Business Planning: Tactics VS. Strategy

9:31 PM , , 30 Comments



Tactical Planning

Tactical planning is such an important part of a company's strategic planning process that management consulting companies are often hired to assist companies in preparing tactical plans. A company usually begins with its objectives and then develops strategies for how to carry out their objectives. Tactical plans are the specific action steps necessary to get results.

Tactical Plan Basics
Tactical plans are sometimes called short-term action plans because they breakdown bigger-picture goals and strategies into narrower, actionable tasks. The key to a well-developed tactical plan is having specifically stated actions assigned to particular employees with specific deadlines. Bold objectives and thoughtful strategies produce nothing if no steps are taken to put them into action. The goals and strategies give vision and the actions make the company plans real.
Tactical plans should typically focus on a handful of core company goals; otherwise, employee activities become too fragmented and it is hard for employees to understand how their activities ultimately tie into goals. Adorian Corporation advises clients to develop tactical plans with three to five strong goals in mind. "Increase sales by 20 percent within 12 months" is an example of a specific, measurable goal. A strategy of training employees on suggestion selling may help. A specific tactic is requiring all sales employees to recommend a certain add-on product or "service Y" to each customer buying "product X."

Strategies Vs. Tactics
One of the biggest challenges in tactical planning is knowing the difference between a strategy and tactic. These are sometimes confused. A strategy is essentially a framework or plan, but it provides no tangible results on its own. Tactics are steps for implementing your strategies and are actionable and have a purpose and a measurable result. If you cannot see or discern the result of the action or task it is likely not a tactic.


 
A diagram of tactics and strategy.


Operational Planning

The term "Operations" is a small word that refers to your total business process. The three main types of operations planning are startup operations creation, ongoing operations planning and business continuity operations planning. A good way to start your operations plan is to visualize in detail the procedures involved in development of your product, purchase of raw materials, manufacturing process, warehousing, marketing, sales process, purchase transaction, order fulfillment, accounting, human resources and cash management. This is the scope of your operations. Create a flow chart to identify how those various functions interact.
Startup
Writing a business plan requires that you give some thought to how your business will operate, including how you will create your product or service, how you will market it, sell it, deliver it, and how you will manage the administrative tasks involved. Create a detailed roadmap of how your company will move through this process and expand it to facilitate growth of your business. As a startup you should give consideration to installing an enterprise resource planning, or ERP, software system that will link your supply chain management system, inventory records, sales transactions, accounting software and human resource records. This will make it easier to view all functions of your organization in the form of condensed daily reports and will provide comprehensive historical reports that will assist in operations planning.
Ongoing
Use your ERP system to identify blockages in the operations flow of your company or, if you do not have such a system installed, meet regularly with your department heads to review how each department works synergistically with other departments and how that synergy translates into smooth efficient operations throughout your enterprise. Communications and cooperation between departments are key to operational efficiency. Plan for variable business scenarios and evaluate the response capabilities of your administrative staff to production, sales and delivery needs. Where operations usually break down is in the order processing and accounting functions when the business flow overwhelms the department capabilities.
Continuity
An important part of your operations plan is contingency planning, which deals with disruptions from natural disasters, emergency or crisis situations that include fires and electrical outages, terrorist attacks and the death or disability of key personnel. This is an operational or business continuity plan and should include a list of procedures to be taken under various crisis scenarios, contact information for all department managers and key personnel, contact information for outside emergency assistance services and all insurance and banking information. Include several people who will function as coordinators with full authority to make decisions.
Benefits
Detailed organizational planning projects often serve to reveal inefficiencies that have developed as your company has grown. They also act as catalyst to new business development ideas. Regular attention to operations planning assures efficiency of your operations and will enable a quick return to profitable business activities in the event of a natural disaster or crisis situation.
Considerations

Involve all managers and key personnel in your operations plan project and set up an employee suggestion system. The main goal of your planning is to identify realistic workable flow of procedures and processes throughout your company, and often your low level employees are the best source of information about how well your operations really work.


A perfect example of operational planning.

Pitz Orpiano

He is a blogger and a college student. Out of mere interest, he write articles and blogs for the common good.

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