Marcos Fava Neves

The strategic planning satellite

By Marcos Fava Neves (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-09-02 18:08

My last class of the 2010 University of Sao Paulo course on strategic planning was this week. In my style, a last class for a professor is a moment to put together what was discussed, the major changes and trends and messages to take home. I used the old blackboard to resume the thoughts and I want to share with China Daily community with this story. Hope the thoughts can be useful. But the reader must be asking…why a satellite?

In a funny and creative way, I gathered 15 words that are of fundamental importance for strategic planning and management nowadays, starting with a letter "P" that designed a satellite with the word planning at the centre. The environment of planning is a satellite and must be at the genetics of each company towards a better preparation for the turbulent future. Here goes the 15 P's of strategic planning with my messages and a list for our homework, at the end of the article.

1. Prevision - we must increase our capacity to see what may happen in the future, macro environmental changes and impacts, before happening. Make the surprise and not to be surprised...

2. Public policies - there will be an increasing role of public policies and government regulation over companies in the following years. We must follow them, interfere using our associations, and be prepared to face them. Examples go from marketing to kids, to global financial regulations.

3. Planet - The growth of the importance of environment and planet related issues must come inside our planning topics.

4. People - At the same way, the growth of importance of corporate social responsibility and relations with employees, with people inside companies, shareholders and stakeholders will increase. There is growing attention of consumers and press over these subjects.

5. Productivity - There is a pressure for better use of scarce resources, and to deliver more at even lower costs. This movement is showing to companies the need of productivity.

6. Profit - The world faces a globally connected shareholder asking and comparing for value delivery with several options of investments. So profit will drive capacity to finance. Crucial for planning.

7. Partners - The Company is an integrated network, a bundle of contracts, with alliances and joint-ventures. We must have the best partners in our business models.

8. Proactiveness - Planning without implementing doesn't work. We must develop a internal culture and behavior to make plans be implemented, and for that, proactiveness of people and company.

9. Providers - There is a permanent need to reorganize supply chain and service providers towards value and smallholders inclusion. As I have already discussed with China Daily readers, I think inclusion is one of the most important topics in the future, and companies will be valued by its capacity to promote inclusion of smallholders.

10. Processes - In planning our activities, we must review all procedures/processes towards a more simple way of doing things, saving time, resources and promoting simplicity.

11. Portfolio - in a marketing point of view, we as companies must offer products and services in a "solution of customer´s problems" approach. To have an adequate and harmonic portfolio of products and businesses.

12. Place - More than the traditional approach of marketing channels, the place where our products are found should be targets as points of contacts and sales with consumers, promoting convenience, exchange of information and experiences.

13. Promotion - With the new generations and new media, planning should consider a integrated communication activity to have a permanent flow of information with markets and consumers, to react immediately, and to be fast.

14. Pricing - When planning prices, we must have an integrative and creative pricing strategy to increase at the same time value for the company and its shareholders and consumer satisfaction with benefits given with the acquisition process.

15. Projects - Finally, at any planning process, we need to organize proactiveness and planning in a project management approach to make things happen in a structured way. Plans and proactiveness, without organized projects, may not contribute to efficiency.

This is my list of "P's" important for planning nowadays. I could finish the article now, but then we would miss to possibility of sharing a question: how to use this list to improve our planning capacity? I have a suggestion of how to use this 15 P's… In each of them, we could ask how are we performing, how can we improve, what are good ideas, and who could be a benchmark. I wish you a nice planning. Remember, we are in September, and the year is almost gone… Time to plan…

The author is professor of strategic planning and food chains at the School of Economics and Business, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil (www.favaneves.org) and international speaker.