Strategy Archives - Page 2 of 3 - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Franchising Strategy: Strategic Business Plan Development

As with any business, you must have a solid business plan. Do not think that you can start a franchise without a good plan. The plan is a roadmap to how you will operate, how you will reach new franchisees, how you will market your business and must have solid financials. A mistake of a single percentage point on a franchise royalty can easily cost you millions of dollars. It does not seem like a big mistake, when you have a single franchisee. It simply means that the franchisor will make $5,000 less in royalty revenues. But in franchising, we are talking about continuing growth, and this mistake might be multiplied 100 times or more. Other business decisions that a new franchisor will make that could impact long-term profitability include:

• Advertising fees

• Technology fees

• Product margins

• Type of franchise offered (individual, area development, area representative, etc.)

• Organizational structure

• Compensation structure

• Geographic growth strategy

• Territorial rights provided to franchisees

• Reservations of rights for the franchisor

• Franchise Disclosure Documents

Conflicting or ambiguous communications when a franchise is first sold can form the basis for future franchise litigation. The cost of defending any franchise lawsuit, even an inconsequential one, can be enormous. The cost of prosecuting even a “small” franchise litigation lawsuit can easily exceed $100,000 to $200,000, or more.

You must have a solid, coherent Franchise Disclosure Document. An integrated Franchise Compliance Program that stipulates rules and expectations, manages Franchise Disclosure Documents and controls the publishing of all information is extremely important. It is also one of the best investments a franchise company will ever make.

Understanding a franchise agreement

A Franchise Agreement includes all of the key facets, requirements and principles of the franchise, including the privileges and commitments of both parties, the length of time the agreement will last, the territory (if any) granted to the franchisee, and the costs involved and how they are to be calculated.

A Franchise Agreement is the foundation of your business. You must be certain that you understand it clearly before you start to build on it. The following is an outline of some of the key aspects contained in Franchise Agreements.

Every Franchise Agreement needs to be carefully read and you should therefore have your attorney review the Agreement clause by clause with you, to make certain that you understand all of its terms. Franchisees also need to be aware that, while it can be relatively simple to enter into a Franchise Agreement, it may be far more difficult to remove yourself from one. A standard Franchise Agreement is a long-term commitment to a third party (often of six to ten years in length). The Agreement will include stringent requirements which have to be complied with for the full length of the term. Failure to conform to these requirements may in many situations allow the franchisor to terminate the Agreement.

While the strict stipulations of Franchise Agreements are there to protect the interests of all parties and particularly the franchise system, from time to time Franchise Agreements can include or exclude clauses which aim to protect the franchisor.

A provision that any costs involved in defending the use of the trademark should be paid by the franchisee

Immediate rights for the franchisor to cancel without notice if the franchisee misses or delays payment of royalties

Lack of clauses regarding ongoing support, training and development of the business by the franchisor

Limitation of the franchisor’s liability to the franchisee even if the franchisor breaches their requirements to the franchisee

Widely drafted clauses undermining a franchisee’s ‘exclusive’ territory in unwarranted circumstances.

The presence of these clauses will vary between Franchise Agreements. An experienced franchise lawyer will be able to highlight them for you. Some franchisors will not be willing to make any changes to their agreements especially when there are other franchisees already in operation.

Regardless of what you may dislike about some provisions in a Franchise Agreement, it is nevertheless essential that you understand it fully and the requirements it places on you as a franchisee. Careful attention should also be paid to supplementary documents, as these may contain provisions that, if breached, constitute a breach of the Franchise Agreement.

You should also be certain that any pre-contractual statements regarding turnover or other aspects of the business that may have attracted you to the franchise are carried over into the Franchise Agreement or in some other written form.

Grant of Rights

The Grant of Rights sets out the term of the franchise and its renewal provisions. It is important to make certain that the term of the franchise is adequate to allow you to achieve a realistic return on your investment. Renewal provisions need to be looked at carefully along with any renewal fees. They may contain some or all of the following:

Notice of renewal – this is usually required within strict timeframes. If the renewal notice is not given in time, the right to do so may be lost

Payment of renewal fee

Changes to terms of the Agreement by the franchisor upon renewal

Changes to the franchise territory size by the franchisor where the particular Agreement provides exclusive rights to the franchisee

Changes, alterations and improvements to operating practices to meet competitive and other challenges

First options or first rights of refusal for additional franchises.

It is important that the franchisee understands that, more often than not, the right of renewal may in fact be a right in favor of the franchisor. The franchisor often has the ability to reject the renewal if a franchisee has not been performing to set standards.

Ongoing costs and royalties

Many Franchise Agreements include ongoing payments to the franchisor such as:

• Royalties

• Advertising levies

• Mark-ups or margins on products supplied by the franchisors

• Training fees.

There may also be requirement to attend franchise conferences and other meetings. The Agreement should clearly set out the details of what has to be paid and when, including circumstances relating to any deposits payable before securing the franchise.

For advertising and promotion costs, the Agreement should specify when the payment is to be made and to whom, including details of any special banking arrangements. Back-up assistance and assistance are essential to the operation of a successful franchise. Details of the support and training to be provided by the franchisor should be stated in the Agreement, including both initial and ongoing assistance. As well as having your attorney review the Agreement for these provisions, talk to existing franchisees about the level of support they have received.

Initial costs

The Agreement, or often an ancillary document, should set out in full all beginning costs. These may include the initial franchise fee, equipment costs, working capital requirements, fit-out costs, initial training costs and the cost of opening stock.

