The most important driver for almost any business plan (whether it's called a business plan, a sales plan, an operational plan, an organisational plan, marketing plan, marketing strategy, strategic business plan, or other department business plan) is return on investment, or for public services and non-profit organisations, is effective use of investment and resources.
It's crucial also to consider and incorporate corporate social responsibility, ethics, the 'greater good', etc, but for the vast majority of organisations, whether companies, public services, not-for-profit trusts and charities, all organisations need to be financially effective in what they do, otherwise they will cease to function.
Organisations need of course to be ethical and humane, and to have a sound philosophical foundation, but ultimately, to sustain any organised activity, the figures and finances have to add up. I say this because this website is a very strong advocate of ethics and humanity in business (not least because so many organisations still fail to acknowledge and genuinely prioritise these aspects at all), so it's important to emphasise this point:
It's essential to manage ethical and socially responsible aspects as part of the total mix of organisational aims, which necessarily must include the effective use of investment and resources, in whatever way the principle is applied for the particular organisation.
Commonly, when someone starts to write a business plan or operational plan for the first time (and for many people the umpteenth time), they wonder: what is the objective? Often when they ask their manager, the manager has the same doubt. Sometimes even company directors fail to appreciate that return on investment is the main driver for any plan, unless there's a very good reason for there being some other purpose.
The essential planning elements are identifying causes and effects, according to your relevant business drivers. In many good businesses a substantial business planning responsibility extends now to front line customer-facing staff, and the trend is increasing. In this context, the business plan could be called also be called a marketing plan, or a sales plan - it's all the same:
"What you are going to sell to whom, when and how
It's crucial also to consider and incorporate corporate social responsibility, ethics, the 'greater good', etc, but for the vast majority of organisations, whether companies, public services, not-for-profit trusts and charities, all organisations need to be financially effective in what they do, otherwise they will cease to function.
Organisations need of course to be ethical and humane, and to have a sound philosophical foundation, but ultimately, to sustain any organised activity, the figures and finances have to add up. I say this because this website is a very strong advocate of ethics and humanity in business (not least because so many organisations still fail to acknowledge and genuinely prioritise these aspects at all), so it's important to emphasise this point:
It's essential to manage ethical and socially responsible aspects as part of the total mix of organisational aims, which necessarily must include the effective use of investment and resources, in whatever way the principle is applied for the particular organisation.
Commonly, when someone starts to write a business plan or operational plan for the first time (and for many people the umpteenth time), they wonder: what is the objective? Often when they ask their manager, the manager has the same doubt. Sometimes even company directors fail to appreciate that return on investment is the main driver for any plan, unless there's a very good reason for there being some other purpose.
The essential planning elements are identifying causes and effects, according to your relevant business drivers. In many good businesses a substantial business planning responsibility extends now to front line customer-facing staff, and the trend is increasing. In this context, the business plan could be called also be called a marketing plan, or a sales plan - it's all the same:
"What you are going to sell to whom, when and how
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