by Paul Simister
on May 16, 2013
This is the first in a series of detailed articles about mistakes made in strategic planning.
>>> 8 Common Mistakes In Strategic Planning And Development
We will look at how strategy and tactics fit together and must be used together if a business is going to achieve its vision or strategic objective.
>>> Your Strategic Objective – Design Your Business To Be Right For You
and you as the business owner are going to achieve your big objectives.
>>> Your Primary Aim Answers The Big Questions In Your Life
Strategy And Tactics
Let’s start with some definitions because these two word are often confused. In particular tactics are often mistaken for strategy. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 13, 2013
Every business should know where it is going and, if it is big enough to have a senior management team rather than one dominant entrepreneur and owner, that usually means putting together a strategic plan.
Preparing a plan does not guarantee that it will be fit for purpose and in another article I look at the common mistakes.
>>> Common Mistakes In Strategic Planning And Development
The problems of strategy failure don’t stop at the risk of creating a bad plan.
A good plan won’t be worth anything if it isn’t implemented.
Common Mistakes In Strategy Implementation
This is where it does get more difficult since you have to provide leadership to get your staff, customers and suppliers to take action. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 10, 2013
Businesses are encouraged to spend time developing a business strategy for how they will compete profitably.
I am a believer but I will also accept that businesses with a time intensive strategic plan can also have performance problems and ultimately fail.
I also believe that every business has a strategy because if there is one from formal planning, one emerges from the decisions, actions and behaviours of the senior management.
What Causes Strategy Failure?
The strategy problem can be split into two:
- Strategic planning and development – either no strategy has been formally developed and the emergent strategy is inconsistent and unfocused or a poor strategy, doomed to failure, has been created; or
- Strategy implementation – the strategy is sound but the implementation of the strategy fails.
Common Mistakes In Strategic Planning And Development [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 5, 0203
I’ve deliberately written a contentious title, “Why Doesn’t Strategy Work” because I believe the opposite.
When it’s done right, spending time on developing and implementing your business strategy is some of the best and well rewarded time an entrepreneur can spend.
But I also have to admit that when it is done wrong, strategy doesn’t work.
There are two areas which make business strategy fail.
- Mistakes made in strategy planning and development
- Mistakes made in implementing the strategy
In strategy planning and development, either no strategy has been developed or a poor strategy, doomed to failure has been created.
In the strategy implementation stage, the strategy itself is sound but the implementation of the strategy fails because senior management fails to lead the team of employees and change systems and processes to develop the new capabilities.
I am planning to go into these two issues in more detail in future blogs:
Planning Mistakes
Implementation Mistakes