Premises, leases and mobiles

Lease provisions usually allow the franchisor to take over the lease at the end of the term, and also if the franchisee defaults during the term

Often the franchisor will lease the property itself and grant a sub-lease to the franchisee. You are responsible for paying the rent, so you should ensure the amount negotiated is a fair market rent

Mobile franchises usually contain terms that set out the sign writing and other décor required by the vehicles from which the business is operated, and possibly for any major items of equipment

One issue that is often overlooked is the need to ensure that the length of the franchise term coincides with the length of the lease term.

Requirements

Every Agreement should contain clauses setting out the initial and continuing requirements of both franchisor and franchisee

• Examples of franchisee requirements include minimum operating hours, insurance, engagement of staff, and uniform requirements.

• Examples of franchisor’s requirements include maintaining the manuals, providing products, and training

• Records of accounting must be up-to-date, with regular reporting and auditing

• Intending franchisees should pay careful attention to the requirements since breach of any may entitle the franchisor to terminate the franchise.

Intellectual property

Intellectual property is a key element of most Franchise Agreements, specifying legal ownership rights by the franchisor concerning patents, copyright, trademarks, designs and even operating systems. Other relevant laws include the Fair Trading Act and common law rules prohibiting the copying of a business’s identity.

Sale of the franchise

Most Agreements will allow the franchise to be sold during its term, but you should note that as a franchisee your rights to sell the business may be restricted.

• The franchisee may have to give the franchisor the right to buy the business first known as right of first refusal, which in itself can destabilize the value of that business and the goodwill for a selling franchisee

• If the franchisor chooses not to purchase, they may rigorously control the sale process

• The incoming franchisee must be approved by the franchisor

There may be a transfer approval fee, which the franchisee will need to pay to the franchisor when a sale takes place. This is designed to cover the franchisor’s costs involved in training the incoming franchisee.

In some Franchise Agreements, the term of an existing franchise for sales purposes covers only its unexpired remainder, unless the Agreement provides for the franchisor to offer a new Agreement for a full new term.

Termination

Franchise Agreements provide for circumstances in which the Agreement may be terminated in advance of the original ending date. These include:

• Bankruptcy, company liquidation or criminal conviction of the franchisee

• Termination of leases to the franchise premises (where premises retention is important).

Termination provisions should be considered carefully as they are often points of disagreement. There are frequent misunderstandings by franchisees as to what happens at the end of a term and procedures vary from one franchise system to another. However, it should also be kept in mind that if the franchise is operating well and the franchise relationship is a good one, it is likely that both franchisee and franchisor will want to renew the Agreement.

Disputes

Although disagreements between franchisors and franchisees are usually solved through discussion and negotiation, mediation and arbitration are also effective methods for working out disputes and less damaging to franchise relationships than legal proceedings.

Other terms

The Entire Agreement clause is especially important as it usually states that what is contained in the Agreement overrides anything which may previously have been promised unless it is expressly referred to in the Agreement

As a franchisee, you should be certain that anything on which you have relied in selecting your franchise is included in the Agreement in some way

The Definitions section, usually close to the beginning of the Franchise Agreement, contains key definitions. One of the most important is Gross Sales, the figure on which the franchisor’s royalty is usually based. Usually this covers substantially every type of transaction carried out by the business and almost every payment received. Often it will include sales made, whether or not payment has actually been received.

Introduction to Strategy and Strategic Management

What is Strategy?

We hear the term strategy almost every day in some context or the other. Business leaders lay out their strategies for the years ahead and military generals speak of strategy to contain and conquer the enemy. Even as individuals, we often use the term strategy to describe a set of actions that we would take to control the future and arrive at outcomes that are beneficial to us. Hence, strategy is an integral part of our world and it can be defined as a general, un-detailed plan of action, encompassing a long period to arrive at a complicated goal. It is also defined as the set of actions to realize intent as a ploy, part of a plan. It follows from these definitions that strategy and strategizing involve drawing up plans to arrive at a predetermined goal.

What is Strategic Management?

We have defined strategy. Turning to strategic management, it can be said that the term refers to the management of strategy by having dedicated, detailed, and descriptive plans of actions that form the strategy. It is also the field in management thought that deals with planning, executing, controlling, and closing out the strategic moves.

If a firm has a strategy in place to realize its targeted revenues and profits, the management of the process by which it hopes to realize its goals falls under strategic management. An ongoing process evaluates different sets of strategies, assesses competitor moves, sets goals and targets, and actualizes the feedback loop to incorporate learning’s into its strategies. Indeed, it can be said that strategic management identifies the purpose of the firm and helps organize the plans and actions to actualize the purpose. By definition, it is a long-term process and it is the business function that is considered the repository of the firm’s future.

Strategy/Strategic Management and their place in the Firm

The previous sections have discussed how strategy and strategy management are integral to the success of the firm. In any organization, strategic management is a level of managerial activity that is below setting goals but above tactical planning. Strategic management in a firm is thus concerned with the future direction that the firm takes and hence, it is an important function of management.

Typically, the corporate planning function in any organization draws up the strategies and sometimes-outside help from management consultants is sought in this regard. In recent years, it has become the norm in the corporate world for the senior management to get actively involved in the formulation of strategy.

Hence, it can be said that strategic management is no longer the important function but has become the most important function. This has happened because of the uncertain and unpredictable world that we live which has resulted in organizations scrambling to devise ways and means of controlling future outcomes. In this regard alone, strategic management has become a valuable function without which no organization can hope to succeed in the turbulent marketplace.

How to Implement a Business Strategy in Your Organization

Ask any successful business owner and they will tell you their success was not based on luck. The success – and failure – of a business is dependent upon the strength of their business strategy. A successful strategic plan employs cost reduction, development, and sustainability techniques to ensure a bright future. You need to know your business inside and out in order to create a comprehensive and realistic plan.

