Monthly strategy meetings don’t need to take a lot of time –
30 to 60 minutes should suffice. But it is important that key team members
report on their progress towards the goals they are responsible for - including
reporting on metrics in the scorecard they have been assigned. By using the
measurements already established, it’s easy to make course corrections if
necessary. Restricting the meeting to this reporting on measurements can help
you stay on task and keep the meeting with 30 minutes, but if you can commit to
a full hour, the meeting agenda should also include some time devoted to
working on one specific topic or on one of the quarter’s priorities where
decisions need to be made. Once agreed upon, this topic should be developed to
conclusion.

Consider these additional tips for making your monthly
strategy meetings more effective:

• Schedule the monthly strategy meetings on the same day and time each month in order to encourage making strategy a habit
• Invite individuals or heads of departments. Their presence creates visibility and recognition for the people getting things done.
• Make the meeting mandatory – no exceptions. This is 30-60 minutes time well spent
• Start and end on time and stay on task with an agenda.

Holding
meetings helps focus your goals on accomplishing top priorities and
accelerating growth of the organization. Although the meeting structure is
relatively simple, it does require a high degree of discipline. Facilitation of
monthly strategy meetings is key to implementing your strategic plan and making
strategy a habit for everyone involved.

View strategic plan examples.

BizStats: Visit www.bizstats.com for instant access to useful financial ratios, business statistics, and benchmarks. Biz Stats has effective and understandable analysis of businesses and industries. You can benchmark a business in five seconds for free.

Solution Sage: An online tool for assessing middle market business strategic and succession readiness. The Family Business Assessment is a simple and inexpensive strategic and succession assessment tool available to family business owners and their professional advisors. Visit www.solutionsage.com for more information.

DigitalHatch, Inc.: This company looks at the key areas successful organizations need in order to grow. The activity areas are specifically correlated to profitability so business owners can see the direct link between action and ROI. Industry specific assessments are available. Point your Web browser to www.growthassessment.com.

The Business Report Card: This assessment helps companies pinpoint strengths and weaknesses, capitalize on an existing client base, develop invaluable networks and alliances, and increase profitability. To see if you’re making the grade, go to The Business Report Card at www.mybusinessreportcard.com.

B2B Benchmarking Association: This association brings together a variety of companies for the purpose of process improvement and identification of "Best Practice" companies through benchmarking. Check them out online at http://b2bbenchmarking.com

You may already be familiar with the trusted business
planning tool called the SWOT, but just in case, let me quickly review. SWOT is
an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. These
key factors are crucial in assessing your organization’s strategic position.
You’ll want to build on your company’s strengths, shore up the weaknesses,
capitalize on any opportunities and recognize any threats that may exist.

Your organization’s strengths encompass everything that
your company does well. Ask yourself what the company’s capabilities, skills
and resources are that you can draw on to execute plans and actions. Consider
your human and organizational capital, the company financial resources, and
operational processes. This should be your assessment of what’s working in your
organization. To see if your organization is making the grade, go to The
Business Report Card at www.mybusinessreportcard.com.

Your weaknesses, conversely, encompass those things that
are holding your company back from achieving your goals or serving customers.
Ask yourself what might be hindering your organization from reaching its full
potential. What are the impediments to your success? Maybe your technology
management is outdated or perhaps your employees aren’t working together
optimally as a team. Or consider your employee retention rate. Does your
organization spin its wheels hiring and training employees only to lose them
within a short time?

It’s worth noting here that it is equally important to
assess your strengths and weaknesses from the point of view of your customers.
It’s very likely that your organization could be conducting more business with
your existing customers by looking at your operations through their
perspective. Additionally, once you’re armed with this information, you can
make strategic decisions that raise your worth in the eyes of those customers
you value most.

Along with the internal assessments of your
organization’s strengths and weaknesses, reviewing
your strategic position also includes evaluating external opportunities and
threats in the marketplace. There are issues, trends, and events that can
conspire to positively or negatively impact your business, and reacting
proactively will better help you determine your strategic position.

