors 
that set the course for future growth and profits.

Lewis Carroll in "Alice in Wonderland" makes a good 
case for it: "Would you tell me, please, which way I 
ought to go from here?" said Alice. "That depends a 
good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. 
"I don't much care where...," said Alice. "Then it 
doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

Like most business processes, the key to success is 
the effective implementation of the plan. Companies 
that do a good job of developing and executing their 
strategies can create a competitive edge that provides 
increased market share and higher gross profit margins. 
Organizations that turn their plan into a "dust 
collector" upon an executive bookshelf, will never 
achieve their full growth and profit potential. 

PLAN’S VALIDITY

Most criticism of strategic planning is aimed at the 
planning process. They question the validity of a plan 
that has been based on market "guestimates", the 
questionable valuation of the depth and breadth of 
competitors and an optimistic assessment of the 
company's internal strength and weakness. The fact 
that strategic plans can be overly optimistic is not 
the core problem. Although the criticism may be 
appropriate, it puts the focus for improvement on the 
wrong end of the process - it is the implementation 
task that is critical to producing positive results 
and it is here where most companies fail at strategic 
planning.

Poorly implemented rational, strategic plans will 
produce limited positive results. On the other hand, 
overly optimistic strategic plans, effectively 
implemented, can produce results beyond everyone's 
expectations. This being the case, what is the key to 
effective implementation? In one word - commitment! 

BUILDING COMMITMENT

Companies that are good at strategic planning build 
commitment to the planning process and to each of the 
strategies within the plan. They build commitment 
throughout the organization, working with people from 
all business functions to build commitment before, 
during and after development of their strategic plan.

Winners begin early in building a commitment to the 
strategic plan. Suggestions are encouraged from 
managers at all levels, from key executives who will 
participate in the planning sessions, and others who 
will share responsibility for implementing the 
resultant strategies. Together, they surface issues 
that will require changes in business process and/or 
culture and identify those constraints that will need 
to be overcome if implementation is to be successful. 

PLANNING PARTICIPATION

During planning sessions, key executives from each 
functional area are all encouraged to participate and 
contribute to the plan. These executives develop 
strategies that build on organizational strengths and 
consider resources required to accomplish those 
strategies. They assure that a key executive "owns" 
each strategy and commits to a time schedule for its 
accomplishment. The key executives give thought to 
resource planning - realizing that human resources are 
the key to making positive things happen in difficult, 
complex business environments - and they commit 
accordingly.

Following the development of their plan, those 
responsible for implementations develop their own 
"tactical plans." These action plans, when coupled 
with self-directed work teams, are major contributors 
to a successful Strategic Planning implementation. 
Teams use their plan to manage, to make decisions and 
to grow their business. Periodically, they review 
their "tactical plans" to monitor and report on the 
progress of implementation - keeping the plan "alive" 
by revising strategies and tactics when necessary.

THE PLANNING PROCESS

Finally, to insure successful implementation of their 
strategic plan, they work on the planning process 
itself. The planning group continuously "fine tunes" 
the planning process to insure that inputs from all 
business functions are given their due consideration 
and to insure that buy-in and commitment to the final 
plan is agreed upon throughout all levels of the 
organization.

So, why are most operations management teams outside 
of the strategic planning process? Why do many line 
managers view strategic planning as a make work 
project that produces little or zero value to 
customers? Maybe, it's because they did not 
participate in its development nor did they buy-into 
its validity - let alone commit to the execution of 
its strategic objectives. In short, they're not 
connected to the process! To achieve a company's full 
growth and profit potential, CEOs and business owners 
need to insure the active participation of operation 
management in the strategic planning process.

********************************************************

To discover why and how manufacturing winners are 
mastering Bill Gaw’s “10-Basics of Strategic Planning,” 
go to:

http://bbasicsllc.com/sp.htm

=============================================

Manufacturing leaders have a responsibility to 
educate and train their team members. 20-World 
Class Manufacturing, cost-effective, training 
modules are just a click away:

To preview twenty 1-2 hours PowerPoint® Training Presentations on CDs with expert commentary by Bill Gaw, click below: World Class Manufacturing Training .

  STAY CONNECTED

To stay current on bullet-proofed manufacturing solutions, subscribe to our free ezine, "The Business Basics and Best Practices Bulletin." Simply fill in the below form and click on the subscribe button. 

COMPETITIVE KNOWLEDGE MENU
(Click on any subject below):

Your company can reach its full potential in all aspects of the business. All you need is the right knowledge and training. You will find much of it  it here, at the Business Basics' Website:

Competitive e-Knowledge for anyone ... anywhere ... anytime
Business Basics, LLC
6003 Dassia Way, Oceanside, CA 92056
West Coast: 760-945-5596