Your strategy should help you achieve the objectives of your business. A business strategy is the driving force behind any organization, and takes the form of an official report. Businesses are self-sustainable systems, when you change one thing in the system; it has a positive or negative chain reaction. Like an organism, businesses learn how to adapt to the change if it is positive, and rectify the situation if it is negative.

Organizations have several phases of development, including creativity, direction, delegation, and consolidation. A company may start out with lenient rules and regulations, but as time progresses management adopts more efficient policies that hinder creative thinking. Companies mature and lose sight of their goals and mission statements, with more of an emphasis placed on individual projects or initiatives. As a business enters maturity processes, departments, and policies are refined to reunite the organization.

Ways to Conduct Business Strategy

Historically there are two ways to develop a business strategy, using the “bottom up” and “top down” models. The bottom up method is when employees generate ideas on the floor and the best results are passed onto management. The top down strategy is when business owners create the strategy and implement the changes without seeking employee feedback. Unfortunately, both models fail to include all of the employee feedback.

The new method of developing a business strategy uses a collaborative process, which is when managers and employees exchange information and work together to create a sustainable solution. It is a team-oriented process that bridges the gap that exists between managers and workers. Before you create a business strategy ensure you have the additional resources to carry out the task without interfering with normal operation. Assign tasks and delegate responsibilities while keeping to a defined chain of command.

Functional versus Operational Business Strategies

There are two types of business strategies: functional and operational. The functional strategy focuses on general ideas and a variety of tasks for different departments. The generality is a major disadvantage, however; areas of concentration include marketing, new product launches, human resources, financial assets, and legal issues. Functional strategies provide a nice overview of the business but do not tackle the important issues employees encounter day-to-day.

Operational strategies are ideal for businesses that want to reduce costs and streamline processes because it is much narrower in scope and requires accountability on all levels. The detail oriented plan encompasses everyone and everything, from the number of cashiers on duty to how much inventory is carried at a given time. A strategy is unique to each business and reflects the needs and requirements of the company’s management.

Implementing a Business Plan

A business plan is the textual version of a strategy, as it includes pertinent information regarding the company, including: vision and mission statements, measurable objectives supporting the vision, actionable tactics meeting the objective, resources, milestones and timeframes, accountability and role designations, as well as internal and external risks. The business strategy is not evergreen and should be evaluated routinely to ensure the company still has the competitive edge.

A business plan includes the primary and secondary objectives of your organization, an analysis of current policies and procedures, and the development of new policies or procedures to correct weaknesses within the organization. Before beginning a strategy, it is helpful to conduct a SWOT analysis, which helps identify weaknesses and loopholes within the organization. Your competition capitalizes on your weaknesses, thus it is essential to continuously evaluate your business.

Developing a Competitive Strategy

Brainstorming and collaboration are essential to the development of a successful business strategy. Begin the process by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. Without erasing responses, continue to identify current opportunities that help your business succeed. Finish the SWOT analysis by identifying threats or risks that place your business in danger. Identify how your company beats the competition, outlining the various strategies already in place.

Identify your current target audience and list potential audiences in the form of demographics. Assess current market conditions and how your company can defeat the competition. Reevaluate how you are reaching current and potential customers and consider your overall marketing plan. Think positively and develop solutions to overcome any weaknesses that you have discovered thus far. Admitting your weaknesses is the hardest part of drafting a business plan, as most companies want to appear strong and mighty. Research why you have these weaknesses and find realistic solutions to the problems.

Business owners often become so caught up with their work that they fail to concentrate on their business strategy, which is a significant source of cost reduction. Achieve your goals by dedicating time each month or week to address issues surrounding the operation of your business. Make the process a tradition, ensuring operations are aligned with current goals and future forecasts. Make your business stand out from the competition by utilizing different techniques to attract the most people.

A successful strategy overcomes organizational hurdles by understanding customer needs and predicting the unpredictable. The formation of a business strategy is a science that combines current circumstances with a variety of internal and external variables, addressing immediate and long-term goals of the organization. The implementation of the strategy is rolled out slowly, starting with management. The plan encompasses everyone; however, customers are indicative of the final result.

Strategy Lessons From Apollo 13

Here are three lessons from the Apollo 13 mission that you can use to improve your strategic plan.

If you’ve seen the movie Apollo 13, you might remember that early in the crisis, Gene Kranz, the flight director, gives assignments to his engineers. He cautions them to rely on data, telling everyone to “work the problem,” and not make things worse by guessing.

Throughout the crisis, the astronauts and the team in Houston study the data, perform calculations, conduct simulations, observe the results and then calculate again. They never guess when they don’t have to – they obsess over data to ensure they understand the whole problem and the entire range of possible solutions.

Creating a great business strategy requires the same obsessive attention to data. You have to base your solutions on statistically valid and comprehensive information about your company, your customers, your competitors and your industry.

Whenever you start a strategic planning process, every member of the planning team brings his own paradigms to the discussion. People make assumptions based on their experience, anecdotes and “corporate urban legends” that exist in every company.

Generally, we’ve found that 80% of these assumptions are relatively accurate, but the rest are not. That sounds like a good success ratio until you realize that if every executive is 20% wrong in her assumptions, then the team is seriously misaligned in their views of the current business situation.

There’s just no substitute for good data. It level-sets the team and equips them to make decisions with facts instead of hunches.

