Make sense of Business-Speak
Definition: A unit within an action plan. Each action item should include the following: Person responsible Measure of success Due date
Definition: A set of tasks assigned to an individual or team that lists targets for each task as well as due dates, responsible persons, and measures for success. Action plans illustrate for individuals or teams how they will affect the completion of organization-wide objectives.
Definition: Popularized by Robert Kaplan and David Norton, the Balanced Scorecard is a method for monitoring whether a company is meeting or will meet its strategic objectives. Key Performance Indicators (both lagging and leading) are broken into 4 areas of focus: Financial, Customers, Operational and People. These indicators are monitored on a regular basis and organized as a Scorecard for determining current company status.
Definition: Comparing a company’s current position to that of established standards for their industry or other industries. Benchmarking can also occur between two or more different companies.
Definition: A formal statement of a company’s objectives and how it plans to meet them. Business Plans are most often created for new companies looking for start-up funding, while strategic plans are actual guiding documents that companies use to align tasks to strategic priorities.
Definition: A collection of an organization’s customers who all share similar needs. Businesses segment their customers into needs-based groups in order to tailor their products/services or messages to better satisfy them.
Definition: A characteristic of an organization that allows it to meet their customer’s need(s) better than their competition can.
Social Responsibility, specifically, Corporate Responsibility is the concept that businesses and organizations are obligated to make a positive impact on their stakeholders.
Definition: A company’s efforts to stand out from their competitors in the minds of their target audience.
Definition: In business and manufacturing, effectiveness is determined by amount of output. If output can be increased without an increase of input, then a process is said to have become more effective.
Definition: In business and manufacturing, efficiency is determined by amount of input consumed in order to give a certain output. If a process can maintain a certain level of output while using less input, then it is said to have increased in efficiency.
Definition: A method of collecting data on elements that are external to the organization, in order to use the data for guiding decisions on the organization’s strategic direction.
Definition: The External Analysis examines opportunities and threats that exist in the environment. Both opportunities and threats exist independently of the firm. The way to differentiate between a strength or weakness from an opportunity or threat is to ask: Would this issue exist if the company did not exist? If the answer is yes, it should be considered external to the firm. Opportunities refer to favorable conditions in the environment that could produce rewards for [...]
Definition: A tool used to determine whether your strategic plan makes financial sense. Do the estimated revenue projections exceed your estimated expenses?
The Functional Approach to leadership is a perspective that defines a leadership role by the functions or responsibilities of the person holding that role, rather than a list of traits or behaviors. See Integrating Mission and Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations for more information.
Definition: A graphical representation of tasks necessary to complete a given project, illustrating which tasks are dependent on others and how long each is expected to take.
Definition: The realization of a strategic plan, implementation is the completion of the actions and tasks that the plan laid out. This is the most difficult part of a strategic plan.
Definition: The Internal Analysis of strengths and weaknesses focuses on internal factors that give an organization certain advantages and disadvantages in meeting the needs of its target market. Strengths refer to core competencies that give the firm an advantage in meeting the needs of its target markets. Any analysis of company strengths should be market oriented/customer focused because strengths are only meaningful when they assist the firm in meeting customer needs. Weaknesses refer to any [...]
Definition: Metric and non-metric measurements essential to the completion of a company’s strategic objectives. While there are myriads of metrics that a business could monitor to assess their performance, each business narrows the possible list down to a manageable group of KPIs that make the most difference in company performance.
Definition: How a business plans to communicate with their stakeholders and audience about meeting their needs via the organization’s product or service.
Definition: A specific, observable amount.
Definition: A significant event in your strategic plan. Milestones act as markers to the company that, once completed, the organization has entered a new phase or is free to pursue a new challenge.
Definition: A declaration of an organization’s core purpose. A mission statement answers the question, “why do we exist?”
Definition: While strategies are embedded in all elements of your strategic plan, consider listing the top one to two strategies or long-term activities your company needs to pursue in order to achieve its vision. Your strategies are the general methods you intend to use to reach your vision. A strategy is like an umbrella. It is a general statement(s) that guides and covers a set of activities. You can develop strategies for your whole organization, [...]
Definition: A process by which organizations align their resources, systems and employees to strategic objectives and priorities.
Definition: The space, as observed by target consumers, where a particular organization or brand is located in comparison to competitors.
Definition: Objectives or tasks that have been determined to be essential to meeting a company’s strategic direction and or time-sensitive.
Definition: A representation of how a company is doing in Key Performance Indicators, presented graphically so that management and employees can easily ascertain the company’s current position. Your scorecard is used to measure and manage your strategic plan. Ask: What are the key performance measures you can track in order to monitor whether you are achieving your goals?
Definition: Goals that convert the strategic objectives into specific performance targets. Effective goals clearly state what, when, how and who and are specifically measurable. Ask: What are the 1 to 3 year goals that you are trying to achieve to get to your strategic objectives?
Definition: Any party who is affected by or could affect the actions of your organization.
Definition: Dealing with or related to higher-level priorities that will meet the objectives an organization has decided to accomplish.
Definition: Strategic Objectives are long-term, continuous strategic areas that get you moving from your mission to achieving your vision. What are the key activities you need to perform to reach your vision?
Definition: The process of an organization deciding their corporate direction, objectives and priorities, and then aligning their resources to accomplish the actions necessary to meeting them.
Definition: To establish a guide that matches your organization’s strengths with market opportunities to position your organization in the mind of the customer. Ask: Does your strategy match your strengths with how you will provide value to and be perceived by your customers?
Definition: A macro-view of an organization’s strategy, the map divides a company’s objectives into 4 focuses: financial, customer, operations and people.
Definition: To access the particular strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are strategically important to your organization
Dealing with or related to the accomplishment of tasks that support the strategic vision of the organization.
Definition: A path that products take, from raw materials to finished product to the consumer, along which they continually gain value as they move down the chain.
Definition: To explain what you stand for and believe in.
Definition: A declaration of where you are headed – your future state. To formulate a picture of what your organization’s future makeup will be and where the organization is headed. Ask: What will your organization look like 5 to 10 years from now?
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