Small and Medium sized enterprises are at the heart of every business community. Often such organisations do not possess the time to review their operations at a strategic level and implement changes necessary to maximise profit and business opportunities.

CAP offers a bespoke programme of reviews and events to support the growth and competitiveness of SME’s

One of the key tools used in Strategic Planning and Implementation is the M.O.S.T. Analysis. This helps to clarify where the business intends to go (Mission), they key goals which will help to achieve this (Objectives), analyses what options there are for proceeding forward (Strategies) and how these strategies are going to be put into action (Tactics).

The key is for this whole process to hang together from top to bottom and also in reverse. From the top, clarifying the mission drives the objectives which create strategic options which forces tactical actions to be taken. From the bottom, every action at tactical level should help to make the strategies work, all strategies should help to achieve the objectives, and all the objectives should take the business towards the mission.

• Getting distracted from moving the business forward by day-to-day actions or demands from customers, suppliers and competitors
• Failing to clarify where it wants to get to and in what timescale
• Omitting to get Board and management agreement to this mission
• Not clarifying the key objectives that need to be reached (and in what timescale) for the mission to be successful
• Not getting external and objective assistance in analysing the strategic options available to satisfy the key objectives
• Missing out the strategy stage altogether by going straight from objectives to tactics which leads to a lot of "dead ends"
• Not ensuring that everything done at tactical level helps to ensure success of the stategies
• Failing to properly define timescales, responsibilities, monitoring and control procedures to ensure that implementation moves forward at the necessary speed

External Strategic Planning and Implementation helps companies avoid these traps and keeps the business moving forward with a sense of urgency and in a clear direction which "hangs together" from Director to shop floor level.