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What is the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan.

It is not uncommon that the terms ‘strategic plan’ and ‘business plan’ get confused in the business world. While a strategic plan is a type of business plan, there are several important distinctions between the two types that are worth noting. Before beginning your strategic planning process or strategy implementation, look at the article below to learn the key difference between a business vs strategic plan and how each are important to your organization.

Definition of a business plan vs. a strategic plan

A strategic plan is essential for already established organizations looking for a way to manage and implement their strategic direction and future growth. Strategic planning is future-focused and serves as a roadmap to outline where the organization is going over the next 3-5 years (or more) and the steps it will take to get there.

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A strategic plan serves 6 functions for an organization that is striving to reach the next level of their growth:.

• Defines the purpose of the organization.
• Builds on an organization’s competitive advantages.
• Communicates the strategy to the staff.
• Prioritizes the financial needs of the organization.
• Directs the team to move from plan to action.
• Creates long-term sustainability and growth impact

Alternatively, a business plan is used by new businesses or organizations trying to get off the ground. The fundamentals of a business plan focus on setting the foundation for the business or organization. While it looks towards the future, the focus is set more on the immediate future (>1 year). Some of the functions of a business plan may overlap with a strategic plan. However, the focus and intentions diverge in a few key areas.

A business plan for new businesses, projects, or organizations serves these 5 functions:

• Simplifies or explains the objectives and goals of your organization.
• Coordinates human resource management and determines operational requirements.
• Secures funding for your organization.
• Evaluates potential business prospects.
• Creates a framework for conceptualizing ideas.

In other words, a strategic plan is utilized to direct the momentum and growth of an established company or organization. In contrast, a business plan is meant to set the foundation of a newly (or not quite) developed company by setting up its operational teams, strategizing ways to enter a new market, and obtaining funding.

A strategic plan focuses on long-term growth and the organization’s impact on the market and its customers. Meanwhile, a business plan must focus more on the short-term, day-to-day operational functions. Often, new businesses don’t have the capacity or resources to create a strategic plan, though developing a business plan with strategy elements is never a bad idea.

Business and strategic plans ultimately differ in several key areas–timeframe, target audience, focus, resource allocation, nature, and scalability.

While both a strategic and business plan is forward-facing and focused on future success, a business plan is focused on the more immediate future. A business plan normally looks ahead no further than one year. A business plan is set up to measure success within a 3- to 12-month timeframe and determines what steps a business owner needs to take now to succeed.

A strategic plan generally covers the organizational plan over 3 to 5+ years. It is set with future expansion and development in mind and sets up roadmaps for how the organization will reach its desired future state.

Pro Tip: While a vision statement could benefit a business plan, it is essential to a strategic plan.

Target Audience

A strategic plan is for established companies, businesses, organizations, and owners serious about growing their organizations. A strategic plan communicates the organization’s direction to the staff and stakeholders. The strategic plan is communicated to the essential change makers in the organization who will have a hand in making the progress happen.

A business plan could be for new businesses and entrepreneurs who are start-ups. The target audience for the business plan could also be stakeholders, partners, or investors. However, a business plan generally presents the entrepreneur’s ideas to a bank. It is meant to get the necessary people onboard to obtain the funding needed for the project.

A strategic plan provides focus, direction, and action to move the organization from where they are now to where they want to go. A strategic plan may consist of several months of studies, analyses, and other processes to gauge an organization’s current state. The strategy officers may conduct an internal and external analysis, determine competitive advantages, and create a strategy roadmap. They may take the time to redefine their mission, vision, and values statements.

Alternatively, a business plan provides a structure for ideas to define the business initially. It maps out the more tactical beginning stages of the plan.

Pro Tip: A mission statement is useful for business and strategic plans as it helps further define the enterprise’s value and purpose. If an organization never set its mission statement at the beginning stages of its business plan, it can create one for its strategic plan.

A strategic plan is critical to prioritizing resources (time, money, and people) to grow the revenue and increase the return on investment. The strategic plan may start with reallocating current financial resources already being utilized more strategically.

A business plan will focus on the resources the business still needs to obtain, such as vendors, investors, staff, and funding. A business plan is critical if new companies seek funding from banks or investors. It will add accountability and transparency for the organization and tell the funding channels how they plan to grow their business operations and ROI in the first year of the business.

The scalability of a business plan vs. strategic plan

Another way to grasp the difference is by understanding the difference in ‘scale’ between strategic and business plans. Larger organizations with multiple business units and a wide variety of products frequently start their annual planning process with a corporate-driven strategic plan. It is often followed by departmental and marketing plans that work from the Strategic Plan.

Smaller and start-up companies typically use only a business plan to develop all aspects of operations of the business on paper, obtain funding and then start the business.

Why understanding the differences between a business plan vs a strategic plan matters

It is important to know the key differences between the two terms, despite often being used interchangeably. But here’s a simple final explanation:

A business plan explains how a new business will get off the ground. A strategic plan answers where an established organization is going in the future and how they intend to reach that future state.

A strategic plan also focuses on building a sustainable competitive advantage and is futuristic. A business plan is used to assess the viability of a business opportunity and is more tactical.

10 Comments

I agree with your analysis about small companies, but they should do a strategic plan. Just check out how many of the INC 500 companies have an active strategic planning process and they started small. Its about 78%,

Strategic management is a key role of any organization even if belong to small business. it help in growth and also to steam line your values. im agree with kristin.

I agree with what you said, without strategic planning no organization can survive whether it is big or small. Without a clear strategic plan, it is like walking in the darkness.. Best Regards..

Vision, Mission in Business Plan VS Strategic Plan ?

you made a good analysis on strategic plan and Business plan the difference is quite clear now. But on the other hand, it seems that strategic plan and strategic management are similar which I think not correct. Please can you tell us the difference between these two?. Thanks

Thank you. I get points to work on it

super answer Thanking you

Hi. I went through all the discussions, comments and replies. Thanks! I got a very preliminary idea about functions and necessity of Strategic Planning in Business. But currently I am looking for a brief nice, flowery, juicy definition of “Business Strategic Planning” as a whole, which will give anyone a fun and interesting way to understand. Can anyone help me out please? Awaiting replies…… 🙂

that was easy to understand,

Developing a strategic plan either big or small company or organization mostly can’t achieve its goal. A strategic plan or formulation is the first stage of the strategic management plan, therefore, we should be encouraged to develop a strategic management plan. We can develop the best strategic plan but without a clear plan of implementation and evaluation, it will be difficult to achieve goals.

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Business plan vs Strategic Plan - What You Must Know

Like everything else in life, the nature of business needs a plan in place to follow and measure. Crafting a strategic roadmap isn't just a suggestion—it's a necessity.

This is one of the key elements of a startup or even a business division within an organization that is expanding or diversifying. It has every resource element and needs to be mapped out for the business, including projected milestones for the future.

However, every business strategist needs to know that there are some subtle differences between what constitutes a business plan, and the several differences it has with a strategic plan. Let’s walk through the different elements that comprise each and understand the outcome each aims to achieve.

Introducing The Business Plan

A business plan is exactly what the name suggests— a plan to start and run a business or a new entity of an existing business; usually either an expansion in a newer region or a diversification into a new market. Business plans are mainly created for internal reference purposes or external funding purposes, with the latter being the common usage. They form the basis of all business strategies and decisions made at the ownership level in an organization. The most essential components of a business plan include:

Organizational Plan - This is the core of a business plan, and it includes the mission and vision statement, along with the market in which the company plans to operate. This plan also encompasses thorough market research to gauge the potential of the business, crucial for securing funding or sponsorship. It articulates the rationale behind the business's growth trajectory, outlining clear timelines for achieving milestones along the way.

Financial Plan - A robust financial plan is the bedrock of any successful business venture, where cash flow reigns supreme, and a meticulously crafted balance sheet serves as the ultimate scorecard. A financial plan includes some of the most important elements of the entire business plan and includes elements like projected cash flow statements, capital requirements, a summary of projected overheads, a projected balance sheet including assets and liabilities, and income and expense statements.

Remember to regard this as the central nervous system, for it permeates and influences almost every aspiration the enterprise hopes to attain.

Sales and Marketing Plan - We mentioned “almost” everything above for this very reason. Sales and marketing form the other significant component of the business plan. These include sales forecasts and overheads, marketing and brand management summaries, and market share projections that the business hopes to achieve within a time frame.

Business plans are indeed comprehensive and all-encompassing. They form the basis of the business's existence or the rationale for investments in it. But what about translating these plans into action? How do we ensure that the sky-high goals set forth are actually achievable?

The Actionables- A Strategic Plan

Strategic plans constitute the basis of operations and responsibilities within the business. These plans lay the paths out for each member of the organization to follow and define the functional outline and the key outcomes for every project and process within the business. A strategic plan goes on to define the operations and their outcomes within the organization, its departments, and its employees. The single thread connecting strategic planning with the business plan is the vision of the organization, and for obvious reasons— vision serves as the guiding light for strategy formation, which, in turn, directs the day-to-day operations of the business.

Why A Strategic Plan is Crucial to The Organization

In a word— synchronization. A robust and well-laid-out strategic plan establishes the much-needed sync between teams and their objectives. Not only that, it also provides a guide for daily operations alongside the focus and direction that teams often need to get the job done, on time and within budget. When all these components are integrated into a cohesive network, the true value of a strategic plan emerges—a seamless and grand orchestration of departments, teams, and individuals using the resources allocated to them to achieve the key performance indicator that they are responsible for.

Elements to Consider in a Strategic Plan

When tasked with creating a strategic plan for your business, you will need to incorporate certain components that will ensure that the stakeholders are aligned completely with the organization’s goals and objectives. These include:

Vision and Values - The vision statement is the most important component of the strategic plan and the most overarching. It propels the organization towards established goals and the values that every employee and stakeholder must incorporate.

Goals - These are short, medium, or long-term, depending on the scope of the strategic plan. They provide the much-needed context for the organization to undertake initiatives that meet the vision while maintaining the values.

Guiding Principles - Often, organizations face crossroads where they must decide which steps to take next, to reach their vision. Principles are included in strategic plans to align teams towards the vision when faced with a dilemma and form a critical part of strategic planning.

Action Plans - A sum of key initiatives, processes, and projects that are required to be performed on a pre-determined periodic basis for the goal to be accomplished. These also include the time frames for each stakeholder responsible for each option. They usually follow the DACI format for each action (Driver, Approver, Contributor, Informed)

SWOT Analysis - The quintessential component, the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis of the strategic plan lends context to all business actions vis-a-vis the external environment. This includes competitors, market forces and conditions, identification of internal and external threats, and several other factors.

Read This - SWOT Analysis: How to Strengthen Your Business Plan

Here’s a table highlighting the main differences between a Business Plan and a Strategic Plan with a focus on the key components of each—

Learning All About Strategic Planning

In all businesses, a strategic plan serves as the foundational blueprint, akin to a meticulously drawn map for a general. It provides the essential guidance and direction needed for the entire organization to navigate toward success. It is crucial, therefore, to acquire the necessary skills and certifications for employment as a business strategist who would be entrusted with creating it. Know more about how to become a successful and sought-after business strategist today!

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What is the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

3-minute read

Business plans are often confused with strategic plans, but they’re not the same thing. Every company should have both types of plan, and it’s important to know the differences between them so your business to benefit from both.

“A business plan describes the foundations of a company, its owners, its capabilities, the industry and market(s) in which it operates, how it generates revenues and its financial projections,” says Jérôme Côté, a Business Advisor with BDC’s Advisory Services who counsels companies on strategic planning.

“A strategic plan assesses the current environment of a business, both internally and externally. It establishes future goals and targets and describes the strategies it will implement to reach them.”

In other words, a business plan describes a current business or a specific new project. A strategic plan talks about how you want to change your company to grow or be ready for the future.

At a glance: Business plan vs. strategic plan

Noah Parsons

5 min. read

Updated October 27, 2023

Many business owners know and understand the value of a business plan.  The business plan is a key component  of the startup and fundraising process and serves as a foundation for your organization. However, it only tells part of the story. To get the whole picture and have a framework on which to build your business you also need a strategic plan and an operational plan.

• What is a business plan?

In its simplest format, a  business plan  describes the “who” and the “what” of your business. It lays out who is running the business and what the business does. It describes the products and services that your business sells and who the customers are. 

• What is a strategic plan?

A  strategic plan  looks beyond the basics of a business plan to explain the “how”. It explains the long-term goals of the business and how it expects to achieve those goals over the long term. A strategic plan explores future products and services that your business might offer and target markets that you might expand into. The plan explains your strategy for long-term growth and expansion.

• What is an operational plan?

An operation plan zooms into the details of your business to explain how you are going to  achieve your short-term goals . It is the “when” and “where” of your planning process. The operational plan covers the details of marketing campaigns, short-term product development, and more immediate goals and projects that will happen within the next year.

• What is the difference between a strategic plan and a business plan?

First, let’s look at the difference between a business and a strategic plan. For review:

A  business plan  covers the “who” and “what” of the business. The  strategic plan  gives us long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there, providing a long-term view.

In broader terms, the business plan tells us who by showing us:

• Who is running the business? What makes them qualified? What do they bring to the table that adds value?
• Who is the competition? What do they offer and what makes you different?
• Who is your customer? How big is the market? Where are they? What do they want and how will you give it to them? Also, how will you connect with your market?

The business plan answers the “what” by telling us:

• What the business provides and how it’s provided. 
• Product, services, and operations are all explained so that readers understand how customer needs are met.

The strategic plan, on the other hand, outlines long term goals and the “how”, focusing on the following:

• Where will the business be in 3, 5, or even 10 years?
• How will you expand to offer different products and services over time?
• Will your market and industry change over time and how will your business react to those changes?
• How will you grow your market and reach new customers?
• What needs to happen so you can achieve your goals? What resources do you need to get there?
• How will you measure success? What metrics matter and how will you track them?

So, your business plan explains what you are doing right now. Your strategic plan explains long-term aspirations and how you plan to transition your business from where it is today to where you want it to be in the future. The strategic plan helps you look more deeply into the future and explains the key moves you have to make to achieve your vision.

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• What is the difference between strategic planning and operational planning?

While strategic planning looks at the long term and explains your broad strategies for growth, an operational plan looks at the short term. It explains the details of  what your business is going to do  and when it’s going to do it over the next twelve months or so. An operational plan covers details like:

• What activities need to happen to achieve your business goals?
• When will each activity take place, who will do it, and when do you need to reach specific milestones?
• How will your business operate? What suppliers will you work with? When do you need to have them in place?
• What marketing campaigns will you run and what will they cost?
• What investments will you make in your products and services this year?

The bottom line, your operational plan is the short-term action plan for your business. It’s the tasks, milestones, and steps needed to drive your business forward. Typically an operational plan provides details for a 1-year period, while a strategic plan looks at a  3-5 year timeline , and sometimes even longer. The operational plan is essentially the roadmap for how you will execute your strategic plan.

• How to use your business plan for strategic development and operations

A great business plan can encompass both the basic plans for the business, the long-term strategic plan, and the near-term operational plan. Using a lean planning method, you can tackle all three phases of planning and make the process easy to review and revise as your business grows, changes, and adapts.

Start with a simple plan

The lean planning methodology starts with a simple,  30-minute business plan  that outlines the fundamentals of your business: who you are, what you are doing, and who your customers are. It’s a great way to provide a brief overview of your business.

Expand your plan

From there, you can expand your plan to include your longer-term strategy. Adding greater detail to elements of the plan to explain long-term goals, milestones, and how your products and services will change and expand over time to meet changing market conditions.

Finally, your lean plan will cover  financial forecasts  that include monthly details about the short-term revenue and expenses, as well as longer-term annual summaries of your financial goals, including profitability and potential future loans and investments.

• Use your business plan to manage your business

Regardless of the type of plan, you are working on, you need a team of players on hand to help you plan, develop, and execute both the operational and strategic plans. Remember, your business needs both to give it a clear foundation and a sense of direction. As well as to assist you with identifying the detailed work that has to happen to help you reach your long-term goals. 

Learn how  LivePlan  can help you develop a business plan that defines your business, outlines strategic steps, and tracks ongoing operations. You can easily share it with your team and all of the right stakeholders, explore scenarios and update your plan based on real-world results. Everything you need to turn your business plan into a tool for growth.

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

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Strategy vs. Plan: Understanding the Key Differences

When it comes to achieving success, whether in business, personal growth, or any other area, it’s essential to understand the difference between a strategy and a plan. These terms are often used interchangeably, but they serve different purposes and play unique roles in reaching goals. In this post, we’ll explore the key differences between strategy vs plan, how they work together, and offer practical tips for aligning the two effectively.

Strategy vs Plan: Definitions

A plan and strategy are not the same thing, and understanding the differences is crucial to effective decision-making. Let’s delve into the definitions of these terms.

What is a Strategy

Strategy is your long-term vision. It sets out the broad, overarching goals and helps position you or your organization competitively. It answers the big questions like “what” you want to achieve and “why” it matters. Essentially, a strategy provides a roadmap, guiding the direction and making sure that efforts and resources are aligned with the desired outcomes.

A strategy is crucial for providing direction and ensuring all efforts are aligned with long-term goals. It sets the stage for detailed planning by outlining what needs to be achieved and why it matters. Whether in business, personal development, or any other area, having a clear strategy helps you navigate uncertainties and focus on what truly matters.

Key characteristics of a strategy

• Long-term vision : Strategies are focused on long-term goals. They’re not about what you’ll do next week or next month, but rather where you want to be in several years.
• Broad goals : A strategy outlines broad, overarching goals rather than specific actions. These goals set the direction for your efforts.
• Competitive positioning : In business, a strategy often involves figuring out how to stand out from competitors. This could mean offering something unique, targeting a specific market, or using your strengths to your advantage.
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• Guiding framework : Strategies provide a framework for making decisions. They help ensure that every action you take moves you closer to your big-picture goals.

Examples of strategy

• Business : A company might have a strategy to become the leader in sustainable products. This could involve investing in green technologies, adopting eco-friendly practices, and promoting sustainability as a core value.
• Military : A country’s defense strategy might focus on maintaining strong air power to ensure security and deter potential threats.
• Personal : An individual might develop a strategy to become a top expert in their field. This could include continuous learning, networking, and sharing knowledge to build a strong reputation.