Opportunities that exist may be political or social, or
they may be environmental or technological. Consider the graying of America.
Does this development dramatically increase your potential market? Or consider
the increasing diversity of the population. Is there an untapped market out
there for you?

Maybe the opportunities are in your industry. If there
are big startup costs or regulatory hurdles associated with your industry it
could be an opportunity for your company to capitalize on its established
business presence in the marketplace by expanding its offerings or product
lines.

Of course, conversely, these same factors that may be
opportunities could also be threats. What if the ageing population spells the
demise of your market share? Or what if your company hasn’t already addressed
meeting the demands of an increasingly diverse population?

Some of these issues may never have a bearing on your
business, but it’s important to keep in mind that your operating environment is
the outside circle influencing your business. And don’t forget to ask for help
– objective input can help you see parts you may have missed.

To better evaluate your strategic position use our SWOT tool.

Considering the time and effort you invest in
your business, it may be hard to stand back and see your company from a
different perspective. Discover strategies that will help you to
understand how customers experience your business.

By Tara Remiasz

Imagine you’re traveling for business. After your flight takes off
and you settle into your seat, you suddenly smell freshly baked
chocolate chip cookies. After a while, you see the flight attendants
handing the cookies out to everyone. When you finally take a bite of
your cookie, you congratulate yourself for choosing an airline with
such a great perk.

Several years ago, an employee for Canadian Airlines International
devised the idea that baking and serving fresh cookies would be a great
way to enhance the customer experience, says Paul Levesque, author, CEO
and founder of Customer Focus Breakthroughs Inc. based in California.
The idea of serving fresh cookies may sound simple, but it required a
solid understanding of the customers’ experience before the idea could
be developed.

Often times it is difficult for owners and workers to grasp the
customer experience because they are so ingrained in the minutia of
running the business. Here are some strategies that will help you to
see your business from a customer’s perspective.

Break It Down
Levesque says he had consulted with Canadian Airlines
International about how to brainstorm customer service ideas. It is
likely that a process like the one he taught Canadian Airlines
International personnel was used in the brainstorming session that
produced the fresh cookie idea. According to Levesque, you cannot
separate employee motivation from the issue of customer service. Asking
employees how to improve customer service has two inherent benefits: 1)
Because of their daily dealings with customers, workers possess unique
insights into the customer experience. 2) Employees will have a
stronger desire to see initiatives enacted if they generate the ideas,
as opposed to just following a mandated policy.

Ask employees to break down the customer experience into each step
in the transaction, Levesque says. For example: First, the customer
arrives in the parking lot. Second, the customer enters through the
front door. Third, an employee greets the customer. And so on. Each
step will be based on the type of business you run, whether it is on
the Internet or a brick-and-mortar operation.

Once the customer experience has been broken down into each step,
it’s time to apply three customer service principles to each phase of
the process. You and your employees should consider how your business
can exceed expectations, make the customer feel important and tailor the experience to individual categories of customers.

Levesque offers an example of how all three of these principals were
realized when he visited the Magic Kingdom and spotted a braille map of
the entire park. The existence of this map went beyond what most
patrons probably expected, demonstrated that visually impaired visitors
are important, and that the Magic Kingdom considers how to enhance
everyone’s experience.

Ask Your Customers
Perhaps the only people who can vouch for the customer
experience better than your workers are the customers themselves.
Former customers can provide you with a wealth of information on how to
improve operations, says Erica Olsen, vice president of marketing for
Reno, Nev.-based MyStrategicPlan.

Olsen suggests having a third-party call former customers for
feedback. Instead of directly asking ‘Why don’t you frequent our
business anymore?’ she suggests couching the question in terms of ‘We
are trying to become more effective as an organization and would value
your feedback.’

When you conduct surveys of existing customers, it’s essential that
you ask if the primary job was done correctly, she says. Often times,
surveys focus on specific details and overlook basic questions such as
how well a business achieved its central goal.