Another great lesson from Apollo 13 is how the engineers dove into the details to develop and implement solutions. One of my favorite examples is when they realize that they need a round air filter to fit into a square filter box. They don’t waste time discussing it theoretically – they simply gather up everything that they know is available to the astronauts in the spacecraft, and they build a prototype solution. They hand-write detailed instructions about how to use a sock and some duct tape to solve the problem. Then they radio the instructions to the astronauts who implement the solution.

This situation models the second characteristic of a great strategy – your plans must be detailed enough so that everyone knows exactly what to do. Getting very specific is challenging for a visionary executive team that’s used to operating in the stratosphere. Some strategic plans fail at implementation because the strategy team doesn’t agree on who will do what by when – and with which resources

The movie “Apollo 13” depicts one last extremely important strategy lesson. The flight director knows his team faces huge risks and that the outcome is uncertain, but he refuses to water down the goal. He doesn’t say, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could save the astronauts?” or, “Let’s try to save two out of three.” He says from the start that failure is not an option, and he deals with every situation assuming his team can overcome every obstacle. He won’t allow anyone to think otherwise.

At one point, a White House representative asks the head of the Apollo program what he should tell the president. The NASA chief gives a dismal assessment, saying, “This could be the worst disaster we’ve ever faced.”

Flight Director Kranz overhears the comment, faces the two men and says, “With all due respect, I believe this will be our finest hour.” Let me ask you: If the flight director didn’t send this strong message to his team, if he showed any signs of doubt, do you think his team might have believed just a little less that they could save the astronauts? Do you think the outcome could have been different?

A great strategy is bold, clear and uncompromising; it energizes your whole company around significant and vital goals. And remember, your people want to be on a winning team – your strategy must convey that you are serious about beating the competition.

So there you have it – three lessons from the Apollo 13 mission that will improve your strategic plan. Remember to base your strategy on data, develop detailed action plans, and set goals that build excitement and conviction across your company.

Thanks for reading this article. Good luck in planning your success – and succeeding because you plan.

Strategy Execution and Executability

When I ask audience members at my seminars and speeches “What is your biggest strategic planning problem right now?”, I inevitably hear the response “Implementation”. Without question, this is on of the biggest issues for any company trying to accomplish anything at a strategic level – execution seems to inevitably fall short of our stated intentions. As one CEO put it, “We say we will do something, and get excited about it, but a month later, it’s forgotten as we move on to the next thing”. This is perhaps true even when attempting to implement non-strategic objectives – but it’s far worse with the strategic ones. Why? Because nothing is more postponable than a strategic objective – until it’s too late to even think strategically. In addition, strategic objectives are much more likely to introduce powerful changes in your organization, and so they meet with far greater resistance than more operationally oriented objectives.

You can enhance your effectiveness at strategy implementation by the things you choose to do in your strategic planning process. There are three key areas where you can do this:

1. Implementation Planning,

2. Resource Allocation and

3. Implementation Monitoring.

The approach we take to these three areas is quite different from the norm in strategic planning, and it yields superior results. According to Robert Half Associates, most companies achieve about 30% of the objectives they set for themselves in a process like strategic planning. Using Simplified Strategic Planning, you should be able to achieve an average that is closer to 80%. It is the unusual way we handle the three key implementation management steps that makes the difference.

First, in implementation planning, it is important to set objectives well. This means using the SMART approach – objective must be specific, measurable, achievable, results stated in a timely way. In addition, you should make sure you set a reasonable number of objectives. We find many companies improve their execution effectiveness simply by limited the objectives they set in strategic planning. Secondly, you need to write a good, clear action plan that is useful for directing and tracking the implementation of your objectives. The approach illustrated in the Simplified Strategic Planning seminar and book is a robust way to assure this.

In resource allocation, we find that most organizations already pay a great deal of attention to the money required for effective implementation. This is the first resource you should look at. Money is important, but it is usually less important in strategy implementation that time. Ironically, few companies devote even half as much attention to time as they devote to money.

Finally, monitoring of strategy implementation is vital, even if it is sometimes difficult. This implies two important things. First, you must write your action plans to be monitorable – which means the steps should be stated as clear, finite actions which are clearly completed at some point, and also that each step needs a clearly stated start and completion date.

Assure that your team follows the recommendations in all three of these areas and you will find your execution will improve dramatically.

The Five Components of a Business Strategy

Can you define exactly what makes up a business strategy? Some people say no, but we think you can.

In fact, we believe a valid business strategy has five components:

Your company’s current or desired core competencies
A description of how you will differentiate vs. competitors
The industry or industries in which you intend to compete
The initiatives you plan to implement in the areas of marketing, operations, information technology, finance and organizational development
A financial forecast that shows how your plans will meet stakeholder requirements over the next 3 to 5 years

Let’s look at each of these components.

The first component of a valid business strategy is a clear description of your company’s current or desired core competencies.

You may be thinking, “Great, but what’s a ‘core competency?'” While there are many definitions, here’s a good one from Wikipedia:

“ACore competency is something that a firm can do well and that meets the following three conditions:

It provides consumer benefits
It is not easy for competitors to imitate
It can be leveraged widely to many products and markets.

A core competency can take various forms, including technical/subject matter know how, a reliable process, and/or close relationships with customers and suppliers. It may also include product development or culture, such as employee dedication.”

For example, we could say that Southwest Airlines is a reliable airline that offers low fares. But in order to provide those benefits, it has to have certain “core competencies,” important capabilities that enable it to have low fares and to be reliable. We believe that Southwest Airlines has four core competencies that it executes so well that it regularly beats all other US airlines in terms of profitability.

These core competencies are:

The lowest operating costs per plane
An economical point-to-point airport network
A fanatical culture focused on customer service and cost savings
An ability to keep planes in the air more of the time than its competitors.

