By
Bob Thilmont
July
2005
In the last few
years I have had the opportunity to meet with several start-up
companies. During these initial meetings the management teams
of these companies have been very passionate about their
products.
They will tell you how their product will revolutionize the industry
or how it is much more superior then the well entrenched
competition. Yet these same companies fail to talk passionately
about their business or their long term vision for the company.
They are so focused on developing the product that they fail to
develop the business. This not only includes the business brand
but the structure need for the long term success of the business.
Successful
companies have focused on developing the business properly while
developing products. These companies build the business
structure to allow for continuous growth and long term success.
<>Figure1.
Building a successful business
The above figure
illustrates the need for a company to look beyond an initial product
or service. The effort to launch a single product in a start-up
can be greater than the potential sales and profit of the initial
product. Just when the company sees the success of the product
the life cycle is on the decline and there is nothing in the pipeline
to replace it. Since the company was a one product company it
too starts to decline.
The cumulative
success of the business is a summation of all of the products and
services successfully launched and marketed. This cannot happen
without developing an internal business structure.
What goes
into building a Business Structure?
There are two basic
elements needed to build a business structure. The first is the
understanding and knowledge of what resources your company needs to
succeed in the launch or growth phase. The second is a business
implementation plan that details what steps need to be taken at each
critical step along the way.
Doesn’t
a Strategic Plan or Business Plan do this?
A Strategic Plan is
just that. It charts out the strategies the executive team will
implement in order to move the company forward. Likewise the
Business Plan is usually a fiscal operating plan based on financial
expectations. Both help identify the company needs and are
critical to an organization. Likewise, both provide the framework for
developing a business structure but neither provides the detailed
steps needed to build the structure. It is the business
implementation plan that details the actions to be taken when certain
benchmarks are achieved or a certain crisis arises.
So what goes
into a Business Implementation Plan?
A good
implementation plan should reflect both the vision of the strategic
plan and the details of the business plan. An implementation
plan might include:
- When to add product support people once a product is launched.
- When to seek additional funding.
- When to move resources away from a declining product or finished
project.
- What impact does a new product launch have on existing products
and market channel support.
- What resources are needed to enter a new market.
- What impact does a new product launch have on company cash flow.
These are some of
the elements one would need to include in a successful business
implementation plan.
In summary, a
business implementation plan is much like a project plan.
However, instead of focusing on just one product or project, the
business implementation plan helps the executive team to focus on
building a long term successful business.
We hope you found
this topic of interest. Mountain Global has developed tools to
help businesses develop an implementation plan. Feel free to
contact us at bthilmont@mountainglobal.biz
for more information.
Until next time.
Bob
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