STRATEGY
WHY HAVE A STRATEGIC PLAN?
The vast majority of SME owners do not follow a strategic plan; many say they did have a plan originally, while others say they have the plan ‘in their head’. Regardless, very few can articulate their strategy. Businesses without a strategy do not realise, or comprehend, that they will not reach their goals and are likely to be amongst those that do not survive. Here are the sobering facts – Of 294,210 business that started in 2010-/11, only 147 100 remained in 2015 (ABS). This survival rate is still preveland today. 20% of new businessness fail in their first year, and 60% of all businesses will fail within their first 4 years. (ABS 2025 update). 77% of businesses admitted to not having a business plan, and alarmingly, 86% had no marketing plan (DBM Consultants, 2025).
WHY DON'T SME OWNERS HAVE BUSINESS PLANS?
Owners and business leaders concede it is due to:
- Having a pre-conceived idea, often wrong, of what strategic planning is. Hence they are put off by the process.
- Having a fear of commitment. A benefit of strategic planning is that it leads to decisive action. Unfortunately, many owners can neither make the required decisions or commitments. They would rather not do it, than try and not see it through. Failing is viewed as ‘shameful’ or ‘embarrassing’.
- Having had some negative and possibly harmful experiences with strategic planning in the past. It may have been a bad experience with an external consultant, or perhaps they launched a plan without any means of accountability.
- Worrying about the amount of time and commitment required to develop a plan and that it will keep them away from other work.
- Many owners are only accountable to themselves; that really means they are not accountable to anyone. With strategic planning, there is a system of accountability built into the plan and many struggle with this.
- Unfortunately, many owners and leader are very uncomfortable with having to concede they may not know or understand how they intend to reach their business goals. Being confronted with issues or problems during the strategic planning process is something many would rather avoid.
HOW I CAN HELP
It is very clear to me that well performing and successful businessess have implemented a strategic plan. In contract, businesses that struggle to succeed often lack this plan.
I will assist you in creating a roadmap to success- after all, business is all about planning for success. A strategic plan will help to provide direction and focus for everyone involved in your business. It points to specific results that need to be achieved and establishes a course of action for achieving them. As part of the process, your strategic plan will help the various teams and people within your business to align themselves with the company’s common goals. This is a very important, but seldom understood, part of the plan.
EXECUTION
WHAT DOES IT TAKE
Throughout the process, I ensure that there is a clear distinction between strategy and planning. It is really straightforward but often over complicated or not fully understood. Strategy is about understanding your environment and making choices about how you will make things happen. Planning is deciding how to use the available resources and skills to support the strategic plan you have implemented.
Without competitors you would need a business plan but you would not need a strategic plan. Strategy distinguished itself from business planning because it alone defines what is needed to give you a competitive advantage over your competitors. You need to gain a sustainable edge for as long as possible over your competitors, and so doing achieve the best possible returns for the company’s shareholders or stakeholders.
