Strategic Plan Outline

I. Executive Summary
A one- to three-page synopsis of the plan providing highlights of the current situation,
objectives, strategies, principal actions programs, and financial expectations.

II. Company Mission

The mission of a company is the unique purpose that sets it apart from other companies of
its type and identifies the scope of its operations. The mission describes the company’s
product, market, and technological areas of emphasis in a way that reflects the values and
priorities of the strategic decision makers.
A. Define the core business
1. Basic product or service
2. Primary market
3. Principal technology for production or delivery

III. Company Profile

The company profile depicts the quantity and quality of the company’s financial, human,
and physical resources. It also assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the company’s
management and organizational structure. Finally, it contrasts the company’s past
successes and traditional concerns with the company’s current capabilities in an attempt to
identify the company’s future capabilities.
A. SWOT Analysis
Template: Company Situation Analysis
Form: SWOT Analysis Checklist
1. Internal Strengths and Weaknesses
a. Marketing
b. Financial and Accounting
(1) Ratio analysis
Templates: Ratios
Comparative Ratios
(2) Sources and uses of funds
Templates: Calculating the Cash Budget
Ratios
Cash Flows Working Paper: Direct Method
Cash Flows Working Paper: Indirect Method
c. Production, Operations, Technical
d. Human Resources
e. Quality Management
f. Information Systems
g. Organization and General Management
2. External Opportunities
a. Serve additional customer groups or expand into new markets
or segments
b. Expand product line
c. Transfer skills to new products or businesses
d. Integration
(1) Forward

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 (2) Backward
e. Foreign markets
f. Emerging new technologies
3. External Threats
a. Low barriers to entry
b. Availability of substitute products or services
c. Slower market growth
d. Costly regulatory requirements
e. Growing bargaining power of customers or supplies
f. Changing buyer needs and tastes
B. Strategic Cost and Price Analysis
1. Value chain approach: Primary activities
Template: Value chain activities and cost
a. Inbound logistics
b. Operations
c. Outbound logistics
d. Sales and Marketing
e. Service
2. Value chain approach: Support activities
a. Procurement
b. Technology
c. Human resources
d. Infrastructure of the firm
C. Current Competitive Position
Form: Signs of Strengths and Weaknesses in a Company’s Competitive
Position
Templates: Company Situation Analysis
Competitive Strength Assessment
1. Comparison with past performance
2. Stage of industry evolution
3. Comparison with competition
Form: Categorizing the Objectives and Strategies of Competitors
4. Comparison with success factors in the industry
Form: Types of Key Success Factors

IV. External Environment

A firm’s external environment consists of all the conditions and forces that affect its
strategic options but are typically beyond its control.
A. Remote environment
1. Economic
2. Social/Cultural
3. Political/Regulatory
4. Technological
5. Ecological
B. Industry analysis
1. Industry attractiveness analysis
Template: Industry Attractiveness Factors

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 a. Market factors:
(1) Size
(2) Growth
(3) Cyclicity
(4) Seasonality
b. Industry factors:
(1) Capacity
(2) New product entry prospects
(3) Rivalry
(4) Power of suppliers
(5) Power of buyers
(6) Threat of substitutes
C. Operating environment
1. Driving forces
a. Changes in the long-term industry growth rate
b. Changes in who buys the product and how they use it
c. Product innovation
d. Technological change
e. Marketing innovation
f. Entry or exit of major firms
g. Diffusion of technical know-how
h. Increasing globalization of the industry
I. Changes in cost and efficiency
j. Emerging buyer preferences for differentiated products
instead of a commodity product
k. Regulatory influences and government policy changes
l. Changing societal concerns, attitudes and lifestyles
m. Reductions in uncertainty and business risks
2. Strengths and Weaknesses of Competitors
3. Customer Profiles
4. Role of suppliers

V. Objectives
Setting objectives converts the strategic vision and directional course into target outcomes
and performance milestones.
A. Long-term
B. Short-term
C. Financial
1. Faster revenue growth?
2. Faster earnings growth?
3. Higher dividends?
4. Wider profit margins?
5. Higher returns on invested capital?
6. Stronger bond and credit ratings?
7. Bigger cash flows?

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 8. A rising stock price?
9. Recognition as a “blue chip” company?
10.A more diversified revenue base?
11. Stable earnings during recessionary periods?
D. Strategic
1. A bigger market share?
2. A higher, more secure industry rank?
3. Higher product quality?
4. Lower costs relative to key competitors?
5. Broader or more attractive product line?
6. A stronger reputation with customers?
7. Superior customer service?
8. Recognition as a leader in technology and/or product
innovation?
9. Increased ability to compete in international markets?
10.Expanded growth opportunities?
11. Total customer satisfaction?

VI. Grand (Organizational or Business) Strategy

Form: Matching Strategy to the Situation
An articulation of the formal strategy based on the analysis preceding this step. The grand
strategy identifies the overall goals of the organization.
A. Concentration (increasing use of existing products in present markets)
B. Market development (existing products in new markets)
C. Product development (new products for present markets)
D. Innovation
E. Horizontal Integration
F. Vertical Integration
G. Concentric Diversification
H. Conglomerate Diversification
I. Turnaround
J. Divestiture
K. Liquidation
L. Joint Ventures
M. Strategic Alliances

VII. Functional Strategies

Although this may also be a part of the “Grand Strategy,” it is critical that the organization’s
overall strategy be used a framework within which each division or business function sets
its own strategic plan of action.
A. Production/Operations
1. Manufacturing
2. Materials
3. Capital
B. Marketing
1. Advertising

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 2. Selling
C. Finance and Accounting
1. Cash flow
2. Capital
D. Research and Development
E. Human Resource Management

VIII. Implementing the Strategy

Now that strategies have been defined for the organization as a whole and for the
individual divisions or functions, a plan for implementing the strategy needs to be
articulated.
A. Build a capable corporation
B. Policies and procedures to support the strategy
C. Support systems
D. Strategy-supporting reward systems
E. Strategy-supporting corporate culture
F. Strategic leadership

IX. Control and Evaluation

An implemented strategy must be monitored to determine the extent to which its objectives
are achieved.
A. Strategic controls
1. Monitor assumptions and predictions
2. Monitor implementation
3. Strategic surveillance of internal and external environments
B. Operational controls
1. Budgets
a. Profit and loss
Templates: Cost, Volume and Profits
Multiple-step Income Statement For a Corporation

Work sheet and Financial Statements for a

Manufacturing Corporation
b. Capital budgets
Templates: Master Budgets
c. Cash flow
Templates: Calculating the Cash Budget
Ratios
Cash Flows Working Paper: Direct Method
Cash Flows Working Paper: Indirect Method
2. Schedules
3. Key success factors
Form: Types of Key Success Factors
Template: Competitive Strength Assessment

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