Why Do Owner-Managed Businesses Need Strategic Planning?

The term strategic planning carries with it the air of big binders and large corporations with big budgets. But the truth is that strategic planning (and action) are even more important in middle market companies with more limited resources—you need to work smarter, faster and cheaper than the giants.

How do you work this effectively? You do your homework. You know where you are going. You keep your perspective. You lift your head periodically and look to the horizon. You are constantly learning. You don’t spend money unless it is going to help you make progress toward your goal.

To us, that’s strategic planning. By our definition, strategy formation involves getting fresh information and identifying the highest value intersection between your strengths and the market’s needs. Planning means thinking through the steps you need to take, what resources you’ll need and how to measure your progress. Planning also implies a disciplined process, to make sure that new information and lessons you learn contribute to fine-tuning or wholesale change in your plans as needed.

Forget the big binder. Think smarter, faster, cheaper.