Strategy planning process keeps the business going

"A Business Plan," is a very broad idea. 
When I ran the strategy process in a big business, I did several plan-budget things every year from department to division to business unit. In one sense these were all a lot of hooey - the ink would still be soft when the first 15% was being changed. Some of that was stupidity but as it turns out, most of it is what "planning is all about. The planning success was the process because it kept everyone focussed on who is the target client, what do they want to see and how could you help them do their work better. The quick analysis done around what was the business offering that competitors could not, is almost a subconscious check on getting done the essentials to delight the customer.
In a finance business I have worked with for the past 16 years, I look back on its strategy-the early plans-and remembered how I did have to force the managers to go through a strategy process. At the time, some entrepreneurial types laughed at their irrelevance.  
"What did it matter to know we were not trying to be everything to all people?"
"What is the point of having three objectives to achieve this year?" "And how can you set just three that apply to everyone?"
The strategy process chewed over the amount of money they needed to keep in their piggy bank to ensure survival through the black swans. Back then, the governments were dropping the level of reserves required and there was political pressure to not red ink "no lend zones" for real estate. The bank was accused of not wanting to do deals as they refused to do the derivatives and swaps every other bank was now allowed to do with the reduced legislation.
Although they grossly mis-timed and mis-sized the recession, recovery is strongly underway. When I recently hosted the head strategist for this bank which is now global, he talked about the discipline of having a formal, tough process of doing a one page plan even. The process is what made the company conversation keep going back to sanity during the go-go years. He said to me that those old, goofy plans are priceless.
I wrote a book called The Power of Strategy about the process I used. It became a best seller and is still available on Amazon.

Think you do not need a business plan?

That question of just how necessary a business plan is and the value it adds is often raised by company owners. 
It is true that for the entrepreneur, the business usually starts with a half-baked idea and a written plan seems restricting and premature. If the venture needs to raise money beyond a good friend's budget or your uncle's finances, then you will need to find an Angel who may be an executive with extra cash, a group of professional investors or a Venture Capitalist. 

Then you absolutely need the plan as a key indicator that you are serious. It is selling your financial competence. 
Here is what a financier will be thinking:

1) How do financiers know it is credible, or profitable?
2) How seriously will I take you as an entrepreneur if you believe you don't need a plan?
3) Show me your cash flows, and explain when I get my money back.
4) What is your organic/inorganic growth plan?
5) Explain your competition's strengths, opportunities, technology, and the role of offshore outsourcing options.
6) John Smith has exactly what you are proposing - why should I fund you instead of him?

Didier Lombard warns of troubles ahead for Telecoms

Operating margins for many telecom companies have shrunk rapidly, as mobile phone service has overtaken fixed-line service, data traffic has outpaced voice traffic, and the old bread-and-butter phone service has become commoditized. Meanwhile, global demand for data services has increased massively, especially with the emergence of video streaming and downloading on the Internet. This “data tsunami,” as it’s been called, has grown in intensity with the proliferation of data-enabled smartphones.

Read more at S+B

The Thought Leader Interview: Didier Lombard

Business plans don’t help in early stages - The Globe and Mail

If anyone believes the value of the business plan is the finished document, this article may be at least partially right. As someone who led the planning exercise in many companies, I learned that the journey was far more valuable than the destination.
Planning brings structured thinking to the business, and helps to ensure that key questions are posed for discussion. Everything in a business is connected. A decision to take a certain action will also produce re-actions. They need to be accounted for, and, if necessary, mitigated. The planning process helps to tie the pieces together, and keeps the pieces focused on the current objectives.
The inference in the article is that a plan will make a company less nimble and flexible. It might do that, if that's how planning is approached. But it doesn't have to be that way, nor should it.Planning brings structured thinking to the business, and helps to ensure that key questions are posed for discussion. Everything in a business is connected. A decision to take a certain action will also produce re-actions. They need to be accounted for, and, if necessary, mitigated. The planning process helps to tie the pieces together, and keeps the pieces focused on the current objectives.

Business plans don’t help in early stages - The Globe and Mail

Canada has Missed the Boat in Asia

Tuesday, May 3, 2011, 6 to 8:30 p.m., First Canadian Place Gallery, 100 King St West, Street Level, Toronto

Featuring:

• • Andrea Mandel-Campbell, Journalist and Author of ‘Why Mexicans Don’t Drink Molson’
• • Jacoline Loewen, Director, Loewen & Partners Inc
• • Dev Srinivasan, Vice President, BMO
• • Gordon Perchthold, Managing Partner, The RFP Company

Are Canadian corporations soft, complacent and overly protected or have the examples of Bombardier, Manulife, and RIM demonstrated that Canada can effectively compete in fast paced, high growth Asia?

Join IAAT’s debate as Andrea Mandel-Campbell – journalist and author of ‘Why Mexicans Don’t Drink Molson’, Jacoline Loewen – Director of Loewen & Partners Inc, Dev Srinivasan – Vice President of BMO, and Gordon Perchthold – Managing Partner of The RFP Company, together with the audience debate the question raised by Dean Kathleen Slaughter’s November 2nd statement in the Global & Mail Newspaper:  “Canada Has Missed The Boat in Asia.”

Canada’s relevance in Asia is a critical issue for Canada’s future economic prosperity and should be a key election issue for Canadians to ponder.

Light snacks will be served. 

Registration:

• • IAAT Supporter*: $20 ($22.60 HST)
• • Renew for or become an IAAT Support and attend this event – for alumni who graduated in 2009 or before: $70 ($79.10 with HST)
• • Renew or become an IAAT Support and attend this event – for alumni who graduated in 2010 or after: $50($56.50 with HST)
• • Ivey Alumni: $40 ($45.20 with HST)
• • Non-Alumni: $50 ($56.50 with HST)

Register for Ivey Debate