Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies 2nd Ed.

Making Everything Easier!

Erica Olsen

Publisher: Wiley, 2012, 358 pages

ISBN: 978-1-118-07777-1

Keywords: Strategy

Last modified: Sept. 17, 2013, 11:34 p.m.

The fast and easy way to think and act strategically.

Are you a business owner or management professional looking to weather current economic storms while planning for future growth? Providing practical, field-tested techniques and a complete 6-phase plan, Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies shows you how to make strategy a habit for all organizations, no matter the size, type, or resource constraints.

  • Strategic Planning 101 — get plain-English explanations of the who, how, why, and when of strategic planning
  • The nuts and bolts — discover your core DNA, identify your strategic issues, find your competitive advantage, and develop your mission, vision, and values
  • Collect your data — gather information that's critical for your strategic decision making, assess your business and its capabilities, and see your company through your customers' eyes
  • Pave a clear path — plan for the future, determine how to grow and be sustainable, and identify and evaluate opportunities
  • Introduction
    • About This Book
    • Conventions Used in This Book
    • What You're Not to Read
    • Foolish Assumptions
    • How This Book Is Organized
      • Part I Kicking Off Your Strategic Planning Process
      • Part II Determining Your Core DNA and Envisioned Future
      • Part III Sizing Up Your Current Situation
      • Part IV Mapping Your Organization's Path to the Future
      • Part V Living and Breathing Your Plan
      • Part VI The Part of Tens
    • Icons Used in This Book
    • Where to Go from Here
  • Part I: Kicking Off Your Strategic Planning Process
    1. What Is Strategic Planning Really?
      • Clearing Up the Confusion about Strategic Planning
        • Defining strategy
        • Understanding the importance of a strategic plan
        • Implementing the strategic management process
        • Identifying the components of a solid strategic plan
        • Answering the most frequently asked strategic planning questions
      • Identifying the Levels of Strategic Management
      • Getting Acquainted with the Strategic Plan's Key Elements
        • Vision: Bringing things into focus
        • Strategy: Explaining the value you deliver
        • Goals and objectives: Empowering employees
        • Execution and evaluation: Ensuring success
      • Seeing the Signs: Why You Need This Book
    2. Why Strategic Planning Works
      • Strategic Planning Is Most Used Tool by Executives
      • Not Having a Plan Is Too Risky
      • A Plan Is Required to be a High Performer
        • What makes great companies great
        • What successful CEOs are spending their time on
      • Everyday Decisions Drive Long-Term Results
        • The day-to-day impact
        • The bottom-line impact
      • Agility Is a New Competitive Advantage
      • Everyone Is Part of Something Bigger
      • Tribal Knowledge Is Passed on to the Next Generation
      • You Can Clearly Explain (and Remember) Your Strategy
      • A Strategic Plan Eliminates Wasted Time and Money
    3. Getting Set Up for Successful Planning
      • Previewing the Elements of a Strategic Plan
        • Where are we now?
        • Where are we going?
        • How will we get there?
        • How will we measure our progress?
      • Before You Begin: Assessing Your Planning Readiness
        • Are we ready?
        • Is the climate right?
      • Taking a Look at the Strategic Planning Process and Time Frame
        • Phase 1 Determining your core purpose and envisioned future
        • Phase 2 Assessing your strategic position
        • Phase 3 Developing your strategies and priorities
        • Phase 4 Cascading your strategies to operations
        • Phase 5 Aligning your people and financial resources
        • Phase 6 Executing your plan
      • Selecting Your Planning Team
        • Getting everyone involved
        • Determining who's involved when
      • Going It Alone or Hiring a Facilitator
        • Running the planning sessions yourself
        • Using a facilitator
      • Smoothing Out Your Process
  • Part II: Determining Your Core DNA and Envisioned Future
    1. Identifying Your Strategic Issues
      • Reviewing What Happened Last Year
        • Recognizing what you achieved
        • Understanding why you failed
      • Evaluating Your Products and Services
        • Picking the winners
        • Dumping the losers
      • Putting Your Portfolio Together (In the Market Attractiveness Framework)
        • Evaluating market attractiveness and business strength
        • Creating your own matrix
      • Looking at Your Financial Performance
        • Understanding the financial dynamics of your business
        • Sorting out three-year trends
        • Trailing your numbers over 12 months
        • Evaluating your numbers
      • Seeing the Underlying Forces of Your Industry
      • Creating Your Short List of Strategic Issues
    2. Focusing on What You Do Best
      • Appreciating Your Competitive Advantage
        • Taking the 30-second competitive advantage challenge
        • Knowing what competitive advantage isn't
        • Realizing what competitive advantage is
        • Discovering why having a competitive advantage is so important
      • Uncovering Your Advantages
        • What's your distinct purpose?
        • How do you make money?
        • Why do customers buy from you?
      • Pinpointing Your Competitive Advantage
        • Perusing a few examples
        • Stating your competitive advantage succinctly
        • Putting your advantage to the test
        • Breaking away from the pack
      • Using Your Advantages Now
        • Implementing your advantages