Southwest airlines couldn’t offer the benefits of low prices and reliable service if it didn’t master these core competencies. What key benefits do you want to offer your customers? What core competencies do you need to master to provide them?

The second component of a valid business strategy is a description of how you differentiate vs. competitors.

In our experience, differentiation is about being the best at something. This should be encapsulated in your mission statement – what are your company’s aspirations and how are you going to beat the competition? We just talked about how Southwest Airlines differentiates — what are you going to offer customers that will make them choose your products or services so that you can grow your business?

It takes a lot of hard work to come up with a great answer to this question and even more work to make that differentiation real. It’s easy for us to say that Southwest is the best low-cost airline in the US, but it’s extraordinarily difficult for them to pull it off.

The third component of a valid business strategy is a description of the industry or industries in which you intend to compete.

You need to be able to define just what kind of company you are – are you a furniture manufacturer? A gift card retailer? A consulting firm, a bearings distributor, a toy importer, etc.? This step sounds easy but we find that companies are often so concerned about getting too narrow in their focus that they fail to become really clear about what they want to do. A company with a good business strategy will have thought through these issues and made the hard decisions necessary to clarify its identity. If it has, it can easily pass the litmus test of identifying the industry or industries in which it operates.

The fourth component of a business strategy is the set of initiatives you plan to implement in the areas of marketing, operations, information technology, finance and organizational development.

These are the plans that guide your company’s focus and resource allocation over the next several years. If your business strategy is specific enough to be relevant, you will have detailed plans in all of these areas.

The fifth component of a business strategy is a financial plan that forecasts the results you expect to get from your plans and illustrates how they will meet stakeholder requirements over the next 3 to 5 years.

Your strategic planning process cannot be separated from your annual budget process. In the vast majority of companies, if it’s not in the budget, it doesn’t exist. That’s why you have to have a very senior financial person on your strategic planning team, preferably the CFO. During the planning process, your team must compile a financial plan that estimates the results of implementing your strategy. This plan needs to earn the approval of your company’s management and board and should be reviewed on a regular basis to track results and make refinements.

So – those are the five components of a valid business strategy. Good luck planning your success. And succeeding because you plan.

What Is a Strategy? Fundamentals of Successful Strategic Planning

Have you ever noticed how the question of “What is a strategy?” rarely comes up in the context of strategic planning? The word strategy is frequently used with the assumption that anyone involved in developing strategies knows exactly what a strategy is. It has been my experience that such an assumption is often wrong. Far too often, those charged with the task of strategic planning for their organization do not know or understand the definition of strategy. The result is that what they end up calling a strategy is not really a strategy. With this consequence in mind, I’ll start by discussing what a strategy is not.

Before I begin, please keep in mind that the goal of this discussion is not to get caught up in semantics. The goal is for you and your planning team to have a unified basis for evaluating ideas so that you can begin the process of deliberately converting ideas into actionable strategies.

Strategy versus Tactic

As a strategic planning expert for more than fifteen years, it has been the case most often that I am given a series of tactics when I ask a potential client what is their current strategy for achieving their objective. Most people think they have a strategy when all they really have are tactics. This confusion is common and can undermine the entire strategic planning process. It will serve your strategic planning efforts well to understand and be able to distinguish strategies versus tactics.

Tactics are specific actions that promote achievement of a strategy. The hierarchical order goes like this:

A tactic supports achievement of a strategy.

A strategy supports achievement of an objective.

An objective supports achievement of a mission.

A mission supports achievement of a vision.

Achievement of a vision fulfills purpose.

Only having tactics without actionable and integrated strategies is a primary reason why so many business owners and executives are frustrated and simply spinning their wheels. In other words, they are busier than ever before and investing significant resources, but not experiencing significant progress on their objectives or anything close to the expected return on their investment.

Please do not think for a moment that tactics play a less valuable role in the success of an objective. The right tactics are just as important as the right strategy. Ineffective tactical support can render an otherwise effective strategy useless in (and sometimes destructive to) achieving an objective.

What is a Strategy?

In its simplest form, a strategy is a clear decision and statement about a chosen course of action for obtaining a specific goal or result. While this definition is succinct and suffices for a general discussion, this definition and those like it have no practical value for organizational strategic planning efforts. Why? It provides no basis for evaluating whether a strategy is actionable. Actionable strategies are the only kind that matter in business.

What is an Actionable Strategy?

From the perspective of successful strategic planning, there are two kinds of strategies: actionable strategies and all other strategies. My definition of an actionable strategy states:

An actionable strategy is a comprehensively scrutinized decision about the most effective and efficient use of specific resources for systematically increasing competitive advantage and profits over a specific period of time.

Side note: If increasing competitive advantage and profits over a specific period of time is not the goal of your current strategic planning efforts, then just substitute your goal in this definition to make it specific to your needs.

Actionable strategies are a fundamental part of the Actionable Strategic Planning® process as they support business growth in multiple ways and enhance your chances of success if the right minds are engaged in consistently monitoring, evaluating and integrating new information and adapting the strategy as necessary.

Business Development Strategy For Innovative Business Growth

The evidence is very visible and many have already spoken that innovation is the core element in creating new versions of growth. Long-term business growth requires an authentic innovation. However, it is not easy to detect what kind of innovation shall click and that will lead to platforms of development. And there are a lot of ideas to invest on and the time it takes for an invention to be innovated into a product requires patience. These big challenges mean managers usually send away truly innovative prospects as it is too risky, and the growth imperative stays unfulfilled. Nowadays, professionals concerned have developed proven ideas to improve the probability of success in innovation business growth and this is through business development strategy.