What is a Plan

A plan is a detailed outline of the steps you need to take to achieve a specific goal. It breaks down your strategy into actionable tasks, specifying what needs to be done, how it will be done, and when it should be completed. Essentially, a plan is your roadmap for turning big-picture ideas into concrete actions.

A plan is essential for translating your strategy into action. By following a well-structured plan, you can manage your time effectively, stay organized, and make steady progress toward your objectives. Whether you’re managing a project, organizing an event, or planning your daily tasks, a clear plan is your roadmap to success.

Key characteristics of a plan

• Detailed steps : A plan provides a clear, step-by-step guide on how to accomplish your goals. It breaks down the big tasks into smaller, manageable pieces.
• Short to medium-term focus : Plans are often designed to be completed over weeks, months, or a few years. They are more immediate than long-term strategies.
• Specific actions and timelines : Plans include detailed instructions and set deadlines for each task. They outline who will do what, when, and how.

Examples of plans

• Project management : A project plan outlines the tasks, deadlines, and resources needed to complete a project. It might include timelines, milestones, and responsibilities for team members. Get more Project Plan Templates and Project Schedule Templates .
• Event planning : An event plan details all the logistics for hosting an event. This includes the schedule, venue, catering, guest list, and any other specifics needed to ensure the event runs smoothly. Learn more about Event Planning .
• Daily routines : A daily plan lists the tasks you need to accomplish each day. It helps you manage your time effectively and ensures you stay on track with your larger goals.

Key Differences Between a Strategy and Plan

While a strategy and plan are closely related and often work together, they serve different purposes and operate on different levels. Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:

How to Choose Between a Strategy and Plan

Choosing between a strategy and a plan depends on the context, the nature of your goals, and the stage of your project or initiative.

Determine your time frame and scope

• Choose a Strategy if you need to set a long-term vision and overarching goals. Strategies are about where you want to go in the future and why it’s important.

Example : A startup looking to disrupt the tech industry with innovative solutions over the next five years.

• Choose a Plan if you need to outline specific actions and steps to achieve immediate or short-term goals. Plans are about how to get things done in the near future.

Example : A company planning the launch of a new product within the next six months.

Identify your focus and purpose

• Choose a Strategy if your focus is on defining broad objectives and setting the overall direction.

Example : A non-profit organization aiming to expand its impact on global education over the next decade.

• Choose a Plan if your focus is on detailing specific tasks, timelines, and resources needed to accomplish a particular goal.

Example : A non-profit organizing a fundraising event next month, detailing logistics, roles, and schedules.

Assess the level of detail needed

• Choose a Strategy if you need to establish high-level goals and a guiding framework for decision-making.

Example : A corporation developing a strategy to enhance sustainability practices across all operations.

• Choose a Plan if you need to create a detailed roadmap with specific steps and timelines.

Example : The same corporation planning specific initiatives like reducing carbon footprint by 20% in the next year.

Consider flexibility and adaptability

• Choose a Strategy if you need a flexible framework that can adapt to changing circumstances and guide long-term decisions.

Example : A business strategy that allows for pivoting based on market trends and technological advancements.

• Choose a Plan if you need a concrete execution roadmap that outlines precise actions and deadlines.

Example : A project plan for developing a new software application, with detailed phases and milestones.

Evaluate measurement and evaluation needs

• Choose a Strategy if you want to measure overall progress toward broad, long-term goals.

Example : Measuring the success of a five-year strategy to expand into international markets by tracking overall market share growth.

• Choose a Plan if you need to evaluate the completion of specific tasks and milestones.

Example : Tracking the completion of each phase of a construction project against the planned schedule and budget.

Practical Steps to Decide

• Define your goal : Clearly understand whether your goal is long-term and broad or short-term and specific.
• Analyze the context : Consider the context in which you are operating. Are you setting a vision for the future or implementing immediate actions?
• Consult stakeholders : Discuss with team members or stakeholders to understand their perspectives and needs.
• Review resources : Assess the resources available, including time, budget, and personnel, to determine whether you need a high-level strategy or a detailed plan.

How Do Strategy & Planning Relate to One Another?

Strategy and planning are closely related, working together to help individuals and organizations achieve their goals. While they serve different purposes, their relationship is complementary and interdependent. Here’s how they connect and support each other:

Strategy sets the direction

Strategy provides the overall direction and long-term vision. It defines where you want to go and why it’s important. Without a clear strategy, efforts can become scattered and unfocused.

Example : A company’s strategy might be to become a leader in renewable energy solutions. This broad goal guides all future decisions and efforts.

Planning details the path

Planning breaks down the strategic vision into actionable steps. It outlines how to achieve the strategic goals through specific actions, timelines, and resources. Plans provide a detailed roadmap for reaching the strategic objectives.

Example : To achieve the strategy of leading in renewable energy, the company might create a plan to develop new solar technology, invest in research and development, and enter new markets within the next two years.

Strategy informs planning

The strategy informs the planning process by setting the priorities and providing a framework for what needs to be accomplished. It makes sure that the plans are aligned with the overall goals and direction.

Example : If a strategy prioritizes customer satisfaction, the plans will focus on enhancing customer service, improving product quality, and gathering customer feedback.

Planning implements strategy

Planning is the execution phase where the strategic vision is translated into specific actions. It involves creating detailed plans that outline the steps needed to achieve the strategic goals.

Example : A detailed marketing plan might include launching a new advertising campaign, hosting events, and leveraging social media to reach new customers, all aligned with the strategy to expand market presence.

Feedback loop and adaptation

There’s a continuous feedback loop between strategy and planning. As plans are implemented, the results provide insights that may lead to adjustments in the strategy. Similarly, changes in strategy may require updates to the plans.

Example : If market research reveals a new trend, the company might adjust its strategy to capitalize on this trend, and subsequently update its plans to include new product developments and marketing efforts.

Monitoring and evaluation

Both strategy and planning involve monitoring and evaluation. The success of a strategy is assessed by the overall progress toward long-term goals, while the success of a plan is measured by the completion of specific tasks and milestones. This dual evaluation ensures that both the strategic vision and the detailed plans are on track.

Example : Regular reviews might show that the company is on track to become a market leader in renewable energy (strategy) by successfully launching new products and entering new markets (plan).

How to Streamline Planning and Strategizing with Creately

Creately is packed with features that make planning and strategizing efficient and effective.

Extensive template library

Creately offers a comprehensive library of templates that cater to various planning and strategizing needs. These templates serve as a starting point, saving you time and ensuring you include all necessary elements.

• Strategic planning templates : SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, balanced scorecard
• Project planning templates : Gantt chart, project timeline, work breakdown structure (WBS)
• Business planning templates : Business model canvas, lean canvas, financial projections
• Marketing planning templates : Marketing plan, customer journey map, competitive analysis matrix
• Process mapping templates : Flowcharts, swimlane diagrams, value stream mapping

Collaborative workspace

Creately’s collaborative features allow multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously, making it easy to gather input, discuss ideas, and make real-time updates.

• Real-time collaboration : Team members can edit and comment on diagrams at the same time.
• Sharing options : Easily share documents via links or invite collaborators directly.
• Feedback and annotations : Use comments and annotations to provide feedback and discuss changes.

Drag-and-drop interface

The intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to create and customize diagrams. This feature is particularly useful for those who may not have advanced technical skills but need to create professional-looking plans and strategies.

• Ease of use : Quickly add, move, and adjust elements on your diagram.
• Customization : Modify shapes, colors, and text to fit your specific needs easily with the quick toolbar.

Built-in visual collaboration tools

Improve brainstorming and strategic discussions with visual tools that help teams think creatively and stay aligned.

• Mind maps : Create mind maps to brainstorm ideas and organize thoughts.
• Kanban boards : Visualize tasks and workflows to manage projects and processes efficiently.
• Flowcharts : Map out processes and decision flows to clarify strategies and plans.

Understanding the differences between strategy and plan is key to success. A well-defined strategy provides the vision and direction, while a detailed plan translates that vision into actionable steps. By recognizing the unique roles of each and ensuring they are effectively integrated, you can achieve your goals with greater clarity and efficiency. Balancing strategy and planning, and continuously aligning them, is the cornerstone of successful execution in any endeavor.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

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Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

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Business Plan Vs Strategic Plan: What’s the Difference?

Business Plan Template

• May 6, 2024

Strategic and business plans are both different sides of the same coin! Some entrepreneurs use it interchangeably but they have a significant difference.

Now the question might arise, when to use which, and what is the difference, right?

Worry not—we’re here to guide you through it all. In this article, we’ll learn the differences between a business and a strategic plan, understand their meanings, and know how to use them effectively.

So, let’s kick-start this journey by exploring a business plan vs. strategic plan . Get ready to unlock everything about both!

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a written document that outlines a company’s goals, timeline, finances, and strategies for achieving them. It provides a roadmap for the future of your business.

Generally, it includes sections such as an executive summary, company description, market analysis, products & services, financial plan, and much more. Your business plan is a must-have document when it comes to securing funds for your business.

Okay! And what about the strategic plan?

What is a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan is a document that communicates an organization’s vision, mission, and core values. It focuses more on specifics about how a business will operate and generate profits.

Strategic plans are typically long-term documents, covering a period of three to five years or more, and are used to guide decision-making and resource allocation within the organization.

Key Difference Between a Business Plan and Strategic Plan

It was all about the basic definition of business and strategic plan. Now, let’s compare them side-by-side to understand their use case, and how they are distinct from each other:

Level of detail

A business plan is usually considered a granular and in-depth document. It outlines the tactics and actions necessary to achieve operational objectives. Business plans are usually 15-30 pages long .

A strategic plan typically provides a high-level overview of the organization’s goals and the strategies to achieve them without going deep into the business operations. Strategic plans are generally 10-15 pages long, but the length depends on various factors of the business.

Time horizon

A business plan focuses on a shorter time frame, often one to three years, and is more operational. It focuses on things like product development, marketing strategies, financial projections, etc.

A strategic plan answers the questions related to a longer time frame, usually five or more years. It sets the direction of the company for the future by mentioning the mission, vision, and objectives.

Audience and use

A business plan is primarily used to attract investors, bankers, or partners for securing funding or partnership.

Whereas, internal members, such as senior management or a board of directors, use a strategic plan to guide decision-making.

A business plan explains all the sections like market analysis, products & services, management team, target market, sales & marketing strategies, financial projections, and more.

While a strategic plan has a vision statement, mission statement, core values, action plans, and more. Some of the strategic planning models are SWOT analysis , PESTLE (political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental) analysis, Porter’s five forces, and more.

Entrepreneurs and startups use business plans to create a strategy to build a successful business. It is used for assessing how marketable a business idea is and also helps them gauge how they can get the funding to turn this idea into reality.

Established companies use the strategic plan to give them a clear direction for where they want the company to change or develop.

For instance, decisions like changing the products they provide or moving into a nonprofit can be made with the help of a strategic plan.

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Now that we know the key differences between strategic and business planning, let us understand the common pitfalls. 

Common Pitfalls in Execution

Despite the benefits of business planning as well as the strategic planning process , organizations often face many challenges in their strategy implementation. Here are some common pitfalls:

Disparity between strategy and execution:  Without effective execution, even the strategic plan that is the most well-crafted may fail to give results.

Lack of alignment:  Failure to align the business plan with strategic objectives often results in missed opportunities and misallocation of resources.

Inadequate marketing analysis:  Insufficient analysis of external factors leads to missed opportunities or strategic blind spots that can cause more harm to a company.

To overcome these challenges, organizations need to foster a culture of communication, continuous improvement, and collaboration.

The Bottom Line

There is no one-fits-all solution when it comes to this decision! Choosing between a business and a strategic plan solely depends on the needs & objectives of your business.

Moreover, know this planning is not a one-time process! As your business evolves and external factors change, you will need to revise your plans accordingly.

A business and a strategic plan are crucial for guiding any organization to success. By using both methods effectively, businesses can navigate uncertainties, achieve steady growth, and grab opportunities in a constantly changing business world.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which comes first, strategy or business plan.

Before making a business plan, you should create a strategic plan. A business should know all its long-term growth goals before actually defining how to reach them.

So, first, create a strategic plan, then a business plan, and then edit both of them when needed according to the circumstances.

Can a business plan be used for a strategic plan?

No, both are different. While a business plan details the operational and financial aspects of a business, a strategic plan defines goals and the strategies to achieve them. Therefore, serving different purposes, a business plan can not be used to make a strategic plan.

Is there a sample business plan or strategic plan template available online?

Yes, there are many sample business plans and strategic plan templates available online. You can find such templates on:

• Upmetrics – An AI-powered business plan software
• Small Business Administration Website
• SCORE business plans

Do I need both a business and strategic plan?

Yes, both a business plan and a strategic plan are essential for a company’s growth. A business plan focuses on the initial stages of a business, aiming to get it started. In contrast, a strategic plan focuses on the business’s distant goals and strategies to achieve them.

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Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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• Strategic planning vs business planning: how they’re both key to success

Any thriving hospitality business needs thorough planning to make sure it succeeds. If you’ve heard the terms business planning and strategic planning, you might think they’re interchangeable, but they’re actually two distinct things companies need at different times for continued success.

The biggest difference is that business plans are mostly used when you are starting to build a business so you can quickly and smoothly create your vision. Strategic planning is what existing companies use to grow and improve their businesses.

If you’re looking for a career in hospitality management, it’s important to know the difference between the two and how to use them to best effect. In this article, we’ll go over what strategic planning and business planning are and how they are important to running a successful hospitality business.

We’ll also look at how you can learn to harness different planning methods and get the skills needed to develop your career.

Business planning

A business plan is one of the first things a fledgling business will draft. Alternatively, it can be used to set business goals when launching a new product or service.

The business plan will usually look at short-term details and focus on how things should run for around a year or less. This will include looking at concepts such as:

• What the business idea is
• Short-term goals
• Who your customers are
• What your customers need
• What investment or financing you will need to start your business
• How you make revenue
• What profitability to expect
• How you can appeal to potential shareholders
• What the short-term operational needs of the business are
• What the company’s values are
• What the budget is for different parts of the business

This means market analysis and research are vital when you are making a business plan.

What are the objectives of business planning?

The primary objective of a business plan is to have all the main details of your business worked out before you start. This will give you a roadmap to use when you launch your business or when you start offering a different product or service.

For example, if you wanted to become an event planner   and open your own event planning business, your plan might include how to get funds to rent an office and pay staff.

Strategic planning

A strategic plan is where you set out the company’s goals and define the steps you will need to take to reach those goals.

A strategic plan would include:

• What current capabilities the company has
• Making measurable goals
• A full strategy for business growth
• How the company’s values, mission and vision tie in with the services and products the company intends to offer
• Who in the organization will handle certain roles
• What the timeline is for reaching certain goals
• A SWOT analysis, looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the company
• Examining the external environment for factors that will affect your company using a PEST (political, economic, social and technological) analysis

A strategic plan can be a long-term blueprint. You might find you use basically the same strategic plan for several years.

What is the objective and strategy of planning?

The aim of a strategic plan is to provide a tool that allows you to improve your business, grow the company, streamline processes or make other changes for the health of your business. Strategy implementation and meeting strategic objectives should generally lead to growth.

What is the difference between business planning and strategic planning?

There are a few major differences between strategic planning and business planning, which are outlined below.

Scope and time frame

A strategic plan is usually long-term, typically covering at least two to five years. By contrast, a business plan usually covers a year or less, since this is roughly how long it usually takes for a business to become established.

A business plan focuses on starting a business in its early stages. A strategic plan is used to guide the company through later stages. Put simply, the business plan is about direction and vision, while the strategic plan focuses on operations and specific tactics for business growth.

Stakeholders

A strategic plan will be presented to stakeholders and employees to make sure everyone knows what is going on in the company. This will help reassure everyone with a stake or role in the business.

By comparison, a business plan will often be shown to investors or lenders to help show the business idea is worth funding.

Flexibility and adaptability

A strategic plan typically has more flexibility. This is because it is meant to be in place for a longer period of time and the company should already be established. There is more leeway for refining strategy evolution, while your business plan should remain stable.

Similarities between business planning and strategic planning

Both of these activities will require some of the same analytical components, such as market analysis, financial projections and setting objectives you can track. Of course, both also require you to be highly organized and focused to ensure your business model or strategy development is appropriate for your business.

When to use strategic planning vs business planning

As we’ve already mentioned, you’ll generally use a business plan when you’re setting up a business or moving in a new direction. This will dictate much of the day-to-day running of a business. You would use strategic planning when you want to work on growth and drive innovation.

Can a business plan be used for strategic planning?

No, a business plan and a strategic plan are two different concepts with specific goals. While a business plan outlines short or mid-term goals and steps to achieve them, a strategic plan focuses on a company’s mid to long-term mission and how to accomplish this.

If you want to prepare for success, you need to make sure you are using the right type of plan.

Integrating strategic planning and business planning

While the two plans are different, you may end up using them together to ensure optimal success. As with any type of management role, such as hotel management , strategic and business plan management requires effective communication between different departments.

This includes different strategy managers as well as strategic and operational teams. You also need to make sure that, when you are using either plan, you find the right balance between flexibility and strict adherence to the plan. With strategic planning, this means constant strategy evaluation to assess your tactics and success.

Can strategic planning and business planning be used simultaneously?

In many hospitality careers ,  you’ll want to juggle growth and new directions, so you could end up using both planning types. However, it’s most common for the two to be distinct. This is because you’ll generally be using a business plan only when you are starting a new venture.

What are the career prospects in strategic and business planning?

There are plenty of options for what you can do if you have skills in strategic planning and business planning. Almost every management role will require these planning skills, including how to write strategic planning documents and measure success.

If you want to work in the hospitality sector, you could look into hotel planning and other careers with a business management degree . These will enable you to grow and nurture a business, but there is also a lot of scope to start your own business. Great planning skills can give you a real competitive advantage.

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What skills do I need for a career in planning?

If you want to work in planning and management, you should work on various skills, such as:

• Decision-making
• Analytical skills
• Risk assessment knowledge
• Market analysis and forecasting
• Team management
• Communication, both written and verbal
• Organization

What qualifications can help with a career in strategic planning or business planning?