        • Measuring your advantages
        • Putting your advantages in your plan
    3. Developing Your Mission, Values, and Vision
      • Building Your Strategic Foundation
      • Assessing Your Mission
        • Elements of an effective mission statement
        • Evaluating your current mission statement
        • Writing a new mission statement
      • Fine-tuning Your Organizational Values
        • Elements of effective organizational values
        • Creating or updating your organizational values
        • Acting on your organizational values
      • Visioning: Focusing in on Your North Star
        • Elements of an effective vision statement
        • Imagining your future mdash; vividly
        • Creating or updating your vision statement and vivid description
      • Futurecasting: Looking to the Future
        • Getting into the right frame of mind for futurecasting
        • Leaving your assumptions at the door
        • Working a strategic thinking exercise
      • Finalizing Your Strategic Foundation
  • Part III: Sizing Up Your Current Situation
    1. Assessing Your Business and Its Capabilities
      • Establishing a Starting Point: Identifying Your Business's Strategic Position
      • Evaluating Your Company's Capabilities
        • Human capital: Having the right people in the right positions
        • Organizational capital: Getting a feeling for your corporate culture
        • Knowledge capital: Knowing what you already know
      • Examining Your Resources
      • Processes: Connecting Your Capabilities and Resources
        • Operational processes
        • Customer management processes
        • Relationship management processes
        • Innovation processes
        • Other important process areas
      • Checking Your Profit Margins
        • Identifying cash creators
        • Detecting cash drains
    2. Seeing Your Business through Your Customers' Eyes
      • Getting to Know Your Most Valuable Customers
        • Identifying the 80/20 customer
        • Figuring out the lifetime value of your customers
      • Determining Why Your Customers Are Your Customers
        • Measuring satisfaction by the numbers
        • Obtaining feedback without using a survey
        • Spending time talking to your customers
      • Focusing on How You Deliver Value to Your Customers
        • Considering different business models
        • Using a business model to create value
        • Framing out your business model
    3. Researching the Market to Find New Customers
      • Gathering Information about New Markets
        • Identifying your information needs
        • Locating information sources
      • Creating Your Target Markets
        • Dividing your market into groups
        • Visualizing your target customer
      • Focusing on the Most Attractive Markets
        • Defining an attractive segment
        • Evaluating your target customer groups
      • Standing Out from the Crowd: Your Positioning Statement
        • Writing your positioning statements
        • Perusing examples of positioning statements
      • Reaching Your New Target Markets
        • The Four Ps: Neither a soul band nor a legume
        • The cycle of (product) life
      • Staying Market-Focused
        • Gathering relevant information
        • Sharing what you know
        • Responding to what you've discovered
      • Putting It All Together: Organizing Customer Information
    4. Identifying Your Opportunities and Threats
      • Starting Your SWOT Analysis
      • Seeing the Future
      • Finding Opportunities in Your Operating Environment
        • Identifying your economic indicators
        • Watching important social shifts
        • Staying on top of technology trends
        • Monitoring political winds
        • Flexing with demographic movements
      • Tracking Your Industry
        • Looming new competitors
        • Threatening substitute products
        • Bargaining power of suppliers
        • Bargaining power of buyers
        • Duking it out with your competitors
      • Analyzing Your Competition
        • Identifying your competitors
        • Gathering competitive intelligence
        • Isolating what you really need to know
        • Seeing the competitive field
      • Evaluating Your Market
      • Summarizing Your Opportunities and Threats
      • Finishing Your SWOT Analysis
  • Part IV: Mapping Your Organization's Path to the Future
    1. Strategizing for Growth and Sustainability
      • Understanding the Difference between Strategy and Tactics
        • Strategy versus tactics
        • The levels of strategies
      • Business Unit Level Strategies: Choosing Your Leading Strategic Focus
        • Applying your strengths to a business unit level strategy
        • Discovering why you don't want to be stuck in the middle
        • Choosing the right business unit level strategy for you
      • Market Level Strategies: Strategizing How to Grow
        • Concentrating on market penetration
        • Delivering with product development
        • Extending scope with market development
        • Stepping out with diversification
        • Deciding how to execute your growth strategy
      • Summarizing Your Selected Strategies
    2. Establishing Your Strategic Objectives, Goals, and Actions
      • Firming Up Your List of Strategic Alternatives
        • Paring down your SWOT
        • Identifying strategic alternatives
        • Sorting through your other alternatives
      • Evolving Alternatives into Priorities
        • Sorting out internal and external alternatives
        • Creating a short list of external priorities
        • Compiling a short list of internal priorities
        • Gut checking your priorities
      • Balancing Your Strategic Priorities
        • Financial priorities: If we succeed, how will we look to our shareholders?
        • Customer priorities: How do we provide value to our customers?
