What is Strategic Planning?
All corporate activities require clear and competent leadership, clear direction and sound management. Effective leadership and good management require defined objectives and a plan for the organisation to move and work together to meet the agreed objectives.
The planning horizon in most large businesses runs in 3 forward time zones. Budgets look one year ahead, business plans look typically 3 to 5 years ahead and strategic plans look out into the long term (5-10 or more years ahead). In smaller organisations (or very fast moving businesses) it may not be realistic to have more than a 5-year look ahead in its strategic planning.
Good strategic planning sets the long term objectives of the business or corporate activity and sets these out as a background for the shorter term planning. It is about achieving growing and superior performance on a sustainable and continuous but measurable basis. This approach allows managers to work towards achieving the long term goals in sensible in manageable chunks rather than either having no long term goals or completely unrealistic objectives set which are simply unattainable in too short a time period.
Why do Strategic Planning?
If the business environment is so uncertain one might ask what is the point in carrying out strategic planning. Would it not be easier to work opportunistically adjusting as well as possible to short term variations? MSP Solutions believe that it is precisely because the future is uncertain that the strategic planning process if properly applied adds significant value to the management of corporate activities.
Besides many organisations undertake activities in which there are long lead times. Such organisations cannot function effectively on an opportunistic short term basis. Corporate entities whether they are commercial enterprises, public service functions or other bodies such a charities are about running teams not simply individuals acting independently. They need to be organised and operating corporate activities needs to be set in the context of some long term objectives if any real development progress is to be made.
The MSP Solutions Approach
MSP Solutions have specialist expertise in strategic planning in a number of industries airlines, oil and gas, chemicals telecoms and airports. We have also experience of applying this approach in the public sector services and for start-up new companies. This knowledge and expertise (together with our capabilities in forecasting and market research) is readily applicable to other activities and industries.
Not only have our people consulted in this type of role we have also managed these processes as corporate managers. It is these dual roles acting on both sides of the process that gives MSP Solutions' people a profound understanding of the strategic planning process. It is this judgement capability and our understanding on precisely how to apply our knowledge.
The benefit to our clients
It is this judgement capability and our understanding on precisely how to apply our knowledge that are the two critical factors of the strategic planning process that MSP Solutions is able to apply in its client situations.
Further we are able to adapt our approach to fit in with individual client's needs and circumstances. Using the MSP Solutions' strategic planning process clients are able to secure the independent high quality professional help in the long term development of their endeavour which they will find very difficult to achieve relying purely on internal processes.