There’s no magic number in terms of how many surveys you should
conduct, but Olsen suggests that you do enough to see patterns in
people’s answers. Allow yourself the necessary time to gather feedback,
rather than conducting too few interviews before making changes. She
also stresses the importance of giving something back in return for
your customers’ feedback. By offering a discount or small gift card,
you are in fact acknowledging that you value your customers’ time.

A Little Help From Your Friends
Andrew Field, CEO and founder of PrintingForLess.com, Inc., in
Livingston, Mont., also endorses the idea of conducting surveys. Field
suggests using a one to seven rating scale that covers how a certain
transaction went, and also how important that particular transaction is
for the customer.

In addition to tapping employees and customers for feedback, Field
recommends professional mystery shoppers or simply employing the
services of friends and family to mystery shop your operation. Field
learned the value of mystery shopping accidentally, after his mother
placed an order for brochures from his company. When the box of
brochures arrived at her door, Field’s mother was dismayed to find that
the box had been damaged in transit and some of the brochures had been
ruined. Several of Field’s sales reps confirmed that this problem
occasionally occurred with their clients’ shipments. Armed with this
new information, Field’s company instituted a policy of shrink-wrapping
bundles of paper goods and then double boxing each shipment.

Whether you decide to use a professional mystery shopping service or
friends and family, the key is to obtain objective, unbiased
information about how a customer experienced your company. Be sure to
obtain feedback on everything from how the customer was greeted to the
quality and timeliness of service.

1. Get ready and organized: Identify specific issues and choices the process should address.

• Determine organizational readiness
• Create the planning committee
• Identify the information which must be collected to help make sound decisions

2. Articulate the mission and vision: Owners/managers clarify why the organization exists and what the end game is.

• Determine its primary business and organizational purpose
• Identify the corporate values
• Create an image of what success would look like

3. Review strategic position: Gather up to date information to develop an understanding of the critical issues. Information should include:

• Internal strengths and weaknesses
• External opportunities and threats through a competitive analysis
• Market opportunities through customer surveys
• Synthesize into a SWOT

4. Agree on Priorities: Identify the broad approaches for addressing critical issues

• Solidifying the organization’s competitive advantage
• Determine long-term goals/objectives
• Select strategies for customer segments
• Establish SMART short-term goals/objectives and the results to be achieved
• Draft this year’s action items

5. Organize the plan: Put the pieces together into one coherent document with the following reports:

• Complete Strategic Plan - for reference
• One-Page Strategic Plan - for communicating

6. Roll out the plan: Communicate the plan across the organization:

• Everyone in the organization has received a copy of the plan in some form (printed, emailed, posted on a wall in the break room)
• Identify the strategic plan leader
• Provide budgetary and resource support

7. Identify next actions: Make the plan tangible to each member of the team by clearly identifying what he/she is responsible for:

• Scorecard - for measuring
• Action Sheets - for executing

8. Hold everyone accountable: Monitor your plan by reporting performance metrics on a monthly or quarterly basis.

• Identify the source of each metric associated with measurable goals
• Set up systematic process for monthly or quarterly reporting
• Communicate to each responsible person when Nd how to report on their goals
• Hold monthly or quarterly strategy meetings
• Regularly monitor, evaluate, and adapt

This should help you develop your plan and keep that plan on track. For additional reading on developing and implementing your strategic plan check out Strategic Planning For Dummies by Erica Olsen.

Sign up for Strategy Check, our bi-monthly newsletter, to download Inspired Strategy and other white papers from M3 Planning for free.

Click here to find your Inspired Strategy.

It’s never too early to learn how to start your own business. A book
called “Strategic Planning for Dummies” is out and the author was in
Reno today, signing books at Barnes and Noble. Money from the book
sales go to an entrepreneurship program that helps high school girls
how to create their own businesses.

