Strategic Planning Software

Strategic Planning Software
for
Family Businesses

Strategic planning software can help answer this question:

What is the Secret To A Successful Family Business?

"The answer, of course, is Knowing and Understanding how the values of the family drive the strategic planning process for the family and the family business!" suggests Don Schwerzler a leading family business expert and the founder of the Atlanta-based Family Business Institute

It is important to understand that strategic planning for a family business should be a two step process to accommodate what we call the "dualism dynamic".

Simply put, if a family business owner wants to be successful doing strategic planning for the family business, FIRST develop a strategic plan for the family. In other words, the strategic planning process for the family should be driving the strategic planning process for the family's business.

Strategic planning is a process for a business family to more clearly define the purpose of the business, define the goals and objectives of the business, and to determine the best strategy for implementation. Strategic planning software and other technology resources can be useful tools to organize the planning process.

Key Priorities - strategic planning will ensure the resources of the family business targets objectives that yield the highest return on the investment of people, time and money.

Building Consensus – strategic planning will help determine the best way to grow the company, increase profitability and to increase shareholder value.

Team Building – strategic planning provides a family business with a clearer focus that will enable management to become more efficient and more effective

Professionalizing the Management Style – strategic planning will help move the business from a “seat of the pants” family business to a better organized and a "smarter" run business.

Succession Management – strategic planning for the family and the business are the best strategies to increase the odds for a family business to successfully transition to the next generation of leadership and ownership.

Business Continuity – strategic planning provides a management template should the owner of the business die or become incapacitated. Having a strategic plan and a formal succession plan in place that has been approved by the family will ensure the family business will be better positioned to survive catastrophic events.

Strategic planning is a simple and straight forward success strategy for every family business. Strategic planning software and other technology resources can be simple to use and affordable -- and they save time!!!

Unfortunately, for many family-owned businesses,“fighting fires” is how priorities are determined. But operating a business by “fighting fires” robs the business owner of the time and energy needed to take the business to a higher performance level – to reach the true potential of the business.

98% of all businesses in the industrial world are small businesses (25 employees or less).

90% of all small businesses do not practice any form of strategic planning.

87% of small businesses fail every year.

(US Small Business Administration)

Some alarming facts for family business owners.

While family businesses contribute about 60% to the GNP, research indicates that only about 30% of family business successfully transition to the second generation; only about 12% successfully transition to the third generation; and only about 3% successfully transition to the forth generation!

BOTTOM LINE - The lack of strategic planning is one of the main causes of business failure.

The major reason family business owners attribute to not engaging in strategic planning is "a lack of time to devote to planning".

Second, that traditional strategic planning methodologies "are designed for very large companies and overly complex for my business".

Third, the business owner was "not able to see the benefits" of the strategic planning process.

But "the times they are a-changing..."

At a recent family business workshop, Schwerzler made an interesting observation - comparing the CHANGES technology has made for the business owner to spend more time working "on" their family business (creating the infra-structure necessary to grow the business) rather than just working "in" their family business.

A generation or two ago, a significant amount of time was spent preparing and cooking the family meals. That has dramatically changed because of technology.

The next time you visit a grocery store, check out all of the frozen food options that can help reduce the amount of time spent in meal preparation.

One of the earlier meal prep options was "Hamburger Helper" - dinner in a box! There are now over 60 "flavors" of that popular item.

In the past few years Campbell soup has added a number of "starters" for making soups, stews and dinners - all designed to save food preparation time and to maximize flavor.

There is a new option for family businesses that can save time and produce significant results - FLEVY.

Facinating Interview with FLEVY Founder -- David Tang

FLEVY offers "business short-cuts" that can help a business owner be more successful. They offer a huge number of document and presentation templates that are easy to use, proven to produce results - and very affordable!

FLEVY - take time to check it out!