If you want to work in hotel planning and management, the most common route is to get a hospitality degree from a well-respected hospitality school in Switzerland . This will help you get the skills and knowledge you need to properly plan businesses as well as handle the execution of these plans.

Business degrees also teach you many transferable skills, such as good communication with your strategy team or data analysis, that you can use in almost any role in hospitality. They can also reduce the need to work your way up through the hospitality industry.

How can hospitality school help with planning careers?

Attending hospitality school can help you learn skills dedicated to hospitality as well as more general management, business and planning skills. This includes everything from how to handle a team to specifics such as hotel revenue management strategies .

If you find a hospitality school offering professional hospitality internships , you’ll also get experience in managing hotels and hospitality venues, helping you leap ahead in your career.

Hospitality degrees to kickstart your career

Our international business course combines leading industry expertise with essential internships to provide an exceptional foundation for a thriving career in the hospitality industry.

Both strategic and business planning are vital to build and grow a business. While business planning focuses on setting up the business and handling investment, vision and overall goals, strategic planning concentrates on growing the business and processing operational efficiency and resource allocation on a longer-term basis.

If you want to learn how to develop a hotel business plan  or manage a hospitality venue, one of the best ways to get started is to study for a hospitality degree. This will give you hands-on experience of the strategic planning process or business management as well as the skills you need to succeed.

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Business Plan vs. Strategic Plan: What’s the Difference?

by Ken D. Foster | Jul 26, 2023 | Business

A business plan and a strategic plan are both essential frameworks for any type of business. Whether you want to start your business or grow your existing one, formulating these plans is necessary to achieve your business goals.

A business plan and a strategic plan serve different purposes and focus on various aspects of a business. In this article, let’s explore the differences between the two.

Table of Contents

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a comprehensive framework that outlines a company’s vision, mission, and goals, as well as how they plan to achieve them. It is usually created when starting a new business or making significant changes to an existing business.

A business plan helps business owners and management to stay focused on their objectives.

What Is a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan, on the other hand, is a long-term, high-level framework that outlines a company’s strategic direction and goals. It focuses on defining a company’s vision and implementing strategies to achieve it. A strategic plan is made for an extended period, usually five years.

A strategic plan is developed by a company’s owners, top-level executives, and board members.

Difference Between Business Plan and Strategic Plan

Here are the differences between a business plan and a strategic plan.

Key Elements of a Business Plan

• Company Description: Detailed information about a company’s history, mission, and objectives.
• Executive Summary: A concise overview of the entire business plan, highlighting the most critical points.
• Products (Or Services): A description of the product or services offered by a company. 
• Market Analysis: Analysis of the target market, industry trends, and competitors.
• Marketing and Sales Strategy: An overview of how a company intends to market and sell its products.
• Operational Plan: Details about the day-to-day operations, resources, and logistics.
• Financial Projections: Forecasted financial statements, including revenue, expenses, and cash flow.

Key Elements of a Strategic Plan

• Vision and Mission: Detailed information about the purpose and aspirations of a company. It should also include the core values of a company. 
• SWOT Analysis: An assessment of a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• Strategic Goals: The objectives that a company aims to achieve in the long term. The goals set should be specific and measurable. 
• Strategic Initiatives: The actions a company should undertake to achieve its strategic goals. Make sure to also formulate the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track progress. 
• Resource Allocation: Identifies the necessary financial, human, and technological resources for implementing the goals. 

A business plan is a comprehensive framework that provides a detailed roadmap for the entire business, while a strategic plan is a high-level framework that focuses on defining the long-term direction and objectives of the company. Both plans are vital for business success and should complement each other to make a company achieve its goals.

If you want help to frame a business plan or strategic plan for growing your company, book a coaching session with Ken D Foster . Ken has over 35 years of experience in personal and business development. He can help you define your company’s vision and accelerate its growth.

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• Effective Strategic Plans and Business Plans: Understanding the Difference Between

by Waymaker | Jul 25, 2023

Defining Strategic Plans and Business Plans

What is a strategic plan, what is a business plan, key components of strategic plans and business plans, elements of a strategic plan, elements of a business plan, the purpose and goals of the strategic plan and the business plan, the purpose of a strategic plan, the purpose of a business plan, the planning process: strategic plans vs. business plans, developing a strategic plan, developing a business plan, the role of stakeholders in each plan, stakeholder involvement in strategic plans, stakeholder involvement in business plans.

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In the world of business, the terms strategic plans and business plans are often used interchangeably. However, there are significant differences between these two types of plans that are important for entrepreneurs and business leaders to understand.

Before delving into the differences between strategic plans and business plans, it’s important to define each term.

A strategic plan is a long-term plan that outlines an organization’s goals and objectives and the actions needed to achieve them. It typically covers a three to five-year time period and focuses on broad, high-level initiatives that will position the organization for success in the future.

Strategic planning is a crucial process for any organization that wants to succeed in today’s competitive business environment. It allows organizations to identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and to develop a plan of action that will help them achieve their long-term goals.

During the strategic planning process, organizations typically conduct a thorough analysis of their internal and external environments. This includes an assessment of their current strengths and weaknesses, as well as an analysis of the market, competition, and other external factors that could impact their success.

Based on this analysis, organizations develop a set of strategic objectives and initiatives that will help them achieve their long-term goals. These initiatives may include expanding into new markets, developing new products or services, or investing in new technologies.

A business plan , on the other hand, is a detailed plan that outlines the steps a company will take to achieve its short-term goals and to operate on a daily basis. It typically covers a one to three-year time period and includes detailed financial projections, marketing plans, and operational strategies.

A business plan is a critical tool for any entrepreneur or small business owner who wants to succeed. It allows them to identify their target market, develop a marketing strategy, and create a roadmap for achieving their financial goals.

When developing a business plan, entrepreneurs typically begin by conducting market research to identify their target market and assess the competition. They then develop a marketing strategy that will help them reach their target market and differentiate themselves from the competition.

In addition to marketing, a business plan also includes detailed financial projections that outline the company’s revenue and expenses over the next one to three years. This allows entrepreneurs to identify potential financial challenges and develop strategies to overcome them.

Finally, a business plan includes operational strategies that outline how the company will operate on a day-to-day basis. This includes everything from hiring and training employees to managing inventory and fulfilling orders.

In conclusion, while both strategic plans and business plans are important tools for organizations and entrepreneurs, they serve different purposes. Strategic plans focus on long-term goals and broad initiatives, while business plans focus on short-term goals and daily operations.

Strategic plans and business plans are essential tools for any organization looking to achieve long-term success. While both plans share some common elements, they differ in their focus and level of detail.

A strategic plan is a comprehensive document that outlines an organization’s long-term goals and objectives. Key components of a strategic plan include:

• Mission Statement:  This statement defines the organization’s purpose and values, and provides a framework for decision-making.
• Vision Statement:  This statement describes the organization’s long-term aspirations and what it hopes to achieve in the future.
• Objectives:  These are specific, measurable goals that the organization aims to achieve within a set timeframe.
• Strategies:  These are the broad approaches that the organization will take to achieve its objectives.
• Tactics:  These are the specific actions that the organization will take to implement its strategies.

By outlining these key components, a strategic plan provides a roadmap for the organization to follow as it works towards its long-term goals.

A business plan is a detailed document that outlines how a company will achieve its short-term and long-term goals. While it shares some elements with a strategic plan, a business plan is more focused on the day-to-day operations of the business. Key components of a business plan include:

• Executive Summary:  This is a brief overview of the entire business plan, highlighting the key points and goals.
• Market Analysis:  This section provides an in-depth look at the industry and market in which the company operates.
• Marketing and Sales Strategies:  These are the specific tactics that the company will use to promote and sell its products or services.
• Operational Plans:  This section outlines the day-to-day operations of the business, including staffing, production, and logistics.
• Financial Projections:  This section provides detailed financial projections, including revenue, expenses, and profit margins.
• Funding Requirements:  This section outlines the company’s funding needs and how it plans to secure financing.

By including these key components, a business plan provides a detailed roadmap for the company to follow as it seeks to achieve its goals and grow its operations.

Overall, both strategic plans and business plans are essential tools for any organization looking to achieve long-term success. By outlining clear goals and strategies, these plans provide a framework for decision-making and help ensure that the organization stays focused on its long-term objectives.

Strategic plans and business plans are both essential tools for any organization. They provide a clear roadmap for achieving goals and ensuring long-term success. While the two plans are similar in some ways, they serve different purposes and have different goals.

A strategic plan is a high-level document that outlines an organization’s long-term goals and objectives. It provides a roadmap for achieving those goals and helps to align the entire organization around a shared vision. The purpose of a strategic plan is to provide a framework for making strategic decisions that will move the organization closer to its desired future state.

Developing a strategic plan requires careful consideration of an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It involves analyzing market trends, assessing the competition, and identifying potential risks and challenges. The end result is a comprehensive plan that outlines the steps necessary to achieve the organization’s long-term goals.

One of the key benefits of a strategic plan is that it helps to ensure that everyone in the organization is working towards the same goals. By creating a shared vision and providing a clear roadmap for achieving it, a strategic plan can help to align the efforts of all employees, departments, and stakeholders.

A business plan is a detailed document that outlines an organization’s short-term goals and objectives. It provides a roadmap for achieving those goals and helps to define the company’s market niche, outline its marketing and sales strategies, and determine the funding needed to cover startup costs and ongoing expenses.

The purpose of a business plan is to provide a clear and comprehensive plan for achieving the organization’s short-term goals. This includes identifying potential customers, outlining marketing and sales strategies, and determining the resources needed to launch and maintain the business.

Developing a business plan requires careful research and analysis. This includes assessing the market demand for the product or service, analyzing the competition, and identifying potential risks and challenges. The end result is a detailed plan that outlines the steps necessary to launch and grow the business.

One of the key benefits of a business plan is that it helps to ensure that the organization is well-prepared for the challenges of starting and growing a business. By providing a clear roadmap for achieving short-term goals, a business plan can help to minimize risks and increase the chances of success.

Strategic plans and business plans are both essential tools for any organization. While they serve different purposes and have different goals, they both provide a clear roadmap for achieving success. By developing a comprehensive strategic plan and a detailed business plan, organizations can ensure that they are well-prepared for both short-term and long-term success.

Planning is an essential part of any successful business, but the planning process can differ significantly depending on the type of plan being developed. Strategic plans and business plans have different goals, and therefore require different approaches to planning.

Use Waymaker Academy to learn how to build your business plan.

A strategic plan is a long-term plan that outlines an organization’s goals and objectives, and the strategies it will use to achieve them. Developing a strategic plan typically involves a lengthy planning process that includes input from a wide range of stakeholders, such as executives, employees, customers, and shareholders. The planning process may involve conducting research and analysis to identify opportunities and threats in the market, as well as the organization’s strengths and weaknesses.

The strategic plan should be reviewed and updated annually to ensure it remains relevant and aligned with the organization’s goals. This process may involve revisiting the organization’s mission and vision statements, as well as assessing the progress made towards achieving the goals outlined in the plan. 

One of the key benefits of a strategic plan is that it provides a clear direction for the organization, helping to align everyone around a common set of goals and objectives. It also helps to ensure that resources are being allocated in the most effective way possible, and that the organization is able to adapt to changes in the market.

A business plan, on the other hand, is a shorter-term plan that outlines the company’s goals and objectives for the next one to three years. The process of developing a business plan typically involves a smaller team of stakeholders focused on executing the company’s short-term goals.

The business plan may also include input from investors, lenders, and other external stakeholders who have a vested interest in the company’s success. This may involve presenting financial projections, market analysis, and other data to demonstrate the viability of the business.

One of the key benefits of a business plan is that it provides a roadmap for the company’s short-term goals, helping to ensure that everyone is working towards the same objectives. It also helps to identify potential risks and challenges, and provides a framework for measuring progress and making adjustments as needed.

Overall, both strategic plans and business plans are important tools for any organization. By taking the time to develop a clear plan, companies can ensure that they are working towards their goals in the most effective way possible.

Stakeholder involvement plays a key role in both strategic plans and business plans, although the level and type of involvement can vary depending on the plan.

Stakeholder involvement is critical in the development of a strategic plan, as it ensures that all parties have a voice in shaping the organization’s future. This involvement also helps to build consensus around the organization’s goals and the strategies needed to achieve them.

Stakeholder involvement in a business plan may be more limited, as the focus is on executing short-term goals rather than shaping the organization’s long-term future. However, investors and lenders may play a significant role in the development of a business plan, as they provide funding and have a vested interest in the success of the company.

While strategic plans and business plans share some common elements, they serve very different purposes and are designed to achieve different goals. By understanding the differences between these two plans, entrepreneurs and business leaders can better plan for the future, execute their short-term goals, and position their organizations for long-term success.

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What is strategic planning? A 5-step guide

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. In this article, we'll guide you through the strategic planning process, including why it's important, the benefits and best practices, and five steps to get you from beginning to end.

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. The strategic planning process informs your organization’s decisions, growth, and goals.

Strategic planning helps you clearly define your company’s long-term objectives—and maps how your short-term goals and work will help you achieve them. This, in turn, gives you a clear sense of where your organization is going and allows you to ensure your teams are working on projects that make the most impact. Think of it this way—if your goals and objectives are your destination on a map, your strategic plan is your navigation system.

In this article, we walk you through the 5-step strategic planning process and show you how to get started developing your own strategic plan.

How to build an organizational strategy

Get our free ebook and learn how to bridge the gap between mission, strategic goals, and work at your organization.

What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is a business process that helps you define and share the direction your company will take in the next three to five years. During the strategic planning process, stakeholders review and define the organization’s mission and goals, conduct competitive assessments, and identify company goals and objectives. The product of the planning cycle is a strategic plan, which is shared throughout the company.

What is a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is the end result of the strategic planning process. At its most basic, it’s a tool used to define your organization’s goals and what actions you’ll take to achieve them.

Typically, your strategic plan should include: 

Your company’s mission statement

Your organizational goals, including your long-term goals and short-term, yearly objectives

Any plan of action, tactics, or approaches you plan to take to meet those goals

What are the benefits of strategic planning?

Strategic planning can help with goal setting and decision-making by allowing you to map out how your company will move toward your organization’s vision and mission statements in the next three to five years. Let’s circle back to our map metaphor. If you think of your company trajectory as a line on a map, a strategic plan can help you better quantify how you’ll get from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be in a few years).

When you create and share a clear strategic plan with your team, you can:

Build a strong organizational culture by clearly defining and aligning on your organization’s mission, vision, and goals.

Align everyone around a shared purpose and ensure all departments and teams are working toward a common objective.

Proactively set objectives to help you get where you want to go and achieve desired outcomes.

Promote a long-term vision for your company rather than focusing primarily on short-term gains.

Ensure resources are allocated around the most high-impact priorities.

Define long-term goals and set shorter-term goals to support them.

Assess your current situation and identify any opportunities—or threats—allowing your organization to mitigate potential risks.

Create a proactive business culture that enables your organization to respond more swiftly to emerging market changes and opportunities.

What are the 5 steps in strategic planning?

The strategic planning process involves a structured methodology that guides the organization from vision to implementation. The strategic planning process starts with assembling a small, dedicated team of key strategic planners—typically five to 10 members—who will form the strategic planning, or management, committee. This team is responsible for gathering crucial information, guiding the development of the plan, and overseeing strategy execution.

Once you’ve established your management committee, you can get to work on the planning process. 

Step 1: Assess your current business strategy and business environment

Before you can define where you’re going, you first need to define where you are. Understanding the external environment, including market trends and competitive landscape, is crucial in the initial assessment phase of strategic planning.

To do this, your management committee should collect a variety of information from additional stakeholders, like employees and customers. In particular, plan to gather:

Relevant industry and market data to inform any market opportunities, as well as any potential upcoming threats in the near future.

Customer insights to understand what your customers want from your company—like product improvements or additional services.

Employee feedback that needs to be addressed—whether about the product, business practices, or the day-to-day company culture.

Consider different types of strategic planning tools and analytical techniques to gather this information, such as:

A balanced scorecard to help you evaluate four major elements of a business: learning and growth, business processes, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.

A SWOT analysis to help you assess both current and future potential for the business (you’ll return to this analysis periodically during the strategic planning process). 

To fill out each letter in the SWOT acronym, your management committee will answer a series of questions:

What does your organization currently do well?

What separates you from your competitors?

What are your most valuable internal resources?

What tangible assets do you have?

What is your biggest strength? 

Weaknesses:

What does your organization do poorly?

What do you currently lack (whether that’s a product, resource, or process)?

What do your competitors do better than you?

What, if any, limitations are holding your organization back?

What processes or products need improvement? 

Opportunities:

What opportunities does your organization have?

How can you leverage your unique company strengths?

Are there any trends that you can take advantage of?

How can you capitalize on marketing or press opportunities?

Is there an emerging need for your product or service? 

What emerging competitors should you keep an eye on?

Are there any weaknesses that expose your organization to risk?

Have you or could you experience negative press that could reduce market share?

Is there a chance of changing customer attitudes towards your company? 

Step 2: Identify your company’s goals and objectives

To begin strategy development, take into account your current position, which is where you are now. Then, draw inspiration from your vision, mission, and current position to identify and define your goals—these are your final destination. 

To develop your strategy, you’re essentially pulling out your compass and asking, “Where are we going next?” “What’s the ideal future state of this company?” This can help you figure out which path you need to take to get there.

During this phase of the planning process, take inspiration from important company documents, such as:

Your mission statement, to understand how you can continue moving towards your organization’s core purpose.

Your vision statement, to clarify how your strategic plan fits into your long-term vision.

Your company values, to guide you towards what matters most towards your company.

Your competitive advantages, to understand what unique benefit you offer to the market.

Your long-term goals, to track where you want to be in five or 10 years.

Your financial forecast and projection, to understand where you expect your financials to be in the next three years, what your expected cash flow is, and what new opportunities you will likely be able to invest in.

Step 3: Develop your strategic plan and determine performance metrics

Now that you understand where you are and where you want to go, it’s time to put pen to paper. Take your current business position and strategy into account, as well as your organization’s goals and objectives, and build out a strategic plan for the next three to five years. Keep in mind that even though you’re creating a long-term plan, parts of your plan should be created or revisited as the quarters and years go on.