“We thought it would be a great
opportunity to give back to the program and help the girls in our
community open their business through our contributions and books
sales,” author Erica Olsen said.
“Helping your business and helping
the girls start their own business,” Frances Brown of the Girl Scouts
of the Sierra Nevada said.

If you buy the book in January, that money will go to the program, which by the way is grand-funded.

Erica Olsen’s strategic planning savvy led to authoring a book under the famous Dummies brand.

Story by: Linda Fine
Photography by Alicia Santistevan
The Business Report of Northern Nevada
http://www.nevadabusinessreport.com/stories/html/2006/11/27/190.php

While not a household phrase to be sure,
strategic planning is certainly an important concept in the world of
business, and one woefully neglected by most entrepreneurs.

“You
wouldn’t go on a trip without a plan,” says management consultant and
author Erica Olsen. “Nor should business owners run a business without
a plan. It’s unthinkable.” Such is the essence of Olsen’s new book,
“Strategic Planning for Dummies,” a book inspired by her work as a
partner in M3 Planning.

To be sure, most businesses have a plan —
but it’s in the heads of the company’s key personnel. “Strategic
planning makes our business activities more intentional so employees
can help you move the business forward,” Olsen says. Fundamentally,
people think it’s hard and that it takes too much time.

According
to Olsen, a long-time Reno resident, a strategic plan should cut to the
chase, unlike the more familiar business plan often prepared solely for
banks or investors. A good plan answers the what, when, why, where and
how questions, serving as a road map to achieve a specific vision.

Olsen
holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Nevada,
Reno, and a master’s degree from the Thunderbird Graduate School of
International Management. She’s frequently tapped to lecture at UNR and
the University of Phoenix in Reno on management and planning topics.

Local clientele 8

Her
company powers Web-based planning systems that help organizations
develop and manage their strategic plans. Clients include the Economic
Development Authority of Western Nevada, Girl Scouts of America, Erlach
Computer Consulting and Washoe County.

Olsen says EDAWN is a good example of an organization with a vision and the tenacity to stick to it.

“Our
relationship with Erica and her company began about two years ago,”
says Gail Conkey, EDAWN’s director of operations. At the outset, Conkey
says, Olsen created a strategy map revealing the initiatives and
tactics needed to clarify ongoing projects. “It started with people and
ended with our core mission. People are a company’s most important
asset,” says Conkey. “Sometimes people are forgotten — you can never
forget the employees.”

Conkey heartily endorses Olsen’s
expertise. “Her ability to look holistically at our organization took
us to the next level in terms of achieving our goals.”

A speedy deadline 8

From
strategic planner to first-time author was a serendipitous path, Olsen
says. A chance meeting with another Dummies author led to a contract
with Wiley Publishing Co., the caveat being that the book needed to be
written in just one year. It was a speedy deadline for sure, Olsen
says, explaining that turnaround time for this type book generally is
much longer.

Nevertheless, the idea became reality; the paperback
is available for purchase at various local booksellers including Barnes
& Noble, Borders and Amazon.com for $21.99.

While the average
first printing is usually 5,000 books, 10,000 copies of “Strategic
Planning for Dummies” initially hit the bookshelves. In addition to a
$10,000 advance, Olsen gets 12 percent of each book sold.

“It’s a
lot of work for not a lot of money,” Olsen. “But it’s not about the
money; it’s about the recognition being a published author with a main
publishing house brings you.”

Olsen adds that her company
recently developed a Web-based strategic planning approach to support
the book — mystrategicplan.com. “The book works with the system. It’s
easier to put a plan together and execute it if you have technology
that supports it,” she says.

Anticipating her readers will
include business owners, managers, department heads and non-profit
organizations among others, Olsen says anyone who doesn’t have a
strategy department will benefit. “Having a strategic plan gets you
from A to B faster. It’s all about using the resources you have to be
more effective.”

The bottom line: Sales is responsible for delivering the company’s top line growth. While hitting the numbers is important, says Erica Olsen, Vice President of Marketing for M3 Planning and author of Strategic Planning for Dummies (slated for November publication), salespeople are often so busy working to deliver year-end goals that they’re left out of the strategic planning loop, either by choice or circumstance.

