Long Term Business Planning Key Terms

Words to know when developing a long term business plan

Creating a long term business plan is vital to the success of your business. These plans require a business to think about the future and put plans into place should something unexpected happen. Having a long term plan requires you to be clear about what you want to accomplish and how you plan to accomplish it.

Once created, business plans need to be revisited and evaluated to help the business stay on track long term. Long term plans are unique to each business and too complicated to cover in depth here, but the following terms will help you get started in understanding long term business planning.

 

Strategic plan

A strategic plan is the written document that a business creates to define its strategies and beliefs. A strategic plan answers the questions, "What do we do?", "For whom do we do it?" and "How do we excel at it?"
Try: Invest-Tech has a step-by-step list of how to create a strategic plan as well as an online strategic planner.

SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis should be a part of any strategic plan. This analysis looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your company.
Try: A complete walk through of a SWOT analysis can be found on the RapidBI website. This resource has specific examples as well as worksheets and templates you can use for your own SWOT analysis.

Capacity planning

Capacity planning involves planning for the future in terms of equipment, facilities, employees, etc. It focuses on what you are capable of producing at any given time, rather than what your demand will be.
Try: A discussion on capacity planning can be found at Gaebler Ventures.

Succession plan

Any long term business plan should include a succession plan. This plan details the procedures to follow when a company leader or leaders move on to other opportunities. The plan is carried out throughout the leaders tenure as well as upon the announcement they are leaving the company.
Try: The key areas of a succession plan, along with the importance of creating a plan prior to it becoming a necessity, can be found at Renal Business Today.

Sources of capital

Successful businesses must have sources of capital; basically, sources for money. These sources of capital should be devised and included in your long term business plan.
Try: The University of Maine Cooperative Extension has an extensive overview of capital and a list of sources of capital that will be very useful for your business as you determine the long term financial needs for your business.

Business continuity planning

Long term business plans should include a business continuity plan. This plan details what the business will do if there is a natural disaster or other disruption to a major component to your business.
Try: There are a number of resources revolving around business continuity planning on the A Bacal & Associate site. These resources discuss the importance of having a continuity plan and what should be included.

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