Importance of Relevant Planning for Companies - Essay Example

Organizations that fail to plan are in essence planning to fail. Discuss this ment Long range planning can help a particular company gain so much in accordance with its goals and objectives that had been planned and drafted but in the current times more and more attention and emphasis is making the rounds of the discussion as to whether these plans can actually deliver what was expected of them in the first place. In the world of today, long range planning is not appropriate for a company which has to meet tactical moves as well as go in line with its strategic tilt and direction that has been set ages ago. This owes its basis to the fact that the company’s mission and vision statements are chalked up when it is in the early stage and thus the whole concept of finding out what it wants from its different processes and activities, whether or not to go for the short term incentives or substitute the same for the long term gains and a host of other things that come in line with these points as well. [DEAN, 2002] Organizations in the present times are doing their utmost in order to know more and more about their valued customers. For this, they have devised certain strategies which are in line with the values that their business has set for itself. These values are thus deeply intrinsic within the mission and vision statements of the company. In order to gain further knowledge about the customers, research is being given proper emphasis which would eventually discern the exact basis for the customers to come and make that vital purchase. [McNAMARA, 2007] Even when the same has been done, the need is to find out how the same customers can be retained and in what manner they will come back for the repeat purchase of the product. Organizations do their best to conduct research which will harness their business outcomes as well as help them achieve positive results in the light of unbroken grounds, at least in the marketing and business circles. They want to reach out to the customers in whatever capacity they can and for that they aim to find out the best and most efficient means possible. In order to gain this deeper understanding, they are seeking in depth research from third party research affiliates like A C Nielsen, Dunn & Bradstreet and others. These research companies find the exact basis for the company to reach out to the potential customers as well as hit upon the ones who are actually buying the competitor products and are simply unaware of their product or do not want to use theirs due to certain malice, prejudice, immoral or disliked advertising campaigns and a host of other reasons as well. Now it is up to the companies themselves whether they choose the long term (strategic) incentives mechanism or go the short term (tactical) gains’ way. The option here is to suggest that long term gains might be fruitful for the company in a broader perspective but this might leave the business processes behind when a comparison is drawn up between it and the other competitors at some realistic point in time. This also fathoms the fact that short term gains are denied their due right since the company’s long term vision just does not allow the freedom and space for the company to grow in a slow yet steady manner. All emphasis is based on the end result, which might be quite far off but then the need is to understand that future is not everything within the business. A company has to be financially sound today to make it even better in the coming times. The usage of long range planning in the business world of today is very imperative as it ensures that the same is not only important to the whole well being and the actual basis of the business but also the manner in which it invites the short term gains and incentives that come along all this while. [SOUKUP, 1992] Long term planning has to be drawn in the light of the objectives that the company has set for itself and this does not mean that the revenues and profits alone are the points that need discussion rather the emphasis is on understanding the mission and vision statements of the company and the manner in which the two align with the goals that it has to meet over a period of time and then only weigh it with the benefits that are reached courtesy the long term incentives and the short term gains. Thus it is a fact that contingency planning is the buzzword which is making the business circles’ rounds in the current times. These provide a stop gap solution to the needs which are drawn up by the companies and then the answer is found out so as to cope up with the very same. [ORPEN, 1985] Different scenarios and short term plans thus provide for a lot of cushion as far as vital tactical planning on the part of the said company is concerned and this indeed forms up as an important ingredient of the different processes that are running within the company. [RONEY, 2004] It might also be possible that the different departments present within a company have their own respective agendas that they have to meet and thus the long term planning can take a back seat in this equation. The administrative, decisional, interpersonal and other skills present within the repertoire of the management of the company have to understand that the long term planning has to make way for the tactical moves that are introduced within the company every now and then and which is for the betterment of all concerned, more than anything else, for the company and its stability in the long run itself. The skills just discussed have to come into play so that all of these unite and thus form up as a single, coherent message, a message that will take over the reigns of the company and talk about the problems that it is facing in the light of the completion and the eventual attainment of the strategic goals. The short term activities and tasks thus gain more and more attention from all concerned, not only the employees working within the company but also the stakeholders who have one thing or the other within the proper and sound functioning of the business, the consumers who want to know what exactly is happening with the company’s different products and services and why there is a lag at the retail side of those very products and services. One can quote the example of Vodafone which failed to plan in the wake of the roaming regime that came to the New Zealand market. Thus the result was pretty much thought out and failure hit the Vodafone market base. [ALLEN, 2007] The problems in line of the national mobile network for New Zealand are thus filled with agony and pain since there could have been so much attained had planning been done in related contexts. The important thing to understand is that the relevant environment which is present within the company and in relation with the whole industry where competition is banging on this company’s doors in a fierce manner is very vital. The environment thus forms the basis for the tactical moves that the company makes from time to time and this should not mean that the long range planning which had been done is forgotten, however it is a fact in the business concerns that it takes a back seat for sure, but only for a certain period of time. This could be so very true in times of turbulence, tension, government and legal litigations, pressures from different quarters and not to forget the reactions (in a negative tone) on the part of the consumers and the stakeholders as well. Environmental analysis is thus a significant management tool, one that builds on the assumption that ‘at the moment’ decisions and plans are much better than drawing them up in the past and sticking on to them no matter how trying and tough the circumstances are, with respect to a company. [ELKIN, 1998] All said and done, we can safely conclude here with this assumption that short term moves are a far better cry than the long term plans that had been drawn way back and just cannot meet the desires that had so long been expected of them. Also the fact that the world and more so the business world of present times is changing at a rapid pace, raises more questions which need to be answered in the light of the above discussion. Wu suggests that, in the end that each hour that is spent in the planning process is close to two hours which are eventually saved in the name of implementation. [WU, 2001] BIBLIOGRAPHY ALLEN, Sue. (2007). Vodafone blamed as Roaming plan fails. The Dominion Post: It’s a Newspaper, no page number found DEAN, Joan. (2002). Implementing Performance Management: A Handbook for Schools. RoutledgeFalmer: There was no page number for this source ELKIN, Paul. (1998). Mastering Business Planning and Strategy: The Power of Strategic Thinking. Thorogood: pp. 16 McNAMARA, Carter. (2007). Planning in Organizations. Free Management Library: There was no page number for this source ORPEN, Christopher. (1985). The Effects of Long Range Planning on Small Business Performance: A Further Examination. Journal of Small Business Management Vol. 23: pp. 57 RONEY, C. W. (2004). Strategic Management Methodology: Generally Accepted Principles for Practitioners. Praeger: There was no page number for this source SOUKUP, William R. (1992). Strategic Planning is not Long-Term Budgeting. ABA Banking Journal Vol. 84: pp. 23-24 WU, Jonathan. (2001). Business Intelligence: Failure to Plan is a Plan for Failure. DMReview.com: There was no page number for this source, it’s a website Word Count: 1,496 Read More