Sales leaders and their teams bring knowledge about client needs and wants to the table that can help keep the company from making costly missteps, Olsen suggests.  And, sales leaders can make sure future plans are in alignment with its department’s resources.

Sales Performance Journal asked Olsen, who has helped a wide range of clients craft and implement strategic plans, to explain. The edited exchange follows.

*****
Sales Performance Journal: You’re a huge proponent of strategic planning in general. Why is it so important?

Erica Olsen: Well, it’s only important if a company wants to grow. If a company wants to grow, they need a strategic plan. And if they’re forecasting growth, the sales organization really needs to be involved in the development of revenue goals, because sales is responsible for that top line growth.

In the boardroom, we toss out numbers–10, 20, 30 percent–but we may not think through the impact of the goal on sales or support.

There’s one organization I know of where sales was given a goal of 30 percent growth. The sales organization delivered. The rest of the operation couldn’t support it! The realistic goal on the manufacturing side of the house was only about three percent. So sales can’t fulfill contracts to retailers, sales gets incentives based on deliveries…the entire organization is a mess.

The sales were made, but revenue goals weren’t reached. It’s a case of left hand/right hand, of not really paying attention. Sales was successful but no one asked the tough question, “Can we deliver?”

SPJ: How can sales help avoid disasters like this one?

EO: They can help determine if a strategic plan is sound. They can use a Balanced Scorecard [a strategic planning system developed by Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton that examines organizations from four angles: learning and growth, business process, customer and financial perspectives] as a kind of “sniff test” to see if the strategy will work. They can ask: Do we have the people to support the operations? Are we delivering value to customers to meet financial goals? Do we have the right people in the right places in the operation to deliver what we’re selling to provide value to our customers?

Look at the strategy. Really get connected with the rest of the organization. Get strategic planning to a point where everyone can say confidently: yes the market is there, yes the organization is behind us to fulfill what we’re selling, and yes we have the right people in the right roles to get there [reach the revenue target]. It takes the unknown out of it. It’s much less “pie in the sky” when you ask those questions. These are the questions the Fortune 100 ask.

SPJ: So sales will help drive the profitability of the organization by doing more than just selling.

EO: If sales is at the table and engaged in a way they can make a difference, they’ll have a huge impact on their department and overall profitability. Sales has a ton of customer information. They have any number of customer touch points, whether the information is gathered in a formal manner or not. What are the trends? They can actually affect the product they’ll be selling next year with this information.

[For this to work,] sales must view [the strategic planning effort] as a benefit and not as wasted time. Sales will waste more time in the long run because they didn’t take that day [to attend planning sessions]. Sales leaders must review the numbers, ask the questions and make sure there is alignment.

Realizing the true role the sales force can play should be very exciting for anyone in a leadership role. The result is empowering. Looking at sales as strategic rather than tactical is ultimately empowering.

SPJ: And the results?

EO: Strategic planning works. [We’ve seen that] just getting people talking–even if the plan is ultimately faulty in some way–results in an average growth rate of 12 percent. Failure to plan is planning to fail.

COMPANY: M3 Planning
Business: On-Demand Strategic Planning Services
Headquarters: Reno, Nevada
Founded: 2000
Website: www.m3planning.com

INTERVIEW SUBJECT:

Name: Erica Olsen, MBA
Current Title: Vice President, Marketing
M3Planning: Strategic business planning, helping entrepreneurs to articulate and realize their visions.  Erica is a frequent academic lecturer and author of Strategic Planning for Dummies.

Sales Performance Journal contributor Stephanie Molnar is a business and sales writer based in Austin, Texas. Article questions or comments? Click here.

Erica Olsen, 32, owner of M3 Planning in Reno, and author of the soon to be released, Strategic Planning for Dummies, is a woman in business who is raising standards for businesses around the world.

