case 6
Section II. Building the Business Plan: Beginning Considerations
Chapter 3 Designing a Competitive Business Model and Building a Solid Strategic Plan
Part 1: Learning Objectives
1. Understand the importance of strategic management to a small business.
2. Explain why and how a small business must create a competitive advantage in the market.
3. Develop a strategic plan for a business using the nine steps in the strategic planning process.
4. Discuss the characteristics of three basic strategies: low cost, differentiation, and focus, and know when to employ them.
5. Understand the importance of controls such as the balanced scorecard in the planning process.
Part 2: Class Instruction
Introduction LO 1 Developing a strategic plan allows a company to create a competitive advantage—an aggregation of factors that sets a company apart from its competitors and gives it a unique position in the market. No business can be everything to everyone. Creating a strategic plan prevents a small business from failing to differentiate itself from its competitors. Another avenue for entrepreneurs seeking a competitive advantage is through customer intimacy, focusing on the goods and services that customers want and value. When it comes to developing a strategic plan, small companies have a variety of natural advantages over their larger competitors: fewer product lines, a better–defined customer base, a specific geographical area, and closer customer contact. Intellectual capital is comprised of human, structural and customer capital and has changed the landscape for the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are realizing that the capital stored in these three areas form the foundation of their ability to compete effectively and that they must manage this intangible capital base carefully and with intent. The goal is to have it all come together to build a competitive advantage for the entrepreneur and their business.
Building a Competitive
Chapter 3 Designing a Competitive Business Model and Building a Solid Strategic Plan
Part 1: Learning Objectives
1. Understand the importance of strategic management to a small business.
2. Explain why and how a small business must create a competitive advantage in the market.
3. Develop a strategic plan for a business using the nine steps in the strategic planning process.
4. Discuss the characteristics of three basic strategies: low cost, differentiation, and focus, and know when to employ them.
5. Understand the importance of controls such as the balanced scorecard in the planning process.
Part 2: Class Instruction
Introduction LO 1 Developing a strategic plan allows a company to create a competitive advantage—an aggregation of factors that sets a company apart from its competitors and gives it a unique position in the market. No business can be everything to everyone. Creating a strategic plan prevents a small business from failing to differentiate itself from its competitors. Another avenue for entrepreneurs seeking a competitive advantage is through customer intimacy, focusing on the goods and services that customers want and value. When it comes to developing a strategic plan, small companies have a variety of natural advantages over their larger competitors: fewer product lines, a better–defined customer base, a specific geographical area, and closer customer contact. Intellectual capital is comprised of human, structural and customer capital and has changed the landscape for the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are realizing that the capital stored in these three areas form the foundation of their ability to compete effectively and that they must manage this intangible capital base carefully and with intent. The goal is to have it all come together to build a competitive advantage for the entrepreneur and their business.
Building a Competitive
Links: to additional online resources are available on the companion Web site at www.pearsonhighered.com/scarborough.