As you build your strategic plan, you should define:

Company priorities for the next three to five years, based on your SWOT analysis and strategy.

Yearly objectives for the first year. You don’t need to define your objectives for every year of the strategic plan. As the years go on, create new yearly objectives that connect back to your overall strategic goals . 

Related key results and KPIs. Some of these should be set by the management committee, and some should be set by specific teams that are closer to the work. Make sure your key results and KPIs are measurable and actionable. These KPIs will help you track progress and ensure you’re moving in the right direction.

Budget for the next year or few years. This should be based on your financial forecast as well as your direction. Do you need to spend aggressively to develop your product? Build your team? Make a dent with marketing? Clarify your most important initiatives and how you’ll budget for those.

A high-level project roadmap . A project roadmap is a tool in project management that helps you visualize the timeline of a complex initiative, but you can also create a very high-level project roadmap for your strategic plan. Outline what you expect to be working on in certain quarters or years to make the plan more actionable and understandable.

Step 4: Implement and share your plan

Now it’s time to put your plan into action. Strategy implementation involves clear communication across your entire organization to make sure everyone knows their responsibilities and how to measure the plan’s success. 

Make sure your team (especially senior leadership) has access to the strategic plan, so they can understand how their work contributes to company priorities and the overall strategy map. We recommend sharing your plan in the same tool you use to manage and track work, so you can more easily connect high-level objectives to daily work. If you don’t already, consider using a work management platform .  

A few tips to make sure your plan will be executed without a hitch: 

Communicate clearly to your entire organization throughout the implementation process, to ensure all team members understand the strategic plan and how to implement it effectively. 

Define what “success” looks like by mapping your strategic plan to key performance indicators.

Ensure that the actions outlined in the strategic plan are integrated into the daily operations of the organization, so that every team member's daily activities are aligned with the broader strategic objectives.

Utilize tools and software—like a work management platform—that can aid in implementing and tracking the progress of your plan.

Regularly monitor and share the progress of the strategic plan with the entire organization, to keep everyone informed and reinforce the importance of the plan.

Establish regular check-ins to monitor the progress of your strategic plan and make adjustments as needed. 

Step 5: Revise and restructure as needed

Once you’ve created and implemented your new strategic framework, the final step of the planning process is to monitor and manage your plan.

Remember, your strategic plan isn’t set in stone. You’ll need to revisit and update the plan if your company changes directions or makes new investments. As new market opportunities and threats come up, you’ll likely want to tweak your strategic plan. Make sure to review your plan regularly—meaning quarterly and annually—to ensure it’s still aligned with your organization’s vision and goals.

Keep in mind that your plan won’t last forever, even if you do update it frequently. A successful strategic plan evolves with your company’s long-term goals. When you’ve achieved most of your strategic goals, or if your strategy has evolved significantly since you first made your plan, it might be time to create a new one.

Build a smarter strategic plan with a work management platform

To turn your company strategy into a plan—and ultimately, impact—make sure you’re proactively connecting company objectives to daily work. When you can clarify this connection, you’re giving your team members the context they need to get their best work done. 

A work management platform plays a pivotal role in this process. It acts as a central hub for your strategic plan, ensuring that every task and project is directly tied to your broader company goals. This alignment is crucial for visibility and coordination, allowing team members to see how their individual efforts contribute to the company’s success. 

By leveraging such a platform, you not only streamline workflow and enhance team productivity but also align every action with your strategic objectives—allowing teams to drive greater impact and helping your company move toward goals more effectively. 

Strategic planning FAQs

Still have questions about strategic planning? We have answers.

Why do I need a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is one of many tools you can use to plan and hit your goals. It helps map out strategic objectives and growth metrics that will help your company be successful.

When should I create a strategic plan?

You should aim to create a strategic plan every three to five years, depending on your organization’s growth speed.

Since the point of a strategic plan is to map out your long-term goals and how you’ll get there, you should create a strategic plan when you’ve met most or all of them. You should also create a strategic plan any time you’re going to make a large pivot in your organization’s mission or enter new markets. 

What is a strategic planning template?

A strategic planning template is a tool organizations can use to map out their strategic plan and track progress. Typically, a strategic planning template houses all the components needed to build out a strategic plan, including your company’s vision and mission statements, information from any competitive analyses or SWOT assessments, and relevant KPIs.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. business plan?

A business plan can help you document your strategy as you’re getting started so every team member is on the same page about your core business priorities and goals. This tool can help you document and share your strategy with key investors or stakeholders as you get your business up and running.

You should create a business plan when you’re: 

Just starting your business

Significantly restructuring your business

If your business is already established, you should create a strategic plan instead of a business plan. Even if you’re working at a relatively young company, your strategic plan can build on your business plan to help you move in the right direction. During the strategic planning process, you’ll draw from a lot of the fundamental business elements you built early on to establish your strategy for the next three to five years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. mission and vision statements?

Your strategic plan, mission statement, and vision statements are all closely connected. In fact, during the strategic planning process, you will take inspiration from your mission and vision statements in order to build out your strategic plan.

Simply put: 

A mission statement summarizes your company’s purpose.

A vision statement broadly explains how you’ll reach your company’s purpose.

A strategic plan pulls in inspiration from your mission and vision statements and outlines what actions you’re going to take to move in the right direction. 

For example, if your company produces pet safety equipment, here’s how your mission statement, vision statement, and strategic plan might shake out:

Mission statement: “To ensure the safety of the world’s animals.” 

Vision statement: “To create pet safety and tracking products that are effortless to use.” 

Your strategic plan would outline the steps you’re going to take in the next few years to bring your company closer to your mission and vision. For example, you develop a new pet tracking smart collar or improve the microchipping experience for pet owners. 

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. company objectives?

Company objectives are broad goals. You should set these on a yearly or quarterly basis (if your organization moves quickly). These objectives give your team a clear sense of what you intend to accomplish for a set period of time. 

Your strategic plan is more forward-thinking than your company goals, and it should cover more than one year of work. Think of it this way: your company objectives will move the needle towards your overall strategy—but your strategic plan should be bigger than company objectives because it spans multiple years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a business case?

A business case is a document to help you pitch a significant investment or initiative for your company. When you create a business case, you’re outlining why this investment is a good idea, and how this large-scale project will positively impact the business. 

You might end up building business cases for things on your strategic plan’s roadmap—but your strategic plan should be bigger than that. This tool should encompass multiple years of your roadmap, across your entire company—not just one initiative.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a project plan?

A strategic plan is a company-wide, multi-year plan of what you want to accomplish in the next three to five years and how you plan to accomplish that. A project plan, on the other hand, outlines how you’re going to accomplish a specific project. This project could be one of many initiatives that contribute to a specific company objective which, in turn, is one of many objectives that contribute to your strategic plan. 

What’s the difference between strategic management vs. strategic planning?

A strategic plan is a tool to define where your organization wants to go and what actions you need to take to achieve those goals. Strategic planning is the process of creating a plan in order to hit your strategic objectives.

Strategic management includes the strategic planning process, but also goes beyond it. In addition to planning how you will achieve your big-picture goals, strategic management also helps you organize your resources and figure out the best action plans for success. 

Related resources

How Asana streamlines strategic planning with work management

How to create a CRM strategy: 6 steps (with examples)

What is management by objectives (MBO)?

Write better AI prompts: A 4-sentence framework

Business Plan vs. Strategic Plan: Understanding Differences

By T. Leigh Buehler   |  07/05/2024

In a competitive business environment, strategic planning stands as a foundation for success. For students studying business or entrepreneurial programs, understanding the principles and practices of a strategic plan is essential.

Understanding strategic planning equips future business leaders with the ability to distribute resources efficiently, manage potential risks, and sustain competitive advantages. Knowing how to conduct strategic planning equips students with the knowledge and skills needed to successfully navigate the complexities of running a business.

However, many potential entrepreneurs and future business leaders struggle with understanding the difference between business plans and strategic plans. These are two basic, but fundamentally different, documents that play a pivotal role in guiding an organization toward its goals.

While both documents share the common objective of charting a course for success, they serve two distinct purposes that cater to different stages of a company's lifecycle. Understanding the differences between these two plans is critical for budding entrepreneurs and business-minded individuals alike.

So, let's dive in and unravel the intricacies of the business plan versus the strategic plan.

The Business Plan: Laying the Foundation

Some of you may already have great ideas for a new business venture. You may be eager to turn your vision into reality.

But where do you begin? Enter the business plan – think of it as the blueprint for your business.

It details the nuts and bolts of your operation. You will use it to outline your product or service, to define your target market, and to begin crafting a marketing strategy. The business plan covers it all.

A business plan explains several critical aspects of a business. It serves as a roadmap for the business's development and operations. It helps to guide entrepreneurs through the initial stages of launching a business. It not only articulates the main mission and objectives, but it should delve into details like financial projections, operational logistics, and competitive analysis.

Understanding and addressing stakeholders' needs and expectations is important in a business plan. Stakeholders are individuals or groups that have an interest in the success and performance of a business. They can influence or be affected by the business's operations, objectives, and outcomes.

Let’s use an example to explore what a business plan focus should be. Say you're passionate about sustainability and want to start an eco-friendly fashion brand targeting environmentally-conscious consumers.

Your business plan would outline your brand's:

• Unique selling proposition (USP)
• Production processes using sustainable materials
• Pricing strategy
• Distribution channels
• Sales forecasts

Additionally, it would assess competitors in the market, identify potential risks, and propose all mitigation strategies.

An Example of a Business Plan

(It should be noted that the numbers and research below are hypothetical. They are used only as examples for this sample business plan. The numbers and research included are not statistically accurate.)

Executive Summary

XYZ Company is an innovative eco-friendly fashion brand committed to sustainability and ethical production. Our mission is to offer stylish, high-quality clothing made from organic and recycled materials while minimizing our carbon footprint. By integrating eco-friendly practices at every stage of production while emphasizing transparency, we aim to become a leading name in sustainable fashion.

Business Description

XYZ Company will produce a range of clothing items, including casual wear, office attire, and accessories, all designed with sustainability in mind. Our products will be available through an e-commerce platform only. The business will be headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Market Analysis

The sustainable fashion market is growing rapidly as consumers become more aware of environmental issues and the impact of fast fashion. According to a report by Environmental Research, the global sustainable fashion market size was valued at $6.45 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9% between 2023 to 2027. Our target market includes environmentally conscious consumers aged 18-45, with a focus on urban areas where sustainable living is more prevalent.

Product Lines

• Casual wear: T-shirts, jeans, hoodies, and dresses made from organic cotton and recycled materials.
• Office attire: Eco-friendly suits, blouses, and trousers tailored from sustainable materials like hemp and bamboo.
• Accessories: Bags, hats, and scarves crafted from upcycled fabrics and natural dyes.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

• Brand identity: Position XYZ Company as a stylish, high-quality, and eco-friendly alternative to traditional fashion brands.
• Digital marketing: Utilize social media platforms, influencer partnerships, and content marketing to reach our target audience.
• E-commerce platform: Develop a user-friendly online store with detailed information about our sustainable practices and materials.

Operations Plan

• Supply chain: Source materials from certified organic farms and recycled fabric suppliers. Ensure all partners adhere to fair labor practices.
• Manufacturing: Partner with factories that use renewable energy and have low-waste production processes. Implement lean manufacturing principles to reduce waste.
• Distribution: Use eco-friendly packaging and carbon-neutral shipping options.

Financial Resources

• Startup costs: Initial funding requirements include $400,000 for product development, marketing, website development, and initial inventory.
• Revenue streams: Primary revenue from online sales and additional revenue from branded accessories.
• Projected sales: Expect to reach $1 million in sales by the end of the first year, with a growth rate of 12% annually.

Management Team

• Founder and CEO: Jane Doe, with over 10 years of experience in fashion design and a passion for sustainability.
• COO: John Smith, an expert in sustainable supply chain management.
• Marketing Director: Emily Green, a digital marketing strategist with a background in eco-friendly brands.
• Head of Design: Alice Brown, a seasoned designer with a focus on sustainable materials and innovative design.

Social Responsibility and Impact

XYZ Company is committed to transparency, fair labor practices, and giving back to the community. We will donate a percentage of our profits to environmental charities and participate in community initiatives to promote sustainable living.

XYZ Company aims to revolutionize the fashion industry by proving that style and sustainability can go hand in hand. By focusing on eco-friendly practices and ethical production, we plan to attract a loyal customer base that values quality and environmental responsibility. Join us in making fashion a force for good!

Strategic Planning Process: Navigating the Course

Keeping your hypothetical company in mind, let’s now fast-forward a few years. Your eco-friendly fashion brand has gained traction, and you're eyeing expansion opportunities. Now you will dig into strategic planning and focus on developing your strategic plan.

Unlike the business plan, which focuses on the tactical aspects of day-to-day operations, the strategic plan serves as a broader perspective on long-term objectives, organizational direction, and future growth. It’s a strategic roadmap of sorts.

Strategic planning guides your business through ever-changing markets and competitive dynamics. It involves setting key goals, defining strategic initiatives, and allocating resources to achieve sustainable growth and a competitive advantage. Through strategic planning, business leaders learn to identify potential risks and challenges that the business might face.

Using our eco-friendly fashion brand as an example again, let's say you've successfully established a loyal customer base and now aim to expand into new markets.

Your strategic plan would entail these key elements:

• Conducting market research to identify viable expansion opportunities
• Assessing the regulatory environment
• Devising entry strategies
• Allocating resources accordingly
• ·Outline strategies for brand positioning, product diversification, and scalability

Example of a Strategic Plan

(It should be noted that the numbers and research below are hypothetical. They are used only as examples for this sample strategic plan. The numbers and research included are not statistically accurate.)

Vision Statement

To become the leading global brand for stylish, sustainable, and ethically produced fashion that will inspire a shift towards eco-conscious consumerism and responsible business practices.

Mission Statement

XYZ Company is dedicated to creating high-quality, eco-friendly clothing and accessories. We strive to minimize our environmental impact and promote fair labor practices throughout our supply chain. By educating our consumers and setting industry standards, we aim to lead the charge in sustainable fashion.

Core Values

• Sustainability: Commitment to environmentally friendly practices in every aspect of our business.
• Transparency: Open communication about our sourcing, production, and business operations.
• Ethical practices: Ensuring fair labor conditions and respecting human rights.
• Innovation: Continuously improving our products and processes to reduce our ecological footprint.
• Community engagement: Supporting environmental and social causes that align with our values.

Strategic Goals and Objectives

Goal 1: Establish a Strong Brand Identity

Objective 1.1: Develop a cohesive brand message that emphasizes sustainability, quality, and style.

Action Steps:

• Create a brand style guide and messaging framework.
• Design a logo and visual elements that reflect our eco-friendly values.
• Develop a content strategy for social media, blog, and other marketing channels. 

Objective 1.2: Increase brand awareness and recognition.

• Launch targeted marketing campaigns on social media platforms.
• Partner with eco-conscious influencers and bloggers.
• Attend and sponsor sustainable fashion events and trade shows.

Goal 2: Expand Product Line and Market Reach

Objective 2.1: Diversify our product offerings.

• Conduct market research to identify customer needs and trends.
• Develop new products using sustainable materials and innovative designs.
• Introduce seasonal collections to keep the product line fresh and appealing.

Objective 2.2: Reach a wider audience.

• Optimize our e-commerce platform for a global market.
• Implement a multilingual website and marketing materials.

Goal 3: Enhance Operational Efficiency and Sustainability

Objective 3.1: Optimize our supply chain for sustainability.

• Source materials from certified organic and recycled suppliers.
• Work with manufacturing partners who use renewable energy and adhere to low-waste practices.
• Regularly audit suppliers to ensure compliance with ethical and environmental standards.

Objective 3.2: Reduce our carbon footprint.

• Implement carbon-neutral shipping options.
• Use eco-friendly packaging materials.
• Invest in carbon offset programs and renewable energy initiatives.

Goal 4: Foster Customer Loyalty and Engagement

Objective 4.1: Build a community of loyal customers.

• Launch a rewards program that offers discounts and exclusive products to repeat customers.
• Create an online community where customers can share their sustainable fashion journey.
• Host events and workshops on sustainable living and fashion.
• Objective 4.2: Educate customers about sustainability.
• Provide transparent information about our materials and production processes.
• Share educational content on our website and social media channels.
• Collaborate with environmental organizations to promote awareness.

Goal 5: Ensure Financial Stability and Growth

Objective 5.1: Achieve profitability within the first two years.

• Develop a detailed financial plan with projected revenues, expenses, and cash flow.
• Secure funding through investors, grants, or loans.
• Monitor financial performance regularly and adjust strategies as needed.

Objective 5.2: Expand revenue streams.

• Introduce a subscription box service featuring exclusive products.
• Develop a line of branded merchandise and accessories.

 Implementation Timeline

• Year 1: Establish brand identity, launch initial product line, build e-commerce platform, and start marketing campaigns.
• Year 2: Expand product offerings, optimize supply chain, increase brand awareness, and achieve initial profitability.
• Year 3: Enter international markets, enhance operational efficiency, grow customer loyalty programs, and achieve financial growth.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Brand awareness: Social media engagement, website traffic, and brand recognition surveys
• Product sales: Monthly and annual sales figures, average order value, and customer retention rates
• Sustainability metrics: Percentage of sustainable materials used, carbon footprint reduction, and waste reduction
• Customer satisfaction: Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer reviews, and feedback surveys
• Financial performance: Revenue growth, profit margins, and cash flow stability

By adhering to our strategic plan, XYZ Company aims to set new standards in the fashion industry for sustainability and ethical practices. With a clear vision and actionable goals, we are poised to make a significant impact on both the market and the environment. Together, let's weave a greener future in fashion!

Business Plan vs. Strategic Plan: Key Differences

While both the business plan and the strategic plan are essential tools for business success, they differ in scope, timeframe, and focus:

The business plan focuses on the operational aspects of launching and running a business. The strategic plan addresses broader organizational goals and market positioning.

The business plan usually covers the short to medium term - one to three years – whereas the strategic plan takes a longer-term perspective, spanning three to five years or more.

The business plan emphasizes day-to-day activities. These activities may include marketing tactics, sales targets, and financial projections. The strategic plan prioritizes high-level strategic initiatives, competitive positioning, and long-term sustainability.