“The upcoming launch of this book is really exciting,” said Olsen. “Finally there is a book on the market that is making strategic planning not only effective, but fun.”

“The Strategic Business Performance Study”, conducted by M3 Planning in 2005, reported businesses which use strategic planning profit more than 12 percent more annually than they would have otherwise. Erica’s ability to transform a typically dry, complicated topic to one that is clear, easy to understand, and expressed with energy and excitement is evident in her new book.

“Strategic Planning for Dummies is a quick reference book for small business owners hoping to expand,” said Olsen. “If executed correctly, the pay off can really make a difference for business owners.”

Strategic Planning for Dummies is now available for advanced purchase on-line at Amazon.com, and will be available in bookstores nationally November 1.

M3 Planning retains accounts with businesses locally, nationally, and internationally. National Women in Business Week begins Monday, October 16. For more information about Erica Olsen, her business, or her new book, visit www.m3planning.com.

Selecting a Facilitator for Your Strategic Planning Retreat
By Frank A. Stasiowski, FAIA

Most design firms that have tried both internal and outside
facilitators have found the presence of a well-qualified outsider
is essential to keep participants objective and on track. Of
course, having an outside facilitator doesn’t guarantee the success
of your plan, but not having one can almost guarantee that you
won’t achieve the thorough, objective, imaginative thinking
required to create an effective strategy.

Why Hire an Outside Facilitator?

Strategic planning discussions can be painful and difficult.
They involve personal values and goals, deeply held beliefs about
the nature of the firm and where it’s going, and maybe different
perspectives on the marketplace. Some principals may have values or
goals that conflict with those of other key members of the
firm.

All this can reduce the team’s ability to take the objective,
long?term overview that strategic planning requires. And
unless differences are dealt with carefully and openly, they can
result in dissension that subverts the strategic plan.

Added to these complexities are the networks of
interrelationships among people who have been working together for
some time, comfortable (or uncomfortable but at least familiar)
behavior patterns, and knowledge of how the firm has done business
in the past. Also, some people in the session are bound to perceive
that their careers depend on how they relate to some others.

An outside facilitator carries none of this baggage. He or she
can look at the firm, the management team, and the planning process
objectively. An outside facilitator can say things like "that’s
habit talking" or "you’re rationalizing," and can make sure that
some people don’t dominate the discussion. A facilitator knows how
to keep the discussion on track while taking everyone’s concerns
into consideration.

What Happens If You Don’t Hire Someone from
Outside?

Some firms try to do their strategic planning entirely with their
own people. Maybe they have an executive who is known for
objectivity and fairness and they invite him or her to be the
facilitator.

Here’s what often happens:

• Strategic discussions break down into nonstrategic, operational
  issues
• Participants tend to look back, into the company’s history,
  rather than forward
• The discussion gets stuck in mundane issues and detail, as
  opposed to focusing on the big picture
• Participants don’t engage in "out?of?the?box"
  thinking
• The internal facilitator cannot facilitate fully, for several
  reasons
• The process doesn’t result in specific action items or a way to
  assure the planned actions really take place.

Selecting a Facilitator

To identify the best facilitator, start with a short list of
three qualified candidates. Rank the candidates based on an
interview and reference checks. Criteria to evaluate the candidates
should include

• An understanding of the architecture/engineering industry
• Experience with multiple architecture/engineering firms
• An ability to articulate key strategic concepts
• An ability to provide strategic direction
• An ability and willingness to tackle "sacred cows"
• An ability to focus on strategic issues and not get bogged down
  in operational details
• An ability to keep the meeting moving toward a successful
  conclusion.

Checking References

Unless you have had previous experience with the facilitator or
you trust the person who recommended the facilitator, it is
essential that you check the facilitator’s references. Some
questions you might ask references include

• How did you like working with the facilitator?
• Would you describe the type of strategic planning that was
  performed for your firm?
• How many people in your firm were in the planning session?
• Did you get the results you wanted?
• If you could coach this consultant/facilitator on how to make
  his/her work more effective, what would you tell him or her?
• How does this facilitator compare to other facilitators you’ve
  used?
• Would you use the facilitator again?

