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The Business Planning Group |
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The Business Planning Group's Approach to Management Consulting Consultants of The Business Planning Group Background to Business Planning |
So What is a Business Plan? We have found that many businesses have quite different thoughts about what constitutes a 'business plan'. The following definitions/descriptions may hopefully assist you in your assessment of your planning and consulting requirements. A business plan provides the managerial framework for setting goals and objectives, identifying and evaluating strategic alternatives, selecting appropriate strategies for the achievement of goals and detailed objectives, developing operational action plans for each functional part of your business that will ensure the achievement of these goals and objectives, developing budgets to match those plans, and establishing policies and procedures that ensure that the whole business works together to achieve its overall vision and mission. A business plan is developed through an integrated sequential process which creates, in detail, a set of action plans covering each significant functional aspect of a business - through combining a structured assessment of the business, and the markets and industry in which it operates, with specific management procedures which can be applied to achieve and monitor the application of those action plans. A 'business plan' is therefore the foundation on which an efficient and properly structured management system is based. It is as much a process as it is a written and implemented deliverable. The Business Planning Group employs extensive written methodology which it has developed over some fifteen years of business planning consultancy work. The methodology is based on our extensive consulting experience together with the knowledge, skills and background accumulated during our previous senior management roles in leading domestic and international companies. This approach not only improves the quality of the planning process, but also greatly facilitates the effectiveness of the plan development interface [consultant/client meetings] in terms of time required to review issues and the thoroughness of the process. The process for developing a business plan can notionally be divided into three phases, each of which should be substantially completed before embarking on the next. However, within each phase, there are various steps which can be undertaken in parallel. The time frame for each of the phases and steps will be subject to the specific requirements of the business. The Business Planning Group's outline structure of a "business plan' is: Phase 1. THE SITUATION ANALYSIS [The Diagnostic]
Phase 2. THE STRATEGIC AUDIT
Phase 3. STRATEGIC & OPERATIONAL PLANNING
but which may also include:
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