Review the Issues Involved in Strategic Planning
Question: 1.2, Review the issues involved in strategic planning
(((The Author
Paul Stuart Kregor is a Director of the MSI Consultancy Ltd
Article originally publised in Pharmaceutical Marketing, June 2007)))
Every year at about this time or a little earlier, we start the process of ‘strategic’ planning.
The annual planning process, for all its focus on analysis, or template completion, can easily fall into the apparently comfortable tactic of merely updating the activity from last year’s plans. Often, however, what is really needed is a fresh approach which can pay dividends.
Approaches to planning differ, depending upon the attitude and culture of the company involved, which in turn affect the relative importance given to different elements of the process and the output. Some companies are heavily financially oriented, making the desired output more focused on numbers than the thinking behind those numbers. Other organisations focus heavily on the resource implications of the tactical plan, and particularly sales force allocation and efficiency.
Not all companies perform truly strategic (long -term) market-centred planning, but all companies generally aim to produce a set of financial forecasts. The major differences are in the way they get there and as a consequence the basis on which those forecasts are derived.
First and foremost, the organisation needs to be clear about what issues can get in the way of developing a sound strategic plan before deciding on an appropriate approach.
Clearly all planning is driven to an extent by profit and financial forecasts but there is a need to be clear what else the plan has to deliver for the organisation, the individual, and the brand – the planning ‘need’ – otherwise the process used may be sub-optimal. Why does the organisation need a plan? What is it meant to deliver over and above the financial projections?
Many companies are often unaware of the issues and constraints that will affect the planning process and
(((The Author
Paul Stuart Kregor is a Director of the MSI Consultancy Ltd
Article originally publised in Pharmaceutical Marketing, June 2007)))
Every year at about this time or a little earlier, we start the process of ‘strategic’ planning.
The annual planning process, for all its focus on analysis, or template completion, can easily fall into the apparently comfortable tactic of merely updating the activity from last year’s plans. Often, however, what is really needed is a fresh approach which can pay dividends.
Approaches to planning differ, depending upon the attitude and culture of the company involved, which in turn affect the relative importance given to different elements of the process and the output. Some companies are heavily financially oriented, making the desired output more focused on numbers than the thinking behind those numbers. Other organisations focus heavily on the resource implications of the tactical plan, and particularly sales force allocation and efficiency.
Not all companies perform truly strategic (long -term) market-centred planning, but all companies generally aim to produce a set of financial forecasts. The major differences are in the way they get there and as a consequence the basis on which those forecasts are derived.
First and foremost, the organisation needs to be clear about what issues can get in the way of developing a sound strategic plan before deciding on an appropriate approach.
Clearly all planning is driven to an extent by profit and financial forecasts but there is a need to be clear what else the plan has to deliver for the organisation, the individual, and the brand – the planning ‘need’ – otherwise the process used may be sub-optimal. Why does the organisation need a plan? What is it meant to deliver over and above the financial projections?
Many companies are often unaware of the issues and constraints that will affect the planning process and