Understanding the Nuances between a Business Plan vs. a Strategic Plan Is Critical

While the business plan lays the groundwork for a new venture, the strategic plan answers future queries proactively and plots the course for sustained growth and competitiveness. Understanding the nuances between these two plans can help aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders to navigate the complex environment of business ownership and the organization's direction with confidence and clarity.

Whether you're launching a startup and hiring your own team, expanding an existing business, or pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors solo, crafting both a robust business plan and a strategic plan is vital. Together, these documents serve as tools for driving business innovation, seizing opportunities, achieving the company's goals, creating a sustainable competitive advantage, and ultimately realizing your vision of success.

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• An online bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship
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Courses in these programs cover topics such as idea generation, business plan foundations, money management for entrepreneurs, innovative marketing, strategic growth, small business customer service, venture capital and business plan development. These courses are taught by experienced faculty members with in-depth knowledge of these topics. For more information, visit our program page .

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Business plan, strategic plan, operational plan: why all 3 are important

By Homebase Team

When you’re in the early stages of running your business, it’s easy to get lost when thinking about all the things you need to organize in order to grow. This is where making a business plan, strategic plan and operational plan comes into play. 

A business plan outlines the “what” and “how” of your business, while a strategic plan sets the long-term vision. Operational plans dive into day-to-day tasks. We’ll explain their roles, differences, and how they work together. 

In this post, we’ll break down these concepts, explain the difference between them and why all three are important.  By understanding these plans, you’ll gain the tools to steer your ship, set big goals, and navigate the everyday waters with confidence and success.

Get your team in sync with our easy-to-use, all-in-one employee app.

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan, just like a blueprint for building a house, shows the general path for your business to follow. Besides the essential facts, it’s the tool that conveys your vision to potential investors, partners, and your own team.

A business plan is your business’s roadmap to success. It’s a detailed guide that helps you understand where your business is headed and how to get there. In this plan, you outline your business goals, what products or services you offer, who your customers are, and how you’ll reach them. 

Writing a business plan is one of many tips for starting a business you can tap into to get off the ground. 

Your business plan includes financials 

Your business plan also includes financial details, like how much money you’ll need and how you’ll make money. It’s important to outline everything because it helps you make smarter decisions, attract investors or loans, and stay on track as you grow. 

Think of your business plan as a game plan that keeps you focused and prepared for whatever comes your way.

What is a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan is a detailed plan that lays out where you want your business to be in the future and how you’ll get there. In this plan, you outline your long-term goals, the actions you’ll take to move towards those goals, and the major steps to reach those goals.

A strategic plan helps you make smart choices about things like which products to focus on, how to stand out from competitors, and where to expand. It’s like your compass for making decisions that match your vision. 

Goal setting in your strategic plan 

Setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound) is a clear way to put your strategic plan into actionable tasks. 

This plan also keeps you flexible – you can adjust it as your business grows and the market changes. By having a solid strategic plan, you’re setting yourself up for success, making sure all your actions lead to reaching those big dreams you have for your business.

What is an Operational Plan?

An operational plan is where the nitty-gritty of running your business happens. An operational plan is like your playbook for your day-to-day tasks . 

It spells out exactly how you’ll execute your strategies outlined in your strategic plan and reach your goals outlined in your business plan.

In your operational plan, you break things down: who’s doing what, when and how. It’s like giving clear instructions to your team on tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities.

From managing the kitchen in a restaurant to handling customer orders in a salon, it’s all in the operational plan.

It also covers how you’ll maintain quality, manage resources, and handle any bumps along the way. Think of it as your action plan – turning your grand ideas into reality, step by step. 

What’s the Difference Between a Business Plank, Strategic Plan and Operational Plan?

Business plan.

• Focus: This is the big blueprint for your entire business. It explains what your business does, who your customers are, how you’ll make money, and your long-term goals.
• Timeframe: Usually covers a few years and includes financial projections.
• Use: It’s your pitch to investors and guides your business decisions.

Strategic plan:

• Focus: This is the long-term vision. It’s about where you want your business to go and the major steps to get there.
• Timeframe: Often covers 3-5 years.
• Use: It guides big choices like expanding, new products, and setting direction.

Operational plan:

• Focus: This is the detailed game plan for your day-to-day business operations. It’s about how you’ll execute your strategies.
• Timeframe: Covers the short term, usually a year or less.
• Use: It’s the instructions for your team on tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities.

In short, a business plan is your overall roadmap, a strategic plan sets the direction for growth, and an operational plan makes sure everything runs smoothly day by day. They work together to keep your business on track and thriving.

Why is Having a Business Plan, Strategic Plan and Operational Plan Important?

Having a business plan, a strategic plan, and an operational plan is like having a superhero trio for your business. Here’s why they’re so important:

Business Plan:

• Clarity: It gives you a clear path for your business journey. You know what you’re doing, who your customers are, and how to make money.
• Guidance: It helps you make smart choices and stay on track to reach your goals.
• Attractiveness: Investors and lenders like to see a solid plan before supporting your business.

Strategic Plan:

• Direction: It’s like a compass for your long-term vision. It tells you where your business is headed and how to get there.
• Big Goals: It sets ambitious goals like growing big, launching new things, and standing out from the crowd.
• Adaptation: It helps you adjust when things change, keeping your business aligned with your dreams.

Operational Plan:

• Smooth Sailing: It’s your step-by-step guide for daily tasks. You know who does what and when.
• Efficiency: It makes things run smoothly and helps you manage resources well.
• Quality Control: It ensures your products or services are top-notch and consistent.

Together, these plans are like your business’s superpowers. They make sure your business is not just surviving, but thriving..

Strategic Plan Example

Let’s say your restaurant, Brenda’s Bistro, wants to become the ultimate dining spot in your community, celebrated for your fantastic dishes and top-notch hospitality.

Brenda’s Bistro’s mission is to create unforgettable dining experiences by offering a diverse menu crafted from locally sourced ingredients, while delivering outstanding customer service.

• Achieve a 20% increase in revenue within the next two years.
• Expand the customer base by targeting families and young professionals through special promotions.
• Introduce a new themed menu every season to keep customers excited and engaged.

Strategies and Initiatives:

• Strengthen Brenda’s Bistro online presence by sharing engaging content on your website and social media accounts regularly.
• Partner with local farmers to ensure your ingredients are fresh, sustainable, and support the community.
• Launch loyalty programs and offer discounts to encourage repeat visits.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• Monitor revenue growth every quarter to track progress toward your goal.
• Collect customer feedback through surveys and online reviews to measure satisfaction.
• Evaluate the success of your seasonal menus based on the number of orders and positive feedback.

How to Make a Strategic Plan

Crafting a strategic plan isn’t a one-size-fits-all deal; each company’s unique goals require a tailored approach. 

Let’s break down the essential steps to shape that core plan.

1. Gather the key people

Start by bringing together the important voices. This usually includes your executive board, managers, and sometimes outside investors. 

Their insights and suggestions are like puzzle pieces that fit into a successful strategic plan.

2: Find your business’ strengths and weaknesses 

Your strategy needs to know where your company stands both inside and out. Begin with a SWOT analysis, checking your internal strengths and weaknesses, plus external opportunities and threats. 

Gather insights from gap analysis, looking at competitors, and listening to customer and employee feedback give you the bigger picture.

3. Set Goals

Now, create goals from all that info. Match these goals with your mission, vision, and values. 

Pick the ones that make a big impact, make sense for the long haul, and line up with your values. Examples can be reaching certain sales targets, or a certain number of followers on your business’ social media. 

4.Make a game plan 

Time for an action plan. Break down each goal into strategies, initiatives, and tactics. Depending on your goals, these could be marketing plans , tech upgrades, or smart partnerships. 

You don’t need tons of details here; that’s what the operational plan covers. Also, set up key performance metrics to measure your progress.

5. Review and and tweak

Schedule regular check-ins to review your plan. This is where you reflect and adjust if needed. Good financial info comes in handy here. 

How often you do this depends on your business’s rhythm – maybe monthly for new businesses or yearly for more established ones.

Remember, your strategic plan is your map to success. Tailor it, review it, and let it guide you toward your goals.

Now that your strategic plan is sorted, let’s dive into the power of operational planning to make those goals a reality.

How to Make an Operational Plan

It’s time to take that big-picture strategic plan and break it into doable steps. First, check out the long-term goals. 

Figure out which departments need to team up to reach which goal. Ask questions like: What kind of resources does the business already have access to? 

What’s missing? Any money financial risks coming up? This helps you see which parts of your business need a boost to hit those goals.

1. Nail down your budget

Make a budget based on what each department in your business needs to reach the big goals. What does your kitchen staff need? How about front-of-house staff?

With your match-up between goals and areas, spread your budget where it’ll give the best bang for your buck. 

Remember to keep some cash aside for surprises and changes. A solid budget is like a shield against unexpected stuff.

2. Set targets

Each goal you’re chasing needs a target. Think carefully here – not too wild that your team loses heart, but not too tiny that the big plan stays out of reach. 

Realistic targets are your secret weapon. An example target could be selling 100 orders’ worth of a certain dish by the end of the month.

3. Check in with your team regularly 

Don’t just set and forget. Schedule regular check-ins with your staff to see how things are going. 

Are you hitting those targets? Are things humming along? 

These feedback sessions with your employees are like checkups for your plan. If things are off, you can tweak the plan to get back on track.

Homebase’s free mobile app has a built-in messenger tool to make it easy to stay connected. Send messages to individuals, groups, or your entire team.

3. Stay open and data-driven

Keep communication flowing during reviews. And don’t forget the data – it’s your treasure map. 

Numbers show where you’re doing well and where there’s room to improve. Use your POS software or an employee management tool like Homebase to help you make data-informed decisions on how to improve your business operations. 

With Homebase’s workforce forecasting and smart scheduling tools, you can save on labor costs for your business. 

With all this, your operational plan becomes a real powerhouse, making sure your business charges ahead toward those big dreams.

Make Your Business Plan, Strategic Plan and Operational Plan Work for You

In the bustling world of business, having a roadmap is essential for success. The triumphant trio of a business plan, strategic plan, and operational plan work together to steer your ship towards greatness. 

These plans aren’t just fancy paperwork – they’re important tools that guide your every move. 

By understanding each plan’s role and significance, you’re armed with the superpowers needed to navigate the complex business waters. 

A business plan provides clarity, a strategic plan offers direction, and an operational plan ensures smooth sailing. Together, they fuel your business’s journey from survival to thriving, making sure you’re not just a player in the game, but a true champion.

Here are 10 small business tools you can use to put these three plans into action.

FAQs About Business Plan, Strategic Plan and Operational Plan

Why do i need a business plan.

A business plan acts as a roadmap for your business journey. It outlines your goals, customers, and how you’ll make money. It’s crucial for attracting investors and making smart decisions. 

What’s the purpose of a strategic plan?

A strategic plan sets your long-term vision and goals. It guides big choices like expanding and standing out. It’s like a compass, helping you stay on course towards success.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan and an operational plan?

While a strategic plan sets long-term goals, an operational plan focuses on day-to-day tasks. It’s like a playbook that tells your team exactly what to do to reach those goals.

Remember:  This is not legal advice. If you have questions about your particular situation, please consult a lawyer, CPA, or other appropriate professional advisor or agency.

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Plan vs Strategy: Is There a Difference?

Often times, the words “plan” and “strategy” are often used interchangeably. The meanings of the words are quite similar: a method for achieving an end.

Here’s the truth:

There are strong differences between these words.

A plan is an organized scheme created with a clear objective in mind. Conversely, a strategy functions as a flexible blueprint employed to achieve a particular goal, with the capacity for adaptation and change as needed.

It’s important for a company to understand the difference between having a plan and having a strategy. This is because although they each have strengths and purposes, they aren’t necessarily interchangeable. The differences in types of industry, clients, and projects call for one method or another.

What Is a Plan?

A plan is an arrangement, a pattern, a program, or a scheme for a definite purpose. A plan is very concrete in nature and doesn’t allow for deviation. If “Plan A” doesn’t work, you don’t alter “Plan A” and try again. Rather, you move to “Plan B;” something totally different.

A plan is most useful when staying well organized and on-track is the highest priority. A plan provides a coherent framework from which to build and a sure direction to follow, with intermittent milestones to pass in order to reach an end goal. It eliminates false confidence and increases stability. A plan increases the transparency of your work, leaves no room for assumptions, and can prove that you’ve put in a lot of thought and effort.

Types of plans include:

• Financial: Must be rooted in reality and universally accepted
• Tactical: Concerns the responsibility and functionality of lower-level departments
• Operational: Focused on specific, routine procedures and processes
• Succession: Don’t skip a beat should a major player suddenly depart
• Contingency: Be proactive in vetting a researched and realistic backup

What Is a Strategy?

A strategy is a blueprint, layout, design, or idea used to accomplish a specific goal. A strategy is very flexible and open to adaptation and change when needed.

A strategy is most useful when creativity, collaboration, and innovation are of the utmost importance. It encourages openness and debate from every side of the equation. A strategy embraces questions and out-of-the-box, effective answers while allowing for a natural flow of thought and continual momentum that builds until success is reached and expectations are blown out of the water. A strategy can surprise, impress, and put you on track to becoming a competitive powerhouse.

The building blocks of building a good strategy include the following actions:

• Framing the right questions
• Learning from the past
• Diagnosing the whys
• Forecasting the future
• Searching potential pathways
• Choosing how to integrate
• Committing to changes
• Evolving when it’s necessary

Example of Strategy and Planning

Business strategy vs plan:.

A business team may have a plan to roll out a new product. Research, design, manufacturing, product placement, and marketing will all take place within their designated time frames and on budget. New products will continue to go through the same process until the customers decide on a winning product.

In contrast, a business team with a strategy will take the lessons learned from the past to determine what can be done differently, earlier in the process of product development. Innovation will be applied throughout the design and manufacturing processes. The team will use foresight to determine what customers will want (even though the customers themselves might not know it yet) and creative marketing techniques to ensure a winning product.

Sports Strategy vs Plan:

Another great example of the difference between a strategy vs a plan can be seen in sports. This example serves to illustrate the difference between a soccer team’s plan or strategy to score a goal.

A soccer team with a plan to score a goal might begin with a throw-in to another specific player. The ball would then be passed to a designated offensive player who would then be responsible for shooting the ball into the goal. The succession of moves would be deliberate and would not be adjusted when risks or obstacles to the plan were presented.

A soccer team with a strategy to score a goal might also begin a play with a throw-in one of a few different teammates. The main idea would then be to move the ball forward and pass to open offensive players who would then shoot the ball at the goal. The succession of moves would be open to adaptation and change if the ball were intercepted or if other players were open for receiving the ball.

When planning for the future, which is undeniably unknown, it helps to strategize and consider the various scenarios you might be faced with and be prepared to modify your strategy so you can keep moving forward rather than starting over at the beginning.

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Strategy vs. Plan: Key Differences and Applications

Strategy and planning are two important management disciplines that help companies achieve their goals. A strategy is a long-term approach or overarching plan that guides an organization or individual towards achieving a specific goal or objective. Strategy comes first, then a plan .

A plan is a detailed outline of the specific actions, routine procedures, timelines, and resources required to execute a strategy or achieve a specific objective. You can use different tactics for better plan fulfillment. Tactics are different from strategies in that they provide methods to accomplish the plan effectively.

A clear strategy helps ensure that the company's goals are met in an efficient manner. There are key differences between strategy and plan that must be understood.

These include the scope of each, the timeline involved, and the resources assigned. In this blog post, we will explore these differences and discuss how they can be applied in business settings.

What is a Strategy?

Strategy is what you see in the big picture and is the foundation for all decision-making processes. It's about understanding where your business is today, deciding where you want it to be tomorrow, and figuring out how best to get there.

This involves making tough choices about what direction to take, what resources you will need, and how to use them effectively.

No matter how small or large the task, strategy is always key. It's about understanding the market , your customers, and competitors and developing it to maximize opportunities while minimizing risks.

A successful strategy should have a clear purpose and direction for an organization, as well as define how resources should be used the most effectively.

Here are some key elements of a successful strategy:

• Vision: A clear understanding of what you want to accomplish in the future.
• Objectives: Specific goals that need to be achieved in order to reach your vision.
• Budget: A realistic assessment of available resources and how they should be allocated.
• Team Dynamics: An understanding of how different roles interact with each other and contribute towards achieving success.
• Processes: Established procedures for carrying out tasks efficiently and effectively.

Having an effective strategy in place can help organizations reach their desired outcomes more efficiently and effectively by providing direction and focus for all involved parties.

It also helps ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal with clear expectations of what needs to be done in order to achieve success.

What is a Plan?

Remember those times when you had a goal? Whether it was to achieve financial freedom , lose weight, or advance your career — you probably needed a plan in order to achieve it.

A plan is a set of actions that are designed to achieve a specific goal. It is an integrated set of strategies and activities that are used to reach a desired outcome.

Plans can be created for any type of project, from business strategy to project management. When creating a plan, it is important to consider the difference between strategic plans and project plans.

A strategic plan is a long-term approach that outlines the overall mission and goals of an organization or individual. It typically includes objectives, strategies, tactics, and timelines for achieving those objectives.

On the other hand, a project plan focuses on the specific tasks and activities needed to complete a particular project within a certain timeframe.

Here are some key elements of planning:

• Identifying objectives: What do you want to achieve?
• Defining resources: What resources do you need?
• Establishing timelines: When will each task be completed?
• Developing strategies: How will you reach your objectives?
• Assigning responsibilities: Who will be responsible for each task?
• Monitoring progress: Are tasks being completed on schedule?

By following these steps, you can create an effective plan that will help you reach your goals in an organized and efficient manner.

Planning is essential for success in any endeavor, whether it's personal or professional. With careful planning and execution, you can make sure that your projects run smoothly and achieve their intended results.

Key Differences Between Strategies and Plans

While strategy and plan are two terms often used as synonyms, they have distinct differences in terms of scope, focus, and application. Let’s understand some of these differences.

Strategies are broad and long-term, while plans are more specific and short-term. If you plan on scaling up your business, you need a strategy. If you want to hire additional staff to help with your workload, you need a plan.

