GENERATING

BUSINESS
STRATEGY
PLANS

HOW-TO GUIDE
 Generating Business Strategy Plans
HOW-TO GUIDE

This report has been designed to provide practical advice for building a comprehensive, busi-
ness strategy plan. Learn how to benchmark your core competencies, implement a strategic deci-
sion-making framework, and prepare your organization for growth over the next 12-24 months.

Read this brief How-To Guide to:

Prepare for the Planning Process

Conduct a Situational Analysis
Establish Objectives, Initiatives, Metrics, & Targets
GAP Analysis & Program Prioritization
Implement a Corporate Governance Structure
Present Business Plan to Key Stakeholders

Prepare for the Planning Process

1. Build a Strategic Planning Team - engage a cross-functional planning team to represent each
department's needs. Hold a kick-off meeting to set strategic planning goals, schedule meeting
times, and get organized for the planning process.

2. Introduce the Balanced Scorecard Approach - review and distribute our Executive Summary
“Map Strategy with Balanced Scorecard” to provide a framework to work from.

3. Organize your Business Strategy Plan - use our Business Strategy Plan template to pull
together all of the analyses, assessments, and other materials you have used to complete your
business strategy plan.

Conduct a Situational Analysis

1. Benchmark Core Competencies - use Demand Metric's Core Competencies Assessment
Tool to benchmark your corporate capabilities and identify areas for improvement.

2. Define Market Segments & Profile Customers - use our Market Segmentation Tool to define
and size key market segments and develop customer profiles to personify 'ideal' customers. For
background information review “Market Segmentation, Targeting, & Positioning”.

2 GENERATING BUSINESS STRATEGY PLANS HOW-TO GUIDE

3. Perform a Competitive Positioning Analysis - use our Competitive Analysis & Positioning
Map to evaluate your competitors and assess the market positioning for each of your indus-
try's key players.

4. Complete an Industry Analysis - use our STEP Industry Analysis Tool to evaluate the Social,
Technological, Economic, and Political conditions of your market segments.

5. Summarize the Situational Analysis - based on your analysis document INTERNAL strengths
& weaknesses and EXTERNAL opportunities & threats with our SWOT Analysis Tool.

Establish Objectives, Initiatives, Metrics, & Targets

1. Determine Business Objectives for Next 12-36 Months - use our Business Objectives Matrix
to brainstorm and achieve consensus on which objectives are of highest priority.

2. Establish/Update Key Performance Indicators - use our Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
Worksheet to select or revisit metrics that are critical for monitoring performance.

3. Build a Balanced Scorecard Strategy Map - commence by refining your corporate Mission &
Vision Statements. Next, develop a Balanced Scorecard Strategy Map that sets objectives,
initiatives, metrics, and targets for each of the Customer, Financial, Learning & Growth, and
Business Processes perspectives.

GAP Analysis & Program Prioritization

1. Audit the Current Business Environment by Function - use our GAP Analysis Tool to help
you brainstorm ideas for Goals, Targets, Timeframes, and Action Items for each core business
function. These GAPS will evolve into programs & projects for each department/functional
area of your organization.

Document and resolve GAPS for the following:

Strategic Planning Market Research
Business Data Organizational Development
Customer Relationship Management Human Resources
Demand Generation Information Systems
Sales Effectiveness Product/Service Development
Performance Measurement

3 GENERATING BUSINESS STRATEGY PLANS HOW-TO GUIDE

2. Review New Investment Opportunities - gather all Business Cases for new program invest-
ments. If you haven't already, strongly consider making formal business cases a requirement
for any recommendation to spend over $10,000.

3. Prioritize Current & Proposed Programs and Projects - based on your high-level business
objectives; assess each current and proposed program in terms of strategic fit, economic
impact, and feasibility. Use our Business Strategy Prioritization Tool to document each
project and evaluate its business value.

4. Prepare to Manage Change - for large enterprise level programs, you may need to implement
a formal change management strategy. To refresh on best practices review our How To Guide,
Enabling Enterprise Change Management. To improve your chances for success, use our
Change Management Readiness Assessment to ensure you have the resources you require
for implementing a Change Management Plan.

5. Identify Key Success Factors for Execution - review each program and determine Key Success
Factors (KSF) to highlight any key risks. The senior management team is responsible for miti-
gating these risks, evaluating contingency plans, and ensuring that each KSF has adequate
resources behind it. For more help in the risk management area, use our Risk Analysis Tool,
Risk Assessment Tool, and Risk Mitigation Checklist.

6. Assign Programs to Department Leaders - delegate responsibility for key programs to the
appropriate executives. Make it clear that the success or failure of these programs will have
a direct impact on their performance review. Now may be a good time to evaluate Project
Management Maturity to determine if the right tools and process are in place to facilitate
program planning, execution, control, and closure.

7. Build Tactical Program Plans & Schedule Work - use our Management topic area for help with
implementing programs and managing the activities of staff.

Implement a Governance Structure

1. Establish a Steering Committee - the role of the steering committee is to review investment &
business decisions, prioritize programs, manage resource allocation, align departmental activ-
ities, and monitor performance. Read our Executive Summary “Steering Committees Improve
Program Success” and develop a Steering Committee Charter.

2. Create a Business Strategy Dashboard - monitor your progress on each strategic initiative by
tracking key metrics. Use our Business Strategy Metrics Dashboard to create a customized
dashboard of your key metrics and provide visibility to all steering committee members.

Present Business Strategy to Key Stakeholders

1. Communicate with Key Stakeholders - develop a Business Strategy Presentation to communi-
cate the highlights of your strategic plan to the key stakeholders in your organization..

4 GENERATING BUSINESS STRATEGY PLANS HOW-TO GUIDE

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