The innovators’ solution offers tips in making and sustaining growth in the globally competitive market. Disturbance is inevitable, but companies who can grasp the process can harness it and they can actually take advantage of disturbing growth. To take advantage of disruption and create new growth business, managers need to make counter-intuitive decisions. There are different identified areas in addressing business development strategy and some of them are:

According to research balancing not aligning is the key to create future platforms for growth. Strategic planning is also another helpful way as it combines elements of scenario based planning to real options and the result is a portfolio of flexible strategies provisioned to execute arrangement of contingent strategies.

Good and innovative ideas do not usually occur by chance and most successful companies have well designed processes, structures and tools to motivate and manage idea production. From ideas appear innovative strategies to be used in executing the plans. Ideas are effective plans and if they are already implemented, they can make a great difference. Ideas can be best achieved through group collaboration and team work.

Creating a new way for the business to grow is a way to unzip the process of innovation and it is through creating innovation-driven growth business all over again. Managers should be challenged in a way that they should best manage the capabilities of the company to deliver innovation. A best business development strategy will help identify the processes capable and incapable of accomplishing. That’s why a good plan is needed beforehand so all involved can look at and visualize all possibilities on how the business will go. In order to survive, learn how to apply these strategies at work.

e-Marketing Strategy: 7 Dimensions to Consider (the e-Marketing Mix)

What is e-Marketing?

e-Marketing is still quite a controversial subject to talk about, since no one succeeded to unify the various theories around it; however there is one thing upon which there is no doubt – that e-Marketing first appeared under the form of various techniques deployed by pioneer companies selling their products via the internet in the early 90’s.

The frenzy around these new marketing techniques created by e-tailers and supported by the internet rapidly gave birth to a new dimension of what we knew as Marketing: the e-Marketing (electronic Marketing).

There are many definitions to what e-Marketing is, the simplest and shortest one being formulated by Mark Sceats: e-Marketing is Marketing that uses the internet as manifestation media. A working definition is that coming from a group of CISCO specialists: e-Marketing is the sum of all activities a business conducts through the internet with the purpose of finding, attracting, winning and retaining customers.

e-Marketing Strategy

The e-Marketing Strategy is normally based and built upon the principles that govern the traditional, offline Marketing – the well-known 4 P’s (Product – Price – Promotion – Positioning) that form the classic Marketing mix. Add the extra 3 P’s (People – Processes – Proof) and you got the whole extended Marketing mix.

Until here, there are no much aspects to differentiate e-Marketing from the traditional Marketing performed offline: the extended Marketing mix (4 + 3 P’s) is built around the concept of “transactional” and its elements perform transactional functions defined by the exchange paradigm. What gives e-Marketing its uniqueness is a series of specific functions, relational functions, that can be synthesized in the 2P + 2C+ 3S formula: Personalization, Privacy, Customer Service, Community, Site, Security, Sales Promotion.

These 7 functions of the e-Marketing stay at the base of any e-Marketing strategy and they have a moderating character, unlike the classic Marketing mix that comprises situational functions only. Moderating functions of e-Marketing have the quality of moderate, operate upon all situational functions of the mix (the classic 4 P’s) and upon each other.

1. Personalization

The fundamental concept of personalization as a part of the e-Marketing mix lies in the need of recognizing, identifying a certain customer in order to establish relations (establishing relations is a fundamental objective of Marketing). It is crucial to be able to identify our customers on individual level and gather all possible information about them, with the purpose of knowing our market and be able to develop customized, personalized products and services.

For example, a cookie strategically placed on the website visitor’s computer can let us know vital information concerning the access speed available: in consequence, if we know the visitor is using a slow connection (eg. dial-up) we will offer a low-volume variation of our website, with reduced graphic content and no multimedia or flash applications. This will ease our customer’s experience on our website and he will be prevented from leaving the website on the reason that it takes too long to load its pages.

Personalization can be applied to any component of the Marketing mix; therefore, it is a moderating function.

2. Privacy

Privacy is an element of the mix very much connected to the previous one – personalization. When we gather and store information about our customers and potential customers (therefore, when we perform the personalization part of the e-Marketing mix) a crucial issue arises: that of the way this information will be used, and by whom. A major task to do when implementing an e-Marketing strategy is that of creating and developing a policy upon access procedures to the collected information.

This is a duty and a must for any conscious marketer to consider all aspects of privacy, as long as data are collected and stored, data about individual persons.

Privacy is even more important when establishing the e-Marketing mix since there are many regulations and legal aspects to be considered regarding collection and usage of such information.

3. Customer Service

Customer service is one of the necessary and required activities among the support functions needed in transactional situations.

We will connect the apparition of the customer service processes to the inclusion of the “time” parameter in transactions. When switching from a situational perspective to a relational one, and e-Marketing is mostly based on a relational perspective, the marketer saw himself somehow forced into considering support and assistance on a non-temporal level, permanently, over time.

For these reasons, we should consider the Customer Service function (in its fullest and largest definition) as an essential one within the e-Marketing mix.

As we can easily figure out, the service (or assistance if you wish) can be performed upon any element from the classic 4 P’s, hence its moderating character.

4. Community

We can all agree that e-Marketing is conditioned by the existence of this impressive network that the internet is. The merely existence of such a network implies that individuals as well as groups will eventually interact. A group of entities that interact for a common purpose is what we call a “community” and we will soon see why it is of absolute importance to participate, to be part of a community.

The Metcalf law (named after Robert Metcalf) states that the value of a network is given by the number of its components, more exactly the value of a network equals the square of the number of components. We can apply this simple law to communities, since they are a network: we will then conclude that the value of a community rises with the number of its members. This is the power of communities; this is why we have to be a part of it.