        • Internal priorities: What processes must we excel in to satisfy our customers?
        • Employee priorities: How must our organization grow and improve?
      • Turning Strategic Priorities into a Road Map for Your Vision
        • Finalizing your strategies
        • Writing your long-term strategic objectives
        • Making your short-term goals SMART
        • Mapping your strategy
        • Building your road map
      • Assembling Your Strategic Plan
      • Evaluating Your Strategic Plan
    3. Putting Your Plan into Action
      • Managing Performance with a Scorecard
        • Pegging your measures
        • Aiming at your targets
        • Building your scorecard
      • Cascading Goals to Annual Action Plans
        • Tips for cascading one level
        • Tips for cascading multiple levels
        • Getting down to cascading business
        • Avoiding land mines in cascading
      • Ensuring Your Plan Makes Cents
        • Estimating revenue and expenses
        • Contributing to the bottom line
        • Projecting your financial future
        • Forecasting with indicators
      • Making Your Plan a Living Document
        • Piecing out your plan by audience
        • Using a performance management system
  • Part V: Living and Breathing Your Plan
    1. Execute, Execute, Execute: Putting Your Plan to Work
      • So You Have a Plan — Now What?
        • Avoiding the pitfalls
        • Covering all your bases
        • Making sure you have the support
        • Determining your plan of attack
      • Holding People (Including Yourself) Accountable to the Process
        • Appointing a strategic plan manager
        • Syncing individual action plans with compensation
        • Coaching for achievement
      • Heartbeat of Your Management Process: Strategy Reviews
        • Understanding the difference between strategy and operational reviews
        • Holding effective strategy review meetings
        • Using a scorecard to measure progress
      • Mastering the Art of Communicating Strategy
        • Making sure everyone buys in
        • Rolling out the plan
        • Continuing communication
      • Keeping Your Plan Working for You
        • Accepting change — the only constant
        • Adapting your plan as necessary
    2. Scenario Planning: Answering the What Ifs
      • Grasping the Concept: What Is Scenario Planning?
      • Tackling Your Short-Term Uncertainties
        • Identifying immediate risks
        • Constructing possible alternative outcomes
      • Confronting Your Longer-Term Futures
        • Thinking about the big what ifs
        • Building alternative futures
        • Connecting scenarios to strategy
      • Considering Example Scenarios
        • Shell energy scenarios to 2050
        • Cisco's Internet scenarios to 2025
        • Chatham House's food futures scenarios
    3. Value-Creating Strategies for Entrepreneurial Organizations
      • Establishing an Owner's Vision
        • Knowing your true endgame
        • Deciding whether to publish your endgame
      • Creating a Sellable Business
        • Understanding what creates value
        • Valuing your business
      • Ensuring Your Business Continues after You Leave
        • Planning for transition
        • Considering how you want to exit your business
        • Preparing for a smooth exit
        • Gathering additional resources
    4. Sustainability for the Social Sectors
      • Moving from Profit to Sustainability
      • Getting Your Board on Board the Planning Effort
        • Defining the role of the policy board
        • Being tight on the ends and loose on the means
      • Planning for Government Entities
        • Recognizing how government planning works
        • Getting set up for government planning
        • Determining what sustainability means for government entities
      • Planning for Nonprofit Organizations
        • Redefining competition with the MacMillan Matrix
        • Mapping out nonprofit strategies
  • Part VI: The Part of Tens
    1. Chapter 18 Ten Tips to Keep Your Strategic Plan from Hitting the Shelf
      • Getting Everyone Involved from the Start
      • Deleting the Fluff
      • Appointing a Strategy Manager
      • Creating a Strategic Plan Poster (Real and Virtual)
      • Hooking Achievement into Incentives
      • Using a KISS
      • Holding a Monthly Strategy Meeting
      • Using a Scorecard
      • Leading by Example
      • Celebrating Your Success — Whenever You Feel Like It
    2. Ten Ways to Ruin Your Strategy Meetings and How to Avoid Them
      • Refusing to Use a Facilitator
      • Neglecting to Conduct Any Research Before the Meeting
      • Inviting Everyone
      • Holding an Annual Retreat
      • Getting through the Agenda No Matter What
      • Forgetting to Explain the Process
      • Assuming Everyone Thinks Like You
      • Ignoring the Elephant in the Room
      • Ending on a Low Note
      • Overlooking Life after the Meeting
    3. Ten Ways to Maintain Momentum in Your Planning Process (And Life)
      • Create Your Picture of Success and Make It a Reality
      • Pick a BHAG
      • Eliminate Your Energy Drains and Recharge Yourself
      • Conquer Your Fears — Concentrate and Be Brave
      • Take Control of Your Finances
      • Create a Brain Trust
      • Find the Time
      • Highlight Small Wins
      • Let the Process Evolve
      • Be Committed

Reviews

Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies

Reviewed by Roland Buresund

Mediocre **** (4 out of 10)

Last modified: Sept. 17, 2013, 11:34 p.m.

Too low-level to be of any use to an experienced practitioner, too lacking of references for an MBA-student, and too high-level to be useful for an inexperienced beginner.

In short, not totally bad, but nothing to write home about.

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