Notice how the scopes in both situations are vastly different from each other?

This is because strategies are aimed at high-level areas, as they involve making decisions about investments, resources, and development directions. All of them contribute to the bigger picture of what the business should look like in the future.

Whereas, plans involve more concrete actions like assigning tasks and project scheduling .

Building a strategy is a process. You can think of it as a blueprint for achieving your goals. Plans are also processes but focus on the implementation side of things and deal with more specific details. Remember that strategies are created while plans are executed. A strategy guides decision-making, while a plan describes the steps needed to achieve specific goals.

To create a strategy, you will need to define ideas, allocate budgets and resources, and set goals. Executing a plan requires managing progress, tracking results, and adjusting actions as needed.

3. Flexibility

Strategies are flexible, while plans are rigid. Strategies are more flexible than plans since they can easily be changed depending on changing conditions or circumstances.

On the other hand, once a plan has been created, it is difficult to make changes without disrupting its implementation process.

A strategy is designed to help a business gain a competitive advantage in its market, while a plan is designed to help practically implement the strategy.

By definition, strategies should focus on idea generation, research, experimentation, and trial and error. Plans should take into account specific objectives and aim to achieve a certain goal within the given timeframe.

5. Importance

There's no doubt that in order for a business to be successful, it is extremely important to have both strategies and plans.

However, no business can work without a strategy, as it is the foundation on which every business is built. A strategy helps a business to identify where it wants to go, while a plan describes how it will get there.

6. Application

Strategies are used to guide decision-making, while plans are used to execute decisions. A strategy provides guidance and direction for all aspects of a business, while a plan provides specific steps for implementing a decision.

Strategies lead to initiatives, while plans lead to actions. For example, a company might have an overarching strategy to become a leader in new technologies and innovative thinking.

This could lead to initiatives such as research, development teams, or corporate partnerships with entrepreneurs and startups. From there, specific plans can be developed to execute these initiatives.

7. Timeframe

Strategies are long-term, while plans are short-term. A strategy is designed to guide a business for several years, while a plan is typically focused on achieving specific goals within a few months or a year.

Strategies should be prepared for the long term, while plans should act on short-term tasks to achieve them.

Example of Strategy and Planning

To further illustrate the differences between strategy and planning, let's take the example of a company that wants to expand its business into new international markets:

• Strategy: To launch a successful international expansion, the first step is to gain a thorough understanding of your industry and competition. This must include researching potential markets, becoming aware of local laws and regulations, as well as gauging what resources are necessary for entry. With this knowledge in hand, the company can form an overarching business-level strategy that outlines goals, objectives, and how best to conquer those global territories.
• Planning: Once the strategy has been developed, the company would need to create a plan to execute the strategy effectively. This plan would provide instructions on how to enter each new market, such as acquiring funding, hiring local staff, and establishing supply chains. The plan would also allocate resources and budget to each step of the process.
• Leadership: Next, the company would need to develop a leadership development strategy to ensure that its employees are prepared to execute the international expansion plan effectively. This strategy would involve figuring out the leadership skills required to manage an international team and assessing the current leadership skills within the organization. The company can also design programs to help people develop those skills.
• Investment: International expansion would require a significant investment of resources, including funding, staff, and time. The company would need to allocate resources effectively, balancing the need to invest in new markets with the need to maintain existing operations. The investment strategy must be carefully designed to ensure that the company invests in the right areas and achieves a positive return on investment .
• Outreach Initiative: International expansion is a critical endeavor for the company, requiring unified resources and stakeholders. To maximize success in new markets, it's important to build relationships with local partners, government representatives, and other key members of each community. This initiative means finding things that people need and making programs to help them. This will create partnerships between the people involved that last a long time.

Overall, this example illustrates how strategy and planning are distinct but interconnected processes that are essential to achieving business goals.

Developing a successful international expansion strategy requires a high-level plan that outlines the overall approach, while the project management plan outlines the specific steps required to be executed in every area.

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Don’t Let Strategy Become Planning

• Roger L. Martin

Many people find it hard to distinguish between the two.

I must have heard the words “we need to create a strategic plan” at least an order of magnitude more times than I have heard “we need to create a strategy.” This is because most people see strategy as an exercise in producing a planning document. In this conception, strategy is manifested as a long list of initiatives with timeframes associated and resources assigned.

• Roger L. Martin is a former dean of the Rotman School of Management, an adviser to CEOs, and the author of A New Way to Think (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022).

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The difference between a strategic plan and a business plan.

Every business needs a strategic plan. Every business needs a business plan. It’s knowing precisely what each plan entails and when that plan can be of most use that makes the difference between these two essential documents.

Let’s start by defining the purpose behind each type of plan. This can help both budding entrepreneurs and veteran CEOs avoid the mistake of pursuing the wrong kind of plan at the wrong time in the growth cycle of their companies.

The Strategic Plan

As we have noted before, a strategic plan “is a written document that points the way forward for your business.” The focus of a strategic plan can include (but isn’t limited to):

• Expanding business operations
• Reaching into new market segments
• Solving organizational problems
• Potential restructuring a business

By staying focused on your original purpose, goals, and objectives, strategic planning reintroduces you to “the big picture.” It’s the basis for business owners to achieve their vision, which they communicate to stakeholders in a strategic business plan and program.

A strategic plan serves as a roadmap for determining what will likely lie ahead for your business in the next 3-5 years, while also including a series of actions or activities that can turn strategy into operational reality.

Want additional insight? Read 4 Step Guide to Strategic Planning now to learn more

The Business Plan

Generally speaking, a business plan is needed when a company is in its earliest phase of growth. This plan offers a description of how your business will operate, its objectives for growth and financial success, and how it aims to get there. Essentially, it articulates the  why  behind a business. Key elements include:

• Executive summary and mission statement
• Projected staffing and equipment needs
• Short- and long-term marketing strategy
• Financial statement, including anticipated startup expenses and capitalization
• Outline of management structure and operational processes

A business plan “is a broader, more preliminary document that sets your course when your company may still be nothing more than a twinkle in your eye,” notes BDC of Canada. This plan “not only accurately summarizes what your business is all about, but why it’s a viable proposition.”

Strategic Business Planning

Strategic planning is the systematic process for developing an organization’s direction. This includes pinpointing objectives and actions required to achieve that future vision, and metrics to measure success.

A business plan, as described by the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc., aims to define “the initial goals and objectives of the company, its structure and processes, products and services, financial resources [and] all of the basics that go into forming a company ” and getting it up and running.

TAB offers its members a different kind of approach— strategic business planning . It’s the basis for business owners to achieve their vision, which they will then communicate to stakeholders in a strategic business plan and program.

Action steps embodied in a strategic business plan include:

• Understanding your business. Assess where your business is today. Review core business information and revisit your vision, mission statement, and core values.
• Analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, and threats. Conduct a SWOT analysis to evaluate where your business is operating at peak efficiency and where organizational weaknesses (and threats from competitors) might stunt future growth.
• Defining objectives and set goals. Drill down into specific objectives that will help you achieve your vision—everything from developing new marketing strategies and launching a new product to re-allocating key financial resources.
• Putting the plan in action . Take action steps to translate the plan from paper to reality. Break tasks down into small steps, assign a responsible party to be accountable for each task, and establish a schedule for reviewing your overall plan on a regular basis.

As we enter into a new year, strategic business planning is more urgently needed than ever before. Want to learn more? Register for our free TAB white paper, “4 Step Guide to Strategic Planning.”

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What is the Difference Between a Strategic Plan and a Business Plan?

Unfortunately, these two terms are often used interchangeably, and they should not be. Even worse, many consultants pass off what is really a business plan when an organization is really seeking a true strategic plan. In their simplest terms, a Strategic Plan is the organization’s way to communicate its direction, plans, and goals. Whereas, a Business Plan is a written document describing the company’s core business activities, objectives, and how it will achieve its goals. So what does this really mean for your organization? How do these documents really differ in form and application? Let’s take a look.

More Focused

A business plan is more focused than a strategic plan, it should be a detailed report on the operations of the core business activities of the business or nonprofit. These efforts should outline everything from production to sales. It should include detailed information on costs, sales figures, suppliers, customer data, etc. A few things can be incredibly helpful in developing a business plan that are not typically seen in a strategic plan, one that we like to utilize in business plans is customer personas. Customer Personas allow us to gain an understanding of what type of person purchases our product or service and provides general information about how they make those purchases, where or who influences those purchases, etc. It’s a good idea when utilizing a persona to identify the different groups interested in your product or service and then to build the personas around those groups. As an example, imagine an Executive Director of a museum that is a potential client of NMBL Strategies, we would then source profiles on several Executive Directors and build a persona around them, average age, gender, social media profiles, who they engage with on social, where they gather information from, who sits on their board, and who reports to them. By building as detailed of a profile as possible we have a better chance of building a relationship with them and eventually developing them into a client.

It’s not to say that client personas couldn’t be in a strategic plan, in some instances we have clients that want to know this information, but it isn’t as common to get this granular in a strategic plan. Likewise, we may create the client profiles as a part of a strategic plan, but applying them to a sales process is unlikely to occur. Ideally, within the business plan, you can use these personas to identify who is purchasing, how big that group is, how you will reach them, and your sales conversion percentage.

There are other examples of how a business plan is more focused, but the customer personas give a good idea of the depth between the two documents.

Want to learn more about developing customer personas? Check out our blogs on developing personas:

How to Develop a Strategy to Differentiate Your Nonprofit

Business Journal Executive Panel: 15 Ways to Up Your Brand’s Social Media Game

The Number One Thing You Need to Know to Survive the 5 Year Mark With Your Small Business

Higher Level/More Visionary

Just as the business plan is more focused, the strategic plan is high-level and more visionary. Perhaps the best example of this is the Strategic Positioning section of a strategic plan. At NMBL, we continue to grow and adapt to create new best practices. We’ve currently adapted our strategic visioning portion of the strategic planning process to include six pieces, mission, vision, and elevator pitch were always a part of our process here. In the last several months, we’ve added Initiatives, Commitment, and Toolkit to this group, or in other words, what we do (initiatives), why we do it (commitment), and how we do it (initiatives). Turning this into a graphic to cover these six sections gives a very holistic view of the high level of the organization. These items may be mentioned in a business plan, but are unlikely to be part of the development of a business plan (meaning these should be developed prior to engaging in a business plan). Or looked at another way, after going through a strategic plan an organization may develop a business plan for one of their initiatives. This is actually a great way of looking at how you can utilize a business plan and strategic plan together.

Learn more about ensuring your plan is more visionary through these stories:

What are Mission and Vision Statements

Why Vision Based Strategic Planning Matters

3 Reasons Nonprofits Struggle and How to Avoid Them

Best of Both Worlds

We’ll be the first to admit, our Strategic Plans include more of a business plan than almost any other we see in the industry. We do this because we believe that if we leave something too high level it is unlikely to be utilized, understood, or become anything more than a document on a bookshelf. In fact, we find there are five primary reasons why a strategic plan never gets executed (being too high level is one of the most common reasons for non-execution). In an effort to make the strategic plan more executable, our planning sections create a lot of detail around how an organization will operate.

If undertaking both plans, it is highly recommended an organization start with the strategic plan, develop the 30,000 foot view before identifying the details of the business plan. The good news is there should be a lot of overlap, and if you do undertake both, the business planning portion should go a lot quicker because you already have a lot of the information at your disposal.

Does your organization need help to determine what is the right plan for you? Think you need a business, strategic, or both plans? Reach out to NMBL Strategies today to find out how we can help you get from strategy to execution.

About NMBL Strategies

NMBL Strategies seeks to empower small businesses, nonprofits and public-private enterprises through trusted consulting partnerships.  Our consultants have real world experience and significant tenure within their fields and are able to deliver the best and most strategic return on investment.  We strive to grow our business with the same dedication and decisiveness we offer to our broad range of clients. 

NMBL Strategies is a strategic, decisive partner trusted to deliver the best ROI when needed most. 

Column Headline

The difference between a strategy and a plan (and which do you need)..

There always seems to be a lot of planning going on. However, not all planning efforts are the same: different processes produce different results.

Some focus on building a clear plan to align actions, while others are designed to create a longer-term strategy to guide planning for years.

Desired results will determine the approach, right?

Not exactly. When teams don't know or cannot agree on whether they need a plan or a strategy, they don't proceed confidently.

Let's sort this out, starting with some definitions.

A Plan is the details: who, how, when, and how much it takes to achieve a goal or objective. A plan aligns resources, timing, and expectations. A plan has a more limited scope than a strategy, and the process to develop it should be focused and fast, so you get into action as soon as possible.

A Strategy is the story of an exciting journey; it explains how you plan to move from where you are today to where you eventually want to end. A strategy outlines how you will overcome challenges, confront vulnerabilities, and leverage all your assets and favorable forces to prevail through the journey to reach your ultimate destination.

Both define expectations and outline milestones to measure progress and performance. However, a strategy is frequently long-range and more directional than the near-term specifics found in a plan.

You can have a plan without a strategy, but a strategy without a plan is a story unfulfilled.

But how do you know which one your team or company needs?

A plan is needed to …

• allocate and align resources, especially when they are limited.
• manage people and processes efficiently.
• ensure clarity and alignment so you can get into action!
• clarify roles and responsibilities.

A strategy is needed when …

• you are not clear on your destination or when there is no agreement on the destination.
• you have been through a great deal of change, and there is confusion about how to regain traction.
• even with all your grand plans, hard work, and dedication, you are not getting the performance you want or need.
• you are new to your leadership role and want to define an exciting new direction.

How does the process of producing a plan differ from creating a strategy?

If you need a plan , you focus on a goal, break down the goal into smaller goals or objectives, and then work out what, how, when, and how much for each objective.  It's straightforward, for sure, but rarely easy.  Plans take time to build as they are usually iterative—the more complex the goal, the more complex the plan. 

If you need a strategy , your process should disrupt typical problem-solving practices to invite new ideas and divergent points of view into your strategy discussions. As you begin strategy development, your thinking will feel more divergent, eventually converging when the planning team achieves alignment.  A strategy will emerge from robust planning discussions that lead to highly satisfying plan development.

Understanding what you need is the first step, but aligning your processes to satisfy that need is equally important.

Still not sure which is the right approach for you?

Take our short quiz and download your Strategy Ready Report for suggestions on the next steps.

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Strategic Planning vs. Business Planning. Yes, There’s a Difference.

Too often when companies embark on a strategic plan, the results are disappointing. A common error involves assembling a long-term business plan, calling it a strategic plan, and complaining about how the exercise is mostly ‘financial,’ with limited use beyond the one-time rollup.  In fact, a 2018 Chief Strategy Officer Survey noted, “Despite the vast effort put into the strategic planning process – 82% of survey participants say that it is a ‘very important’ area – most CSOs are dissatisfied with its output.”

So, what’s causing these frequent unsatisfactory results?

In “ Strategic Planning: You’re Probably Doing It Wrong ,” I outline five common pitfalls of flawed strategic planning efforts. As important as avoiding these pitfalls is understanding there is a significant difference between a strategic plan and a business plan.

Strategic plans center on choice around a company’s most critical go-forward imperatives, with resource tradeoffs inherent in those choices. They are about saying No more than saying Yes to business-as-usual funding and selective investments. Because of their very mechanics, business plans cannot contemplate these tradeoffs.

But first, what is Business Planning and its purpose?

Business Planning

Business planning processes – whether one-year Annual Operating Plan processes or longer-term three-to-five-year plans – are financial vantage points by product and service line, by market. They answer the What for a business: What financial outcomes are you targeting or projecting? Yet, they do little to answer the How , beyond calling out clear expectations and gaps.

As an FP&A discipline, business planning is useful for several purposes:

• Topline and Profit Targeting: Painting an aspirational and more realistic targeted revenue and profit trajectory by business segment and by market. Such targets are assigned to leadership incentive plans, both on one-year and three-year (as in LTIP) bases.
• Gap Identification: Highlighting, with current information, where certain business segments or markets will have a significant gap vs. aspiration or recent history. These gaps elevate critical operational and marketplace challenges.
• New Product Lines/New Market Expectations: Bringing attention to larger unknowns within the core business, such as new product line launch expectations or emerging market revenue trajectory. While uncertain projections, their identification is helpful in revealing higher-volatility aspects of a business.
• Margin and Profit Mix : With segment-level profitability assumptions, the above margin-weighted aspirational targets and more realistic projections can highlight where natural business evolution will enhance or pressure targeted profitability. Typically, a growing, subscale emerging market presence, as well as new product launches, will pressure profit mix and highlight the need for higher profitability in the incumbent core business.
• Long-Term Overhead Budgeting: The above topline projection and profit mix analysis can appropriately shape the scope and scale of a business’ total budget. However, business planning exercises rarely solve how this budget should be allocated between core and adjacent business opportunities, a common frustration of business planning.

With all the framing benefits above, misunderstanding a business plan as a strategic plan can yield damaging outcomes. For example:

• Multiplication rather than Real Choice among strategic imperatives : Frequently, the financial exercise in a business plan paints an aspiration, and business segment owners know a business-as-usual approach will not realize the intended revenue and profit outcomes of that aspiration. This causes business owners to launch more product lines or services, adding multiplicative complexity to the enterprise. Instead, more strategic, enterprise-wide discussions are required to appropriately callout why the core business-as-usual will not generate the aspiration, and what choices must be made to address challenges and change the trajectory, including drawing resources away from business-as-usual pools. Launching more offerings in more markets is not typically an optimal answer.
• Perpetuation of Misalignment : Like an Annual Operating Plan, multi-year business plans tend to engage the commercial P&L owners of the business on inputs within their respective business segment siloes. Functionally, they fail to force cross-business tradeoffs and choices. Worse, they may reinforce a business segment owner’s perception that they have their multi-year budgets as a given reflection of their numbers submission, without a transcendent view on funding and reallocation around decisive imperatives.

Spotlight Example : Nearly all branded consumer businesses are wrestling with how to grow their owned omnichannel differently in the 3-5 year horizon, to offset the pressure from wholesale channel consolidation, and from the Amazon price-matching, profit pool compression effect. Many of these businesses construct multi-year business plans annually without addressing the difficulties of the ‘How:’

• What new capabilities are required to build a different omnichannel approach,
• With what upstream product development to reinforce one’s own omnichannel offering,
• With what re-prioritization and de-prioritization of wholesale partners, and
• With what reallocation of funding from the core business?