The customers / clients of a business can be seen as part of a community where they interact (either independent or influenced by the marketer) – therefore developing a community is a task to be performed by any business, even though it is not always seen as essential.

Interactions among members of such a community can address any of the other functions of e-Marketing, so it can be placed next to other moderating functions.

5. Site

We have seen and agreed that e-Marketing interactions take place on a digital media – the internet. But such interactions and relations also need a proper location, to be available at any moment and from any place – a digital location for digital interactions.

Such a location is what we call a “site”, which is the most widespread name for it. It is now the time to mention that the “website” is merely a form of a “site” and should not be mistaken or seen as synonyms. The “site” can take other forms too, such as a Palm Pilot or any other handheld device, for example.

This special location, accessible through all sort of digital technologies is moderating all other functions of the e-Marketing – it is then a moderating function.

6. Security

The “security” function emerged as an essential function of e-Marketing once transactions began to be performed through internet channels.

What we need to keep in mind as marketers are the following two issues on security:

– security during transactions performed on our website, where we have to take all possible precautions that third parties will not be able to access any part of a developing transaction;

– security of data collected and stored, about our customers and visitors.

A honest marketer will have to consider these possible causes of further trouble and has to co-operate with the company’s IT department in order to be able to formulate convincing (and true, honest!) messages towards the customers that their personal details are protected from unauthorized eyes.

7. Sales Promotion

At least but not last, we have to consider sales promotions when we build an e-Marketing strategy. Sales promotions are widely used in traditional Marketing as well, we all know this, and it is an excellent efficient strategy to achieve immediate sales goals in terms of volume.

This function counts on the marketer’s ability to think creatively: a lot of work and inspiration is required in order to find new possibilities and new approaches for developing an efficient promotion plan.

On the other hand, the marketer needs to continuously keep up with the latest internet technologies and applications so that he can fully exploit them.

To conclude, we have seen that e-Marketing implies new dimensions to be considered aside of those inherited from the traditional Marketing. These dimensions revolve around the concept of relational functions and they are a must to be included in any e-Marketing strategy in order for it to be efficient and deliver results.

Marketing Strategy and Planning: The Road Map

Many small to medium sized businesses face a common struggle; a balancing act of plans, strategies, departments and decisions. All of the elements are present, all of the gears in working condition, but business isn’t exactly booming at the pace it had anticipated or forecasted for. What exactly does this growth and sustainability require? In a turbulent economy teeming with congested airwaves and aggressive business practices, it’s about standing out from the crowd. And surprisingly, your marketing strategy has a lot more to do with it than you might realize.

Conflicted business owners can overcome the masses and draw the customers that are right for their product by executing a stellar marketing strategy, not by yelling louder than their competitors or using neon banners on their storefront (or banner ads on your website). My point is, you don’t have to be throwing yourself out there with a bunch of noise all the time. What you need to do is paint a vision for your business, your employees, and your customers. Make promises that nobody but you can keep, and then blow them away with your admirable businesses practices and superhuman skills.

Take a moment to consider this: marketing strategy is the single most important factor in determining the prosperity or deterioration of a business. That’s a pretty substantial claim and I’m willing to prove its legitimacy. Marketing strategy distributes itself throughout all the facets of a business, whether intended by its creator or not. This is possible because the strategy is created and defined by the overall objectives of a specific business, and integrates these objectives with a company’s unique vision and mission. Put simply, every level of a business should be oozing marketing strategy. Really!

Marketing Strategy

Does it seem far-fetched? Let’s examine the relationship between marketing strategy and four key aspects of any business: market research, the marketing plan, corporate identity, and the economy. First, let’s get the formalities out of the way and set forth a definitive explanation of what marketing strategy actually is. After scouring several websites for the official definition, I settled on a less-official but more effective description of marketing strategy:

Marketing Strategy:

A strategy that integrates an organization’s marketing goals into a cohesive whole. Ideally drawn from market research, it focuses on the ideal product mix to achieve maximum profit potential. The marketing strategy is set out in a marketing plan.

While your marketing strategy is, essentially, a document; its purpose is far more load bearing. Included in the strategy should be your mission statement and business goals, an exhaustive list of your products and services, a characterization or description of your target clients, and a clear definition of how you integrate into the competitive landscape of your industry.

Marketing Strategy v. Market Research

This relationship establishes an order of operations: the first phase in any marketing or branding initiative is research. (See our white paper on this subject: Market Research for SMB’s). No matter the scope of your research, whether it is a broad canvassing of your current client list or unveiling specific, detailed findings about your target market, the outcome will have a direct effect on your marketing strategy. It’s imperative to find out everything about whom you are trying to reach. What generation are they in? How big are their families? Where do they live, eat, and hang out? How do they spend their free time and money? All of this information will influence and alter your marketing strategy.

Research alone will not benefit your business without a solid marketing strategy. Often, business owners narrowly define market research as the collection and organization of data for business purposes. And while that is technically an accurate definition, the emphasis lies not on the process of research itself, but the impact it commands on future decisions regarding all levels of a company. Every business decision presents different, unique needs for information, and this information then shapes a suitable and applicable marketing strategy.

Research can be a grueling, confusing, and tedious process. From establishing or cleaning out a database to creating surveys and conducting interviews, you can receive a lot of information about your clients and potential clients and wonder what to do next. Before beginning to formulate a strategy, the information and data collected must be organized, processed, analyzed, and stored. Rest assured, with a little creativity and a lot of effort, this will all be molded into a structured, effective, and easily adaptable marketing strategy. Furthermore, continuous and updated research will ensure your strategy is a current and relevant reflection of your target market, marketing goals, and future business endeavors.

