Developing an Implementation Business Plan - Essay Example

The economy is very unstable and many industries have been struggling since the recession. The use of project management techniques can help managers become more adept at implementing plans.

  DQ2

            A few years ago I did some consulting work for a family member that was starting a new company. The firm needed help creating an implementation plan on how to reach the commercialization phase for a new product the firm had developed. The company had already submitted a pre-patent application and the lawyers believed that that the chances of getting the patent approved was very high. Legal protection was one of the variables that were holding back the full launch. Another problem the company faced was a lack of capital. The company had been incorporated for over a year and a half doing research and development without generating any revenues. A lack of operating cash led to the failure of the business. This company in its early stages needed a better implementation plan with a better timeframe and action plan. 

DQ3

            The reason most risk management falls short of expectation is that they lack sufficient scope. A lot of managers do not have a clear understanding of all the business risks that can affect a company. For instance, variables such as foreign exchange rate are not considered by many when in fact this variable can influence businesses that make many recurrent purchases of materials from foreign distributors. The risk profile of industry changes and many managers do not keep up with current events sufficiently to realize the new risk variables that may affect an industry. For instance, the arrival of a wave of new green cars will adversely affect the production of pickup trucks and SUV automobiles.

4. The learning curve has many practical implications for the labor force of a business. Companies that establish themselves in an infant industry are not able to benefit from the virtues of the learning curve. On the other hand firms such as Coca-Cola have gained dominance in the market through years of experience that has enabled the firm to become an expert in the beverage industry. When a company is the first to enter a marketplace it can use that strategy as a tactical advantage to achieve a higher market share. Resistance to change can slow down the employee's adaption process to a new working environment.

5. I agree with you that planning on many occasions is a weak area for many firms. Not only do companies do not dedicate enough time and money to planning, but they also fail to recognize that planning is not limited to the short term. Companies must develop strategic plans five to ten years into the future. I believe that Microsoft when it releases a new product already has the plans ready for the next generation product that will replace the product that is being introduced. I also agree with you that high moral and ethical standards must be implemented into plans. Back in the late 1990s, a lack of ethics led to the Nike sweatshop fiasco.

The use of guidance should be followed to spread the use of strategic thinking within a corporation. Your statement about many firms formulating unrealistic vision statements is also true. Sometimes mission and vision statements are used as publicity acts. I would imagine that Enron had a positive mission statement that was obviously not followed by the corrupt executives of the company. Teamwork is a critical success factor in the business environment of the 21st century. Multi-national corporations must be run efficiently in order to maximize the shareholder's wealth. Contingency plans are needed to deal with potential problems associated with business risks.
  Resistance to change often occurs because of miscommunication problems between the managers and the employees of the company. Managers that are proactive and build trusting relationships with their workers face lower resistance to change-associated problems. Currently, the NBA is facing resistance to change issues. The NBA players do not want to accept the new economic realities that have hurt the entertainment industry. Based on the lower revenue stream the players cannot expect to continue to receive 57% of the gross revenues generated by the NBA. When new technologies are introduced in manufacturing environments many workers feel resistant to change because they fear that the technology will make their labor obsolete.

8. It is not uncommon for the survey technique to achieve low participation rates because in many instances people do not take them seriously. If a person does not put any effort into analyzing the question and providing an honest answer the results may be distorted. Another anomaly that can cause a survey to provide biased results is giving people an economic incentive for filling out the survey. People will lie in a survey when they are offered monetary or tangible goods incentives that influence the results.

9. Developing an implementation plan is not an easy task. It takes a lot of hours of hard work, dedication, and the application of analysis of data. When managers do not take implementation plans seriously they put the economic well-being of a company at risk. I am still in the early phase of the week 6 proposal. I agree with you that it is going to require a lot of hours of each student’s time to do a good job on that assignment.