Frank A. Stasiowski, FAIA, is
president of PSMJ Resource Inc., a consulting firm for
architecture/engineering professionals worldwide. Inquiries may be
directed to stasiowski_psmj@msn.com.

Click here for additional information on hiring a facilitator.

               

Download an overview of a strategic planning session with M3 Planning.

One of the fastest growing trends for business today is the increasing number of strategic alliances. According to Booz-Allen & Hamilton, strategic alliances are sweeping through nearly every industry and are becoming an essential driver of superior growth. Alliances range in scope from an informal business relationship based on a simple contract to a joint venture agreement in which for legal and tax purposes either a corporation or partnership is set up to manage the alliance.

For small businesses, strategic alliances are a way to work together with others towards a common goal while not losing their individuality. Alliances are a way of reaping the rewards of team effort - and the gains from forming strategic alliances appear to be substantial. Companies participating in alliances report that at much as 18 percent of their revenues comes from their alliances.

But it isn’t just profit that is motivating this increase in alliances. Other factors include an increasing intensity of competition, a growing need to operate on a global scale, a fast changing marketplace, and industry convergence in many markets (for example, in the financial services industry, banks, investment firms, and insurance companies are overlapping more and more in the products they supply). Especially in a time when growing international marketing is becoming the norm, these partnerships can leverage your growth through alliances with international partners. Rather than take on the risk and expense that international expansion can demand, one can enter international markets by finding an appropriate alliance with a business operating in the marketplace you desire to enter.

A strategic alliance is essentially a partnership in which you combine efforts in projects ranging from getting a better price for supplies by buying in bulk together to building a product together with each of you providing part of its production. The goal of alliances is to minimize risk while maximizing your leverage and profit. Alliances are often confused with mergers, acquisitions and outsourcing. While there are similarities in the circumstances in which a business might consider one these solutions, they are far from the same. Mergers and acquisitions are permanent, structural changes in how the company exists. Outsourcing is simply a way of purchasing a functional service for the company.

An alliance is simply a business-to-business collaboration. Another term that is frequently used in conjunction with alliances is establishing a business network. Alliances are formed for joint marketing, joint sales or distribution, joint production, design collaboration, technology licensing, and research and development. Relationships can be vertical between a vendor and a customer, horizontal between vendors, local, or global. Alliances often are established formally in a joint ventures or partnerships Businesses use strategic alliances to:How to Set Up an Alliance.

• achieve advantages of scale, scope and speed
• increase market penetration
• enhance competitiveness in domestic and/or global markets
• enhance product development
• develop new business opportunities through new products and services
• expand market development
• increase exports
• diversify
• create new businesses
• reduce costs.

Strategic alliances are becoming a more and more common tool for expanding the reach of your company without committing yourself to expensive internal expansions beyond your core business.

Learn

Traditional financial measures – ROI, net profit, sales growth, and market share – fail to capture the true picture of a firm’s value propositions because they focus on the past.  They tell the story of what has happened to the organization.  They explain the results of past transactions and disregard what the future benefits could be.  Traditional financial measures are only part of the information that managers need to successfully guide their organizations through highly competitive marketplaces.

Learn more about using the balanced scorecard as a performance measure:
http://www.mystrategicplan.com/strategic-planning-topics/balanced-scorecard.shtml

This handbook presents techniques and tools to help in decision making at a top executive level.  It presents nine key areas:

·        Financial decisions

·        Leadership skills

·        Manufacturing and Operations

·        Marketing

·        Organization and human resources

·        Product development and innovation

·        Sales Management

·        Strategic Planning

·        General Decision-making

For the strategic planning area, there are 17 different analyses, tests, and checklists to guide decision makers.

The Vest-Pocket CEO.  Prentice Hall, Inc.