When businesses do plan for bolder omnichannel plays, they often do so without a choice-driven reallocation.   Real, sustainable choices come in reallocating product development, field sales, and marketing funding from traditional wholesale channels, amplifying select product line offerings to align with consumer shifts and to drive traffic to preferred channels, including owned and more advantageous omnichannel endpoints than where that traffic will otherwise naturally migrate.

None of the above challenges get solved in a business plan, and business planning in the absence of strategic planning may make certain outcomes worse .

How do organizations move from Business Plan to decisive Strategic Planning outcome?

Initially, divorce the Business Plan entirely and attack the top three to four-year enterprise challenges.

Decouple the strategic plan from a multi-year business planning exercise. Instead, ask each of your business leaders to address corporately defined (by the CEO management team or CSO consortium) top strategic questions facing the company over the next three to five years. Don’t ask for more than a handful of areas; even three to four is a heavy ask. Their considerations should contemplate the a) magnitude of the challenge, b) likely solutions, c) magnitude of the response, and d) potential capability build/partnerships and funding requirements inherent in that response. With that thought pattern, assemble your business leaders in an effort that begins with enterprise-wide trade-offs and debate, rather than within silo business plan projections and incremental solutions.

Crystallize solutions to enterprise challenges, translating them into strategic imperatives.

There are a variety of approaches to ensure the core leadership team is informed, derives realistic solutions, and makes hard decisions against the top enterprise challenges, whether with mutual presentation, small-group forums, facilitated debates, outside support, or other mechanisms. Whatever the strategic planning methodology, aligning executives around strategic choices is not only a necessity for strong strategic planning, but also a pre-requisite for linking any business plan process to a decisive strategic direction.

With strategic imperatives in place, re-visit the Business Plan and link for accountability .

Once the mandate of the top strategic imperatives is clear – with the corresponding magnitude of solution required – only then can a business plan effectively be commissioned. Often, these strategic imperatives necessitate organizational change and a different structure for constructing the business plan. Regardless of whether there is organizational change, the business plan should include critical forcing mechanisms and reallocation targets upfront, prompting business owners to understand that business-as-usual budgets will not be available for select aspects of the business. Their business plan projections should reflect the corresponding impacts, both on the benefits of the focal imperative activations and on the businesses receiving less resource. Seeing decisive strategic choices translate into the more visible “cold hard steel” of the multi-year business plan will bring them to life. This is where the business plan graduates from a modest-value financial exercise to a rallying force behind the strategic imperatives.

In business as in life, one would never define the “what” without first considering the “why” or “how.” Yet that is what flawed multi-year business planning forums may do. Contact HighPoint to move from business planning frustration to impactful strategic planning.

Justin Moser is COO of HighPoint Associates , a strategy consulting firm headquartered in El Segundo, CA. Previously, Justin served as Group CFO and SVP at Mattel over its global commercial finance, brand finance, FP&A, and Investor Relations functions, and headed its North American Online/Amazon Sales and Corporate Strategy teams. He began his career as a Consultant with Bain & Company.

Business Plans vs. Strategic Plans: What’s the Difference?

• November 19, 2021
• By James Gussie

Business plans lay out a company’s long-term strategy, while strategic plans outline how the business will reach its short- and medium-term goals. The difference between these two planning types is important to know for any entrepreneur or executive looking to set realistic expectations in today’s competitive marketplace.

Many company owners are aware of the need of a business strategy. The business plan is an important part of the loan application process since it acts as the basis for your company. It does, however, only give half of the tale. A strategic plan is also required to obtain the whole picture and to have a foundation on which to develop your company.

Let’s start with the distinction between a business and a strategic strategy. In the most basic terms:

A business strategy outlines the company’s “who” and “what.” The strategic strategy lays out the “how” and “when” for us.

In a wider sense, the business strategy informs us who we are by demonstrating:

• Who is in charge of the company? What qualifies them for this position? What does it take for them to contribute value to the table?
• Who are your rivals? What do they have to offer, and how do you differ from them?
• Who is your target market? What is the size of the market? What happened to them? What exactly do they want, and how are you going to provide it to them? Also, how will you reach out to your target market?

The business plan responds to the “what” question by detailing precisely what the company offers and how it does so. The product, services, and operations are all described in detail so that we can see how the promises are being fulfilled and if the company is running well.

On the other side, the strategic strategy lays forth the following:

• What criteria will you use to determine success? What metrics are important, and how will you keep track of them?
• What has to happen in order for you to accomplish your objectives? What are the resources you’ll need to get there?
• When? When will each action take place, who will do it, and when must certain milestones be met?

In the end, your business’s strategic strategy is an action plan. It’s the mission, goals, and actions that will propel your company ahead. A strategic plan is often laid out over a three- to five-year period, with particular stages carried out periodically. Benchmarks are often established in six-month and annual intervals to allow for planning, execution, and traction between milestones.

You’ll need a team of people to assist you plan, develop, and execute both the business and strategic strategies in both instances. Remember that your company need both a solid foundation and a sense of direction, as well as assistance in locating and acquiring important people and resources. You’re essentially driving with the brakes on if you don’t have them.

The “ strategic plan vs business plan vs operational plan ” is a question that has been asked for years. The difference between the three plans is what they are meant to be used for.

Table of Contents

Frequently Asked Questions

What is difference between a strategy and a plan.

A: A plan is a set of instructions for achieving or accomplishing something, while strategy refers to the art and practice of creating plans.

What are the 4 types of business plans?

A: A business plan is a written document outlining the goals, plans and methods of a new small or start-up company. There are four types of business plans: a) Business Plan Proposal b) Small Scale Business c) Entrepreneurial d) Start-Up

What are the 3 types of business plans?

A: A business plan is a document that details the goals, policies and procedures of an organization. Depending on its focus, it can be used to help understand the market or generate ideas for further development. There are three types of plans typically found in organizations: strategic planning, operational planning and marketing/sales/administrative

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More From Forbes

How To Start A Business Plan: A Step-By-Step Guide

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Creating a business plan is a critical first step for any entrepreneur. Knowing how to start a business plan will help you create a roadmap, guiding your business from startup to growth and beyond. Whether you're looking for investment, trying to set clear goals, or simply organizing your thoughts, a solid business plan can make all the difference.

Here is a guide to help you get started on your business plan:

1. executive summary.

What It Is: This section summarizes your business plan as a whole and outlines your company profile and goals.

What to Include:

• Business name and location
• Products or services offered
• Mission statement
• The purpose of the plan (e.g., seeking funding, guiding the startup process)

Tip: Keep it concise. Although it's the first section, it's often best to write it last, after you’ve detailed everything else.

2. Company Description

What It Is: This section provides detailed information about your company, including who you are, what you do, and what markets you serve.

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• Your business structure (e.g., sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation)
• The industry and marketplace needs your business meets
• Your business’s objectives and how you stand out from competitors

Tip: Use this section to highlight your company’s strengths and what makes you unique.

3. Market Research

What It Is: Market research demonstrates your understanding of the industry and target market.

• Market size and growth potential
• Target customer demographics
• Market trends and outlook
• Competitive analysis, including strengths and weaknesses of competitors

Tip: Include data and statistics to back up your findings and show that you’ve done your homework.

4. Organization and Management

What It Is: This section outlines your business’s organizational structure and management team.

• Organizational chart
• Information about the ownership of the company
• Backgrounds and qualifications of the management team
• Roles and responsibilities within the company

Tip: Highlight the skills and experiences of your team that will help the business succeed.

5. Products or Services Line

What It Is: Here, you detail the products or services you offer or plan to offer.

• A description of each product or service
• The lifecycle of products or services
• Research and development activities, if applicable
• Intellectual property, such as patents or trademarks

Tip: Focus on the benefits your products or services bring to your customers.

6. Marketing and Sales Strategy

What It Is: This section explains how you will attract and retain customers.

• Marketing strategies, including advertising, promotions, and public relations
• Sales strategies, including sales processes, channels, and tactics
• Pricing strategy and how it compares to competitors

Tip: Ensure your marketing and sales strategies are aligned with your market research findings.

7. Funding Request

What It Is: If you’re seeking funding , this section outlines your requirements.

• Your current funding needs
• Future funding requirements over the next five years
• How you intend to use the funds
• Potential future financial plans (e.g., selling the business, repaying debt)

Tip: Be specific and realistic about how much funding you need and how it will be used.

8. Financial Projections

What It Is: Financial projections provide a forecast of your business’s financial future.

• Income statements
• Cash flow statements
• Balance sheets
• Break-even analysis

Tip: Use realistic and conservative estimates. Consider hiring a financial professional to help with this section if needed.

9. Appendix

What It Is: The appendix includes any additional information that supports your business plan.

• Resumes of key management team members
• Permits and leases
• Legal documents
• Detailed market research data
• Product photos

Tip: Only include essential information that adds value to your business plan.

Final Tips for Creating a Business Plan

Creating a business plan requires clarity and precision. First and foremost, keep your business plan clear and concise. Avoid using jargon or complex language that could make the plan difficult to read or understand. Your aim should be to communicate your ideas effectively and efficiently.

Next, be realistic in your approach. Ensure that your goals and financial projections are attainable based on your research and understanding of the market. Overly ambitious projections can undermine your credibility and potentially lead to unrealistic expectations.

It's also essential to remember that a business plan is a dynamic document. As your business grows and market conditions change, you should revisit and revise your plan regularly. This helps you stay aligned with your goals and adapt to new challenges and opportunities.

Finally, seek feedback from experienced business professionals. Having someone with business experience review your plan can provide valuable insights and help identify any potential issues or areas for improvement. Their feedback can enhance the overall quality and effectiveness of your business plan.

By following these tips, you'll be better equipped to create a robust and effective business plan that can guide your business towards success.

The bottom line is that starting a business plan may seem challenging, but with careful planning and attention to detail, you can create a comprehensive guide to steer your business toward success. Use this step-by-step guide to ensure that all essential components are covered, giving your business the best possible start.

Melissa Houston, CPA is the author of Cash Confident: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating a Profitable Business and the founder of She Means Profit . As a Business Strategist for small business owners, Melissa helps women making mid-career shifts, to launch their dream businesses, and I also guide established business owners to grow their businesses to more profitably.

The opinions expressed in this article are not intended to replace any professional or expert accounting and/or tax advice whatsoever.

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How to Write a Business Plan Outline in 9 Steps (Example Included!)

Starting a business often begins with writing a business plan , especially if you need funding . It acts as a roadmap, guiding you through each stage of launching and managing your company, and it presents a clear, compelling case to potential investors and partners. But here's the thing: not everyone finds this step intuitive. That's where a business plan outline can be incredibly helpful.

Creating a detailed business plan outline helps you organize your thoughts and ensure you cover all the key aspects of your business strategy. Plus, it might be just what you need to overcome that blank page and start typing.

Below, you'll find an easy-to-follow guide on how to craft your business plan outline, and an example to show you what it should look like.

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What is an outline of a business plan?

Think of a business plan outline as the skeleton of your entire business plan. It gives a high-level overview of the main sections you'll need to flesh out later. It's not the final document but a crucial step in getting you there.

Simply put, it's like creating a detailed table of contents for your business plan, showing you exactly what information to include and how everything fits together. A well-structured business plan outline also helps you plan things ahead, saving time and effort.

Writing a business plan outline in 9 steps

Follow these steps to build your business plan outline and learn exactly what each section should include.

(Bear in mind that every business plan is unique, tailored to the specific needs and goals of the business. While the structure below is common, the order of sections may vary—only the executive summary will always come first.)

1. Executive summary

Imagine you have just 60 seconds to convince someone to invest in your business. That's the essence of a strong executive summary. Although it appears first on your business plan, this section is often written last because it sums up the entire plan. Think of it as your elevator pitch . This section gives a quick overview of your entire business plan, highlighting key points that grab the reader's attention.

Keep it clear and concise. Start with a brief overview of your business, including its name and what it offers. Summarize your mission statement and objectives, and don’t forget to mention crucial aspects like financial projections and competitive advantages.

2. Company description

Here's where you provide detailed information about your company. Begin with the business name and location. Describe the legal structure (e.g., sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation) and ownership. If your business already exists, share a brief history.

For new ventures, explain the business's nature and the problems you aim to solve. Go into more detail about your vision and mission statements, outlining your goals and the principles guiding your business. This section helps potential investors and stakeholders grasp your company’s identity and purpose.

3. Market research and analysis

This section shares insights into your company’s industry. Start with a landscape analysis to give an overview of the market, including its size, growth rate, and key players.

Next, define your target market and customer demographics—age, location, income, and interests—detailing who your ideal customers are. Identify market needs and trends your business will address, and highlight customer pain points your product or service aims to solve.

Consider conducting a SWOT analysis to evaluate your business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and gain a strategic view of where your business stands in the competitive landscape.

4. Organization and management

Describe how your business is structured and who runs it. Outline the organizational structure, and if helps, include a chart. Introduce the leadership team and key personnel, highlighting their qualifications and roles. If you have a board of directors, mention them and briefly explain their involvement.

Then, outline your production processes, detailing how your product or service is (or will be) created—from sourcing materials to delivery—to give a comprehensive view of your operational capabilities.

5. Products and services

This section of your business plan outline is crucial for showing potential investors what makes your products and services unique and valuable.

Clearly describe what your business offers, emphasizing your unique selling propositions (USPs) and the benefits and features that set you apart from the competition. Talk about the product life cycle, including any plans for future updates.

If your business holds any intellectual property or proprietary technologies, detail them here to underscore your competitive advantages.

6. Marketing strategy

Having a fantastic product or service is just half the battle. The marketing plan section should outline how you'll reach your target market and convert them into customers.

Begin with market positioning and branding, explaining how you want your brand perceived. Detail your marketing and promotional strategies, including specific tactics to reach your target audience.

Discuss your sales strategy, focusing on how you'll convert leads into customers. Lastly, include your pricing strategy and provide a sales forecast, projecting your expected revenue over a certain period.

7. Operations plan

Here, the goal is to give a detailed overview of the physical and logistical aspects of your company. Start with the business location and facilities, describing where it operates and any significant physical assets. Detail the technology and equipment needed for daily operations.

Briefly describe your supply chain and logistics processes to illustrate how you manage inventory, procurement, and distribution. Finish it by outlining your production process and quality control measures to ensure your products or services consistently meet high standards.

8. Financial plan

Use this section of the business plan to show how your company will succeed financially. Include financial projections like income statements and cash flow statements. Specify how much capital you need and how you plan to use it, discussing funding sources.

Conduct a break-even analysis to estimate when your business will become profitable. Be transparent and address any financial risks and assumptions, outlining how you plan to mitigate them.

9. Appendices and exhibits

In this section, include any additional information that supports your business plan. This might be resumes of key personnel to highlight your team's expertise and experience, or even legal documents and agreements.

Include market research data and surveys to back up your market analysis. Add financial statements for a detailed look at your financial plan. Also, provide detailed product specifications to give a clear understanding of your products and services.

Here's a business plan outline example

Not quite there yet? Take a look at this business plan outline example—it will make everything clear for you.

3.1 Executive Summary

• Overview of the business
• Key points of the business plan

3.2 Company Description

• Business name and location
• History and nature of the business
• Legal structure and ownership
• Vision and mission statement

3.3 Market Research and Analysis

• Industry analysis
• Target market and customer demographics
• Market needs, trends
• Customer pain points
• SWOT analysis

3.4 Organization and Management

• Organizational structure
• Leadership team and key personnel
• Roles and responsibilities
• Board of directors (if applicable)
• Production processes

3.5 Products and Services

• Description of products or services offered
• Unique selling propositions, benefits, features
• Product lifecycle and development plans
• Intellectual property and proprietary technologies

3.6 Marketing Strategy

• Market positioning and branding
• Marketing and promotional strategies
• Sales strategy and tactics
• Pricing strategy and sales forecast

3.7 Operations Plan

• Business location and facilities
• Technology and equipment
• Supply chain and logistics
• Production process and quality control

3.8 Financial Plan

• Financial projections (income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements)
• Funding requirements and sources
• Break-even analysis
• Financial risks and assumptions

3.9 Appendices and Exhibits (if applicable)

• Supporting documents and additional information
• Resumes of key personnel
• Legal documents and agreements
• Market research data and surveys
• Financial Statements
• Detailed Product Specifications

Bonus tips on how to write a winning business plan

Once you've done your business plan outline, it's time to fill in the gaps and craft a winning business plan. Here are some bonus tips to keep in mind:

• Tailor it to fit your business : Customize sections to meet industry-specific needs and highlight what makes your business unique.
• Keep it clear and concise : Use straightforward language and support your points with data to ensure easy understanding and avoid any confusion.
• Set actionable and realistic goals : Define measurable objectives with clear timelines and milestones to track your progress.
• Update regularly : Keep your plan dynamic by making regular updates to reflect changes in goals, market conditions, and strategies.
• Seek feedback : Gain insights from mentors and advisors to refine your plan.

Read this next: How to Start a Business in 8 Steps: A Comprehensive Guide from Concept to Launch

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Strategic Roadmap: A Framework for Achieving Your Goals

The strategic roadmap is the foundation of modern organizations and teams operating in dynamic environments where long-term planning and adaptability are crucial.

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Organizations need a way to not only articulate a strategic vision, but also translate that strategy into a timeline of deliverables and business outcomes. A strategic roadmap provides a high-level blueprint of the company’s strategy execution, looking at:

• How the enterprise will achieve its goals
• In what order they will achieve those goals
• When those goals will be achieved

Just how important are strategic roadmaps? Consider the following:

By 2026, businesses will spend an estimated $1.4 trillion dollars due to the consequences of strategic drift. – Shift vs. Drift: Connecting Strategy to Outcomes

According to research developed by Economist Impact, commissioned by Planview , more than 80% of executives see the need to improve internal communications, cross-functional collaboration, and employee engagement. What’s more, 86% of executives admit they need to improve accountability in their strategy implementation. And the strategic roadmap is an important part of addressing these problems.