Marketing Strategy v. Marketing Plan

In this relationship, the marketing strategy is essentially a guide to judge the performance and efficiency of a specific marketing plan. In simple terms, a marketing strategy is a summary of what you offer and how you are positioned in the market (in relation to competitors’ products and services), and your marketing plan is an organized list of actions that you will enforce to achieve the goals outlined in your strategy. The plan will encompass the steps to a real-life application of a marketing strategy, bringing life to your mission and vision. It’s your time to show and sell your products and services so that your target market can experience them in the presence that you truly imagined.

Often, businesses lack a balance of creative personality and logic personality. While a business owner might have the creativity to dream up a stellar product, business model, and brand, they may lack the entrepreneurship and discipline to bring it all to life through research, planning and execution.

Marketing Strategy v. Corporate Identity

It’s no surprise that some of the most successful and recognizable companies in the world are those who establish distinguished, one-of-a-kind cultures that permeate through every channel of a business and reach customers on a human level. The culture of a corporation, its psychology, attitude, approaches to business, values and beliefs, lays the groundwork for a unique and compelling corporate identity. There is a powerful and undeniable connection between the health of these companies and the identities that their culture has provided.

These companies have discovered the delicate balance between a brand and a strategy, and how this symbiotic connection encourages visibility and growth. The relationship is simple: the marketing strategy represents where a company wants to go, and the culture determines how (and sometimes if) it will get there. Think of a corporate identity – the style, words, images, and colors – as the personification of your marketing strategy. The corporate identity is extended and applied in every phase of the marketing strategy, and plays a stylistic role in its execution.

Let’s look at an example. Starbucks, until recently, didn’t really have a marketing or advertising budget, per se. Starbucks started advertising in the New York Times and on TV in 2009, and very gingerly at that. Once a week it would print full-page ads in the Times, and on select channels it would air brief, lighthearted commercials. Prior to, the company was able to very successfully promote itself and its products through word of mouth and slapping the 25-year-old logo on every cup its baristas cranked out, proving that even something as simple as a logo can deeply resonate with consumers. But it was the Starbucks’ identity that its millions of customers were happily waiting fifteen minutes in line for. The infamous Starbucks cup rapidly became associated with wealth, leisure, high standards, and urbanites. From college freshman to corporate CEO’s, people couldn’t get enough.

Starbucks enforced its marketing strategy through clever, catchy campaigns, a genuine and human “front line” at the store level, and for the most part, acknowledging any mistakes or shortfalls that it might’ve run into. All of these actions are traits, portraying a deeply rooted culture that is exuded from top to bottom of the Starbucks hierarchy. And, love ’em or hate ’em, there’s no denying their great success, even in a strained economy.

Marketing Strategy v. The Economy

The economy is an incredibly sensitive subject around the globe. What we’ve also noticed is that a lot of companies and business owners are using a depressed economic state as a reason (and in some cases, an excuse) for the shortcomings in their business.

For example, a big trend recently has been layoffs. Larger corporations are using weak economies as a reason to purge its staff and cut positions, when it knows just as well that that’s exactly the opposite of what needs to happen. Or does it? It’s become hard to tell. Is surviving a “depression” really as simple as, say, reassessing your marketing strategy? While an unstable economy is troubling, risky, and unpredictable, it’s also an excellent test of the flexibility of your marketing strategy. Your strategy isn’t set in stone…the whole purpose of designing a strategy in the first place is for smooth navigation through any given circumstance, whether good or bad. Unfortunately, many CEOs and CFOs target their marketing departments first in lean times, while the reality is that it should be investing in these areas so that its marketing managers can adjust their strategy to survive-maybe even prosper, through tough times. An excerpt from the blog of R. Bruer, the owner and head of a strategic communications firm in Portland, Oregon, lays it all out:

“Most businesses treat marketing as a discretionary expense, making it an easy target for budget cutters. It’s as if marketing is a luxury afforded only when times are flush. Less customer demand, less we can afford marketing, or so conventional thinking goes.

But really, can we ever afford not to market?

It’s natural to want to preserve cash during a downturn. I was an employer for nearly 14 years, so I’m sympathetic. But the tendency is to make deep cuts in marketing when sales head south. Companies often start by reducing or eliminating outside expenses, such as advertising, events, sponsorships, research. And when that’s not enough, they lay off marketing employees, sometimes the entire department.

The net effect of gutting marketing is to stifle generation of customer awareness, demand and retention just when these things are needed most. It’s a penny-wise, pound-foolish decision.”

Your Marketing Strategy

While marketing strategy isn’t tangible, its role in business is just as dire as the product or service being offered. It’s contribution bears significance through every phase of a business plan, from conception to execution and far beyond these four aspects of research, planning, identity and economy.

Marketing strategy will continue to fold itself into business plans as long as it is created and executed properly. Research on your industry and competitors will enable you to develop and formulate a proper, pliable strategy. From here, your marketing plan will act as a guide that will bring your strategy to life, attaining and exceeding the goals outlined, all while establishing your corporate culture and identity. Remember, the culture piece works two ways. Your culture helps to form the strategy, and following that strategy will reinforce your culture. Lastly, your strategy must be both strong and flexible enough to withstand the most difficult or unpredictable of circumstances, such as an economic depression, new trends or competitors in your industry.

Strategy is a small piece of a much larger picture. It can all be overwhelming at times, sure, but it’s part of the adventure. With dedication, organization, and a champion marketing team (ahem! B&A), the pieces will come together with ease, allowing for the truly awesome personality of your business to shine, and profits to follow shortly thereafter.