Business Planning

Business Planning is the process of defining a company’s objectives and how it plans to achieve its goals. It includes a review of the external environment and the company’s internal situation, and lays out a road map for the firm from marketing, financial, and operational standpoints. It typically lays out strategies at corporate or SBU level, and defines downstream functional strategies; and ends in a set of financial projections (P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash flows) over the next five- to ten-year timeframe.

Both startups and established companies use business plans because it is aimed at company’s external and internal audiences. It can be used to attract new investment, get loans from financial institutions, and can keep a company’s executive team on the same page about action items and meeting agreed goals.

A business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect goals that have been met or have changed. A plan can also be created for an established business to assess the impact of moving in a new direction. It may also include elements of Growth Strategy covered in more detail here.

What I Do:

I use the general approach laid out below, with variations to account for the specific industry and circumstances of each client. During this process I use research public information, analyze internal information, conduct interviews with key stakeholders inside and outside the organization, and conduct workshops and group discussions.

Approach