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BILL FISHMAN

Bill Fishman & Affiliates

11650 lberia Place San Diego, Ca.92128

This was written by Don C. Clothier, author of numerous marketing articles, frequent keynote speaker, past president of Marketing Information Institute, former head of the Wickes marketing deportment, and o marketing consultant to many of the country's foremost retailers. He is one of the occasional guest columnists presented by Bill Fishman -ed.

Tue PRINCIPLES of strategic planI nine have been in text books for -uny y.irr, but have not been programatically practiced consistently. With the development of management by objectives and excess computer capacity in the late 1970s, many models have been developed that manipulate marketing information bases. This allows the marketing function to be performed on a more offensive approach than in prior decades.

The importance of strategic planning is that it provides what is realistic for the company to achieve based upon the company's position in the marketplace and the options that are available. A systematic audit of the company's marketing position provides a general dialogue among finance, operations, and marketing which is a cross-communication that many times does not flow smoothly due to natural conflicts between these three functions.

A simple skeleton outline for beginning the strategic plan on a systematic and offensive basis is as follows:

i. CHARTER

This is the mission statement of the corporate entity. Who you are, what you sell, why, and to whom?

II. BUSINESS PROFILE

This is the environment in which the business entity must operate its business.

Competition-Who they are, where they are, what are their strengths and weaknesses?

Economy-Is your business a leading, lagging, or coincidental industry segment?

Resources-Are there sufficient supply channels, capital resources, and manpower tools for continued growth?

Customers-Who are present customers, and what are their buying characteristics and will this continue into the future?

Technology-Are there new technological developments that will obsolete the present form of bu siness?

Political/Legal-What are the rules and regulations under which the present entity must operate, and are they likely to change favorably or unfavorably in the future?

Strengths And Weaknesses

This is an honest appraisal of the business entity's shortcomings and strengths, allowing the strategic plan to maximize market niches and overcome shortfalls.

Business Objectives

An objective has not been set unless it is measurable; therefore, it must be a statement which indicates percent change, dollar change, unit change, and ratio change over a time period. Business objectives are set in three areas with management objectives to resolve conflicts among these three areas:

Marketing Objectives-To increase market share over time: to increase percent awareness over time; to compound sales rate of X9o over next number of years.

Financial Objectives-To increase the return on investment from X9o to Y9o over the next year; to improve inventory turnover from A tums per year to B turns per year within the next two year period; to maintain a minimum hurdle rate of Z9o RONA (Return on Net Assets).

Operational Objectives-To reduce work force absenteeism from X9o to Y9o over the next six months: to increase employee productivity from X dollars per hour to Y dollars per hour; to increase profitability from X9o to Y9o per cubic foot over the next year.

With this simple skeleton outline of the business entity, marketing programming can now be efficiently conducted by targeting customer opportunities identified in the business profile and fulfilling their needs by mixing product, price, place, and promotion.