Suggested Terms & Objectives - Strategic Planning

Suggested Objectives

The overall objectives are to:

- determine where the business should be at the end of the planning period;

- determine the steps required to achieve that position;

- put the information into a business plan.

Terms of Reference

The tasks which we, usually, undertake are as follows:-

a) set up a series of meetings with key players, to assess the company's potential and objectives, and investigate other business information. The following factors will be analysed:-

• core skills and expertise,
• significant weaknesses,
• resource constraints,
• the role and style of management,
• projected financial performance;

This will enable us to undertake the strengths and weaknesses part of a full SWOT analysis;

b) discuss the company's competitive situation, with particular regard to:

• direct competitors,
• potential market niches,
• potential customer base,
• competitive strengths,
• potential impact of external PEST factors,

in order to identify opportunities and threats part of the SWOT analysis and to define the key factors for success;

c) determine and agree a set of key business objectives with Management and determine the personal goals of the directors;

d) produce a brief discussion document on the findings;

e) seek agreement on the discussion document;

f) determine the strategic options available and assess which are the most appropriate. For each option the following may be evaluated:

• what is to be achieved,
• the likely cost and revenue implications, possibly including sensitivity analysis,
• the effects on available resources;

g) discuss the options with management and agree the preferred options;

h) produce an action plan identifying who has to do what to achieve the selected option;

i) consolidate all the discussion documents into the business plan;

j) sometimes we produce a financial forecast which provides an estimate of the effects of implementing the plans. It usually includes the following figures, in reasonable detail for the first twelve months, and in summary for the rest of the three year period:

• profit, capital expenditure and cash flow forecasts,
• opening and closing balance sheets.

As this is often produced by the organisation’s accountants, we do not, usually, estimate for this work;

k) provide other assistance as you may request.

Estimated Timescale and Costs

We usually find that producing this type of business plan requires ten to twenty days and takes an elapsed time of five to eight working weeks to complete depending on the availability of senior management and key personnel, including possible absence for holidays. A detailed breakdown of the estimate would require discussions about the number of people to be interviewed and the quality of existing information.