Introduction to

Strategic Planning
Goals, Mission, and Vision

Marc Compeau and Mike Wasserman
Wednesday, 6/23/04
Welcome!
Tonights Agenda
1. Brief Overview of the MSB101 Program,
Introductions (5:30-6:00)
2. Introduction to Strategic Planning for Small
Business Success: Goals, Vision, Mission, and
Strategies (6:00-6:15)
3. Goal Setting: Be SMART! (6:15-6:30)
4. Break (6:30-6:45)
5. Vision Statement (6:45-7:00)
6. Mission Statement (7:00-7:15)
7. A Quick Look at Strategies and Resources
(7:15-7:25)
8. Wrap-up and a Next Week Peek (7:25-7:30)


A question for you:
Why do some small business
succeed and some fail?
Strategic Planning: These are decisions
you make about investing resources
TODAY in order to maximize
performance in the FUTURE.

Example?
Strategic planning is one key
element.

What is strategic planning?
1. Start with goals what do I want out of my small
business?
2. Create a vision of what the business needs to
look like in order to accomplish your goals.
3. Create a mission to guide how you will serve
your stakeholders along the way.
4. Develop strategies to get you from where you
are now to where you want to be in the future.
Strategies require investments which means
budgets and timelines.
How do small businesses
undertake strategic planning?
Life is a series of investmentsyou make
decisions about where to spend your time
and energy. Give some thought to what
types of outcomes would make you happy.

Setting specific, measurable, assignable,
realistic, and time-bound (SMART) goals
leads to personal and business growth.
1. Goal Setting
Research shows that some goals are more likely to
be reached than others. Effective goals have 5
characteristics:
1. Specific: The goals should be focused and
detailed.
2. Measurable: The goals should have inputs and
outputs that can be identified and measured.
3. Assignable: The goals should be able to be
broken into tasks that can be given to specific
people.
4. Realistic: The goals should be achievable given
resource and time constraints.
5. Time-bound: The goals should have a time-
frame associated with it.
SMART GOALS
Effective goals are part of a process:

1. Set goals.
2. Determine costs and benefits of goal
achievement
3. Establish measurement tools
4. Periodically reassess and adjust goals as
needed
5. Enjoy achievement of goals
6. Set new goals
A goal setting process
As an individual, do you have goals? Where do you
want to be a year from now? Five years from
now? Ten years from now?

What types of investments do you need to make to
accomplish your goals?

Are you on a trajectory to accomplish your goals? If
not, what changes do you need to make to
accomplish your goals? (priorities, environment,
etc.)

Questions to ponder
Goals are a big part of the strategy processonce
you have your goals set, here is a typical
strategy process:
a) Assess your current business position (honestly!)
b) Assess your desired future position this is your
vision statement.
c) How will you treat stakeholders? This is your
mission statement
d) Develop specific strategies (products, services,
business processes, location, pricing, marketing,
people, etc).
e) Identify resources will we need to get from current
to desired future position (and attain your
goals)? Create a budget and timeline.
From goals to strategies
Where are we?
Who are we serving (customers)?
Demographics, types of customers (business,
consumer, government)
What products and services are we offering?
Are we providing a good value for our
customers?
a) Assess your current position
On a piece of paper, answer the following questions:
Who are we serving (customers)?
What products and services are we offering?
Are we providing a good value for our
customers?
Learning Application
What do you believe the company should be?
How large and how broad do we need to get
to accomplish these goals?
How will we need to position ourselves against
rivals?
Link these back to goals:
In financial terms
We want to delivery 10% return on equity
We want to improve profit margins to 15%
In non-financial terms
We want to provide 98% customer satisfaction
We want to be the employer of choice for women and
minorities
We want to cut delivery time to 48 hours
b) Your desired future position: Vision
On a piece of paper, create a vision statement by
answering the following question:
What will my business look like in 5 years?
Learning Application: Vision
Stakeholders: People that have an interest in the
functioning and outcomes of your business:
Employees
Customers
Community
Shareholders/Owners
Mission: How will you treat your stakeholders in
accomplishing your goals?
Example:
c) How will you treat your stakeholders:
The Mission Statement
On a piece of paper, answer the following questions:
What exactly am I providing for:
Customers?
Employees?
Shareholders/Owners?
Community?
Learning Application: Mission
How large will we need to become?
How will we grow? (Acquisitions, alliances, internal
growth?)
How broad will our product/service line need to be?
How will we need to position ourselves against
rivals? (Premium features?, Better customer
service? Customization? Delivery time? Product
line variety? Equal but less expensive?)
How will we manage our costs?
d) Strategies: Decisions about size,
scope, and competitive position
1. Money
You will learn more about cash flow, the components
of income, company worth, and the importance of ratio
analysis in your cash flow session
2. Information
You will learn about the importance of data,
information, and knowledge and both the power and
limitations of IT as a communications medium in your
media planning and information technology sessions
3. People
Your employees are essential in providing customer
service, managing costs, building customer loyalty,
facilitating growth in your people management sector
e) Resources needed
Todays Key Points:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Next Week:
1.
2.
3.
Wrap-up/Next Week Peek