Strategic Planning for SME/SMIs

Strategic planning serves as a Sea Chart.

Strategic planning is a management tool, it is used to determine where a company is going over the next year or more and how it is going to get there. From here, I share this proven solution from Sun Tzu :-

“Before waging a war , you must know what you are fighting for.”
“You should also know at what point you want to stop.”
“How do you go about achieving all these goals?” [Sun Tzu , 500BC]

In general, to do effective strategic planning, there are specific ways. The following guidelines ought to be used. The company should attempt:-

• to build its Strengths.
• to reverse or disguise its Weaknesses.
• to maximize the response to its Opportunities.
• to overcome its Threats.

Irregardless the sizes of the companies, whether publicly listed or SME/SMI companies, strategic planning ought to be carried out so that to cover the short-, mid- and long-term agendas. To some extent, companies need to go beyond the definition and recognize what activities have to be carried out before they can reap the economy benefits. SWOT analysis is the key component of strategic development which can prompt actions and responses.

In the era of rapid changes business environment, strategy and people are important elements to facilitate strategic planning. As an analytical tool, SWOT provides link between long-term planning and tactical moves to fill-in the gaps between the desired sales and action plans so as to achieve goals.