That’s because strategic roadmaps play an important role in cross-functional orchestration and managing dependencies by:

• Aligning cross-functional teams to overarching strategic objectives
• Visually tracking dependencies between delivery items

This guide will help you take action by highlighting essential components to include in your roadmap, showing examples, and demonstrating how to choose the best strategic roadmap software for your organization.

What Is a Strategic Roadmap?

A strategic roadmap outlines the major steps and milestones required to reach a desired state, tracking progress along the way to inform decisions. It is a visual guide that connects strategy and execution, optimizing resources and giving purpose to the work.

Now, let’s look at what it’s not. Your strategic roadmap isn’t the same as a strategic plan.

While they’re commonly confused and conflated, roadmaps and plans serve two different purposes. The strategic plan provides the overall direction and objectives you aim to achieve.

The strategic roadmap breaks down those objectives into actionable stages, guiding the implementation process, and ensuring alignment across the organization.

Navigation apps provide a good analogy for the value of roadmapping. You can see your starting point and desired end point on the map (your strategic plan), and the turn-by-turn instructions show you how to navigate from Point A to Point B (your strategic roadmap). Ultimately, the map ensures you won’t get lost along the way. Even if you get off track or need to make a detour, your roadmap can adjust, rerouting you back onto the right path towards your destination.

The strategic roadmap is your visual guide for achieving business outcomes by completing deliverables connected to those outcomes. Use it to break down strategic objectives into actionable initiatives and timelines.

Using a strategic roadmap helps ensure organizational capacity is directed towards the work that’s connected to strategy, and that teams understand how their work contributes to the overarching strategy.

It also facilitates effective communication across the enterprise, fostering transparency, focused goal alignment, and greater productivity. With a strategy roadmap in place, organizations can navigate complexities like dependencies and risks, adapt to change, and make informed decisions to drive sustainable growth and success.

Connecting Strategic Roadmapping to Execution Planning

There are two kinds of strategic roadmaps: static and dynamic. Each approach planning and executing a strategic vision differently, yet only one can adapt to inevitable priority and plan changes.

Static Roadmaps

Traditional and linear in nature, static roadmaps outline a set plan with defined goals, milestones, and timelines that remain fixed over the course of the planning period. These roadmaps are typically detailed and comprehensive, often siloed, and provide a clear blueprint for action.

While static roadmaps offer stability and predictability, they often struggle to adapt to internal and external changes. They’re disconnected, meaning they can quickly become outdated and require regular maintenance if there are ongoing changes to the plan.

Dynamic Roadmaps

On the other hand, dynamic roadmaps are flexible and responsive to change, disruptions, and emerging opportunities.

Dynamic roadmaps are more than a simple static, visual representation of your strategic vision. They’re connected to work, initiatives, and outcomes and change the moment your plans shift.

As an evolving, interactive document, dynamic roadmaps are more resilient in the face of uncertainty and complexity, continuously aligning work and resources to strategy. They also ensure teams remain focused on desired outcomes and have the freedom to adjust execution strategy and timelines to deliver on the strategic priorities.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s look at what you need for creating an effective strategic roadmap.

5 Key Elements of Strategic Roadmaps

The strategic roadmap is an overview of a company’s current state, desired state, and plans to bridge the two. While each organization may incorporate specific components in its roadmap, there are at least five foundational elements to every strategic roadmap.

1. Strategic objectives and goals

The high-level outcomes the organization wants to achieve, such as launching a new product, enhancing the customer experience, or optimizing digital transformation. Goals should provide a clear direction and be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).

2. Initiatives

The projects or programs the organization will undertake to reach the strategic objectives, such as launching a new product, expanding into new markets, or improving a process. The strategic initiatives should be aligned with the organization’s strategic priorities.

3. Action items

The specific task-level activities necessary to achieve each initiative, such as conducting research, designing features, or testing prototypes.

4. Timeline and milestones

The estimated duration and sequence of the initiatives and action items, noting start and end dates. The strategic roadmap should also highlight dependencies and potential obstacles that could cause delays.

5. Resources

The people, budget, and tools required or allocated for each initiative and action item, such as team members, funding, or software. Resources should be allocated based on the initiative’s priority.

How to Create a Roadmap for a Strategic Plan

With a better understanding of a strategic roadmap’s purpose and elements, you are ready to begin strategic roadmapping. The ultimate goal? Connect planning to delivery in a visual, sharable way.

State vision and context

The vision should connect the long-term vision to short-term action. Harvard Business Review says that doing this “ensures that every unit of the company understands and has agreed to the balance between short-term goals and the longer-term vision of their daily work.”

In the context of a specific initiative, the vision and stakeholders may be narrowed, but the practice remains the same. Clearly articulate the company’s vision, strategic objectives, goals, and desired outcomes within a certain time period.

Answer the questions below to elaborate on your values and provide a north star that guides all activities on the strategic roadmap:

• Why does your business exist?
• What pain points do your products or services address?
• What are your organization’s primary objectives and goals?
• Where does your organization see itself in the short, medium, and long term?

There is no need to get too specific or technical. These questions should be general in nature and intended to keep an eye on the bigger picture.

Create a SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis assesses an organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as the external opportunities and threats, informing strategic decision-making. A SWOT analysis can help an organization visualize its brand positioning and offering.

Evaluate your organization’s internal attributes, resources, and capabilities that give it a competitive advantage. From its workforce and brand reputation to proprietary technology and processes, its strengths are weapons to exploit and build upon during the execution of initiatives.

Assess your organization’s internal limitations, challenges, and areas for improvement. These may include obsolete technology, financial constraints, skills gaps, inefficient processes, and poor brand reputation. When leaders understand what can disrupt execution, they can develop strategies to overcome them as part of the strategic roadmap.

Opportunities

Analyze potential external opportunities for growth or improvements. These may include emerging markets, competition vulnerabilities, evolving customer trends, market gaps, or new technologies that could help your organization achieve its goals.

Determine external factors that could hinder your organization’s ability to execute its initiatives. These may include changing consumer preferences and regulations, increased competition, economic downturns, and supply chain disruptions.

Conduct a competitor analysis

Creating a competitor analysis during your strategic roadmapping exercise involves researching your competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, activities, and positioning to determine how your organization compares and opportunities to excel. Using your own research and analysts’ reports, analyze the qualities of direct and indirect competitors and use those insights to inform your strategy, such as:

• Products and services
• Market share
• Distribution channels and marketing strategies
• Customer reviews and brand reputation

If needed, consider conducting a market analysis to better understand the needs of your target market. This will help you when it comes to identifying the strategy you want represented in your strategic roadmap.

Set goal-oriented milestones

Setting goal-oriented milestones in your strategic roadmap will help you get the most out of your strategic plan.

The process involves analyzing and setting smaller goals for various periods with milestones and metrics that will measure performance.

Assign each milestone a deadline based on factors such as resource capacity, project dependencies, and external constraints. Align them with the organization’s strategic priorities and ensure they directly contribute to achieving the initiatives. Finally, continuously review performance and adjust milestones and your dynamic roadmap accordingly.

Consider pairing your strategic roadmap with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for better strategic alignment.

OKRs are a goal-oriented framework that you can use to set goals and measure your progress toward achieving those goals over a defined period of time. When used together, OKRs and roadmaps help establish short and long-term alignment by answering the following questions:

• What do we want to achieve?
• Why are these goals a high priority?
• How do we get from A to B?
• When should we plan this work, and in what order?

Learn more about how you can use OKRs at the strategy level by reading our eBook titled “Connecting the Dots Between Strategy and Delivery.”

Strategic Roadmap Examples

There are multiple initiatives that can benefit from the improved direction, communication, accountability, and resource allocation a strategic roadmap brings. Here are a few examples:

Digital transformation

For enterprises with legacy technology due for modernization, a strategic roadmap will help them digitally transform internal processes and operations to improve efficiency, agility, and competitiveness.

The roadmap outlines phased goals and milestones, allowing specific timeframes to identify and implement enablement technologies, execute migrations, train employees, and monitor systems.

Product launch

For product-focused organizations, a strategic roadmap provides a structured framework for product teams to plan, execute, and optimize a product launch. The roadmap breaks down the product launch process into manageable phases, milestones, and tasks, ensuring all stakeholders understand their responsibilities and work together to meet deadlines.

Customer experience enhancement

For organizations with the initiative to improve customer satisfaction, retention, and acquisition, roadmapping identifies customer pain points throughout their journey and opportunities for improvement across touchpoints. Teams can use the roadmap to align efforts and launch customer-centric programs, implement employee training programs, and track progress.

Selecting Strategic Roadmap Software

Strategic roadmap software automates many aspects of the roadmapping process and ensures alignment between work, resources, and desired outcomes.

It connects planning to delivery and delivery to outcomes. Accessible to all stakeholders, the roadmap serves as a single source of truth to ensure everyone is on the same path, working collaboratively to reach common strategic objectives, no matter their roles and responsibilities.

Planview’s Strategic Portfolio Management solution includes dynamic roadmaps that enable leaders to translate strategic plans into actionable roadmaps more easily.

Unlike static strategic roadmapping tools that immediately age, Planview’s dynamic roadmaps are built to adapt to change. Planners can leverage the software to determine how specific changes impact resources, timelines, and budgets, fostering more informed decision-making.

This direct line of sight virtually eliminates development effort misalignment and waste. Planview Roadmaps is the “blueprint” to show the organizational goals and the directions to get there.

Spreadsheets, sticky notes, emails, and other disconnected “systems” do little to align work with strategic priorities. Instead, these dynamic roadmaps ensure the company spends its time, money, and labor on work that achieves those priorities versus sinking those resources into work that doesn’t move the needle.

Access this on-demand webinar and learn how Planview Roadmaps can bridge the gap by connecting strategy, planning, and delivery across all teams in your organization.

Sr Product Marketing Manager

Gage is a senior product marketer leading the go-to-market efforts for Planview’s Professional Services Automation solution. Prior to joining Planview, he led go-to-market efforts for several small to Fortune 100 software and professional services organizations. Driven to see services organizations mature and improve client experiences, he combines nearly 10 years of marketing experience across branding, content creation, digital marketing, and product marketing to deliver meaningful resources to help organizations on their maturity journey.

Politics latest: 'Emergency' prisons plan revealed - as government urged to decriminalise drug possession

The new government is expanding the early release scheme to ease pressure on prisons amid a lack of spaces - amid calls to go further and decriminalise drug posession.

Saturday 13 July 2024 10:22, UK

• General Election 2024
• Justice secretary announces 'emergency measures' to tackle prison population 'crisis'
• Listen to Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts
• New data shows just 708 places left in adult male prison estate last week
• Decriminalise drug possession, government urged
• Starmer hits out at 'gross irresponsibility' of previous government
• Beth Rigby: A whirlwind of international diplomacy for the new PM - but it will only get harder from here
• Live reporting by Jennifer Scott and (earlier)  Ben Bloch

We are signing off now after a big week in Westminster that saw Labour making its first moves as the new government, and the Conservatives trying to work out what their future in opposition looks like.

But don't worry, we will be back on Sunday morning to cover all the political news from the weekend and bring you the latest with Trevor Phillips. 

See you then!

Friday marks the end of the first full week for hundreds of new MPs who came to Westminster after the general election.

But for some of the newbies, there was an even bigger task coming their way - being promoted to ministers.

Our political reporter Alix Culbertson takes at look at the new Labour politicians who have already found themselves on Sir Keir Starmer's frontbench.

Jess Phillips says there are "still things that I worry about" after the government confirmed it would be letting prisoners out of jail early to help with overcrowding. 

The Labour MP and now minister in the Home Office tells Sky News' Electoral Dysfunction podcast that "by no means is any of this perfect" and the situation was a "terrible, terrible thing". 

She adds: "It's still not something that you would ever want to be doing. And there are still things that I worry about."

But Ms Phillips defends the decision too, especially around the exclusion of domestic abusers and stalkers from the policy, saying it is "a shift from what it was... when the Tories were doing it".

She says: "You do what you can in the initial hours that you have to do it, and that isn't the end.

"We will now work on exactly how to make sure that as many possible safeguards can be put in place for potential victims whose perpetrators are being released."

The full episode of Electoral Dysfunction will be released here later this evening, so keep an eye on your feeds.

The victims' commissioner for England and Wales has welcomed the government's decision to exclude domestic abusers and stalkers from its new early release scheme for prisoners. 

Baroness Newlove called the move a "welcome and necessary step, reflecting the concerns raised by victims and those who advocate for them".

In a statement, she said there needs to be "clear communication with victims" during the process to ensure the government has their trust, including informing them if release dates are brought forward and allowing them to request protection measures. 

She demanded the probation service is "properly resourced to effectively manage licensing conditions and exclusion zones, which are vital for public safety and victim reassurance".

Baroness Newlove added: "Public safety must remain the top priority as these changes are implemented. 

"We must acknowledge these exclusions have limitations and cannot address every potential risk."

The chief inspector of prisons is warning the move by the government to tackle overcrowding in jails will "inevitably lead to the early release of some risky offenders". 

In a statement, Charlie Taylor welcomed the decision by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood to release prisoners who had completed 40% of their sentences to free up space, saying the "recognition of the seriousness of the situation, and swift action to manage the prison populations to relieve the immediate strain many jails are under" was positive. 

However, he added: "This latest measure will inevitably lead to the early release of some risky offenders, and will add to the workload of already stretched prison OMUs (offender management units) and probation services.

"How these men are prepared for release and how prisons and probation are supported in managing them will be vital."

Mr Taylor said his organisation will be "watching this very closely - as well as any plans that are developed once the immediate pressure is relieved that seek to make prisons places of genuine purpose, help people to break the cycle of reoffending and protect the public from future harm".

Former home secretary and likely Conservative leadership contender Suella Braverman has blasted the government in a somewhat odd way - namely for "picking up Tory ideas".

As we have just reported, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to release prisoners who have served 40% of their sentences to help alleviate overcrowding in jails, subject to some exemptions. 

A similar plan was said to have been proposed by the now former justice secretary Alex Chalk last year, but was understood to have been blocked by Number 10 over fears of a backbench rebellion from Tory MPs. 

Tweeting after the government announcement was made, Ms Braverman said: "I opposed this, both inside & outside government.

"With 40 MPs, I tabled amendments to the Sentencing Bill to stop the early release of criminals and put public safety first.

"We managed to stop the government doing it."

She added: "Labour is picking up Tory ideas and putting the public at risk."

Ms Braverman also claimed "everyone and his mother should run to be leader" of her party when the contest kicks off. 

But she said all contenders have "got to start taking responsibility for what we did, and for the things we shamefully left undone - such as not building enough prisons".

The justice secretary has announced that the government will conduct a review into how the "crisis" in prisons was "allowed to happen".

Shabana Mahmood explained: "It will look at how and why necessary decisions were not taken at critical moments. And the lessons that must be learned by future governments, from the failures of the last."

She added: "The legacy of those who last occupied 10 Downing Street is prisons in crisis, moments from catastrophic disaster.

"Our legacy will be different.

"A prisons system brought under control. A probation service that keeps the public safe. Enough prison places to meet our needs. And prisons that break the cycle of reoffending - and create better citizens, not better criminals."

The justice secretary has set out what would happen if the government does not implement these "emergency measures" to reduce the prison population.

Shabana Mahmood said: "Soon, the courts would grind to a halt, unable to hold trials.

"The police would have to stop carrying out arrests. With officers unable to act, criminals could do whatever they want, without consequence.

"We could see looters running amok, smashing in windows, robbing shops and setting neighbourhoods alight.

"In short, if we fail to act now, we face the collapse of the criminal justice system. And a total breakdown of law and order."

She declared this "the legacy of the last Conservative government" and the consequences of their "failure" to address the issue.

The new justice secretary has placed the blame for the "crisis" in prisons firmly at the door of the previous government.

Shabana Mahmood said of the Conservative Party: "Time and again, they ducked the difficult decisions that could have addressed this challenge.

"Instead, they kept the public in the dark about the state they had left this country in. They were too weak to heed the warning signs that were flashing. They chose instead to put the country at risk."

There have been reports that her predecessor, Alex Chalk, tried to implement the emergency measures she is announcing today in order to ease the crisis, but former PM Rishi Sunak blocked it.

"But, instead of taking responsibility, she said, "Rishi Sunak called an election. He tried to hoodwink the electorate. And he was punished at the ballot box."

Echoing language used to describe the people who appeased the Nazis in the 1930s, Ms Mahmood said: "Those responsible – Sunak and his gang in No 10 – should go down in history as the guilty men.

"The guilty men who put their political careers ahead of the safety and security of our country. It was the most disgraceful dereliction of duty I have ever known."

By Mollie Malone, news correspondent

These measures from the justice secretary will be seen among the prison and probation sector as a proper attempt to reset and alleviate the immediate prisons crisis (see previous post).

But it doesn’t solve everything. Far from it.

The justice secretary admits today that the core announcement to lower the automatic release point from 50% to 40% is in itself an emergency measure.

At the moment, we are lurching from one emergency measure to the next.

There are safeguards in place that didn't exist under the previous controversial scheme launched by the Conservative government in October - allowing eligible offenders to be released up to 70 days before the end of their sentence.

Those safeguards might help offset some fears expressed by victims groups.

But it certainly doesn't offer a long term solution.

"Although it will be a law, it still does not resolve how we use prison in the long term," said one prison source.

"If we carry on with court backlogs and send more people to prison, we will be in the same position all over again," they said.

The government are committing to building more prison places.

But their prisons minister James Timpson fundamentally disagrees with that approach and thinks a third of people that are in prison shouldn't be there

There are lots of questions yet to answer about what meaningful reform looks like.

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Why Britain Just Ended 14 Years of Conservative Rule

Last week, the center-left labour party won the british general election in a landslide..

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For more than a decade, Britain has been governed by the Conservative Party, which pushed its politics to the right, embracing smaller government and Brexit. Last week, that era officially came to an end.

Mark Landler, the London bureau chief for The Times, explains why British voters rejected the Conservatives and what their defeat means in a world where populism is on the rise.

On today’s episode

Mark Landler , the London bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading

Five takeaways from the British general election.

The Conservatives have run Britain for 14 years. How have things changed in that time?

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Mark Landler is the London bureau chief of The Times, covering the United Kingdom, as well as American foreign policy in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades. More about Mark Landler

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